Retiring to Central Texas. Would like some advice/information. (San Antonio: sales, house)

[skn95]

My husband and I are looking at retiring to the area around Austin - San Antonio. I hope there are people who have retired that can tell me about the places they live or have family members living. We are visiting both Austin and San Antonio next month, during the hot months, to see if it is too much for us. Both my husband and I want to get away from the cold and snow here in Richmond, VA and I lived in Texas for 6 years during the late '70's. I'm thinking we should start with a retirement facility since we will be be right at 70.

I do worry about the property tax, since my husband wants to look at some modular housing which sales in the $80,000 range.

Any help you could provide or if you know about the local retirement facilities, I would appreciate your comments.

[Trainwreck20]

By 'retirement facilities', do you mean retirement communities? I am assuming so, since you are talking about a modular house, but just making sure.

In any case, if you are looking at a low-cost option such as modular housing, your property tax won't be too bad, most likely. An $80k modular house on a $20k property would be $100k per year minus any exemptions, etc (homestead, for starters, not sure what else you may be able to claim as a senior citizen). At 2.5% of ($100k-$15k), you are looking at about $175/month. You might easily find lower tax rates, since you will ostensibly not be looking for the best school district.

Check out Kerrville and surroundings, possibly up toward Blanco, as well.

[Cob1969]

Most people around here retire to South Texas.

[G Grasshopper]

I think people have not responded much to your post because we don't know what you mean when you mention "retirement facilities." Could you be more specific about what you are looking for?

[HappyTexan]

Why Austin ? Austin isn't really a top retirement area.
And the Austin you remember from the 70's is NOT the Austin that exists today.

[Tralfaz]

Wimberley or San Marcos may be better suited to your goals. Dunno much about locales south of SM.

[OneFormula]

Sun City retirement community is the best option closest to Austin. and their units look like real nicely built homes with 3-side brick and a Golf course and other amenities.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by HappyTexan

Why Austin ? Austin isn't really a top retirement area.
And the Austin you remember from the 70's is NOT the Austin that exists today.

Boy, you got that right.