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The Spyglass Dr and Barton Skyway area is imo the hidden gem of Austin. Right next to Mopac for easy access to anywhere and only 2 miles south of the Town Lake trail. It's getting more expensive by the day, but I'm sure there are apartments in your price range.
They aren't the newest and most modern, but the area is scenic and has direct access to the greenbelt, one of the coolest urban hiking and mountain biking trails anywhere.
The down side? It is pretty much a residential area, so you won't be walking across the street to a bunch of restaurants. But being 2 to 5 miles from all the best parts of downtown Austin more than makes up for that for me. You can pretty much ride your bike to all of the downtown and the SoCo areas in 10-15 minutes.
I second Spyglass Dr... although two years ago when we went looking there it was $2K for not much if I remember correctly. However, Bmantx512 is right that the area is a hidden gem. Plus, you would be right by taco deli - a favorite of mine, close to Mo pac etc. When we first moved to Austin we had kind of the same wishlist, then saw that it was impossible. We now live in a gated community off of Manchaca and William Cannon in south austin and honestly I love it. We are 15 minutes to downtown, live right by a grocery store (Central market - my fav grocery store is just 5-10 mins away), a mile from a really cool park that I run in all the time (westgate and william cannon). But, its not really walkable - at all. I don't really consider too many places outside of downtown in Austin to be walkable.
I grew up in southern california but went to college in boston and I'll tell you right now, Austin traffic straight up bothers me the most. If you try to give yourself the best location for your commute, my man initially didnt think it was a big deal and without discussing it with me put earnest money on a property up in Steiner Ranch, he grew up in the midwest and never dealt with real traffic - long story short we pulled out (and got the money back) and found our little gem, good thing too because his commute was only 15 mins to and from - sadly he's moved 2 miles further down 360 (was at 360 and Mopac) and it now takes 45 minutes.
Good luck! Austin is a neat city, but I think I definitely prefer the Northeast.
Thanks for your input - definitely didn't know getting to the other side of the lake would be a headache. And no, that's not my idea of a walkable area Obviously I'd like to visit all of the recommended apartments before I sign a lease to see if we like the area or not. Might try to rent something short-term for the month of October.
You'll probably have difficulty in finding temporary digs in October. The first two weekends are ACL and the last weekend is the Formula One Grand Prix. The city is bulging at the seams with tourists for both events.
The Spyglass Dr and Barton Skyway area is imo the hidden gem of Austin. Right next to Mopac for easy access to anywhere and only 2 miles south of the Town Lake trail. It's getting more expensive by the day, but I'm sure there are apartments in your price range.
They aren't the newest and most modern, but the area is scenic and has direct access to the greenbelt, one of the coolest urban hiking and mountain biking trails anywhere.
The down side? It is pretty much a residential area, so you won't be walking across the street to a bunch of restaurants. But being 2 to 5 miles from all the best parts of downtown Austin more than makes up for that for me. You can pretty much ride your bike to all of the downtown and the SoCo areas in 10-15 minutes.
Good luck!
The less expensive apartments over there are rundown and old. Those that have been updated are no longer bargains. While close to Mopac, the access road is messy messy messy. It's also not a remotely walkable neighborhood. There's literally nothing over there.
Thanks for your input - definitely didn't know getting to the other side of the lake would be a headache.
Yeah, this is what I was talking about with living and working on the same side of town. If you have to cross downtown north/south (i.e. cross the lake) it is hellish as there is a major traffic bottleneck in both directions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HappiestGirl
Also, he's an engineer at a medical manufacturing company here in Mass, so I would imagine he won't be working downtown as usually all manufacturing facilities are located further out.
See above… It's not working downtown that is the issue. It's living on one side of the river/downtown and working on the other side. There are many threads about this on CD. It's the number one mistake new people make.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HappiestGirl
I saw that you are from Boston area too? How do you like it compared to Boston?
I moved here from Boston about a decade ago. I lived in mostly in Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville over the years. Austin is a major upgrade! It's just a better quality of life in so many ways. And there's always stuff going on, so there's no excuse for boredom. Austin has amazing restaurants, food trucks, bars, live music, festivals, coffee shops, and people—I really do love this city.
A couple things I do miss though—access to art museums and Cape Cod. It's really not a big deal though, because Boston is a short 3 hour flight away, so I usually go back for a week or two every summer to catch up with old friends and visit the museums before heading to the cape for beach fun.
If you are an art fan, you can do a road trip to Houston or Dallas for the weekend. Both cities have fantastic collections.
A friend of mine lives on S Congress in a place called The State House. I'm pretty sure his rent is around the $1600-1700 range and he has a small 1 bedroom. You are right along where all the restaurants and little shops are though and have a nice view of downtown across the river.
Sounds like it is probably worth checking out if you want to stick to the more urban / restaurants / shops feel with a nice view of the Austin skyline.
The only downside is just how much living space bang for your buck you lose due to that location. I would guess my friend's apartment is about 600 ft^2 (around 0.38 ft^2 / dollar), while ours is a 1000 ft^2 - 2 bedroom / 1.5 bath, (at around 1.02 ft^2 / dollar).
We live around 10 min (non rush traffic) from downtown ~ 20-25 min bus ride (mostly traffic independent). I work just west of downtown (taking a bus would mean either a transfer or walking 3/4 of a mile, so I usually just ride my motorcycle and it takes an average of 12 min). My fiancee takes the bus to work downtown every day. We don't even own a car actually. I have a motorcycle, my fiancee has a scooter, and we use car2go and zipcar when we need 4 wheels. It's worked out great for us so far (14 months).
When we decided to move here, I mainly picked our location due to proximity to multiple bus lines that get us to downtown, malls, restaurants, major stores (target/walmart/home depot/etc...) while still being a reasonable commute to downtown, proximity to some of the highways (290/71 and mopac), proximity to the greenbelt (if you don't know it's a big forest area in the middle of the city with trails and mountain climbing), proximity to a nice gym, access to pools, tennis courts, and then giving us the biggest space / dollar ratio that was still under our $1000/month.
I'm pretty sure you could find some 1250-1500+ ft^2 places in your price range if you were willing to go with a slightly more "residential" area (google map 78704 zipcode and then apartment search in the southwest part of it), that's just my 2 cents.
Yeah, this is what I was talking about with living and working on the same side of town. If you have to cross downtown north/south (i.e. cross the lake) it is hellish as there is a major traffic bottleneck in both directions.
See above… It's not working downtown that is the issue. It's living on one side of the river/downtown and working on the other side. There are many threads about this on CD. It's the number one mistake new people make.
I'd like to add some clarity to the comments about traveling across town North to South. This is primarily a rush hour problem, for people having to commute a fair distance South to North or North to South. The two major traffic arteries are Mopac Loop 1 and IH-35. Both have a bottle neck where they cross the river, Lady Bird Lake. Traffic can back up pretty significantly in the area during rush hours.
Commuting at other times of day it is not a problem. I can usually go from far SW Austin to 45th street in 20 minutes (13 miles). During rush hour that can often take an hour.
Crossing the river into down town from the Zilker Park area, using the bridges at Lamar Blvd, S. 1st Street or Congress Avenue, is not much of a problem any time of day. It can become a problem when you have to travel farther across town during rush hour.
You'll probably have difficulty in finding temporary digs in October. The first two weekends are ACL and the last weekend is the Formula One Grand Prix. The city is bulging at the seams with tourists for both events.
Yes, I know! The timing couldn't worse...Hopefully I'm not sleeping under the bridge
A friend of mine lives on S Congress in a place called The State House. I'm pretty sure his rent is around the $1600-1700 range and he has a small 1 bedroom. You are right along where all the restaurants and little shops are though and have a nice view of downtown across the river.
Sounds like it is probably worth checking out if you want to stick to the more urban / restaurants / shops feel with a nice view of the Austin skyline.
The only downside is just how much living space bang for your buck you lose due to that location. I would guess my friend's apartment is about 600 ft^2 (around 0.38 ft^2 / dollar), while ours is a 1000 ft^2 - 2 bedroom / 1.5 bath, (at around 1.02 ft^2 / dollar).
We live around 10 min (non rush traffic) from downtown ~ 20-25 min bus ride (mostly traffic independent). I work just west of downtown (taking a bus would mean either a transfer or walking 3/4 of a mile, so I usually just ride my motorcycle and it takes an average of 12 min). My fiancee takes the bus to work downtown every day. We don't even own a car actually. I have a motorcycle, my fiancee has a scooter, and we use car2go and zipcar when we need 4 wheels. It's worked out great for us so far (14 months).
When we decided to move here, I mainly picked our location due to proximity to multiple bus lines that get us to downtown, malls, restaurants, major stores (target/walmart/home depot/etc...) while still being a reasonable commute to downtown, proximity to some of the highways (290/71 and mopac), proximity to the greenbelt (if you don't know it's a big forest area in the middle of the city with trails and mountain climbing), proximity to a nice gym, access to pools, tennis courts, and then giving us the biggest space / dollar ratio that was still under our $1000/month.
I'm pretty sure you could find some 1250-1500+ ft^2 places in your price range if you were willing to go with a slightly more "residential" area (google map 78704 zipcode and then apartment search in the southwest part of it), that's just my 2 cents.
Thank you! This sounds like a good situation. I'm all for not driving - I'll gladly take a bus downtown to my office. I also know a girl in Austin who rides her scooter from South Lamar downtown to work. What's the name of the neighborhood that you live in? I'll definitely look into it.
After reading this "When we decided to move here, I mainly picked our location due to proximity to multiple bus lines that get us to downtown, malls, restaurants, major stores (target/walmart/home depot/etc...) while still being a reasonable commute to downtown, proximity to some of the highways (290/71 and mopac), proximity to the greenbelt (if you don't know it's a big forest area in the middle of the city with trails and mountain climbing), proximity to a nice gym, access to pools, tennis courts, and then giving us the biggest space / dollar ratio that was still under our $1000/month." - I'm convinced I want to live where you live So please do share where is this magical place.
Last edited by HappiestGirl; 09-19-2014 at 07:41 AM..
Yeah, this is what I was talking about with living and working on the same side of town. If you have to cross downtown north/south (i.e. cross the lake) it is hellish as there is a major traffic bottleneck in both directions.
See above… It's not working downtown that is the issue. It's living on one side of the river/downtown and working on the other side. There are many threads about this on CD. It's the number one mistake new people make.
I moved here from Boston about a decade ago. I lived in mostly in Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville over the years. Austin is a major upgrade! It's just a better quality of life in so many ways. And there's always stuff going on, so there's no excuse for boredom. Austin has amazing restaurants, food trucks, bars, live music, festivals, coffee shops, and people—I really do love this city.
A couple things I do miss though—access to art museums and Cape Cod. It's really not a big deal though, because Boston is a short 3 hour flight away, so I usually go back for a week or two every summer to catch up with old friends and visit the museums before heading to the cape for beach fun.
If you are an art fan, you can do a road trip to Houston or Dallas for the weekend. Both cities have fantastic collections.
Thanks! No way of knowing where my husband will be working at this point. Hopefully he has something lined up by the time we find permanent residence.
Neither art museums nor Cape Cod should be a problem - in 4.5 years in Mass I've only been to he Cape once (this summer). I will really miss Salem, MA (where I live). And probably fall.
Last edited by HappiestGirl; 09-19-2014 at 10:54 AM..
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