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Old 09-19-2014, 10:58 AM
 
1,549 posts, read 1,948,165 times
Reputation: 1668

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Quote:
Originally Posted by HappiestGirl View Post
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.
If it's near 71/290 it isn't convenient nor magical and would make a living hell of a commute for your husband if he ends up working up north.

Please keep in mind that in very tight rental markets there are reasons why some places have significantly lower rent.
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Old 09-19-2014, 11:14 AM
 
2,283 posts, read 3,842,816 times
Reputation: 3680
Quote:
Originally Posted by HappiestGirl View Post
Hello,

I accepted a job offer in Austin and my husband and I will be moving in 2 weeks. I will be working downtown, near Whole Foods. I'd like some advice as to what areas we should look at for an apartment.

About us: late 20s, no kids, no pets (yet, might be getting a dog in the future). Looking for 1 or 2 bedroom apartment in the city, in an urban area - don't want to be stuck driving a car everywhere, would love to be able to walk to restaurants, parks, stores etc. We love being outside - biking, walking, playing tennis, swimming etc. It doesn't have to be right downtown, just as long it's walkable and has a city feel. I'm ok driving to work too, as long as it's not a bad drive. We are paying $1450 right now where we live (Northeast) and would like to stay under or at the same price point. We've visited Austin back in March for a few days and really liked downtown and SoCo areas (I'm sure that's what everyone says, but we don't really know any other areas), but I'm not sure if we can find something there at this price point.

Thank you!
You might want to check out the North Loop area, or somewhere along N Lamar up by 51st (or thereabouts) you can find a place like The Parker on Lamar | Apartments in Austin, Texas There's a couple others in the area as well - it'll be about a 10-minute walk to The Triangle and has reasonable access to bus routes that can take you DT.

This way, if the SO ends up with a job either DT or up north, you're fairly well covered and it wouldn't be a backbreaker if he was just south of the river.

Quote:
Originally Posted by HappiestGirl View Post
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.
This might pose a bit of a problem, as there's not a ton of that type of work in Austin. One of the only ones I can think of is LDR, which would only be a 20-minute drive for him (reverse commute though).
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Old 09-19-2014, 11:40 AM
 
1 posts, read 1,570 times
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There is a cute area just south of Mueller called Dellwood that is still reasonably priced and has walking access to the running paths, parks, shops and restaurants in Mueller. It is a residential neighborhood with houses, duplexes, and "garage" apartments. It's an easy drive to downtown.
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Old 09-19-2014, 12:01 PM
 
Location: Greater Boston Area
31 posts, read 47,689 times
Reputation: 32
Quote:
Originally Posted by RoadWarrior12 View Post
You might want to check out the North Loop area, or somewhere along N Lamar up by 51st (or thereabouts) you can find a place like The Parker on Lamar | Apartments in Austin, Texas There's a couple others in the area as well - it'll be about a 10-minute walk to The Triangle and has reasonable access to bus routes that can take you DT.

This way, if the SO ends up with a job either DT or up north, you're fairly well covered and it wouldn't be a backbreaker if he was just south of the river.



This might pose a bit of a problem, as there's not a ton of that type of work in Austin. One of the only ones I can think of is LDR, which would only be a 20-minute drive for him (reverse commute though).
Yes, that's understandable. He isn't working in Boston here in Mass either.
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Old 09-22-2014, 07:26 AM
 
Location: Greater Boston Area
31 posts, read 47,689 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by A-Tex View Post
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.
So the good news is that I found a short-term 1 month rental, so now I'll have till Oct 29th to find something permanent.
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Old 09-22-2014, 12:38 PM
 
Location: Greater Boston Area
31 posts, read 47,689 times
Reputation: 32
Quote:
Originally Posted by RoadWarrior12 View Post
You might want to check out the North Loop area, or somewhere along N Lamar up by 51st (or thereabouts) you can find a place like The Parker on Lamar | Apartments in Austin, Texas There's a couple others in the area as well - it'll be about a 10-minute walk to The Triangle and has reasonable access to bus routes that can take you DT.

This way, if the SO ends up with a job either DT or up north, you're fairly well covered and it wouldn't be a backbreaker if he was just south of the river.



This might pose a bit of a problem, as there's not a ton of that type of work in Austin. One of the only ones I can think of is LDR, which would only be a 20-minute drive for him (reverse commute though).
There are also UTC Aerospace Systems in San Marcos and DJO in the Domain area....It doesn't necessarily need to be a medical company, he has worked in both medical and aerospace industries and probably can work in other industries as well
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Old 09-22-2014, 07:49 PM
 
24 posts, read 43,101 times
Reputation: 48
Quote:
Originally Posted by A-Tex View Post
If it's near 71/290 it isn't convenient nor magical and would make a living hell of a commute for your husband if he ends up working up north.

Please keep in mind that in very tight rental markets there are reasons why some places have significantly lower rent.
I agree, I would not want to work up north if I lived where we currently live. That would be a huge pain, and something to consider if your husband has a significant chance of working up north. I interviewed at a company that was way up north (I think it was Great American Insurance? not sure if that was the one or not, but the company was practically in Round Rock), and had I gotten that job, I would have definitely used one of the commuter bus options so I could get some reading done during the hour+ commute each way to and from work.

RoadWarrior12's suggestion is pretty good if you think there's a decent chance he'll work up north, it gives decent access to loads of stuff and hedges your bet if he does end up either downtown or north.

My fiancee and I never take any highways when we go to work. We both work downtown, so it's significantly faster for us to take back roads until we use Lamar / 1st / Congress to get over the river rather than messing with 290, 71, mopac, 35, ceasar chavez, etc... I don't commute during the normal 8am and 5pm hour rushes, so it usually takes me about 8-12 min, depending on lights (not traffic volume) to get to work.

The bus stop we use for going downtown is literally right outside our apartment complex. For her, the bus takes around 20-25 min and then her building is a 3 or so minute walk from where she gets off. If she takes her scooter, I think it usually takes her between 15-20 min for her to get to her garage (her building has free parking for motorcycles/scooters). She does work 9-5, so those travel times are during the normal rush.

The times we jump on the highway are usually nights and weekends, so I've never really felt that the traffic has been that horrible, even around the on-offs to the highways, but maybe I'm just lucky and go places during the least congested hours of the day.

I'm a little hesitant to totally disclose where we live, but I'll definitely suggest another place where a friend of mine lives: the Oak Run apartment complex off of Banister Ln. That location was one that met all my criterion when I was looking. His place is pretty nice, and a 20 second google search yielded: "1265 sqft" 2 bed / 2 bath "Starting at $1460".

Again, good luck searching!
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Old 09-23-2014, 08:48 AM
 
Location: Greater Boston Area
31 posts, read 47,689 times
Reputation: 32
Quote:
Originally Posted by MagicalTrumpet View Post
I agree, I would not want to work up north if I lived where we currently live. That would be a huge pain, and something to consider if your husband has a significant chance of working up north. I interviewed at a company that was way up north (I think it was Great American Insurance? not sure if that was the one or not, but the company was practically in Round Rock), and had I gotten that job, I would have definitely used one of the commuter bus options so I could get some reading done during the hour+ commute each way to and from work.

RoadWarrior12's suggestion is pretty good if you think there's a decent chance he'll work up north, it gives decent access to loads of stuff and hedges your bet if he does end up either downtown or north.

My fiancee and I never take any highways when we go to work. We both work downtown, so it's significantly faster for us to take back roads until we use Lamar / 1st / Congress to get over the river rather than messing with 290, 71, mopac, 35, ceasar chavez, etc... I don't commute during the normal 8am and 5pm hour rushes, so it usually takes me about 8-12 min, depending on lights (not traffic volume) to get to work.

The bus stop we use for going downtown is literally right outside our apartment complex. For her, the bus takes around 20-25 min and then her building is a 3 or so minute walk from where she gets off. If she takes her scooter, I think it usually takes her between 15-20 min for her to get to her garage (her building has free parking for motorcycles/scooters). She does work 9-5, so those travel times are during the normal rush.

The times we jump on the highway are usually nights and weekends, so I've never really felt that the traffic has been that horrible, even around the on-offs to the highways, but maybe I'm just lucky and go places during the least congested hours of the day.

I'm a little hesitant to totally disclose where we live, but I'll definitely suggest another place where a friend of mine lives: the Oak Run apartment complex off of Banister Ln. That location was one that met all my criterion when I was looking. His place is pretty nice, and a 20 second google search yielded: "1265 sqft" 2 bed / 2 bath "Starting at $1460".

Again, good luck searching!
Thank you! Is this place that your friend is living in - is it in the same area you live? I'm definitely not asking for your exact address, but if it's an apartment complex then I'd be curious to know which one? I promise I'm not a stalker and won't come looking for you
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Old 12-06-2014, 09:44 PM
 
Location: Greater Boston Area
31 posts, read 47,689 times
Reputation: 32
OP here - decided to give an update on my apartment search now that I'm all settled in. I spend a month looking for apartments - looked at many apartment complexes ( south - the grove, the 704 apartments on lamar, lamar union, the state house, Algarita, SoCo on the lake; north - amli 5350, the triangle, Gibson flats), as well as multiple condos for rent by owner ( probably another 10 apartments or so). I ended up finding an apartment on my own on Craigslist for rent by owner in Clarksville ( W 12th and West Lynn area). It's around 1000 sq ft, 1bd plus a large den/office, private driveway. I got a really great deal at $1400 ( includes water). It is an older house so it's not as nice as those apartment complexes, but it has it's charm ( French doors, hardwood floors etc). I really love it. There are few restaurants, coffee shop, grocery store, pharmacy, diner - all within <2 minute walk from me. The best part is that I walk to work ( only .9 miles to my office) and my husband ended up finding a job in Cedar Park so being north of the river/lake probably helped him save some time on commute. The neighborhood is very nice - lots of people walking their dogs, beautiful homes, everyone seems to be very friendly.
Out of the apartment complexes I saw my favorite was the state house on s congress but they were a little pricey when I looked in the middle of October - $1560 for 1/1. By the end of October you could get the same apartment for $1300 ( and still can). I also liked the Grove but those were further from DT.
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Old 12-06-2014, 10:18 PM
 
1,534 posts, read 2,759,786 times
Reputation: 3593
Congrats HappiestGirl!!

You have landed in IMO one of the sweetest spots in Austin. When it is warmer, you can walk to Deep Eddy Pool to go swimming. If you have not already done it, walk down West Lynn to Don's Depot and have a drink. Jeffrey's on the corner - an expensive and over-rated restaurant - has a great happy hour and some of the older waiters will tell you hilarious and possibly true stores about George Bush junior falling off the wagon, and hookers and blow and what have you! The soda fountain in the back of Nau's Drugstore is seriously delightful, and the neighborhood, while gentrified to hell, is still full of characters. Medici serves one of the best cappuccinos in Austin. You are a short walk from some of my favorite restaurants in Austin - Clark's, Corazon, Josie's…

Everything between West Lynn and Mopac is part of the original Clarksville, the oldest freedmen community west of the Mississippi, and there are still a few descendants living in the neighborhood. Check out the Sweet Home Baptist Church on west 11th! Join the CCDC (the Clarksville Community Development Committee) or OWANA (Old West Austin Neighborhood Association). They have ice-cream socials and spectacular gossip, and a bunch of old time gals will tell you about the time they slept with Townes van Zandt when he lived in the neighborhood. Walk down Patterson between 10th and 6th, one of the most charming secret streets in Austin.

You might have to change your name on cd from HappiestGirl to LuckiestGirl! Well-done!
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