Moving from Twin Cities to Austin - Need Advice (Canyon: rental, houses)

[trumpy]

Hi All,

We are looking to move to Austin from the Twin Cities area next month. I will be working downtown and we have a young baby and two large dogs. I have heard that Austin traffic is horrible so I was looking at the Cap Metro rail line and thinking of trying to find a modest house to rent somewhere near Leander so I could ride the train to work each day.

I also have a Quarter Horse that I would need to board.

So a few questions;

1) Is Leander a good area to look for a reasonably priced rental home & is it a safe neighbourhood?

2) Do a lot of houses in Austin have fenced yards for dogs?

3) Can anyone suggest good horse boarding where you can ride on trails right from the stables? I will be working long hours at my job so I wanted to save time by not always having to trailer to ride.


Thanks!

[Moonlady]

Originally Posted by trumpy

Hi All,

We are looking to move to Austin from the Twin Cities area next month. I will be working downtown and we have a young baby and two large dogs. I have heard that Austin traffic is horrible so I was looking at the Cap Metro rail line and thinking of trying to find a modest house to rent somewhere near Leander so I could ride the train to work each day.

I also have a Quarter Horse that I would need to board.

So a few questions;

1) Is Leander a good area to look for a reasonably priced rental home & is it a safe neighbourhood?

2) Do a lot of houses in Austin have fenced yards for dogs?

3) Can anyone suggest good horse boarding where you can ride on trails right from the stables? I will be working long hours at my job so I wanted to save time by not always having to trailer to ride.


Thanks!

What do you consider "reasonable"? A budget would be helpful.

[TexasHorseLady]

Leander is a town, not a neighborhood, and it is full of families. What is your budget likely to be?

Bigger problem for renting is going to be the two large dogs.

As for the horse, if you're looking to board near home, there are several places, but I'll need to check to see if any are on trails.

[Rynldsbr]

Austin traffic isn't much worse than MSP and has the benefit of weather being favorable. Recently moved here from WI and finding Austin definition of horrible traffic is pretty typical of most metro areas. Not nearly as bad as Chicago, DC, LA but similar to MKE, MSP, or similar sized cities.

1. Define "reasonable" priced. If you offer a budget range there are lots of people that can help TexasHorseLady being one of them.

2. Almost all yards are fenced here. This is something we are adjusting to, since most were not where we came from.

3. Not my expertise.

[hound 109]

How far will your "job downtown" be from the Metro Train station?

(if it's close, Leander might be a good option since it's near a train station, it's less expensive than towns/areas/neighborhoods that are closer in & because it's "safe".....as is pretty much ALL of greater Austin).

OP, aside from not giving us your budget, excellent post providing info needed for us to offer informed opinions! Welcome to Texas.

[A-Tex]

Originally Posted by Rynldsbr

Austin traffic isn't much worse than MSP and has the benefit of weather being favorable. Recently moved here from WI and finding Austin definition of horrible traffic is pretty typical of most metro areas. Not nearly as bad as Chicago, DC, LA but similar to MKE, MSP, or similar sized cities.

1. Define "reasonable" priced. If you offer a budget range there are lots of people that can help TexasHorseLady being one of them.

2. Almost all yards are fenced here. This is something we are adjusting to, since most were not where we came from.

3. Not my expertise.

You just moved here. You commute from Hutto to North Central Austin. You have no idea what the true traffic hell is like in some areas --- Leander to downtown being one of them. Please don't minimize things that those of us who have lived here forever are intimately familiar with.

[Rynldsbr]

Originally Posted by A-Tex

You just moved here. .... Please don't minimize things that those of us who have lived here forever are intimately familiar with.

My quote is "Austin traffic isn't much worse than MSP and has the benefit of weather being favorable. Recently moved here from WI and finding Austin definition of horrible traffic is pretty typical of most metro areas. Not nearly as bad as Chicago, DC, LA but similar to MKE, MSP, or similar sized cities."

First of all, I stand by it as true. I have lived or worked in/near Boston, Honolulu, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Chicago, and managed a transportation company and fleets that dealt with traffic across the country. Austin traffic can be challenging, but is not worse than most cities its size. Since you admit that you have lived here "forever", I will accept that as acknowledgement that you are probably not as familiar with traffic across this great land as I am.

To the OP - this is a perfect example of why it is important to visit and view firsthand what you think is acceptable and what is not. My first day house hunting in Austin area we got off the plane and I headed into rush hour traffic to see what it was like to commute to one of the burbs we were considering. I decided it was too far and too much traffic to do that commute. We did find, as pointed out, that a commute of 21 miles can be done on a regular basis in 35-40 minutes (without getting on I35 and risking being in a parking lot for hours) with very manageable stress. Some areas will be worse, some will not be as bad.

Visiting will also give you the opportunity to compare the neighborhoods and view the care of the homes, the lawns mowed or not mowed, the little things that may or may not be important to you. I have seen that there are variances within the individual developments, much less the communities/cities.

Where do you live in the "Twin Cities area" now? We may be able to provide insight based on current home and what commute you find acceptable. Are you in St Paul or burbs? Where do you currently commute to?

[another_hot-day]

Here is a great stable for horses with trails!
He also plays old timey country music in the stables. The horses seem to dig it.
Horse Boarding Leander TX - Deer Canyon Stables

[A-Tex]

Originally Posted by Rynldsbr

My quote is "Austin traffic isn't much worse than MSP and has the benefit of weather being favorable. Recently moved here from WI and finding Austin definition of horrible traffic is pretty typical of most metro areas. Not nearly as bad as Chicago, DC, LA but similar to MKE, MSP, or similar sized cities."

First of all, I stand by it as true. I have lived or worked in/near Boston, Honolulu, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Chicago, and managed a transportation company and fleets that dealt with traffic across the country. Austin traffic can be challenging, but is not worse than most cities its size. Since you admit that you have lived here "forever", I will accept that as acknowledgement that you are probably not as familiar with traffic across this great land as I am.

To the OP - this is a perfect example of why it is important to visit and view firsthand what you think is acceptable and what is not. My first day house hunting in Austin area we got off the plane and I headed into rush hour traffic to see what it was like to commute to one of the burbs we were considering. I decided it was too far and too much traffic to do that commute. We did find, as pointed out, that a commute of 21 miles can be done on a regular basis in 35-40 minutes (without getting on I35 and risking being in a parking lot for hours) with very manageable stress. Some areas will be worse, some will not be as bad.

Visiting will also give you the opportunity to compare the neighborhoods and view the care of the homes, the lawns mowed or not mowed, the little things that may or may not be important to you. I have seen that there are variances within the individual developments, much less the communities/cities.

Where do you live in the "Twin Cities area" now? We may be able to provide insight based on current home and what commute you find acceptable. Are you in St Paul or burbs? Where do you currently commute to?

Oh yes, because longtime Austin residents never leave and have no idea what life is like outside of our town. I travel for business just about every single week, so I can confidently say I am very much familiar with traffic in many many cities across the globe. And Austin's still sucks much worse than many. The mantra repeated here by all the experienced residents here is a good one. Live as close to work as you can afford.

[trumpy]

Thank you for the input guys much appreciated. Ideally I would not want to pay more than $1200 per month for a modest house with a fenced yard for the dogs.

The office downtown is on 6th Street.

A few more questions. So is riding the train a good experience or is it super crowded and stop a lot on the way to downtown? Does the train have mini tables to work on a laptop?

Also can anyone recommend a reasonably priced storage facility near Leander. We will be moving from a 5 bedroom house with lots of stuff down to a smaller rental house so will need storage until we figure out whether we will be purchasing a house in Austin.

Thanks Another Hot Day that stables sounds cool.

Oh almost forgot I live in Rogers MN so in the outer burbs but I currently have a work from home gig when I am not visiting customers. I used to commute to Eden Prairie on 494 for 2 years and it drove me insane. I like living in the outer suburbs so I can be close to the stables and less expensive but having a bad commute is not something I can live with hence the train idea.