Planning on Moving Family but without Job.

[robertsacamano]

I'm sorry to sound like a broken record but I have to chime in here on the traffic thing. So many people in this forum warn - "Traffic is BAD. Realize that" to which the warned party says, "eh, no worries, traffic is bad everywhere." Yes, that's true but realize this - there will NOT be enough capacity created in the next 30 years to handle the CURRENT state of the roads. If Austin continues to grow at the pace it is or even at half of that pace, the traffic will be immeasurably worse. Read the study that says average rush hour speeds on Mopac will be 10MPH for MILES.

[Chitownjedi]

Originally Posted by paul6835

Daycare will be your biggest obstacle. With so many young families moving here, its hard to get into places. 20K is a little light to live off of if you're moving the contents of a full size SF home, cross country movers can be expensive.

As a heads up, most of the tech industry is in north austin. Try to rent near the Arboretum if you can, it will give you a short or reverse commute to 70% of the tech companies in town. As far as where to live long term, think of the Arboretum as the North end of the city but the center of the tech world. If you go South you're getting good restaurants, bars, youthful startups, and "Austin" and if you go North you're getting cheaper prices, longer commutes, and "Texas"

Cool. Thanks for info. We stay in a 2 bedroom 1000 sq ft apartment. Not lots of stuff at all. I spoke to a few moving companies before who gave us an estimated price of 1500-2300.00 to move our items after we listed them all and factored in gas and mileage. However this was for the Houston area which I believe may be a similar distance.

I've factored that in as the real number is closer to 28000-32000.00 that I can have saved up, however I tend to overestimate (or in this case underestimate) in order to give myself additional wiggle room incase something happens.

I've seen a few apartments listed (that I will obviously see in person during visit in August-September)

I could give a year worth in advance so we don't have to worry about rent, and It would be around another 10000$ to cover all our recurring bills if they were to stay the exact same. I include food budget/gas/ and entertainment in the budget so anything spent out of that is literally a want not a need.

I've also left the option open to renew the lease through Feb if we decide to not leave early, and that would give an additional 4 months (but force another winter experience) if I felt that another 10-16,000 would be beneficial.

[DCtoTejas]

Going on 4 years ago now I was in kind of a similar situation, I was tired of being in the DC area and Maryland in particular. Maryland has a lot of the same issues that Illinois does, taxes, COL, crime, crowding. I was ready to go just about anywhere else and had some opportunities (I'm also in IT) in western states when an internal transfer to Austin became available for better compensation than I was offered elsewhere. I took the plunge and accepted without ever having visited Austin. Took one weekend trip to find a rental and then hit the road. I had no family at the time so it was easy to just take off. Overall it has been a very positive experience and if I had to do it over again I would. But, after living here for 4 years if I had the option to pick anywhere to live I don't think it would be here. To be honest I don't know if I have changed or the city has or both. What it mainly comes down to for me is -

*Increasing big city problems but lack of big city amenities
*Weather - really not all that great, summers are tough almost like a winter in the sense you don't want to be outside very much, even the trees lose their leaves in spring it is like a mirror of the North. Winters aren't as cold, but they are drizzly and dreary and damp and chilly.
* Remoteness - not really close to anything else, Texas beaches are pretty disappointing and gulf coast beaches don't get good until Florida. Can go to Dallas or Houston or San Antonio for pro sports, museums, etc but with the exception of San Antonio that's a lot of driving for a day trip. Nice public land out in west texas but again, it is a long way away. Texas is deceptive in that it appears wide open but the reality is almost all land is privately owned and fenced off.
* Allergies, beaten to death on this board but it is pretty bad. I feel in a total fog lots of days.

There are lots of positives here too, I don't want to come off as too negative. People are friendly, traffic is bad but better than most big cities, certainly better than where I came from. Housing is still relatively inexpensive but not as much so as the rest of Texas. The food scene is legitimately good. The parks and swimming holes and hill country views are beautiful. The music.

Interestingly, I'm coming up on the same amount of time here as a normal college career takes, and my SO, who has lived in Austin previously several times says the 4 year mark is always when she starts getting a little bored with the city and thinks about leaving. I think there may be something to that, it is at its core an overgrown college town.

[Refrain]

If you are moving without a job you should be prepared for the worst case scenario of having to move from the Austin-area to Houston, Dallas, or San Antonio for a job.

I would be open to that possibility and find a short-term rental. I don't want to sound pessimistic but you will want to be prepared in the event that best opportunity for your family isn't in Austin.

Obviously you will want to do everything you can to get a job in the meantime and don't put down roots or have a mindset that you will stay where you are until you have that job. If you find something permanent in Austin you will likely have to move to optimize your commute.

[helena101]

I agree about visiting first- even if you are dead set on Austin no matter what a visit might reveal, with a child I'd guess you won't want to live in a hotel while searching for an apartment and checking out different parts of town. By visiting you can find some apartment complexes & an area of town you like, and then it's just a matter of faxing in your application when you decide you're actually moving and have a place all lined up and ready to move in when you arrive. You could visit in the summer and see what you think of Austin summers.

Also, I completely understand wanting to avoid another winter in Chicago. However I would suggest considering holding off until next spring/summer for a few reasons:

1. You'll have more money saved up.

2. Many companies slow their hiring around the holidays, if you show up in November you may be guaranteeing that you'll be unemployed for at least a couple of months before you even start getting any calls for interviews.

3. Typically apartment buildings try very hard to not have vacancies during the winter months because no one moves then. You'll find more options for housing in the spring/summer months.

[Quietlion33]

I was wondering if you made the move to Texas from Chicago? I moved from DC area to Austin and it hasn't been pleasant experience

[dbsteel]

Originally Posted by Quietlion33

I was wondering if you made the move to Texas from Chicago? I moved from DC area to Austin and it hasn't been pleasant experience

You can't believe everything you read, huh?