Moving to AUS- Looking to buy condo or townhome in area

[FalconheadWest]

East Austin and I would target the "condos" that are actually duplexes, not the apartment-style condos. They have to deem them condos because they share a wall and there has to be rules about the common area the two units share. Plenty in your price range and many new construction.

[Aquitaine]

We saw a bunch of the condo-duplexes when we were in the market in early 2015. A lot of them were really, really nice (and some them were pushing 3000 square feet despite being "condos"!).

[mark311]

Mueller/East Austin. Search 78723 for example on www.austinhomesearch.com . But, the nicer areas like actually in the Mueller development are near the top of your price range.

Homepage | Mueller Austin

If you give up on being really close to downtown, you might want to check out the condos/townhomes near the Arboretum area. There's still a good amount of night life there and nearby at the Domain. Half of downtown is going to be filled with College kids for night life anyway. They are hard to get away from with one of the largest Universities in the Nation being at the very North end of downtown. Search 78759 for Arboretum area condos/townhomes. The Domain night life has less College kids in general.

Maybe the condos just South of the River would work too, but I'm not as familiar with those South of Downtown.

[Nacho_Friend]

Originally Posted by Rynldsbr

Curious why Austin from DC? Your comments make me pause...not college environment, not family environment, but want nightlife and shopping? What is appealing about Austin?


If you can live anywhere and travel weekly, Austin is not the most travel friendly by air or road and is a college town bursting at the seams with families moving here and adding to urban sprawl.

Having had traveling jobs in Austin let me second that. Things have gotten better but be prepared to spend lots of time cooling your heels in Dallas and Houston especially if your company insists on the cheapest flight rather than the shortest flight.

[df175]

Never move to a new place and immediately buy a home. Rent an apartment for a year in order to get familiar with the area and then buy.

[TexasHorseLady]

There are actually quite a few available right now pretty much downtown, mostly older but some built in 2016 or close to it, including some in Seaholm which might suit you from your description and coming from DC.

[A-Tex]

You can get into some of the small one bedroom downtown high rises at the mid $400k price point. The monthly fees are really high though so you'd want to take that into consideration.

As someone who's a frequent business flyer, I agree with the other commenters. There's no way I'd relocate here if I were traveling that frequently, especially given the price premium on real estate. If you're hellbent on moving to Austin, I'd rent for the first year. You'll get a much better feel for the areas and truly understand the air travel situation. Or consider Dallas. It's a much better fit for the things you're looking for at a better price point.

[freeatlast2016]

Originally Posted by Aquitaine

Be close to your job before satisfying any of your other requirements.

Otherwise, +1 for East Austin and Mueller (my neighborhood) provided you like the whole New Urbanism and higher density feel. It also requires expanding your definition of 'Central' to 'a few miles East/Northeast' but there is a lot to do around here and it's an easy shot into Downtown. A small townhouse or condo can be had in the 400s but it's still a lot of new construction, so if you don't want to build you need to stay on top of resale listings as they go pretty quickly.

You can save some money by going outside the neighborhood and into East Austin 'proper' which has more of an Austin-y feel (both good and bad) as there are a lot of people tearing down old houses and building duplexes, SFH, and condos.

I had a contract on a home for 160K on Cloverleaf off Cameron in Nov 2010 and I chickened out at the last minute so now kicking myself forever!

[merk95]

Make sure your lender knows you are wanting a Condo. And make sure it is a warrantable condo.