Possible relocation to Austin burbs from WI (buy, moving)

[ang1978]

Ideally, we would have a new or newer constructed home b/c we are like open floor plans, with 3-4 bedrooms. Lot size doesn't really matter to us, nothing so small that I can high five my neighbor from my driveway, but we don't need a 1/2 acre, either. We would like an area with walking/biking trails, my husband mountain bikes, my daughter and husband both rock climb, so it would be nice to be relatively close to those activities. I'd like to be in a burb where Target, grocery shopping, restaurants, etc. are convenient and within 10-15 mins away from my house. Again, we aren't interested in being around pretentious and snobby people. My husband is a PM for software development. Thanks!

[JH6]

Bring the family down for a week during August and let me know what you think.

I don't mind the heat, I moved from the Northeast and adapted nicely.

[mesmer]

There are very few places in Austin where "snobby" people live that are in your budget. I don't think that's something you need to be concerned with.

[hound 109]

Originally Posted by ang1978

Ideally, we would have a new or newer constructed home b/c we are like open floor plans, with 3-4 bedrooms. Lot size doesn't really matter to us, nothing so small that I can high five my neighbor from my driveway, but we don't need a 1/2 acre, either. We would like an area with walking/biking trails, my husband mountain bikes, my daughter and husband both rock climb, so it would be nice to be relatively close to those activities. I'd like to be in a burb where Target, grocery shopping, restaurants, etc. are convenient and within 10-15 mins away from my house. Again, we aren't interested in being around pretentious and snobby people. My husband is a PM for software development. Thanks!

There are 14-16 very good to great High School tracks located in very nice Burbs that are located North, NW, W, & SW of downtown. Knowing where to recommend is impossible without knowing where the job is. (And there is no guaranty you'll work Central...or even get a job).

As others have mentioned, living on one side of town & working on the other is not workable and is frankly dumb (since you don't have to). Finding a NEW home in one of the Burbs that rings the city for 400-500K is possible, but again one doesn't want to live in (say) the very fine Lake Travis / Bee Caves area and then find work in NE Austin (or at Dell).

You're doing things back *sswards. Get the Job first and then look for the home. If you decide you HAVE to move down prior to getting a job, then rent.

[AMJ27]

Originally Posted by ang1978

We aren't sure that he would work downtown, just a general assumption at this point. He's a PM for software development, so I'm hoping he can find employment outside of downtown.

Yes, we used to live in Chicago and currently live in Madison, WI. So, we went from VERY heavy traffic to absolutely nothing. We know that we'll encounter more traffic than Madison, but don't want it to be as bad as Chicago.

We moved here from the Chicagoland area 7 years ago (and I lived in Madison for a couple of years in my 20's). People love to complain about the traffic here, but it is definitely much more manageable than Chicago!

We had a similar set of requirements when we moved here and ended up in SW Austin. My husband was interviewing for positions in SW Austin, downtown, and in NW Austin so we were evaluating neighborhoods up north too. I haven't really kept up with pricing up there, but we liked the Great Hills area in NW Austin. It might be over your budget though at this point. In general, SW Austin is a good location if you are working in SW Austin or downtown.

[ang1978]

Thanks for the replies. At a point where my husband works will drive the decision, but at this stage we just want to get a feel for what sort of housing we would be looking at for our budget, given our wants and needs. For instance, if it turns out that we would need to endure an hour commute each way because that's the only place we could find housing within a good school district, that also fell within our budget, then we wouldn't need to bother with finding a job or looking at Austin further. We want to know that there are a few areas that we could see ourselves in and THEN look deeper into employment options since finding the right area to live has proven itself to be far more difficult than finding employment in our particular case. It's great to know that working downtown isn't a forgone conclusion, that makes things easier.

[Antny12]

We moved down from Chicago and rented for a year out near the lake before buying a house in Leander. Quite honestly the cedar park/Leander/Georgetown Area is the only one we ever considered buying in. It has more the feel of the suburbs from Chicago in a lot of ways. They have good schools,nice housing, easy commute into Austin (yes there will be traffic during the rush hours like any city if you have to go into downtown), tons of jobs, tons of new developments/retatail, the Texas stars hockey at the cedar park center (heb center now), access to so much (mall, Georgetowns downtown district, outlet mall, bass pro, del diamond, building a kalahairi resort in round rock close buy, Austin aquarium, ifly, the Alamo movie, theatre, pinballz, access to metro train, etc etc etc.

My reccomendation is look into those 3 areas.

[CarnivalGal]

No one can answer your question without knowing where he will be working. If you move to Circle C, for example, which is an area that you would probably like, but he gets a job at Dell, your commute is going to be way, WAY longer than 30 minutes.

And just to give you an example about traffic, it takes me 30 minutes to go about 3 miles on my morning commute. And I don't live or work anywhere near downtown.

[Dynamoo]

First, Search.

Second, Central Austin unless you want to spend 2 hrs a day in traffic.

[Rynldsbr]

Former Badger myself, still trying to get rid of a house in Johnson Creek, have been in Austin area about two and a half years. My .02 worth of information may be worthwhile.


Lots of suburbs here will be appealing compared to suburban Chicago. My experience is that most here will be far less pretentious and much more diverse than the Chicagoland burbs. As others have mentioned, if you want family friendly bang-for-the-buck while relatively easy commute to most tech jobs, likely choices are Georgetown, Leander, Cedar Park, and Round Rock.


Traffic here is moderately bad. I35 is the equivalent of I90 going to west Chicago suburbs. It sucks. Almost all the time. Most of the rest of the metro area is worse than Madison but nowhere near Chicago bad. Just a lot of people on the highways in rush hour. People here tend to drive fast and furious but are surprisingly good at it compared to my experiences with Chicago drivers.


PM jobs here are available, but contested. I have a couple friends and a next door neighbor all in similar type employment and the market is tough. Many tech employees fleeing California arrive here daily as well as the UT grads that decide they love it and never leave. Currently State of Texas is on a hiring freeze and is already experiencing a shortage of staff in multiple areas/agencies. I suspect when the hiring freeze is lifted (hopefully September 1) there will be a fairly substantial hiring effort. Pay is lower than private sector but benefits and security is good. Otherwise, private sector positions are competitive, be prepared.


Weather...winter here is the worst three days of the year for the locals. I enjoy the drive to work on days when there is a freeze warning because a significant number of people will stay home. August here is like living on the surface of the sun however and must be experienced to be truly appreciated. I suggest that you visit during that time frame to know what it is like before making the plunge.


You will trade brats and cheese curds for BBQ and donuts. Shiner beer is king here instead of Miller or Leinie's. All in all, it is a pretty laid back culture with a general live-and-let-live mentality. Good luck.