Best Neighborhoods to live in near Downtown Austin? (wood floors, transplants)

[moody15]

Hey guys!

I'm moving from New York City to Austin at the end of August and am overwhelmed by the process. I have kind of an idea where I want to live but don't want to cut off any great neighborhoods I don't know about.

So I want to be within a 20 minute drive from UT and Pearl Street. Safety is a big deal for me. I assume it will be safer regardless seeing as I am coming from NYC...but I just want to make that clear.

I don't necessarily want to be in the middle of the college town, but I do want to be near bars and restaurants and cafe's of the sort. If you guys have any recommendations for me, that would be great

[fminogue]

What sort of price range were you looking for, there are a lot of nice neighborhoods that are not "downtown" that would be good for you. Depending on what you are looking for, you could be looking at around 250K to 1M or more. So it really depends on the price range a lot. There are not a lot of "bad" neighborhoods in Austin, so you can't go too wrong no matter where you go. If you give me an idea of what you are looking for as to condo, duplex, townhouse, single family, size, number of bedrooms, bathrooms, that would also help me point you in the right direction. Just let me know, and I can give you some tips on where to go.

[DashRiprock]

Why Pearl Street? That's pretty much nothing but student apartments and fraternity houses. Are you a student, or plan to work in that area? Because if not there's almost no reason I can think of that you'd want to be near there or need easy access to it.

While there are exceptions, as a general rule the UT area is not where the bars and restaurants are concentrated, although I suppose that depends on how one defines "UT area". Even roping in Hyde Park doesn't get you all that much.

Also, what you seem to be looking for is probably going to be exorbitantly expensive so be prepared.

[Aquitaine]

Price range and school requirements would help a lot.

Our neighborhood (Mueller) is 'near downtown' but only by otherwise "suburban neighborhood" standards in that we're 2 miles from the capitol as opposed to 10 -- and while we have cafes and bars you can walk to it's not quite the same thing as living in, say, Hyde Park or off Lamar. But those areas are more expensive than here and here is more expensive than most other suburban neighborhoods.

At any rate, we're NYC transplants and like Mueller just fine, minus the constant virtue signaling, but that's no different than Brooklyn these days!

[RunninJT]

I agree with you, I think the worst areas of Austin you would find absurdly safe if you compared to some of the most dangerous areas of NYC.

With that in mind you probably have a lot of options depending on your budget. Since you mentioned "drive", that also expands the area considerably.

So what's your budget?

[moody15]

I'm looking to rent an apartment. Sorry I should of specified that! My budget is $800 a month, give or take though.

[moody15]

All I said was I wanted to be in range of UT and Pearl haha. I didn't mention really anything else that I am looking for besides safety. The only person I know lives at Pearl Street, so I would love to be accessible to her and not an hour drive away.

[moody15]

Sorry I didn't mention more details. It was late at night and I didn't know this board was that active!

Here are some details:

I am looking to rent an apartment. $800 a month is my budget. I would like to be 20-30 mins away from UT (friend lives there). I am currently searching online and I know I can find some really nice studio places for $750-$900 (with pools, gyms, dog parks, hard wood floors, W/D hookups, A/C, balcony, etc)

I really just want to know which neighborhood would be the best to find an apartment in. I want to reiterate that safety is a big one for me.

[RunninJT]

Originally Posted by moody15

I want to reiterate that safety is a big one for me.

What are you worried about? Tornado's? Rattlesnakes? Gang War Crossfire? Shark attacks?

All four of those are equally likely in the Central Austin area so relax. It's Austin, not East LA.

[Aquitaine]

20-30 minutes away shouldn't be too much of a problem but you're looking a bit further out than where we are. I know there is some new development out on 290 East near the toll road -- not a whole lot there but it's not that far out and the commute in wouldn't be too awful.