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Old 05-18-2017, 12:38 AM
 
Location: Round Rock, Texas
13,437 posts, read 15,365,010 times
Reputation: 18959

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Quote:
Originally Posted by luksky View Post
Living standards are always subjective no matter where you live. Some people have higher (and lower) standards than others as far as living conditions. Personally, I would rather live in a "sketchy" (again subjective) neighborhood than in the burbs with a bunch of soccer mom types with annoying curtain climbers running around.
Actually we hate soccer and I work for a living. We drive altimas. And I hail from Bronx New York, so I'm anything but a step ford wife.

To each his own, but I'd rather live on stereotypical wisteria lane.
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Old 05-18-2017, 09:27 AM
 
Location: East TX
2,116 posts, read 3,027,202 times
Reputation: 3349
Quote:
Originally Posted by UbbyJuice View Post
Currently living in Littleton, CO but thinking of moving down to Austin, TX this summer.
Colorado is just so super expensive now with all the legal weed stuff, I think it's time to run.
My rent has gone up, year after year, and it shows no signs of stopping. I'm just tired of it

Can someone give me the "cliff notes" of Austin TX?

What I'm mainly interested in knowing:

1. What "sides" of town are the "good" sides? What are the crime/"bad" sides? (North, South, West, east, etc)
2. What "sides" are cheaper and vice versa?
3. How's the local economy there? Is there generally plenty of work?
4. How is traffic generally?
5. 0% Texas income tax sounds SWEET, but are there any "catches"?

Many thanks Austin-ians, I have been pondering this idea for some time but I think soon it will be time to pull the trigger

I will take any advice or warnings into consideration.
Landlords raise rent. It's what they do. It is expensive here too.


1. Define "good" and "bad". What are you looking for in terms of what you want? This city has a major university, major homeless population, center of state government, and lakeshores with multi-million dollar homes. There is such a wide range that you can spend anywhere from your $900 a month to $900 a day.
2. See above.
3. The economy here is very strong, and continues to grow even when the rest of the country is lagging. There is work. there is also >100 people a day moving to the metro area. It is competitive. Wage rates are not always in keeping with cost of living if you want to live in the "cool" areas.
4 Traffic sucks during and around the rush hours. I-35 sucks all the time. Almost 2M people are traveling around a metro area that has hills and a major river running through it. Public transportation here is poor.
5. No income tax is nice. Sales tax, property taxes (which landlords pass along to tenants), and other assorted fees take up some of that savings.


This can be a really great place and it offers some nice benefits for the right people. It is getting more expensive and continues to grow. Much of the city is not walking friendly where there is affordable housing so it likely is a car dependent lifestyle on your housing budget. That means traffic challenges. You also need to be prepared for summer heat that is equivalent to living on the surface of the sun when it hits 105 degrees in the summer.
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Old 05-18-2017, 12:05 PM
 
Location: Avery Ranch, Austin, TX
8,977 posts, read 17,464,741 times
Reputation: 4000
Cliff Notes: Gonna be near 100 degrees on the heat index if we get afternoon sun...middle of May
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Old 05-18-2017, 12:50 PM
 
103 posts, read 210,180 times
Reputation: 95
Quote:
Originally Posted by 10scoachrick View Post
Cliff Notes: Gonna be near 100 degrees on the heat index if we get afternoon sun...middle of May
It's that hot here in New Jersey today too. Bleh. It's snowing as we speak in Colorado where my sister lives. Crazy weird weather today. Though I will take Texas winters over another Jersey winter any day!
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Old 05-21-2017, 04:48 PM
 
79 posts, read 80,247 times
Reputation: 65
Rents are high and climbing, and property taxes are becoming astronomical.
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Old 05-22-2017, 08:50 AM
 
Location: Dallas
31,288 posts, read 20,640,206 times
Reputation: 9324
Quote:
Originally Posted by cBach View Post
5. 0% Texas income tax sounds SWEET, but are there any "catches"?

Yes, the property taxes more than make up for it.
That depends on your income and your property. For millions of people the property taxes are a lot lower than income taxes.
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Old 05-22-2017, 09:01 AM
 
Location: Dallas
31,288 posts, read 20,640,206 times
Reputation: 9324
Quote:
Originally Posted by UbbyJuice View Post
What I'm mainly interested in knowing:

1. What "sides" of town are the "good" sides? What are the crime/"bad" sides? (North, South, West, east, etc)
2. What "sides" are cheaper and vice versa?
3. How's the local economy there? Is there generally plenty of work?
4. How is traffic generally?
5. 0% Texas income tax sounds SWEET, but are there any "catches"?

Many thanks Austin-ians, I have been pondering this idea for some time but I think soon it will be time to pull the trigger

I will take any advice or warnings into consideration.
1. What "sides" of town are the "good" sides? What are the crime/"bad" sides? (North, South, West, east, etc). Austin has a very low crime rate (13th lowest violent crime rate among cities over 100,000), but it is higher in central Austin and east Austin.

2. What "sides" are cheaper and vice versa? The highest cost areas are near downtown and west of Austin in the hill country.

3. How's the local economy there? Is there generally plenty of work? The economy is doing quite well. Unemployment is 2.8% so there are lots of jobs.

4. How is traffic generally? Miserable. One of the worst in the nation and there are no plans to make it better.

5. 0% Texas income tax sounds SWEET, but are there any "catches"? Property taxes are high. So if you have high income and low property value (or if you rent), your taxes will be lower than in CO. If you have a high property value and lower income, your taxes will be higher in TX.

Oh, and our weed is all black market.
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Old 05-22-2017, 09:08 AM
 
Location: Dallas
31,288 posts, read 20,640,206 times
Reputation: 9324
Quote:
Originally Posted by luksky View Post
Living standards are always subjective no matter where you live. Some people have higher (and lower) standards than others as far as living conditions. Personally, I would rather live in a "sketchy" (again subjective) neighborhood than in the burbs with a bunch of soccer mom types with annoying curtain climbers running around.
So, you are OK with "annoying curtain climbers running around" in central Austin, just not in the burbs?
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Old 05-22-2017, 09:54 AM
 
Location: Austin, Texas
28 posts, read 22,699 times
Reputation: 36
I lived in Centennial before coming here. Prices are better here, but housing is scarce, as we are in a Sellers' market. I agree, bad sides of town are "relative." I live in the South East, and we love it. Lower costs keep my payment low. Traffic is bad here, and probably as bad as Denver on 25 during rush hour. I get where you are coming from with the legal weed stuff. That was one of the reasons we decided to leave. Austin is very eclectic. There are a few colleges here, so we have student life, we have great live music, great weather, except July and August when it is pretty hot. I lived in Texas before I lived in Centennial, and I moved back to live in Austin because I like it better than most of Texas cities. It is crowded, but not huge so even a bad commute is not as bad as a commute can be in Denver. Hope this helps.
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Old 05-22-2017, 11:22 AM
 
Location: Round Rock, Texas
12,886 posts, read 13,196,327 times
Reputation: 13823
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roadking2003 View Post
That depends on your income and your property. For millions of people the property taxes are a lot lower than income taxes.
Yep. Buy a small house in the 'burbs and it's a lot cheaper.
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