Possible move...Am I a good fit? (Austin, West: for sale, real estate)

[affluent]

Hello all,
A brief background about me and my family: Me, wife and 5 year old son living in Irvine, CA for last 10 years. We are originally from India. Currently own a town home with about $380K equity which will be used for Austin home. I have job offer in Austin from large semiconductor company. The total compensation is 205K (140K base salary + RSUs bonus etc...). Want to move to Austin as the most important thing for us is to settle down where I don't have to worry about finding the new job if needed without physically moving (want my son to go to excellent schools also). Wife currently does not work and intends not to work full time in future. She wants to do community/social service.

We do not have any debt except mortgage and would not mind modest home (~2000 Sq. ft) with best schools. Ideally we want 3BD home similar to Irvine home. Want my home expenses (mortgage, property taxes, HOA etc..) within $2500 - $3000 Can you guys recommend areas we should look at. We plan to rent for a year first. Can you guys give some guidance on schools districts and how the quality of life will be? Work will be at Southwest Pkwy, Austin, TX 78735


Thanks in advance.

[Trainwreck20]

Presuming you want to transfer all your equity into a new home and mortgage any difference, you can really live a LOT of places, especially around where you will be working. My first thought is Travis Country, which is just off SW Parkway. I am not sure you want to get the BEST school, as much as a really good one? If you really want to maximize your school, then you might look into Eanes (commonly referred to as Westlake, which is the largest portion of the district). Houses can be very expensive there, but some are more reasonable - Cuernavaca is a popular street for getting into Eanes 'reasonably'. Your commute will be a bit further, but the schools a bit better. All the schools in that area of town, though are pretty good.

[affluent]

Thanks Trainwreck20!
Yes, I plan to use all my current home equity. Looking at Westlake Hills area, most of the listings are for vacant lots or the homes which are too big for our taste (anything more than 3500 sq ft overwhelms my wife!) How are the Bee cave and Steiner ranch areas? Will the traffic be worse?

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by affluent

Thanks Trainwreck20!
Yes, I plan to use all my current home equity. Looking at Westlake Hills area, most of the listings are for vacant lots or the homes which are too big for our taste (anything more than 3500 sq ft overwhelms my wife!) How are the Bee cave and Steiner ranch areas? Will the traffic be worse?

Traffic in Austin is generally pretty bad for a city this size, although it can vary greatly depending on the particulars of your commute. You need a bit more of a priority list to get better options, though.

- What do you want your maximum commute to be? Use Google maps to check out commute lengths during the school year and hours you would be commuting. A VERY good rule of thumb is to stay on the same side of the river (Colorado River/Lady Bird Lake/Lake Austin - they are all the same thing, essentially) that you will be working on. I have quite a few acquaintances that work at AMD or NXP that live in Travis Country and Circle C, and a few out in Belterra. All are solid options depending on what you are looking at. Steiner is really much further than I would want to be - Google Maps says 30 minutes to an hour if you leave your home at 7:30 in the morning. Travis Country is 6-7 minutes. Belterra is 20-30 minutes. Circle C is 15-20. Some of the neighborhoods out in Lake Travis are a bit closer than Steiner.

- What is the maximum/minimum size house that you are looking for? It will actually limit you notably to stay at 2,000 sf or under, but you will expand your options if you want to go up to 2,400 or 2,800 or whatever.

- With the amount you are putting down and the size house you are looking at, you will be no where near $2,500 to $3,000 month. Maybe if you were putting $0 down and getting a 15-yr mortgage. Check out Austin real estate | Homes for Sale Austin | Austin Homes | Austin real estate | Homes for Sale Austin | Austin Homes and mess with the parameters. As an estimate, you can fairly safely use 3% of home cost for property tax + HOA fees.

- Do you care how old your house is? Belterra is very new, Circle C fairly new, Travis Country generally a bit older.

[affluent]

Thanks Trainwreck20 for all this good info.
We don't mind older homes. The max we are looking for is ~3200/3500 sq ft home. Ideally we want 2500 sq ft home. We plan to visit for a week and look at the different neighborhoods. Wife is more inclined to Circle C at the moment based on what we see online.
I prefer shorter commutes. Anything up to 30-min one-way is acceptable.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by affluent

Hello all,
A brief background about me and my family: Me, wife and 5 year old son living in Irvine, CA for last 10 years. We are originally from India. Currently own a town home with about $380K equity which will be used for Austin home. I have job offer in Austin from large semiconductor company. The total compensation is 205K (140K base salary + RSUs bonus etc...). Want to move to Austin as the most important thing for us is to settle down where I don't have to worry about finding the new job if needed without physically moving (want my son to go to excellent schools also). Wife currently does not work and intends not to work full time in future. She wants to do community/social service.

We do not have any debt except mortgage and would not mind modest home (~2000 Sq. ft) with best schools. Ideally we want 3BD home similar to Irvine home. Want my home expenses (mortgage, property taxes, HOA etc..) within $2500 - $3000 Can you guys recommend areas we should look at. We plan to rent for a year first. Can you guys give some guidance on schools districts and how the quality of life will be? Work will be at Southwest Pkwy, Austin, TX 78735


Thanks in advance.

you are going to find the cost of living to be low in austin compared to irvine.

General tips

1) since you are working south of the river, live south of the river.
2) I personally wouldnt go much farther west than 360. Steiner is a nightmare to get in and out of
3) I think you will struggle to get a 2000 sq ft house, you will likely have to go up to 2500 to increase your selection. If you were going to buy in very central austin it would be easier.
4) Travis country has a few in that size range, but a lot more that are larger.

If you plan to be here a long time you want to live as central as possible in case you change jobs. Most tech jobs are north of the river.

Take a look at austinhomesearch.com, it is the official MLS site and their map search works well.

[affluent]

Thanks Austin97!
When you say "live as central as possible" which neighborhoods I should look at?

[cBach]

It will be around 45 minutes each way from Steiner to the main semi-conductors.

I suggest Circle C. Get a house around $450k with 4 bedroom, can convert one of the fourth bedrooms to a study to get your 3 bedrooms you like, aim for around 3000 sf at that price to get an improved in good condition house.

[Hill Country]

Many new apartments are built along Southwest Pkwy. Try to rent first.

Talk with you colleagues and see where they commute from. I would suggest community around Bee Cave. New construction like Bella Collinas is only 15 minutes drive to your office. And NO traffic.

[Bp25]

Westlake is your best bet, though expensive. Semiconductor companies are anywhere from south of river, to midpoint on either 360 or loop 1, all the way to north in domain area. If you want to have reasonable commute to most of these and top notch schools, then westlake/Eanes ISD is the best option. The other option with older smaller homes and pretty good schools is Austin ISD's feeder of Hill elem, Murchison middle and either Anderson high or LASA (not automatic admission/selective). Of course, there are private schools choices if you want that route but I don't know much about that.