Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I was responding to the idea that the reason you go to the suburbs is to be with other families. I did not state it clearly enough, my fault. If you have teens for example and the cul-de-sac is filled with five year olds, you may still feel left out even though the block is filled with families. With a greater spread of ages in the inner city that type of exclusion is less likely.
I didn't mean to flame about the size of the house, a previous poster had mention that for X price you could get a huge house with a huge lot in the burbs. I was just trying to point out that home size is not everything. My house is large for my neighborhood but even with three kids if I had to chose again, I would go smaller.
Truly, my world drops off at 183 to the north, William Cannon to the south, and 360 to the west . 18 years in Austin and I rarely go out of those bounds. I know the east side and the small towns to the east fairly well. The Hill Country, the lakes, the malls, the various developments, to the west, north and south all are a mystery to me.
So does this mean you haven't been to the Salt Lick in Driftwood? That's just tragic! What about watching the sunset at the Oasis? Horrible food but the drinks are good and the view breathtaking. No rollerblading on the Veloway?
Truly, my world drops off at 183 to the north, William Cannon to the south, and 360 to the west . 18 years in Austin and I rarely go out of those bounds. I know the east side and the small towns to the east fairly well. The Hill Country, the lakes, the malls, the various developments, to the west, north and south all are a mystery to me.
Oh, you have missed SO MUCH of Austin, in that case! Major chunks of it, in fact. You have such a delightful experience coming, if you step outside your self-imposed boundaries and explore the lakes, the Hill Country, all of the west, north, and south of the area you describe.
It's sort of like going to Amy's and always ordering plain vanilla (if you could get it there) instead of trying the numerous wonderful options she offers!
I was responding to the idea that the reason you go to the suburbs is to be with other families. I did not state it clearly enough, my fault. If you have teens for example and the cul-de-sac is filled with five year olds, you may still feel left out even though the block is filled with families. With a greater spread of ages in the inner city that type of exclusion is less likely.
I didn't mean to flame about the size of the house, a previous poster had mention that for X price you could get a huge house with a huge lot in the burbs. I was just trying to point out that home size is not everything. My house is large for my neighborhood but even with three kids if I had to chose again, I would go smaller.
Truly, my world drops off at 183 to the north, William Cannon to the south, and 360 to the west . 18 years in Austin and I rarely go out of those bounds. I know the east side and the small towns to the east fairly well. The Hill Country, the lakes, the malls, the various developments, to the west, north and south all are a mystery to me.
Well there's no doubt that being able to get a larger house for less money is a big draw of the suburbs (I posted about that earlier in this thread). You're absolutely right - home size isn't everything, but it's certainly one of the big factors that influenced my home-buying decision. I think a lot of Americans are attached to our big houses (I include myself in that broad generalization).
I think it's really cool that we Central Texans are so proud of our neighborhoods and find so many great reasons to live where we live! I'm sure your neighborhood is pretty awesome. Mine's awesome too. What a great problem to have - quibbling over how fabulous our neighborhoods are.
But I do have to second the other posters when they say that you should "get out" more. That is one huge benefit of the suburbs - if you live there, you probably have to do some driving around town to get to and from where you work, so you become (relatively) familiar with the lay of the Austin land.
There is a fantastic park in Round Rock - Old Settler's Park - it's right next to the Dell Diamond (the new Salt Lick is there...). You should take your family for a picnic and a hike or bike ride in Old Settler's one Saturday in the spring and finish off the evening with a baseball game! There's also a fantastic family-owned Louisiana cajun food restaurant in downtown Round Rock - called the Louisiana Longhorn. Food's great and it's fun to walk around downtown RR after you're done eating. You've also GOT to get to the Lone Star Bakery in RR - famous for the RR donuts - on a Saturday morning - the cars are lined up for blocks! It looks like a U2 concert just let out!
And there's the European Bistro in downtown Pflugerville - great Czech food. And the Green n' Growing Nursery in Pflugerville is a local business owned and operated by the same family for years. Close to the Green n' Growing Nursery is an awesome ceramics place where you can take your kids (teens or adults) to paint their own ceramics. The lady that owns it is super sweet and will sit with you and show you how to make almost any pattern you want.
There are also a couple of horse-riding stables in the RR/Pflugerville area, lakes with small beaches, etc. You should really check it out some time.
Last edited by Austinitegirl; 12-03-2008 at 02:10 PM..
Yes, it is true, I have never eaten at the Salt Lick in Driftwood. I hang my head in shame. But I have eaten at Black's and Kruse's Market (did I spell that right) in Lockhart.
I have eaten at the Oasis my first year in Austin, I accidentally kicked over the drink of a sunburned, drunk guy (and I didn't have money to buy him another one), he harassed us until we had to leave (actually snuck through the kitchen to avoid him, very obnoxious, aggressive drunk). That sort of ended the Oasis for me (although a friend has pointed out that the place has now been purified by fire and I should try it again).
I have been to Fredricksburg the first year of the Hill Country Wine Fest. No traumatic event but I've never felt the urge to go back. I've been to Lakeline Mall once. (Not a mall person). I have been out to Lake Travis a time or two (honestly probably three times in 18 years). I enjoyed most on New Years Day when it was deserted. I have seen the Dell Diamond, just this year. Never been to a game (I will rectify that). I can find my way to IKEA. I have eaten at Ski Shores. I first fell in love with Texas at Pernadales State Park.
I am sure that nice people live outside of my central austin existence, I even know a few! (And many cool artsy types who are now in Buda/Kyle)
Can I ask you how large your home is? A lot of people are not looking to pay 400K for less than 2000 square feet. Everyone has their own tastes, I wouldn't knock other people's choice of where to live. Also, I know someone who lived in Brkyer and they had a huge rat problem in the neighborhood.
My house is 2,000sq. ft. and I was not attempting to knock any one elses choices. I was really asking a direct question to those people who live in subdivisions and other such places why they live there as opposed to an older neighborhood.
Also, I don't really have a rat problem, but that could be because both my neighbors the people across the street and I all have cats..
Also, to all the other people that replied, I am not really at this point even thinking about money as a factor. It just seems much more appealing to me to live in an older home rather than a new one. Although you all have good points I pretty much already realized them before posting this. I have just always collected that for what you like you'd want regardless of the situation- for instance even if I could purchase a 10 bedroom mansion that was built 5 years ago I'd rather have a smaller home built 60 years ago because that is what I like and most people I am friends with like also. So I am asking why do you like living where you do (in a subdivision) and why do you live there? A few post, particularly on the first page answered well accept for obvious factors that they included. I guess I just did not initially ask the question correctly.
I don't want to second guess anyone's life choices, but we are in the city because:
1)A 2,500 sf house is enough for us
2)We like houses that all look different
3)We don't like to commute (dh and I are 10 min from work)
4)We like to be close to local businesses
5)We like old trees
We are new to Austin after two decades in south Florida. We decided to rent for a year or so in order to get to know the neighborhoods in Austin before purchasing a home; luckily our home in Fort Lauderdale sold although at one-half the price of several years ago. I am getting to know the central business district as well as the suburbs and just want to say that I love everything that Austin has to offer and we are both thrilled to be living here. My husband had his sailboat shipped out here and has found a friendly funky marina on Lake Travis. During the many months it took to relocate here, he spent many nights sleeping on the boat and waking up to beautiful cool Texas mornings in a safe and quiet boating community. I've only been here a month but have been exploring the hike and bike path downtown, going to a benefit concert of the African Children's Choir, trying Carlos's new restaurant, Maria, Maria. We have taken our old 1987 Westphalia camper to the mechanical geniuses at Flamingo Garage and brought some of our broken furniture to the strangely competent refinisher right next door...these are businesses nearby UT and downtown and yes, I would like to be within walking distance of all of the wonderful, quirky, local businesses. However, today I needed to purchase two small carry on suitcases and headed to Barton Creek Square where I found the employees to be, in usual Austin manner, helpful and polite.
Now the question is: where should we rent or buy? Stay here in the Cat Mountain area renting a duplex or purchase a home downtown or purchase a home in the suburbs? Frankly, after owning a 1947 post-war 2/1 for 18 years, the idea of old plumbing, old electrical, leaky roof, rats finding easy entry to attic and garage, termites, antiquated kitchen, replacing, repairing....yada yada i'll stop there.....seems like a subtle form of slavery. New homes with forward facing garages, off gassing fiber board, no landscaping and convoluted cul-de-sacs do not hold a mystical appeal to an aging fifties couple with no kids. Perhaps we will continue renting in the North Cat Mountain neighborhood but I'm starting to get fed up with the 1986 model refrigerator that runs day and night...so now I'm thinking that our elderly Doberman might like a yard.
The point of this post is just to say that arguing about where to live in Austin overlooks the fact that, from the point of view of a newcomer, Austin is a city that functions well and any person is lucky to live here---suburbs, countryside or central business district...it's all FABULOUS.
Having previously been city dwellers in both Houston and Denver we decided that we wanted a little more elbow room. We didn't increase our square footage when we moved to Hutto. Our house in Denver was 1500 sq. ft. and our house now is the same. I DID love being close to the things that we were close to in Denver, but we didn't like our postage stamp sized back yard. Granted, City Park and Turtle Park were within walking/biking distance but somedays we just didn't want to do that. Our yard was hardly big enough to put a swingset in. Our yard now is like 3 of our previous one. And even though I'm in the "Suburbs" I still actually DO live close enough to everything but much of it is in a slightly different form than before. I can't even call Hutto a suburb because it's just a little town North East of Austin with it's own history, as is Round Rock. I can walk to the post office, library, school, coffee shop, restaurants, Texan Cafe got mentioned as one of the top small town Texas Cafes in Texas Monthly recently, the little hutto museum is here (Yes, I know, not a big giant deal, but nonetheless, a museum ) I'm a little over 5 minutes away from the Dell Diamond and Old Settlers Park. I just don't get bored around here really. I know how to keep myself busy. And it's not like we live 100 miles outside of Austin so we can't go to festivals or hear bands if we want. And if we don't want to go to Austin for that, there are a few dance halls around here that have local bands play at them and they are just as good as any around Austin. Lots of Artists and musicians moving out this way nowadays.
First, thanks for all the kind response and lack of flaming to my admission of my strictly central austin life! (I lost someone dear to me today and this is not my best day).
I know that there are nice things "out there" and that I miss some of them because I'm not willing to drive 20 miles to them. But I can walk to great park, I can walk to the library. I can walk to SoCo, the Continental Club etc, restaurants. If I run out of coffee in the morning, a coffee shop is just 100 yards away. Downtown is only 5 minutes away. When my kids get bigger we will bike to Zilker, Trail of Lights, ACL Fest, Sandy's etc. I am content.
Back to the OP's original question: I think that people are either attracted to master planned communities with HOAs, entrance signs, sweeping streets or repelled by them. I have visited friends in Circle C and Steiner and I seriously nearly have a nervous breakdown! I think that these elements symbolize affluence, safety, security, and other positive things to many many people. But when I see a big development with an entrance sign, identical mailboxes, similar style homes, winding streets, oversize lots and garages, I have a visceral negative response. I know it is not rational.
I also know that many people see the streets of Bouldin, Zilker, Crestview, Travis Heights, Allandale, and think that they are cramped, small, dingy, crowded neighborhoods, while others (me) see vitality, diversity, creativity, along with interesting neighbors. I don't want to live where there isn't yard art! But many (great good interesting people) want to live where they can be sure that the neighbor won't put up a big funky statue.
Some people think great barbeque involves sauce, others know the sauce has nothing to do with it! What "feels" right to some people, "feels" wrong to others. I don't think that there is much logic to it. But Austin (and the world) has enough room for all of us.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
) I'm a little over 5 minutes away from the Dell Diamond and Old Settlers Park. I just don't get bored around here really. I know how to keep myself busy. And it's not like we live 100 miles outside of Austin so we can't go to festivals or hear bands if we want. And if we don't want to go to Austin for that, there are a few dance halls around here that have local bands play at them and they are just as good as any around Austin. Lots of Artists and musicians moving out this way nowadays.
