Moving to Georgetown, need advice (Austin, Temple: appointed, apartments, rental)

[zolidze]

Hi,
My husband & I are moving to Georgetown from Ohio.
He will be in a residency program at VA Hospital in Temple for 1 year and my job will be downtown Austin. On the map looks like Georgetown is more or less in between so that we can share the commute. How is the commute from Georgetown to Temple and from Georgetown to Austin downtown?

How is Georgetown overall?
We love outdoors, I heard there are lots of lakes in Austin.
Are there good bike trails and parks?

We'll be renting for a year. Has anyone heard of Waters Edge Apartments?
What's a good place to live in Georgetown? We can pay about 1000 a month for a good apartment, condo, townhome, would prefer a pool.
We have a cocker spaniel, looking for a nice wooded neighborhood, with parks, shops and restaurants around... I would appreciate all suggestions.

Thank you!

[TexasHorseLady]

Most places to live in Georgetown are good - the question is, what is your preference?

One of the longest hiking trails in the state is in Georgetown, the Goodwater Trail. It goes around Lake Georgetown.

San Gabriel Park is in Georgetown. There are many parks nearby. I believe there's now a dog park in San Gabriel Park.

Waters Edge Apartments overlook the San Gabriel River. They're nice, as far as I've heard from people who have lived there, though I've not seen them personally.

There are several neighborhoods in Georgetown that would meet your qualifications. What's your price range likely to be?

[dburatti]

The commute to Temple will be better than your commute to Austin most of the time. And depending on what time your commute to Austin is it might not be that bad.

Georgetown has Lake Georgetown, a man made lake with camping, boating, fishing, and a nature trail that allows hiking and biking. Biking on the south side of the lake is currently not allowed, but a local club has an MOU with the Corps of Engineers and is improving the trail, which should be open to bikes soon. The trail on both sides of the lake is rocky and technical on a bike. There are many more trails in Austin.

I believe the apartments you referenced are walking distance to downtown and the Rivery Trail. Downtown has shopping & restaurants. Wolf Ranch is a fairly new strip mall across the Interstate on Hwy. 29. Georgetown is also the county seat, fyi.

[mark311]

Georgetown sounds like a good location for your commutes. The commute from Georgetown to downtown Austin will probably be between 35 minutes at very best with little traffic to just around 1 hour in rush hour traffic

Here's a link for the Georgetown Parks:
City of Georgetown, Texas :: Parks & Recreation

At the Water's Edge apartments, you could easily ride your bike to San Gabriel park and hit the main trail there. There is also a place to jump on at Pickett Trail Park I think, but it was still being re-built last year when heavy rains washed away the trail in that area about a year ago. I hope it's back to normal by Spring if it isn't already fixed.

My parents lived in the Water's Edge apartments for 6 months while their house in Georgetown Village was being built. It was a nice safe complex and had easy access to I-35. They even had an enclosed garage which was nice. That complex was recommended by their builder, so I think they get a lot of people moving in there for less than a year while they're waiting for houses to be built.

[carolinajack]

Zoli: Sounds like me and my family. we will move i think to Georgetown probably and looking for outdoor activities, moving to an apartment for a year to get used to the terrain and we have a English Springer Spaniel and coming for Pennsylvania.

[zolidze]

Thanks all for advice. i am excited, it sounds like a nice place to live.

TexasHosrseLady: - we are looking to pay no more than $1000 for rent. We want to save up and buy a house once my husband graduates. So what I am looking for in a place to live is safe neighborhood, lots of green, walking distances to shops, restaurants, parks (or as close to walking as possible, we can currently walk to a grocery store and restaurants where we live even though Cleveland is not the most pedestrian friendly city), since the weather would be nice most of the year i am looking forward to using the pool - by the way is it warm enough to use it year round? Otherwise just a nice, clean place with friednly neighbors.
So currently all I could find online that would resemble my wishlist is Waters Edge. And from other posts it sounds like a nice place to live. If you have other suggestions, I would love to check them out. Thanks again

[zolidze]

CarolinaJack:
when are you moving? and have you decided where to rent?
we are moving sometimes in June...

[carolinajack]

i am still looking , i have an agent helping with finding apartments and rental houses and future home.

i hear it is lovely there

[ILikeSmartHippies]

Originally Posted by zolidze

We'll be renting for a year. Has anyone heard of Waters Edge Apartments?
What's a good place to live in Georgetown? We can pay about 1000 a month for a good apartment, condo, townhome, would prefer a pool.
We have a cocker spaniel, looking for a nice wooded neighborhood, with parks, shops and restaurants around... I would appreciate all suggestions.

Thank you!

I just moved to austin. I checked out Waters Edge apartments in georgetown. Very luxury place. In fact, it is the ONLY place in georgetown I would consider renting.. I think I looked at 5 or 6 apt complexes (some small) in georgetown and they were pretty low class. No offense if anyone here lives in other apts there. To me, kind of ghetto. Waters Edge seemed the only professional-level place in the town (and several others mentioned that as well). The town is small. Like, real small. Like, main street is two blocks, small. Like, so small that people say how much they love it because it's "not the craziness of the city" in that "I just almost fell off the hay wagon" voice. lol. However it is very historic looking and I liked that. Also it seems like the city is attempting a napa-valley-wine-tourist vibe, but that's seemingly just emerging (?). i.e. there's a couple wine tasting & gifty shops on that main street. Which is good (better than a dollar general in the same spot, at least).

I think if I were to live in georgetown for 1 year, I'd find a private owner to lease a townhouse. Seems like there were a lot of signs. Get a copy of the paper.

Also, BTW, there's these "apartment locator" services in austin (and other tx cities?). I never heard of those before. I called one up, and they drove me around to all kinds of places (apt complexes) with criteria I specified, and I ended up finding a good apt. in 1 day. They get paid from referral bonus/commission, so it was free for me (actually worth a couple hundred bucks in the time I saved).

BTW I think the quote on Waters Edge was like.. $650 for nice 1 bedroom, $750 for nice 2 bedroom, ... about like that. I don't think you'll be spending $1000 total! At least, for rent. electricity with lots of A/C, is another matter, I don't know about that yet. People say elec gets up to $150/mo in the hot months.

PS. one more thing about water's edge. it supposedly has private riverfront access to the river, and rents kayaks or something. (Maybe it is dry right now? I dunno, I didn't check.) So you might want to look for those kinds of places as well.

[shaund44]

I recently looked at georgetown TX and was disappointed. I am moving from boston and have to say ive been to cleveland, I hope you see this place before you make any commitmnts. the commute is tough and you can get a decent place in a town like pflugervlle for 1000 dollars. Im not knocking georgetown or texas for that matter but im moving to texas and found living closer to the city if a must if you are to feel at ease wth a big move like this. I have never seen so much burnt grass, but the price is right. My career is bringing me to austin so im going regardless, but I would like some more green and someone in ohio i feel would have similar feelings. I hope you like Gtown but check out some more city type area for your own well being. I do not think you will be walking anywhere for anything especially groceries. Goodluck