Help with relocation -- where to live (Austin, Round Rock: 2010, apartment)

[jo4321]

We've had our home on the market in NW Chicago suburbs for 8 months and it has finally sold (140K below our original asking price). We're moving to Austin because of my husband's job -- and obviously our price range is heavily impacted by the loss on our home. Last summer we were in the $575000 range and thought we could find something in a good school district -- we have 4 kids. Now we are wondering about areas in the $450000 range. Good schools are our biggest priority. Commute is not an issue. We have a middle school daughter, a 1st grader and two preschoolers. We need to know more about the taxes, utility costs, car and home owners insurance costs because this is all uncharted territory for us. Any input would be great.

[1mintjulep]

Property taxes are sky high, but there is no state income tax in Texas, so it may or may not be a wash, depending on what kind of a place you get.

Seems to me that $450k gives you a lot of breathing room - it really depends on what kind of a place you're looking for, tho. If you want to live in Central Austin, you wouldn't be able to get as much house for that as you would in Round Rock, for example.

Car insurance - I pay about $650 a year for liability on a beat-up Chevy Cavalier. I've never had a to file a claim (knock on wood) so I dunno how good or bad this company is when it comes to that. I only know that Progressive and Geico both wanted to charge me close to $200 a month for full-coverage on aforementioned Cavalier, which I found ridiculous.

[1mintjulep]

Oh and you will probably run your air conditioner non-stop for 9 months out of the year and you will only use the heat about 2 months out of the year. Currently our electric bills run between $100-$150 a month most months (sometimes they're a bit higher, sometimes a bit lower but we've yet to hit $200), and that's for a 2 bedroom 1100 square foot apartment with two people.

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

Congratulations on selling your home, sorry it wasn't the price you wanted but I relate. We are in the process as well. For the price range you have you will be able to purchase: privacy, nice home, land with home and any area you want to live in. I'm a tad jealous. You won't have any problem finding a home in your price range.

For schools you can check the many websites and see how the schools rate. You can call the principal and talk to them, you can call and talk to people in organizations within the school, or the school counselor. You'll probably hear Eanes is the BEST school district. When doing research you will see the BEST is where all the money is. (personally, I think it's a sad state of affairs and doing this move really opened my eyes to many things). Then there are private schools too. You can, and probably will, read stats till you're blue in the face, (like I did). But, in the end we live where we can live comfortably and not sweat it every month when the bills are due. We like breathing room in that respect first.

You will read endless threads on this forum that will tell you different, and at times, contradicting things. You'll hear stay on the West side of 35 quite often. You'll hear people say the only place to live is what is now often referred to as Austin proper. I guess the only thing you really have to do with the money you have to buy a home is ask yourself where you want to live, suburb, country, land with acres or small lot, next door neighbors or not, big subdivision or not. You have the choice.

Your focus seemed to be schools but you also said you wanted input so there is my two cents and more. I wish I could offer you more in terms of school choice but your situation is out of our class. (we're not Ivy league) While our priority were schools to begin with we discovered we had to find a place where we could afford, and have decent schools. So our priority was financial first. I'm also convinced our choice was ultimately good.

If we had your budget I would move smack dab right next to the Ladybird Wildflower center...but that's just me.

Also, this forum was helpful in many respects and I'm very thankful for the people that took the time to answer, what I discovered, the same question over and over again. Most of the people address you here with respect, tolerance, and kindness. (most)


Good luck and above all do a search on what you're looking for here in the forums, (they have a search feature which actually seems to work). You'll find, as I did, many questions can be answered looking back.

[CptnRn]

You can buy a very nice home in a great neighborhood with some of the best schools for $300,000 and put the rest in your retirement fund.

Where will your husband be working? Crossing mid town traffic is bad. You should stay on the same side of town where he will have to commute to.

[woodinvilleguy]

You'll find tons of properties that match your description. Find a good realtor and have them show you all the neighborhoods. We ended up in a new section of Cedar Park and love it, others love Steiner, others love Westlake. Good luck!

We feel your pain about the house sale, we sold 90k less last year, oh well it is water under the bridge.

[llkltk]

78739 is a zip code with good schools. You might want to consider Circle C or Meridian. Car insurance on 2 decent vehicles will run about 1200 per year. Property taxes on a 300K home will run about 6200.

Meridian has a new elementary opening in Fall of 2010, the new SW middle school opens in Fall of 2009. The school are highly rated in SW Austin. Steiner Ranch might be a good bet as well. If commute doesn't matter than these are two very good areas for you.

[hoffdano]

$450,000 should give you many choices.

If the commute is not so important as you say I encourage you to consider homes in the Lake Travis ISD. It is a somewhat smaller school district than the others (just one high school) but is particularly good in elementary and middle schools. My kids started in this school district many years ago and have done well (two still in school).

A useful site for property tax info is Travis Central Appraisal District. Search by street name in a neighborhood you're interested in and you can see exactly what the various tax rates are. In the Austin area you can expect to pay between 1.8% and almost 3% depending on where you live.

I also suggest using Google Earth to get an aerial view of Austin.

[CATXTransplant]

www.SteinerRanch.com. Go on Realtor.com and check out 78732. It has EVERYTHING you're asking for.

[TexasHorseLady]

As many have said, you have a LOT of options in that price range, all with good schools. So, let's tighten this up a bit.

Our insurance is with Germania (Texas only company), and we pay about $140 monthly for liability insurance for 3 cars (2 drivers), collision for one of the vehicles (the others are too old), insurance on our lease house in Barton Hills, and insurance on our house in the country (including farm coverage, outbuildings, windmill coverage, etc.). Service is great, too, and they haven't raised our rates even though we've had a claim.

In addition to schools, what do you like to do? What leisure time activities? You say that commute is not an issue - does this mean that your husband will be working out of the home, or is there an office that he'd be going to occasionally or is access to the airport an issue? What kind of home do you want? Style, age, size, etc. What kind of neighborhood?

With the answers to those questions, we can help you narrow down the many choices you have here.

As for taxes, it will vary depending on county, on whether you're in a MUD, etc. Once we narrow things down a bit (at least as far as county is concerned), there are taxing authority sites that have information on all the various kinds of taxes and their rates that will help you figure it out.