Moving to Austin for a job in North Austin...North Loop? Hyde Park? (Dallas: apartment complexes, rentals)

[NewAustin]

I'm moving to Austin in Sept. for a job. I'm moving from Cambridge Mass, I've never been to Austin and would love some suggestions on neighborhoods in north Austin where my job is.
I'm in my mid 20's and like small walkable neighborhoods. Any info would be greatly appreciated!

[llkltk]

Rent? Buy? Budget? If budget isn't a concern, I would recommend Rosedale, Brykerwoods, Allandale, Crestview.

These are in Central Austin. You won't find any many walkable neighborhoods in North Austin.

[NewAustin]

I'm looking to rent and as far as budget is concerned, most of Austin seems cheaper then the Boston area. I don't want to spend more then 1,000.
Thanks for the post

[jobert]

I don't know much about North Austin, but I do know you want to stay between 183 and DT. If you go north of 183 it goes downhill pretty fast, and you pretty much have to go to Round Rock at that point to find something decent.

[NewAustin]

yeah it doesn't seem to desirable north of 183. The Central area seems more appealing

[gpurcell]

Actually, I'd be cautious about being north of 2222, except for the Allandale side to the west.

[homeinatx]

On the north side of Central Austin (loosely defined), I would say the following neighborhoods are walkable (also loosely defined) - Hyde Park, North Loop, Rosedale, Mueller. Will you have a car? Public transportation will not be what you are used to, and the further north you go, the bus service gets more and more spotty. Punch in the address of places you are looking at here: Get Your Walk Score - A Walkability Score For Any Address to get a walkability score. Rentals in the above-mentioned neighborhoods tend to be older in both good and bad ways and finding a decent one bedroom for under $1000 should be pretty easy. If you want brand new, check out the apartments at The Triangle and at Mueller, though those these will be more expensive. Austin has free apartment locating services though they will tend to steer you towards the mega apartment complexes, which are mostly not in walkable neighborhoods, but contacting one of them might be worth your while. I would visit before I moved. Good luck in the house hunt and welcome to Austin.

[TexasHorseLady]

My son lives in South Austin just north of Ben White (Barton Hills area). He works in North Austin near Burnet and Rutland. He took the bus to work for the first time yesterday, and it took him an hour but he didn't have to change buses. He looked at the CapMetro trip planner - you might find it useful when figuring things out. The routes are also on that site if you just want a more general overview than address to address.

And, no, anything north of 2222 except Allandale isn't questionable. In fact, some of the hotter areas in town are north of there - Crestview comes to mind, and it's walkable.

You also might want to check out the Far West/Mopac area.

However, "North Austin" is a pretty big area. What intersection is close to where you'll be working? That would help a lot in pointing you in the right direction.

[jobert]

Originally Posted by homeinatx

Get Your Walk Score - A Walkability Score For Any Address

My old house in Dallas scored an 82, and my house here in Austin scored a 28. - which I noticed pretty much immeidately when I got here.

- and my house here was more expensive per square foot. This town is walkable, but you realllllly have to pay to get walkability on the level of an 82, probably more than $300/sf even.

[jobert]

even more interesting - a color map of each city:

[SIZE=3]http://www.walkscore.com/rankings/Austin[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]http://www.walkscore.com/rankings/Dallas[/SIZE]

There seems to be a direct correlation between walkability and an area's property value - keep this in mind when you are looking at houses out in Leander. The problem with the map is that the info is outdated - It assumes SouthPark Meadows doens't exist (for example)