Want to move from FL to TX, whats the best area for horse lovers? (Austin: rent, houses)

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by loves2read

anything close to austin is pricey

Depends on what you mean by "pricey" and what you mean by "close to Austin". Caldwell and Bastrop counties are both horsey and not so expensive. Hays County close to Austin is expensive. Williamson, too, can be expensive, but it depends on where you go in Williamson. Burnet, not so much. Lee, likewise, not so much.

[Alatex]

Hays County close to Austin is expensive.

As a point of reference, my brother bought his house (2,600 square feet+ on 5 acres) just north of San Marcos in December for $235,000. A couple of his neighbors do have horses as pets.

It is definitely more expensive than some other parts of TX, but a good bit less than some of the stuff closer to Austin .

Something like a landscape business could probably do well in the area, also, since you'd have both the Austin and San Antonio areas within a 50-mile radius.

[austinnetx]

Stay off the heavy clay areas. The ground gets hard and uneven when dry and wet and sloppy when wet. Places W of I-35 and N of US HWY 380 are good int he DFW area.

[TexasHorseLady]

The OP was asking about boarding, so presumably they don't want to keep a horse on the property and thus might not need that kind of acreage. However, OP, what exactly are you looking for and I'll see what's generally available in which areas that meets that criteria.

A landscaping business ought to do well in Central Texas, due to all of the new construction, among other things.

One thing to consider in Central Texas, if you DO want to keep your horses at home, is to pay close attention to the soil. West of IH35 is going to have pockets that are horse-friendly, but lots of limestone, good for your vet's pocketbook, not so good for yours.

[FleeingFloridaASAP]

We would LOVE to live where we could have our horses living with us. Even just a couple acres. They are currently living in a crappy barn and only 1 acre of pasture, and I can't believe what we pay for it. One good thing is that it's close, only a couple miles. I was just asking about boarding costs in case it took us a while to find the right place for us. I was thinking we might have to rent a small place at first and board the horses. But I would take a couple acres, a small barn and a trailer slapped on it at this point. Sounds good about the landscaping, we're not looking to get rich quick, just want a better quality of life in the country with our horses, dogs and pick-up trucks.

[NOTAM]

check out my pics of Circle T Arena in Hamilton, TX, a world class equestrian center, with lots of equine events, rodeo's and ropin's....and Hamilton is VERY inexpensive to live in, anywehre in Mills County is, and their FFA and 4H are very active. they have an excellent public arena as well. RFD has a studio right there at the arena, and All Around Performance Horse is filmed on the premises

Picasa Web Albums - BELLESTAROFTEXAS - CIRCLE T ARENA

and..........if you move to that area, you WILL be able to afford your own land...you wont have to board, even iff you aint rich, heck even if you aint upper middle class. i am looking at houses just down the road from there, and you can buy houses for as low as 30K,if you aint picky. and to have a few acres, not expensive.

Originally Posted by FleeingFloridaASAP

Thank you all so much. I have my atlas out looking at all the towns mentioned. Would these places be the best areas for good jobs also? I saw on the news that Texas is the best state to be in this economy, also all my favorite horse shows on RFDtv are in Texas. What is the landscaping business like there? We own a landscape maintenance/installation business here in FL and would like to start one up there if we end up in the right area. OMG, I would not like snobby training facilities, we have a lot of them around here, mostly English dressage/jumpers. I'm totally a cowgirl boots and cut-off shorts type of person.

[TexasHorseLady]

Okay, I'll take a quick look on the MLS and see what might be available right now, just to give you an idea. What price range are we looking at?

I do know that a very nice property, house on 9 acres with a barn, outdoor arena (originally roping practice arena), etc., in the Elgin area went for about $240,000 a few months back.

[FleeingFloridaASAP]

thanks Bellestar, the pics are awesome! Looks like a really nice place, nothing like the craphole our horses are at now. But I would LOVE to have a few acres and be able to be with the horses all the time. I'm not picky at all. The house we live in now we bought twelve years ago as a slight fixer-upper. We did tons of work to it over the years, all new A/C, remodeled, planted beautiful landscaping, put in a koi pond, and even with the lousy housing market right now, the value of it has more than tripled. So we're not afraid of some hard work to get the land we want. $30K? Really? How much is land per acre?
To TexashorseLady, I don't really know our price range yet, depends on what we can get for our house. We're waiting till things turn around, don't want to sell just yet. 240,000 isn't bad for a house on nine acres, barn and an arena too!! I couldn't buy nine acres with a shack on it around here for that price.

[NOTAM]

around here, in Coryell County and Mills County, i'd say 2K to 5K or so. check this website:

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Originally Posted by FleeingFloridaASAP

thanks Bellestar, the pics are awesome! Looks like a really nice place, nothing like the craphole our horses are at now. But I would LOVE to have a few acres and be able to be with the horses all the time. I'm not picky at all. The house we live in now we bought twelve years ago as a slight fixer-upper. We did tons of work to it over the years, all new A/C, remodeled, planted beautiful landscaping, put in a koi pond, and even with the lousy housing market right now, the value of it has more than tripled. So we're not afraid of some hard work to get the land we want. $30K? Really? How much is land per acre?
To TexashorseLady, I don't really know our price range yet, depends on what we can get for our house. We're waiting till things turn around, don't want to sell just yet. 240,000 isn't bad for a house on nine acres, barn and an arena too!! I couldn't buy nine acres with a shack on it around here for that price.

[TexasHorseLady]

Quick search on the MLS, with $300,000 as a top price, turned up 12 properties from $160,000 to $300,000, on from 2 to 18 or so acres, in Williamson, Caldwell, and Bastrop Counties. A bit further out (but not much - 45 miles from I35 and Hwy 79) I know of a 3/2 1923 house with some updating, a barn, outbuildings, paddocks, on about 31 acres for about $225,000. Currently most of that is in cropland, but it could be coastal very easily - the property across the road is currently in coastal.