Moving from NYC to Fort Hood (Houston, Dallas: apartments, for rent, condos)

[thefool75]

Hi, I'm a 33 year-old new Army officer moving from Manhattan to my first post, Fort Hood, next summer. Thought I'd try to get some advance advice.

I'm thinking about trying to live halfway between the base and Austin...i.e. Georgetown or the like. Does that make sense? What areas should I also be looking at? I'm male and single....so schools and the like don't matter. Things such as walkability, coffee shops, cafes and so forth do. Safety too. (I'm moving from a zero-crime area, the West Village...and from what I've read, Killeen isn't the safest place.) Any nightlife options in my age group? Restaurant areas? Or should I just plan on spending all my weekends in Austin or San Antonio? What are the apartment rents like? I'm used to paying 4K a month for a small one-bedroom apartment here but it looks like I'll only have around 1K a month in BAH to spend at Hood. I really don't want to buy a lot of furniture so I'd rather not rent a house.

TIA.

[WillysB]

I've read other threads in the forum confirming that many soldiers live towards Georgetown. You just have to be willing to devote the time to commuting.

The Fort Hood area has turned into a bit of a metro with any place being just minutes from the countryside. Not that the countryside is that appealing, but I've driven thru NYC a coupla times.

You'll find plenty of restaurants in the Hood metro (Lampasas, Copperas Cove, Killeen, Belton, Temple), mostly chains and some local good quality ethnic fares. Mostly Mexican.

Search Craigslist for housing. There seem to be a lot of 'extra bedrooms' or furnished places for rent. Starting there would give you time to look around for suitable accommodations. 1k will go a long way here. You can rent furniture.

The idea of living in Georgetown is a good one as it would reduce the access time to Austin. Being young, educated and west side worldly, you'll probly prefer the Austin scene to any other. Not to worry, you're only a couple of hours from Dallas or Houston and less to San Antonio. Bring a car, make sure it has air conditioning.

[NOTAM]

yep, Georgetown is where ALOT of officers live. being your age and single, it's a good choice for you, because of the proximity to Austin. oh there is plenty of night life in Killeen/Harker Heights/Temple but most of the big clubs are young young enlisted. and many of them, even living on post, go to Austin for variety and get away from the "military" culture.
You will feel very safe in Georgetown.
Salado is another option but probably not best for a single person your age. Alot of the folks I work with live there, but they are officers with families. Bo's Barn is about all the night life in Salado, and it's a small honkytonk (but a good one)-i think they have singles nite on Sundays.
A BIG hobnobbing place has become the bar area at Dead Fish Grill on Lake Belton, our only waterfront restaurant here at Ft Hood. You will, guaranteed, end up going there for quite a few Hail and Farewells, thats for dang sure.
I work on post but choose to live in the small rural towns west of Ft Hood, even though I am single, because I like the cowboy culture/western heritage. My nightlife consists of going to my cowboy church ropin's!
I think of it this way, the "yuppie" type officers tend to live in Georgetown, Harker Heights, and perhaps Belton and Salado. The "redneck" country boy type officers tend to gravitate towards Kempner, Lampasas, and Temple.
My favorite town is Gatesville, but though it fronts most of Ft Hood's west range and North Ft Hood, you will find that it is a very "local" typical small Texas country town, with minimal military presence, and the bars/clubs have NO GI's (i have never seen one in 'em anyway!). Large presence of corrections officers, being home to 5 TDCJ units though, including women's death row.
Welcome to Ft Hood. HOOAH!

[arrow_keys]

Georgetown would be good for you due to its Austin proximity. Old town has walkability, a town square with a coffee shop and a beautiful college (and my alma mater!). I do not like Killeen for its general thuggishness, burnt grass look in the summer time, and lack of a real historic area other than the oldest part of town which is a ghetto.

Georgetown has several restaurants on the square with a pretty wide price range. It also has national and regional chains. People used to really big cities on here say Austin doesn't have much food-wise, but to me it has a lot.
In Georgetown I'd bet a 2 BR/2BA apartment would be about $800-1,000/month.
I live in Temple but wouldn't recommend it if you like walkability and a more human-scale urban environment.

[TexasHorseLady]

I agree, Georgetown is probably your best bet. We have a lot of Fort Hood folk here.

As for rents, in Georgetown you can get houses, condos, apartments, duplexes, all for well under $1,000/month.

My son recently moved back to Austin from NYC. Now, NYC it's not, as far as the restaurant situation is concerned - but what is? Austin does have its fair share of good to excellent restaurants, however (I belong to a Meetup that makes a point of seeking them out as well as having potlucks and attending food events), and Georgetown has a few. I'd be happy to pass on some recommendations.

The nice thing about Georgetown for you, as far as location is concerned, is that it's easily accessible to Fort Hood, and easily accessible to the Round Rock/Austin nightlife if you should desire, but has enough activity itself to keep you happy, I think, on a day to day basis.

[austinnetx]

Take some advice from someone who was stationed at Fort Hood.

The post is huge. For this reason, I recommend:

Live on post near your soldiers if you are a Commander.

Live as close to the post as you can if you are not.

You can always drive around and see Texas during leave or when not on duty. And you can always move to a new location once you get the lay of the land.

But for your first six months, stay as close as you can.

Austin and Georgetown is where you will spend most of your time off. You can rent a hotel room there or go in on an Apt with some other officers.

When I was at Hood, it was very nice to be able to go home in 5 min and clean up or run over for clean uniforms. Guys who had to drive a lot were screwed and were not as well prepared or rested and it showed.

[thefool75]

thanks for the advice everyone!

Hood no longer has bachelor officer housing on-post so that's not an option anyway. and I'll be JAG so I'm not sure that very close proximity will be necessary....but something to think about.

but for now, Georgetown sounds about right then. I figure I'll be getting cabin fever in Austin as it is, so I'll be renting plenty of hotel rooms in San Antonio or Houston on the weekends.

[WillysB]

So, tf75 says he's looking to move to the Hood metro. I responded to his post with some helping info, above, in case you missed it. Later he says he's JAG. Biden has an Army son who also is a lawyer so I meant in a joking fashion, asking if he was really the Biden boy.

Welcome to Texas.

[austinnetx]

Originally Posted by WillysB

are you?

That is uncalled for. This is a soldier asking for advice. Be a man and delete your post.

[jeffakira]

this is a very helpful post for me. I'm currently at Ft. Benning completing my BOLC II course and then moving to Ft. Hood in January. I'm also a jag and moving from San Francisco. It sounds from these posts like G'town is the right place to be. tf75, I will see you there.