Best suburbs in Austin for a... (Houston, Dallas: fit in, condos, townhomes)

[love roses]

flrpots....Great post! Can't people just ask without denigrating different areas except for things like crime stats? Good luck with avoiding gun country in Austin anywhere. Especially west, where most of the guide companies are located.


"In Austin, your neighbor in the suburbs could be a lesbian couple that wants gay marriage. Your other neighbor could like diesel pickup trucks, and he doesn't need to tow anything. And there are people living almost everywhere that have at least one gun."

This is very true. Our neighbors out here are a very diverse mix. We have several gay male couples, one of which has an adopted child. My next door neighbor is a Michigan transplant who drives a big truck and tows things and likes living in the country and is an across the board liberal voter, neighbor across the street is an African american conservative, we have numerous mixed race couples of different ethnicities, some migrant families, some very wealthy ranchers....you name it, we've probably got it (except for Leslie wannabes) ....unless they are closeted. Same description you could find in any neighborhood in or around Austin, pretty much.

Just live somewhere in budget, wherever that is, and somewhere you feel comfortable living. To me, THAT is what Austin is about.

[lemonlime22]

"Excellent" school district for 250K in an enlightened area, so to speak? I don't think it's possible, personally.

The people who are mentioning areas that I think you'd feel comfortable in politically do not have very good school districts, or they are going to cost more than 250K.

Where 250K will buy you a decent house with an "excellent school district" you will find yourself surrounded by women who like Bible study, scrap booking, and like to play Bunko.

Trust me.

[ImOnFiya]

Originally Posted by lemonlime22

"Excellent" school district for 250K in an enlightened area, so to speak? I don't think it's possible, personally.

The people who are mentioning areas that I think you'd feel comfortable in politically do not have very good school districts, or they are going to cost more than 250K.

Where 250K will buy you a decent house with an "excellent school district" you will find yourself surrounded by women who like Bible study, scrap booking, and like to play Bunko.

Trust me.

Folks (believe it or not), Austin is now a big city. There are plenty of good schools in the $250k range in NW, S (Southwood), SW, some parts of Central, and near East Austin (French Place, Delwood, Cherrywood, Mueller) - perhaps the largest available housing stock in your price range closest to downtown.

There's plenty of available homes that would appreciate a nice lady like you bringing a little attention and TLC to its walls! Come on down!

[Melissa78703]

Originally Posted by lemonlime22

"Excellent" school district for 250K in an enlightened area, so to speak? I don't think it's possible, personally.

Oh, it's possible all right. I could find something for that price near my neighborhood. It just wouldn't be very big, it would be very old, and it definitely would not be a house.

What is disheartening to me (lately) are the number of posters on CD who want to come to Austin and buy a house with a big yard and garage, etc., etc., for what you'd expect to pay somewhere in ... I dunno, in Anywhere, USA. And they want all of the special accouterments, you know, the best school districts, right on the waterfront (or whatever), next to all of the cool stuff to do, and it can't and won't happen unless they bank millions.

There's one thing that you won't read about when you see Austin make one of those infamous "Top Ten" lists: The cost of real estate is earth-shatteringly expensive compare to most parts of the country.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by love roses

flrpots....Great post! Can't people just ask without denigrating different areas except for things like crime stats? Good luck with avoiding gun country in Austin anywhere. Especially west, where most of the guide companies are located.


"In Austin, your neighbor in the suburbs could be a lesbian couple that wants gay marriage. Your other neighbor could like diesel pickup trucks, and he doesn't need to tow anything. And there are people living almost everywhere that have at least one gun."

This is very true. Our neighbors out here are a very diverse mix. We have several gay male couples, one of which has an adopted child. My next door neighbor is a Michigan transplant who drives a big truck and tows things and likes living in the country and is an across the board liberal voter, neighbor across the street is an African american conservative, we have numerous mixed race couples of different ethnicities, some migrant families, some very wealthy ranchers....you name it, we've probably got it (except for Leslie wannabes) ....unless they are closeted. Same description you could find in any neighborhood in or around Austin, pretty much.

Just live somewhere in budget, wherever that is, and somewhere you feel comfortable living. To me, THAT is what Austin is about.

Exactly, love roses! Your description of your neighbors pretty much fits the description of my neighbors - and that's ANYWHERE I've lived in Austin, which over the past four decades has been anywhere from Central (when Central really WAS Central, south of 45th, north of the river, east of Mopac when Mopac was just a railroad, west of I35), to Northeast, to west, to south close to downtown (north of Ben White, IOW, in Barton Hills), to where I am now, not in Austin at all but in the countryside north of it. It also describes the neighbors of various of my friends who have lived in and around Austin for that same period of time, pretty much no matter where they lived.

No matter what the folks who don't really live there have to say about the attitudes outside of the central core. (Which gives one pause as to what just they think "conservative" and "closed minded" means, come to think about it.)

[jazznblues]

Originally Posted by Melissa78703

The cost of real estate is earth-shatteringly expensive compare to most parts of the country.

By what method do you justify this statement?

Earth-shatteringly expensive?

Central Austin homes for $300/sq. ft. compared to $800/sq. ft or more in Palo Alto?

Waterfront Lake Austin property in Eanes ISD is not as expensive as property in NYC, and most desirable areas of California.

Or does "most parts of the country" to you mean Omaha or Tulsa?

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by KelsMcL

Okay, guys! ANOTHER post about a liberal, veggie, eco freak moving to Austin

I was wondering what suburbs you would recommend for someone like me? My budget is around 250k. I'm looking for an excellent school district, but most importantly, I want one of the LIBERAL suburbs of Austin. I heard that Austin was a very open minded city, but once you get a little outside you can run in to many close minded people.

Placement to a job is not a concern, nor is distance to downtown. I would just like a nice, liberal spot in Austin with a backyard for my dogs, a great school district, and some fun activities (maybe a park, restaurants, movie theater?) close by.

Thank you so much in advance everyone

You might want to take a look at mueller. It is the only master planned community that I would consider liberal. There arent a lot of houses forsale there, the cheapest looks to be 299K. Dont know if you can swing that.

Otherwise you are looking central which wont be a suburb.

Northwest hills i think is reasonably liberal and you might be able to find a few houses in your price range.

[Melissa78703]

Originally Posted by jazznblues

Or does "most parts of the country" to you mean Omaha or Tulsa?

Yes, that's precisely what I mean -- Omaha, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, etc. The entire population of the U.S. does not live in California or New York. (In fact, the majority of the U.S. population don't live in large urban cities.) Of course, Austin's definitely a cheap deal if you compare it to the most expensive cities in the U.S.

The median cost of a home in the U.S. in 2009 was right around 200K -- for a brand new home. So 250K is a decent amount of money to spend for a home in most places on the map. In the town where my mother lives, for example, the average older home costs around 50K, and that's what her house is appraised at. In 1963, it cost my parents 30K, so property values did not go up significantly over the decades.

Compare that to the average cost of a home in Travis County, which is $420K.

[TexasHorseLady]

I'm afraid your statistics are way off. According to the Austin Board of Realtors MLS, the average sales price for a home in this area in July 2010 was $286,438.

[Melissa78703]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

I'm afraid your statistics are way off. According to the Austin Board of Realtors MLS, the average sales price for a home in this area in July 2010 was $286,438.

Do you mean the cost of homes in Williamson County? That's the figure I get for that area.

I'm also wondering if these stats include the sale of condos and townhomes. Heck, if I could find a condo or townhome for 286K that wasn't a crackerbox, that would be a total steal. I'm trying to unload the condo I have now (due to the idiotic HOA and NO other reason), but the only ones I can find in the same size and location are 500K.