Would you rent here or buy there? (Austin, Spring: for rent, loan)

[Idlewile]

After occasionally posting and mostly lurking on here for more than a year, our time to move to Austin (from Denver area) has finally arrived. A huge thank you is in order for arming me with invaluable information on Austin, in general, and especially what areas suit us best in selecting where to live!

The scenario we've been betting on is this: Buy in SW Austin: Shady Hollow, Circle C, Legend Oaks, Oak Hill. $220K-$240K. 20% down. Commute to downtown. (Reasonable yes? Commute not terrible-awful during rush hour times?)

That said, the job currently in question is NOT downtown but National Instruments area, however, it will not be for the long-term, a contract,8-12 months. I am not familiar with this area along MOPAC but can tell it's a ways from downtown. We currently have very long commutes here, eating into our family time -- 40-55 min, thus, we want to be realistic about drive times. I can guarantee that all subsequent jobs will be located downtown.

My impulse is to 1) rent a home close to NI area because the commute from the SW would be too much-- yes? AND 2) we can familiarize ourselves even more with all areas before committing to buying. Of course neighborhoods for renting are still important, must be a good fit. I know nothing about this area of town and don't know where to look to rent that would best suit us. (ideas?)

But after reading a lot on here from the resident agents about interest rates on the rise, I wonder if we'd be foolish not to take advantage of the lower rates/buyers market even at the risk of having a really tough commute.

Other important factors:
1) Our monthly payment amount is important. We are making a huge life change, purposefully moving from a higher COL, cutting our income in half so one of us can stay at home with our young children. (Yes, we've crunched our budget/expenses and accounted for property taxes.) We want/need as low a payment as possible as this is a huge adjustment and our monthly expenses, sans childcare and current mortgage, remain the same. All this makes me think a lower rate will make a big enough difference thus maybe we should buy now.

2) If we rent, schools are not of concern, kiddos are still too young. That said, I know every school in SW Austin (thank you city-data) and that's a clear deciding factor for us choosing SW for the long haul. (And we can't afford Eanes, completely fine with it.)

Considering the pros and cons of each, would you rent up by the contract job and buy later OR buy in SW now? Other advice? TIA.

[eichlerfan]

Personally I would always rent when moving to a new area. I don't care how low interest rates are because if it turns out you bought in the wrong area for you, then even lower interest rates aren't worth being in an area you are sorry you bought in. We moved here last May and decided to rent before buying our next home to really get to know the area. Best decision we ever made because even though we were pretty sure at the time of the area we wanted, that has now all changed since living here. If you decide to rent, rent closer to where you will be working, and then you can take your time to really get to know Austin and the surrounding areas.

[infoseeker2010]

Assuming you will eventually end up working in downtown, I think SW Austin would be a better place to rent/buy, since it will be max 15 miles to downtown which would be like ~30mins. It will be difficult to find a good house in reasonably good school district around downtown.

Regarding SW Austin,
You can rent/buy a house so that you get familiar with the area. In SW you will be able to get a good house within your budget. RR, Leander is other option but your commute will be horrible.

Regarding Buying/Renting
Honestly it won't make hack of a difference. If you put 20% on 200K house, your loan amount will be 160K. A 0.5% increase in interest rate will translate to $60-75/month. So its up to you, looking at your finances whether you want to take risk (i won't say its high risk, since you have pretty much made up your mind on austin) or are ok with additional 60-75/month if the interest rate go up

Regarding communities.
There are some very good options in SW. Circle C is a very good community with great schools. However you might not get a new construction or a big house for $240K. New construction, ~2500 sq ft houses go for ~$300K in circle C.
Other option is Olympic Heights. They have 2500 sq ft new construction houses for $205-$220K which is lower end of you budget. The new portion (Olympic Heights West) falls under Baranoff-Bailey-Bowie schools which are quite good.

[RevMen]

Circle C to National Instruments will take you along the majority of the length of MoPac. That commute could get pretty gnarley, especially on the way home.

If the NI gig is temporary, seems like it would make sense to rent up North first to save yourself from an unnecessarily long commute while giving yourself an opportunity to check out the city and make sure you buy where you want to buy.

[jobert]

Originally Posted by eichlerfan

Personally I would always rent when moving to a new area. I don't care how low interest rates are because if it turns out you bought in the wrong area for you, then even lower interest rates aren't worth being in an area you are sorry you bought in. We moved here last May and decided to rent before buying our next home to really get to know the area. Best decision we ever made because even though we were pretty sure at the time of the area we wanted, that has now all changed since living here. If you decide to rent, rent closer to where you will be working, and then you can take your time to really get to know Austin and the surrounding areas.

I'm curious. Where did you want to live, as opposed to where you ended up?

[AustinGuy]

I'm guessing you're in tech since you got a contract at NI. If that's the case, I'd say concentrating on SW Austin might not make sense if you want to be close to where your eventual employers are. Tech companies are located all over Austin but the majority of them are clustered in the North/NW part of town with a few SW and even fewer downtown.

I'd suggest renting close to NI to start so that you don't hate your commute right when you get here. Don't buy until you have a more stable job situation so you can buy closer to your office.

[G Grasshopper]

Originally Posted by eichlerfan

Personally I would always rent when moving to a new area. I don't care how low interest rates are because if it turns out you bought in the wrong area for you, then even lower interest rates aren't worth being in an area you are sorry you bought in. We moved here last May and decided to rent before buying our next home to really get to know the area. Best decision we ever made because even though we were pretty sure at the time of the area we wanted, that has now all changed since living here. If you decide to rent, rent closer to where you will be working, and then you can take your time to really get to know Austin and the surrounding areas.

I would agree completely with this. We thought we were completely convinced of where we wanted to be, and really wanted to just go ahead and buy, but rented because we hadn't sold our house yet. That was really good, because we decided that what we thought we wanted wasn't really what we wanted. Better to give it some time and be familiar not only with neighborhoods, but also with the activities your family will be doing and what areas will facilitate family life, not just work.

[mimimomx3]

There is no way that I would live in Shady Hollow or any of the other SW neighborhoods you named and drive to NI twice a day. Never. I would look to rent in Avery Ranch, Jester, or the older neighborhoods around 183. You would be totally replicating the commute you have now! Why?

[centralaustinite]

I drive Mopac south from Spicewood Springs to Cesar Chavez ONE day a week at 5 pm and it nearly kills me every time.

I would be suicidal driving from NI to SW Austin every evening! Rent near NI. The drive on Mopac is a quality of life crusher! You could rent in Austin as far south as Allandale and have a doable commute, just don't try to go south of 2222.

[jobert]

I would rent on the north side of town. There are good schools in the neighborhoods along Mopac/183. You really won't be missing anything if you choose there over SW Austin.