Moving from Boston to Austin TX (Dallas, Paris: for sale, homes, neighborhood)

[Dianajoy]

Having gone to school in Western MA, and lived in NYC for 20 years,spending lots of time in boston, I can guarantee that the people in Austin are way friendlier, the cost of living is way lower, and take eepstein with a grain of salt...he's consistently negative. There's just no comparison between Boston and Austin, other than that they rhyme; I would live in austin over boston any day!!

[sxrckr]

Originally Posted by whitefillet

1) Is Austin, TX the right place for us?
2) We have been Google-ing and have found Round Rock, TX and surrounding areas favorable to start a family and buy a first home.
3) We are pretty much sold on the weather, but is there something we aren't informed about (humidity, rain, etc.)?
4) Is there a lot of cosmopolitan crowd in Austin, TX (specifically north of Austin)?
5) Water, water, water - we love it, any of that here?
6) I am sure that there will be a lot of differences between Austin and Boston, however how much of a difference should we expect (if any)?

- Round Rock is a nice suburb.
- Extreme summer heat, good amount of humidity, the occasional severe storm with damaging hail, major lightening, tornado on edge of town/metro.
- I wouldn't consider Austin cosmopolitan anywhere. There are some cosmopolitan elements in Houston/Dallas. By the true sense of the word, Houston would probably be the cosmopolitan city of the state.
- Lakes/river, yes. No sea/bay waterfront like Boston though.
- Compared to Boston, much newer, and nothing close on the culture such as museums, arts etc. Much more college-centric.... Boston has Cambridge but it also has Boston with great culture, pro sports, great restaurants etc.

Originally Posted by feconi

To the OP: take these comments in red with a giant grain of salt--this is one of the most biased and uninformed opinions you will find on this board (do a search for more info).

Come on, why all of the hate for eepstein? I think there is actually a lot of truth in his posts. Aside from the occasional rants about the city marketing campaign, he seems to know what he's talking about and not just pulling it out of his arse. Are only positive viewpoints allowed on this board? Many other Austinites are very quick to hate on other places, but ironically can't seem to take any criticism of Austin and are quick to try and silence it.

[kbchitown]

Anyway ... looks like it's going to be another beautiful 70 degree day today
And all week, for that matter

Sincerely yours, Whitey[/quote]

ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL 70 DEGREE DAY.....ARE YOU KIDDING ME AFTER THE HELL OF LAST WEEK!

Yeah, we just bought a house north of Austin....last week's freeze burst one of the pipes in the house

1) We're from Chicago....we took precautions, such as opening up the cabinets on exterior walls and putting those styrofoam caps on the outside spigots....
We really didn't think anything would happen since the lows were only in the 20's.
2) I went to our house (we haven't moved in yet) only to discover water gushing out of the foundation....and a small flood inside the house...note the lows were only in the 20s overnight.

Needless to say....we had a plumber over, when he jackhammerd into the wall he discoverd the water pipes were installed OUTSIDE of the STYROFOAM "insulation".....OUTSIDE!!!! This on a $325k and "supposedly" better built home. The insulation in the walls is R8...****e, newspaper is a better insulator!

Austin in NOT what it's advertised to be....good lord....I would trade winter for the hotter than hell summer....no fresh air cuz you HAVE to run the AC...then it's allergy season....then winter....then the hot as hell summer which lasts from April to October. And the utilities here are deregulated...better do your homework on who your energy providers are. Utilities cost us much more than Chicago (so much for the lower cost of living....NOT!). And btw...that little cold snap resulted in rolling blackouts...yes, rolling blackouts because the power plants own pipes froze.

Cosmopolitan? Hell no....very little in the way of culture...jeans and flip flops! And the food...if you are in anyway a foodie....hell, if you want a good plate of pasta...forget it...Austinites love to think the food scene here is great BUT THE BAR IS SET REAL LOW.

Property taxes are sky high....check out zillow...jobs? not so much...tech is projected to slow/loose jobs...service jobs (sic those that pay minimum wage) are expected to increase. Texas is having a budget crises comparable to California and the ax falling on the most vulnerable...the schools, the poor, the disabled...schools are closing and teachers are loosing their jobs...so if you're planning a family, TX may not be the place.

Choose carefully...if you think Austin could in anyway be a substitute for Boston...I don't think so....


Oh yeah, and for those houses that can be had for under 150k....most anyone that has lived elsewhere would not consider those home suitable...either a questionable area or flimsy construction (and btw....most construction in TX...even high end would not pass inspection in most other states).

[passionatearts]

Originally Posted by sxrckr

Come on, why all of the hate for eepstein? I think there is actually a lot of truth in his posts. Aside from the occasional rants about the city marketing campaign, he seems to know what he's talking about and not just pulling it out of his arse. Are only positive viewpoints allowed on this board? Many other Austinites are very quick to hate on other places, but ironically can't seem to take any criticism of Austin and are quick to try and silence it.

There's a difference between "taking criticism" and putting up with people who make negative comments that are so exaggerated that they might as well be lying. Really - how can you take seriously a guy who says stuff like "any place worth living in Austin is probably not much cheaper than Boston"?

I went to college in Boston and lived there for several years, and Austin isn't even close to being as expensive as Boston. Every cost of living calculator I've used says that Boston is 40 - 50% more expensive on average than Austin.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by rickc007

btw, below is a nice pic of Austin, think it's the Westlake area,

That's actually a boat ramp right there, so if you have small boat, jet ski ....

Absolutely beautiful, this is why we live here!

[cBach]

kbchitown,

We aren't built for the cold down here, but y'all aren't built for the heat up north. Many places don't have A/C in Chicago and the buildings are meant to retain heat, which means those places are like ovens in the summer. If it gets to 100 in Chicago, it's world news and people are dropping like flies, if it's 100 here, it's just another day at the ranch. If it's 20 degrees in Chicago, it's life as usual. If it's 20 degrees in Austin, people are dying in car accidents on unplowed streets, pipes are bursting, and power is lost.

The weather we just had is no more normal for this area than 100 degrees is for Chicago. Our February average high is 64 with a low of 45. Even our January high is 60 with a low of 40. 20 degrees is 44 degrees colder than normal. This week is more normal than last week.

I beg to differ about the restaurants. Uchi is probably the best sushi restaurant in the whole US, do y'all even have Sushi in Chicago, I didn't see many restaurants. We have good French, Chinese, Cajun, and Indian restaurants, as well as marvelous Mexican and Barbeque. I went to a Mexican restaurant in Chicago and the food was not edible.

Anyway, hope you're able to either learn to adjust to this area or are able to get back to Chicago because you don't sound happy here.

[kbchitown]

Originally Posted by cBach

kbchitown,

We aren't built for the cold down here, but y'all aren't built for the heat up north. Many places don't have A/C in Chicago and the buildings are meant to retain heat, which means those places are like ovens in the summer. If it gets to 100 in Chicago, it's world news and people are dropping like flies, if it's 100 here, it's just another day at the ranch. If it's 20 degrees in Chicago, it's life as usual. If it's 20 degrees in Austin, people are dying in car accidents on unplowed streets, pipes are bursting, and power is lost.

The weather we just had is no more normal for this area than 100 degrees is for Chicago. Our February average high is 64 with a low of 45. Even our January high is 60 with a low of 40. 20 degrees is 44 degrees colder than normal. This week is more normal than last week.

I beg to differ about the restaurants. Uchi is probably the best sushi restaurant in the whole US, do y'all even have Sushi in Chicago, I didn't see many restaurants. We have good French, Chinese, Cajun, and Indian restaurants, as well as marvelous Mexican and Barbeque. I went to a Mexican restaurant in Chicago and the food was not edible.

Anyway, hope you're able to either learn to adjust to this area or are able to get back to Chicago because you don't sound happy here.

"Y'ALL" don't know much about Chicago and have never lived there...so you have no authority to comment about it...."many places don't have A/C"...are you kidding me? "Buildings are meant to retain heat" ???? "Not many restaurants"? Where do you get this stuff? Uchi the best in the US?,OMG....it amazes me how disillusioned "y'all" are. "Y'all" claim to be the friendliest, but when someone has just the slightest cristism of Austin, "y'all" get your panties in a bunch. If I could, I'd get the hell out of Texas and back to civilization.

[mayfair44]

What area of Boston?

[cBach]

Originally Posted by kbchitown

"Y'ALL" don't know much about Chicago and have never lived there...so you have no authority to comment about it...."many places don't have A/C"...are you kidding me? "Buildings are meant to retain heat" ???? "Not many restaurants"? Where do you get this stuff? Uchi the best in the US?,OMG....it amazes me how disillusioned "y'all" are. "Y'all" claim to be the friendliest, but when someone has just the slightest cristism of Austin, "y'all" get your panties in a bunch. If I could, I'd get the hell out of Texas and back to civilization.

I have spent "too much" time in Chicago, more than I have cared. I was there in mid March and there was 10 inches of snow on the ground and they got 7 more while I was there. It was 80 degrees back in Austin during that time. March is still a winter month up north, it's spring down here, the way it should be (Spring starts March 21st officially and it sure doesn't feel like Spring on March 21st in Chicago).

Yes you can get good deep dish pizza (if you like that sort of thing) in Chicago and see some good blues bands, there are some decent museums, but I just didn't "get" Chicago.

And before you say I'm uncultured, I've lived in all over the US, and have traveled all over the world. I can get cities like SF, Boston, NYC, London, Paris, Sydney, etc... but I couldn't get Chicago. It's like Houston with cold weather. Yuck!

Tell me just one good Mexican restaurant in Chicago and I'll visit it next time I'm up there and report back on it.

Look in the mirror if you want to see whose panties are in a wad.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by kbchitown

"Y'ALL" don't know much about Chicago and have never lived there...so you have no authority to comment about it...."many places don't have A/C"...are you kidding me? "Buildings are meant to retain heat" ???? "Not many restaurants"? Where do you get this stuff? Uchi the best in the US?,OMG....it amazes me how disillusioned "y'all" are. "Y'all" claim to be the friendliest, but when someone has just the slightest cristism of Austin, "y'all" get your panties in a bunch. If I could, I'd get the hell out of Texas and back to civilization.

Okay, tell me why hundreds of people died in Chicago when it hit 100, yet we can be 100 for months at a time with no deaths or even problems whatsoever.