Areas of Austin you'd prefer not to live in? (Allen: to rent, houses)

[austin-steve]

What I'd really like to know now is where I might not want to live.

You're really asking the question backwards. It would more beneficial to simply ask "which areas would be most highly recommended for purchasing a home $125K or lower?"

My vote would be Leander. There are, at present, about 30 house that are at least 3/2 with a garage listed for $125K or less.

Steve

[eepstein]

With a budget of 125K, you would probably be talking a small home east of I-35, with the exception of the charming suburbs of Leander and Liberty Hill.

Originally Posted by Bobby Davro

Having read plenty of threads about where is nice to live in Austin, I know that most of them are comfortably out of my range, or don't appeal to me.
What I'd really like to know now is where I might not want to live.

I don't want anything too detailed (it's never nice to have people looking down on you for where you live), I'm just trying to work out where it would be best to bypass when looking to buy.

Feel free to PM if you feel self-conscious about public posting. Thanks!

Cheers!

Situation: 30s couple. No kids. Moderate income. $125,000 to spend as a max. We can afford more but we've already done the living to pay the bills thing where eating out is a 'treat' and want a good amount of disposable income to enjoy ourselves.
Coming from London, anything less than 1.5 hours is considered good commuting time, 45 mins or less is outstanding. Both can work remotely (more me than her though), enjoy easy access to good dining and nightlife, but a reasonable cab ride is still acceptable.

[Bobby Davro]

The problem I always see with this is that people here seem to have wildly varying ideas of acceptable housing, and there's a million threads stating you can get a XYZ house in ABC location. I have a fairly set idea of what's good for me, but coming from England I don't know what I would consider an acceptable area.
Obviously everyone knows where the nice areas are, but there's very few (as is proved here) willing to state where they would avoid.

I think this is a lost cause, but thanks for everyone's help.

[jobert]

Originally Posted by Bobby Davro

The problem I always see with this is that people here seem to have wildly varying ideas of acceptable housing, and there's a million threads stating you can get a XYZ house in ABC location. I have a fairly set idea of what's good for me, but coming from England I don't know what I would consider an acceptable area.
Obviously everyone knows where the nice areas are, but there's very few (as is proved here) willing to state where they would avoid.

I think this is a lost cause, but thanks for everyone's help.

You can get something close to town for 125K, but it will have higher crime and may be rundown. You can get something for 125K in a nicer area, but it will be 30 miles from downtown and you'll have to spend alot of time behind the wheel of a car if you want to do anything. You can't get 'close-to-town' and 'nicer-area' for 125K. It's frustrating for the many people who have moved here in your exact situation, but don't fret - you'll find a place eventually.

I would recommend that you just rent an apartment - you can find a 2bdr for less than 1000/month that can come close to meeting your criteria. Look near the Domain or at the Riata in NW Austin, as it's the geographic center of the Austin metro. Feel it out for a year (or two), then buy if you're ready. There's really no rush here - our real estate market doesn't have wild swings, and you won't miss out if you don't buy right away. If anything, you might end up buying a house you don't like, or end up in an area you don't like.

Good luck

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by Bobby Davro

...
Obviously everyone knows where the nice areas are, but there's very few (as is proved here) willing to state where they would avoid.

I think this is a lost cause, but thanks for everyone's help.

It would be like saying "I want to make myself a tasty sandwich but first I need to hear from everyone about what ingredients you DON'T like". Who cares what other don't like?

Instead of worrying about which areas other people don't like, why don't you focus on trying to describe what you want and let others tell you which areas might be a match. With your price range, your options are extremely limited, which actually makes this a very simple question.

And jobert summed it up nicely, do you want to live in a crappy dump in a sketchy, convenient neighborhood closer in? Or something nicer in the suburbs further out? Those are your two choices. It's not like you have a $300K budget and too much to choose from.

Steve

[jobert]

Furthermore, if one compares what 125,000USD would buy in London vs. Austin, then 99% of Austin would be "acceptable" for sure. You're not going to live in Dickensian squalor, or a 100 sq meter basement for that amount in Austin.

That's one of the reasons people are moving here - the overall housing situation/price/quality in Austin is a LOT better than where they are coming from. I love where I live, and I don't have to pay an arm and a leg to do so. I don't have to work 80 hours a week to pay our bills, our family doesn't have arguments about money or stress about which bills to pay (they all get paid, and we still have quite a bit of money left over), or cramped quarters with frayed nerves. Life has been really good to us since we moved here 3 years ago, and I'm sure yours will be too.

[verybadgnome]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

You're really asking the question backwards. It would more beneficial to simply ask "which areas would be most highly recommended for purchasing a home $125K or lower?"

My vote would be Leander. There are, at present, about 30 house that are at least 3/2 with a garage listed for $125K or less.

Steve

Problem is that unless you take bus or rail to work from Leander two car payments plus gas, insurance, maintenance, repairs, and tolls will be as much as your house payment. I would advice the eastern edges of Austin proper or Manor first.

[h886]

Originally Posted by Bobby Davro

The problem I always see with this is that people here seem to have wildly varying ideas of acceptable housing, and there's a million threads stating you can get a XYZ house in ABC location. I have a fairly set idea of what's good for me, but coming from England I don't know what I would consider an acceptable area.
Obviously everyone knows where the nice areas are, but there's very few (as is proved here) willing to state where they would avoid.

I think this is a lost cause, but thanks for everyone's help.

Actually, I have stated in the past areas that I don't think are very nice/safe on other people's threads. I don't have a problem doing that. I think the key is that when you are asking about 3-4 specific neighborhoods, people can give better answers without being rude. Like if you list 1-4, I can say, "#2 would be my top choice. I wouldn't really find #3 or 4 attractive because of the crime rate and #1 has these traffic issues in the neighborhood." If I have a strong opinion and feel it's potentially offensive, I also have the option to send you a private message, which people have done for me before. There's no reason for me to do that if I don't even know what areas you're looking at to begin with.

Asking people to come up with a long list of every neighborhood in the Austin area that they wouldn't consider is a lot of work. I might name 30 neighborhoods, inadvertently insult all the people on this forum who live in one of those neighborhoods, and you might have only been considering 2 of them to begin with.

If you'll just tell us the cross streets or zip codes for a few of these $125K houses you claim to be glancing over close to downtown, we can give better feedback.

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by drshdw

Sadly $125k won't get you very far, unless you want to live far away, say Kyle/Buda/Dripping/etc.

He already said any commute up to 1.5 hours is good with him.

Plenty of 'burbs to choose from, but be advised to steer clear of NE Austin & SE Austin, as they are the "rougher" areas.

[Bobby Davro]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

It's not like you have a $300K budget and too much to choose from.

Steve

At $125k I can lay down half the cost of the home outright and afford to pay the rest over the course of a ten year mortgage with it being a marginal living expense.
I've lived in amazing homes in areas of London that most people only aspire to own a home in and been completely miserable because I'm living to pay for it and it alone; it's a crappy way to live that I don't want to repeat it once I'm in Austin.

I don't care what choice people think I have, or what they are prepared to think is an acceptable budget, or what they think constitutes a decent home. What I'm seeing at $125k, suits me and I'm not that short on choices. What I can't see (and have no concept of the quality of), is the surrounding area.

I understand it's a touchy question, which is why I've asked people to PM if they're going to be blunt, but it's not that difficult at the core; everybody knows the right and wrong side of the tracks.