Family Arts Area in Austin? (Houston, Dallas: appointed, fit in, to rent)

[Tulip2011]

Hi All,

This is the first time I'm posting here. So far looks like there is some really great advice being given!! Hopefully you can help me too.

My husband, toddler and I live in Connecticut. We're thinking of moving to Austin. Does anyone have any advice for us?

We're looking for an area of Austin that we would fit in. We are business people, and yet very creative and artsy at the same time. My husband is a business manager and also composes music, paints, draws, and runs. I paint, throw pottery, and am very involved in the local business and arts scene. We don't do drugs or anything crazy, we're just connected creatively. We're looking for a safe, artsy, somewhat rural area to live in. Hopefully with affordable newer houses to buy. By affordable I mean 350K or below for 3-4 bedrooms. We would like the neighborhoods to be safe for children to play without tons of traffic. It would be great to be close to public transportation with a short distance to downtown venues. We're not totally democratic and not totally republican either. We do believe in the same rights for all people. We vote for the people that do the best job and hope for them to follow through with what they say they will do. At the same time, we both make things happen. We get an idea and do it, and rally others.

Is there any place in Austin that you think we would be happy? We don't know a ton about the neighborhoods, so if you can say which ones by name that can be researched online, that would be super helpful. Thank you so much!!

[h886]

Well, you can find those things in Austin, but it's going to be next to impossible to find all of them at once, so you need to prioritize and decide which ones you really want and where you can compromise.

Austin has a decent art scene. The more eclectic areas tend to be closer in to downtown, but that's going to conflict with your "somewhat rural" and "without tons of traffic." To get those two things, you'll need to get out of downtown and choose one of the suburbs. The suburbs will also have lower prices and you'll be able to find newer construction. You'll have to sacrifice "a short distance to downtown venues" in that case. Understand that Austin has pretty poor public transportation compared to other cities. You'll find liberals, conservatives and everything in between. People tend to mind their own business in that regard.

Of the things on your list, which ones are a priority and which would you be willing to compromise on?

[Tulip2011]

Originally Posted by h886

Well, you can find those things in Austin, but it's going to be next to impossible to find all of them at once, so you need to prioritize and decide which ones you really want and where you can compromise.

Austin has a decent art scene. The more eclectic areas tend to be closer in to downtown, but that's going to conflict with your "somewhat rural" and "without tons of traffic." To get those two things, you'll need to get out of downtown and choose one of the suburbs. The suburbs will also have lower prices and you'll be able to find newer construction. You'll have to sacrifice "a short distance to downtown venues" in that case. Understand that Austin has pretty poor public transportation compared to other cities. You'll find liberals, conservatives and everything in between. People tend to mind their own business in that regard.

Of the things on your list, which ones are a priority and which would you be willing to compromise on?

H886,

thanks for the response! I guess a safe family neighborhood trumps everything. My child is first. However, we would like to be be short drive/commute to the arts, museums, local monuments and events. Any advice?

What do you mean by the public transportation is poor? Buses? Trains? I really don't know much about Austin public transportation. Any thoughts would be great! Thanks!!!

[Tulip2011]

Oh, and good schools are very important!

[centralaustinite]

Originally Posted by Tulip2011

What do you mean by the public transportation is poor? Buses? Trains? I really don't know much about Austin public transportation. Any thoughts would be great! Thanks!!!

What we mean is that we don't have very much of it! Especially near anything "rural' or "new construction," unless you are very committed environmentalist and willing to make sacrifices, you should expect to own, maintain, and insure two cars and drive them daily.

Too bad you want new construction, you could find what you are looking for in-close in neighborhoods, Zilker and Barton Hills come to mind, as does Allandale and Crestview. But these will be older, somewhat smaller houses (you might find a new "urban infill" house in your price range). But they would be closer to everything, short hop to downtown, and accessible by bus, and more likely to have arty neighbors. Education will be good but not the gold standard of the 'burbs, you will find intensely active and very cool parents in the areas I mentioned though.

You need to rent for at least 6 months first, maybe as long as two years.

Why leave CT? It sounds like you have an interesting and satisfying life there. Folks from the NE tend to have the hardest time adjusting to Texas We don't have any museums that will meet your standards in Austin -- search for posts by massloff, he actually moved back to CT he was so dissatisfied with Austin. No pro sports, very limited Italian food. Intense heat and a summer that lasts 6 months.

[h886]

Our public transportation is very limited. We have buses, but they don't run everywhere and the design of Austin is not well set up for buses to be efficient. A friend has to drive her husband 15 minutes from their house to the grocery store if he wants to catch a bus into town. For me to drive to work takes 10 minutes in no traffic, and 20 minutes in traffic. For me to take a bus to work requires a 2 hour trip (one-way) and 4 bus changes. There are some neighborhoods where you won't get bus service. It's really not like other cities. Unless you really plan it out and live downtown, you should assume you'll need cars. There is a train, but again, it's kind of hit or miss whether it will be accessible for your area. Most people here drive.

You can find many safe neighborhoods in Austin. Anything that is a "short drive" to arts, museums, local monuments and events is going to be downtown. That's going to conflict with what you wanted in a larger, newer construction and somewhat rural house. Those homes will be pricier, smaller and mostly older. You'll also have to carefully do your homework with regards to schools to make sure you're going to get one that fits your definition of good. Reading this, I'm kind of wondering if you have a different idea of Austin than what it actually is--maybe from some of the articles trying to convince people this is the place to move? You might have been able to get all those things 30 years ago, but we've had a huge population boom since then. I agree with centralaustinite that you really should visit before you come and make sure you're going to be satisfied with what we have here. We have a few museums near UT and we have some art festivals (lots of stuff for the music scene), but it's scant compared to other cities. I would hate for you to move here, discover that you can see all the museums in about a month's worth of weekends and feel disappointed.

[mark311]

Great information so far. Since schools and a family neighborhood are your top priority, the outskirts which mainly consist of very cookie-cutter neighborhoods are what will work for you in your price range. As others have stated, there isn't a big enough variety of arts/museums activities to where families need to be close to central Austin. Sure you can drive in on the weekends, but there isn't a need on weekdays really. There just isn't enough going on for families during the week in Central Austin that doesn't already exist in the suburbs especially during the school year.

As others have stated, your initial post is a bit confusing to us because it looks so conflicting as to how Austin is laid out. The Austin area is a great place to raise a family and while it does have some museums and artsy areas, they're not going to be the areas with the best public schools and normally have very average to below average schools. If you plan on sending your kids to private schools, that can definitely change the landscape for you, but your $350K price range is still a bit limiting for that. $350K or even a lot less can definitely get you a great house in a more cookie-cutter/bland neighborhood with great schools and ultra-safety. I live in one of those so I don't really mean "cookie-cutter/bland" in a bad way.

In regards to public transportation, a family needs to go out of their way to try to use it here. If you live centrally and aren't carting around a big crew, then it can work out for some people, but it's not widely used for families. I also just happened to see that you posted about an authentic Chinese restaurant in another thread. Please research some of the other food threads as well. The Austin area is great for Mexican food, barbecue, and other American fare. It doesn't hold up for people from the NE especially for Italian and Asian options.

[Dr.Mom]

Fwiw, you may be happier in the Houston or Dallas areas. Simply because they are much larger cities than Austin, they have more going on. Also, you didn't menton anything about job situations for you or your DH. Jobs are generally hard to come by in Austin, so you may have better luck in a larger city. As far as housing costs, Austin is one of the most expensive places to live in Texas. Dallas and/or Houston may offer far more for your $350k.

[capcat]

Originally Posted by Dr.Mom

Fwiw, you may be happier in the Houston or Dallas areas. Simply because they are much larger cities than Austin, they have more going on.

Dallas came to mind here, too. It's not as connected as some cities, but Dallas has better public transportation than Austin and there's a lot to do there. Even though I prefer the landscape and general atmosphere of Austin, Dallas has some things that I wish Austin had.

[Tulip2011]

Thanks all, I appreciate your responses. Good information for me to think about...