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For houses you're more likely to want to look on austinhomesearch.com, and/or get an agent to help you. Houses tend to be listed with agents, apartments not. Condos and townhomes can go either way. Understand that the agent who has the house listed represents the landlord's interests, by law - if you go the agent route, you'll want to consider getting your own to represent YOUR interests, just like buying a house. Not all agents handle rentals - it's an entirely separate part of the MLS that has to be paid extra for.
You can use an apartment locator to find an apartment, check craigslist (it'll likely mostly be apartment locators in there, but you might luck out), if you're interested in Round Rock, oddly enough you might want to go to Rudy's BBQ and check out their giant bulletin board - sometimes there are rentals posted there among all the other kinds of postings (give you a good idea of things available in the area, too!). The Austin American-Statesman has a rentals section in its online classifieds (it also has a jobs classifieds (http://http://www.statesman.com/hotjobs/content/hotjobs/ - broken link)).
There in lies my point. People in the northeast can live in the worst corner it has to offer and be convinced they are still better off than other people who live in the South, especially Texas, regardless of the fact that they are miserable and probably have never been anyplace near texas. If you've seen the movie 'The Fighter', people from Scranton are a little better than that, but the NE has alot of them in each state, not just in it's armpits. There are a dozen Scrantons, one is just more famous than the rest.
I ran into some people from Boston (probably my favorite NE city) who were watching the bats here in Austin, and when they found out I was from the NE they confessed over and over that Austin blew them away because they thought it would be like spending a week in an Episode of King of the Hill. They were nowhere as obnoxious as the worst Scrantonians, but they still had some of the same malady: There they were from Boston and they didn't have the "Pawk the caw in the yawd" dialect and that never tipped them off that people in other places might not be walking stereotypes either.
They were still nice people, don't get me wrong. But if I had to identify the one thing that spoiled the NE for me and made Austin so appealing is that it seems like up north people don't ever analyze themselves (like the Boston people). The ones I'm thinking of are like Cats or other animals. Anything bad that happens around them is the fault of whoever else is around them... no matter how many times,,, the same damn bad thing happens to them,,, and only them. They don't learn, fix things, change habits. Just run into the same wall over and over. Austin is more 'Maverick-ey'.
NYC, Scranton, numerous locations high and low have this reoccuring character I kept meeting. It's the guy you don't know who walks up to you and tells you his life story like he's high as a kite on cocaine and never looks you in the eye once. He usually has a NYC accent even if he lives elsewhere. I sometimes wonder if that guy has EVER had an existential thought in his life. He seems like a reaction more than a person. I'm sure he's the same guy who puts out 4 orange construction cones to save his on street parking spot, and when you mention that's actually not allowed, on street parking isn't paid parking and it's not guaranteed, he proceeds to tell you his life story, how life works, and why you are a moron at the speed of a meth amphetamine addict. He's also definetly the neighbor who doesn't wave back when you drive past. There's also the guy you looked at once by accident becasue you thought he was somebody you know and he stares at you for about 3 hours after that no matter what you do. He's under the broader character description "guy who holds a grudge until he dies because everything is a travesty." There's also the italian guy who comes up to you and starts giving you unsolicited advice about life while waving his cigar around. I miss that guy sometimes. You just don't find that in Austin.
I think my main complaint up there was that people have social anxiety disorder for whatever reason and instead of dealing with it they lean really hard on just acting out on all the symptoms. They are freaked out about being in public so they confront it head on by being obnoxious to everybody they assume is judging them and practially starting fights with people for no damn reason. I was almost in a fight at a movie theater because I was laughing at the jokes. The guy was offended by the perverse nature of the movie so he wasn't finding it humourous. Rather than just leave the movie he hated, he just steeped in his victim tea and assigned blame to me for what Chuck Palahniuk wrote (The movie was 'Choke' from the book of the same name.)
I guess in Austin people wear a smile on their face and their problems in their back pocket,, in the NE people scowl and swing their problems around and hit eachother with them. It all goes back to my original point, in response to his thread, I sincerely don't regret moving here lol. But if you were from a place that kicked ass, you had a great job, your house was totally boobs and your friends ruled and there was no traffic and you had San Diego weather, you might regret moving to Austin, but you could do so incredibly worse.
This has to be one of the more insane things I've read about Northeasterners on this board. Sorry for the hyperbole, but...seriously? I could try to address this point by point, but it would take all day. Some obvious things jumped out at me though.
1 - Northeasterners who live in the crappiest corners of the Northeast ALWAYS want to move to someplace warm. However, they tend to go to Florida or Arizona. The characteristics of this group are very specific. They're usually less educated and have lower incomes. It absolutely sucks to be poor and live in the Northeast if you don't have the money to mitigate the effects of a lot of snow.
2 - You've most likely run into urban Northeasterners - Boston, NYC, Philly. The major cities of the Northeast have a lot to offer. The only city in Texas that comes close is Houston if you're looking for good art, universities, and diverse dining. This is also a specific group - they value the things I mentioned above more than they value heat and sunshine.
3 - This "guy" you keep talking about? Very prevalent in South Boston (Southie), Queens and Long Island, Providence, and parts of Philly. I'm not sure what to say to your rant about this, except that every place everywhere has a counterpart.
4 - Lack of introspection and not knowing how to fix things. I'd say the Northeast is ground-zero for navel-gazing (outside of Scandinavia). There's not much else to do during those long, dark winters. And again, I think you're running into a lot of urbanites who don't fix things because there's nothing to fix - New Yorkers, for example, don't own cars or houses. If you go to Western New York, or Western Massachusetts, or Maine, the attitude is exactly the same as it is in West Texas. Self-sufficiency and independence are core values.
I'll admit I didn't know the first thing about Texas when I moved here, because I never thought about Texas. At all. But I'm here now, and I've learned a lot. Texas outside of the cities is fantastic. Austin is OK if you're into college football, cycling, an exaggerated music "scene", and a lot of heat and sunshine. Since I'm not into any of these things, I'd much rather be back in Boston. But I moved here for love, and I'm kind of stuck here. Luckily, I live in Central Austin and I have a reverse commute. We have good air-conditioning and the money to escape when I need to.
My main two gripes with Austin are size and property taxes.
A quick check on Google shows Austin as the 14th largest U.S. city now as of 2010. It is no longer a small town by any measure. Austin wants to be big town and is doing all it can to grow. Unfortunately, it does not have the infrastructure in place for this type of growth and it really shows when you are trying to commute to work. I live 11 miles from my job and it takes 35 minutes each way. Having already lived in 3 of the top 10 largest cities before I moved here in 1997 it was never my intention to live in a city this size again but such is life.
Property taxes are insanely high here in my opinion. This probably isn’t just an Austin issue as I have family in San Antonio that has it even worse when we compare. I bought my house in ’99 and my annual taxes were $2,220. Twelve years later they are $4,700. Strangely, my house value did not double as well (or come even close). My goal is to pay off my house in the next year or so but I am hesitant to stay here as I believe there is a very real chance my taxes will double again in 10 or so years and I will be paying $9,000 a year to live in a paid off house. This to me is insane. I have been researching Nashville as it is more the size of town I prefer and the property taxes are much less. I have been viewing Nashville homes in the $250 to $290K range and have yet to find one with taxes over 2k/yr. And like Texas, they do not pay state income tax. This is my least favorite part of living in Texas – oppressive property taxes.
My main two gripes with Austin are size and property taxes.
A quick check on Google shows Austin as the 14th largest U.S. city now as of 2010. It is no longer a small town by any measure. Austin wants to be big town and is doing all it can to grow. Unfortunately, it does not have the infrastructure in place for this type of growth and it really shows when you are trying to commute to work. I live 11 miles from my job and it takes 35 minutes each way. Having already lived in 3 of the top 10 largest cities before I moved here in 1997 it was never my intention to live in a city this size again but such is life.
Property taxes are insanely high here in my opinion. This probably isn’t just an Austin issue as I have family in San Antonio that has it even worse when we compare. I bought my house in ’99 and my annual taxes were $2,220. Twelve years later they are $4,700. Strangely, my house value did not double as well (or come even close). My goal is to pay off my house in the next year or so but I am hesitant to stay here as I believe there is a very real chance my taxes will double again in 10 or so years and I will be paying $9,000 a year to live in a paid off house. This to me is insane. I have been researching Nashville as it is more the size of town I prefer and the property taxes are much less. I have been viewing Nashville homes in the $250 to $290K range and have yet to find one with taxes over 2k/yr. And like Texas, they do not pay state income tax. This is my least favorite part of living in Texas – oppressive property taxes.
I think "oppressive" is a subjective, isn't it?
Most people probably think property taxes in Texas are high. The data from the Tax Foundation shows the property rates are high, but actual property tax expense isn't nearly so high. The simple truth is that how Texas pays for most local government and K-12 expenses.
Tennessee spends less per capita and taxes less accordingly. Tenneessee's per capita income is significantly lower than Texas - and this is with a population not so close to a border with Mexico. Tennessee unemployment is 9.6% now, quite a bit higher than the national average of 8.6% and even higher than Texas' 8.1%.
I don't enjoy paying my upcoming property tax bill. But I know most of it is spend around where I live (except for the Robin Hood part of school taxes).
I spent a week this summer in Knoxville. Enjoyed it a lot. Enough that I could imagine living there. But I think the tax differences are easy to understand and explain.
I am considering a move to Austin...I've only heard the positive things. What are the reasons not to move there? If you moved to Austin and now regret your decision please share where you came from and why you regret it/wouldn't recommend it.
Also, if you can answer these questions:
*What were you expecting vs what did you find?
*What do you dislike about the place?
*What do you think a person should know before they move there?
Hello,
Sorry to hear there is so much drama with this post. I've lived in Texas for over 32 years and I hail from California. I'm going to advise about things in a very detached way as I am both Pro/Con for Austin. Since I have lived in another state, can I say without judgement the things I regret about living here and the things I love.
I came here before to visit before I moved. When we left California, we relocated to Dallas, that was really depressing as a kid. When I came as a young buck to party in Austin with some friend, I found Austin really refreshing. It wasn't the lack of transportation and cultural aspects but the vibe, the people, the ability to be myself without worrying that I was not apart of some social engineering trend (the CA investment / architectural influence of late is another matter *cough*) and that made me really love being here being a person in my 20's. I never ever took part in the local college scene because I could never get into UT (lol.. ) and I'm not a frat/sort type of person. I'm not that kind of person so you know there is still plenty to do outside of that when it comes to nightlife and not be one of them.
I am going to do some comparisons with Dallas and its surrounding suburbs info so here is one major thing you'll find:
Austin indeed has traffic but I would not compare it to being stuck in traffic in Dallas or Houston. The reasons for this is because a lot of people have moved here in the last 10 years and the city is doing its best to keep up with all of it. Houston is the worse in the state and I can advise without a doubt that LA and Houston can rival traffic headache's. Austin is nothing like them and people would complain less if they indeed ever had to deal with 2/3 hour traffic problems. Dallas use to be as bad as Houston but when they decided to do DART, it has helped to mitigate those problems. Owner/Rental Occupancy is about 98.5% here if that makes it clear as to the housing/rental market here. What other cities can advise that all their houses / rental are occupied?!?!?!?! When Dallas chose to do its transportation improvements (DART), the project is still not completed and it has been over 28 years. The main reasons behind this is that Austin is small in price per capitol, it doesn't have the shear number of people to tax that major cities like Dallas / Houston do. Let alone the number of neighboring cities that can help fund getting transportation to and from their locations. The only Major suburbs around Austin are Round Rock, Cedar Park, and Westlake. That does not equate to an area like Dallas or Houston which has tones of city's to work with in order to make it happen. It just doesn't it and people need to keep that in mind when trying to compare Austin to another city. If you want to compare, compare it to other cities that are 700k plus populations not 3/4/5 million population cities.
Great Vibe here and Austin is a party town. It isn't just because of the college kids (that helps) but we love to get down, hang out, and have a good time. Most of the clubs / bars are not packed during the summer because thank god, all those college kids go home and we don't have to look at them for a couple of months. O:P Its like a normal town, you have the dives and you have the places that you want to blow up because they think their sh1t don't stink but due to it being a music town, you get a "great" local sound and bands. If you aren't supporting your local music, then what's the point. Just my opinion but that is what I love about it.
Contrary to the rest of the US, we are in one of the last area's to be hit with housing issues and job layoffs. Austin has survived based on its ability to be self sufficient and most of its tenacity is built on people that are not originally from Austin. Which is why out of the three / four major cities in Texas (SA doesn't count but really does but I never said that O), it has the most diversity in the state as well as it is the most liberal city in all of Texas. Read up on Keep Austin Weird... People have opinions and love to drag stuff down but i've live in all the major cities in Texas and I still choose to live in Austin. It is because of these reasons. Its like having the best of what you can get for what you need in one place without having to leave the state. If I move out of Austin, I will leave Texas.
Anybody can complain that its HOT, its the South, if you didn't read any captions before that the "South" is HOT then maybe you need to read up on dictionary cautionary tails when it says HOT it means HOT, it doesn't mean I live in Michigan and the HOTTEST day in August might reach 90. My mother is from Panama where it is hot all the time, the difference in the two places is that Panama doesn't get as hot as Texas IE: 100+ days of heat but Panama never gets to experience any weather cooler than about the low 70's and when it rains in the monsoon season it can last for 90+ days at a time.
We have a huge tech industry but the thing to keep in mind is that Austin for a long time depended on the college students to support them. It wasn't till the late 90's plus that this huge influx of people came because companies were relocating here so you have to keep in mind that our job opportunities are based around the service and tech industry. That is changing but it is what it is... In 10 to 15 years I'll say there will be a major difference in this.
The schools are good if you live on a good suburb, IE: round rock or Westlake. Austin has some good schools but since they are not huge, their funding is crap. I got my public education in Plano and they have one of the top rated ISD's in the nation let alone Texas so I know good education when I see one. Everybody wants something to be some way but at least it isn't the worst it can be. You do with what you can and if you want to change it, do what the rest of us do and that means getting involved.
We don't have Mountains or Beachs but here is what we do have. We have a lot of natural water aquifers which lead to most our lakes and streams that that really pretty green color. We have a lot of natural caves and caravans that you can go see and explore. We do live in the vortex for weather and rain, and each summer can be as different than the last. Which means we have plenty of time to be outside then stuck in houses. Three years ago, it rained so much during the summer I had to flea treat my lawn 5 times because it was just insane. Last year during the winter Dallas had 14 inches of snow and all / most of Texas got snow in that same storm except the Austin area. This happens with storms as well. We do not get as much rain as San Antonio or cities in North Texas but at least we an rest easy that we don't have to hide in a sudo basement or storms shelter like I did growing up because we had storms everyday for 1+ months. We have a lot of diversity when it comes to scene's and things people can belong to. That being said it isn't just conservative antics or good old boy lifestyles.
Living in Austin does though give you access centrally to most of Texas's state parks. We have 7+ climate eco systems in the state so there is chance that you could visit a park in each of them and have 7 completely different experiences that do not include Mountainous or Beach type settings. We do have beaches but any state that borders the Gulf is not picturesque like the West / East Coast... it is just not the same and that is what makes it different. Different doesn't necessarily mean good but at least it doesn't cost a lot to travel from Austin. Here is a list of parks most about 1 hour or so away:
[url=http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/parkinfo/maps/60mile/austin/]TPWD: State Parks Near Austin[/url]
I would follow the advise of one of the people that posted on here already and is like trying to describe vegetarianism to a meat eater (I eat meat so don't get all crazy on me), you need to find the positives and look for "new" things to experience and explore. If you want to spend all your time doing comparison and noting that they are not the same, then you are going to completely keep yourself from taking part in what is going on here. I can go to Chicago for 200 round trip on American. I can go to California or Florida for about 150 to 350 depending on the season. I can go roundtrip to NYC for 200 bucks as well. We are half between everything in the US and I can guarantee you that there are a lot of people in SA that drive to Austin because it cost about 200 more to fly out of that city than any other city in Texas.
We do not have major sports in Austin but we do have sports in Austin. We have great semi pro baseball and hockey. We have great college sports here. Even if you don't like UT hands off you'll find a college school here to support and follow just so you can say suck it UT or hell you might become an OU fan so you can dress in read in the middle of sports bar (they are everywhere here). We rival ourselves so that really isn't anything anybody here is too really worried about. If you don't believe me, there are a number of people that follow highschool sports just because of this fact alone. We are very competitive here and thrive on it. Austin is really popular for people who like to go camping, bike, or do stuff outside.
Texas and not just Austin has done everything it can to help its own state to be locally dependent. We do have get funding from the big GOV, I don't want to get all political here but the truth is that good old boy attitude has help all of us weather stuff that has pledge other cities through out the last 10 years. The tech fail in 2000 hit us hard, Austin especially, because we had a lot of dot coms here. We learned for our lesson on that one. That being said, one greatest aspect of Austin is that there is are a lot of start ups here and most of the peoples are finding a place because they are filling the gaps of what we lack based on them moving here to start a new life and not finding what they had where they use to live. You want to try your hand at it and you think we could benefit from it, its pretty good notion that you will succeed here because we are all here to support it.
Our cost of living is the highest in the state and can contrast those living in North Cal because you have to compare the cost of living vs income which is why it is the way it is. Austin can and will spit you out if you cannot figure out how to thrive here successfully. A lot of people have moved here and left because they got caught up in the "play" aspect of living here and couldn't cope with not being able to manage that. We are not a major city by any stretch of the imagination (when you link LA, Chicago, NYC) but we are growing and trying to do the best we can to make it better here one step at a time.
The cons I'll make this short:
Winter is mild even in comparison to Dallas we do not get as cold and do not have to worry about snow or ice as much.
We don't have beach's or Mountains but we do have them close enough to drive to.
We do not have the footprint of a major city like LA or NYC but yet again we don't boarder a ocean that borders other countries so we don't get the traffic they get to begin with.
Our transportation is sufficient for what we have but indeed it could be better a lot better. We just have to get involved and get the people here to choose to invest in it because they want it.
Cost of living.
Otherwise I would advise it beats living anywhere in the midwest (Minus Chicago), the South, the Southwest.
There is reason people move here. It isn't because of the summers it because they can make a life here and sustain it, which is important to a lot of people specially those who have family's. You just have to decide whether or not you want to be a part of that. If not then Austin is probably not for you and it isn't because of some ill prompted opinions that never really took the time and effort to see what life is really like here. You can say as much about that as this. When you make foolish decisions, who's the fool? The decision or the decision maker? *wink*
I apologize this is as long as it is. I just got to page three and I couldn't take all the egotistical crap anymore. When it boils down to it, Austin has lots of good people in it and that's what makes it great! If you find a ****ty person, I'll bet hands down if you ask them if they are from Austin they will tell you they aren't.
Anyways good luck with your decision and hope you find a place that suits you best.
Last edited by humbleint101; 12-17-2011 at 07:42 PM..
Since there have been about 70 posts since I said the following and some posters appear not to have gotten the message, I'm repeating it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bo
More than a dozen posts were deleted above. This is a relocation thread, not a contest to determine which poster can provide the most correct answers. The most important thing in a relocation thread is to be HELPFUL. If the focus of your post was to discredit another post, that is not helpful to the person relocating. Let the person doing the relocating ask the questions. You focus on providing the best information you can.
Location: The land of sugar... previously Houston and Austin
5,429 posts, read 14,836,889 times
Reputation: 3672
Quote:
Originally Posted by humbleint101
Austin indeed has traffic but I would not compare it to being stuck in traffic in Dallas or Houston. The reasons for this is because a lot of people have moved here in the last 10 years and the city is doing its best to keep up with all of it. Houston is the worse in the state and I can advise without a doubt that LA and Houston can rival traffic headache's.
Austin has survived based on its ability to be self sufficient and most of its tenacity is built on people that are not originally from Austin. Which is why out of the three / four major cities in Texas (SA doesn't count but really does but I never said that O), it has the most diversity in the state
Hmm, these were not my experiences at all... in fact, some of it sounds completely off base.
As to the OP, I thought there was another thread much like this fairly recently... I'll check.
I loved Austin, which was surprising to me after moving from San Diego. I saw a couple posts where they talked about comparing it to Southern California though. I especially loved the housing prices in comparison. I am originally from Salt Lake City, Utah so I still missed the mountains. Yes I can say it, I occasionally missed the stupid snow. Really though I could see myself living there permanently.
Actually, Dallas and Houston are comparable in commute times and traffic. Apparently, only major cities are reflected in the linked graphic so Austin isn't represented.
I came here from Chicago so I kinda laugh when I hear people complain about the traffic. I assume people complain because they've never experienced big-city traffic. Austin is a tiny, tiny, tiny little city; at night you can drive from north of 183 to Wm Cannon (which is pretty much the whole metropolitan area) in about 15 minutes if you're going 70.
Sure the population is growing but the city itself would be like one-half of one side of a big city. Like 20 miles or so. It's super tiny.
And the traffic doesn't really grind to a halt like rush hour in big cities; you still move the whole time with the exception of accidents. Oh man the accidents are the worst. There are so many accidents it is ridiculous. If you are used to big-city driving, the overall driving skills down here will definitely make you scratch your head. But then again, it's not a major city and never will be so those skills are probably never develped..just lots of people trying to leave like a 10 square block downtown all at once.
Drive the Edens or the Kennedy or the Stevenson in Chicago and you'll never ever complain about this traffic again.
It's all perspective. 1 hour here is 2.5 hours in a big city for sure. But then again, I'm only familiar with Chicago traffic.
But don't get me wrong, it still sucks only having a few possible routes down here.
Sigh...I miss the Dan Ryan- the most efficient highway on Earth.
Hope this helps.
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). The Austin American-Statesman has a 
), it has the most diversity in the state as well as it is the most liberal city in all of Texas. Read up on Keep Austin Weird... People have opinions and love to drag stuff down but i've live in all the major cities in Texas and I still choose to live in Austin. It is because of these reasons. Its like having the best of what you can get for what you need in one place without having to leave the state. If I move out of Austin, I will leave Texas. 
