Has anyone moved to Austin and regretted it? If so, why? (Houston: apartment complex, how much)

[Shredding_Gnar78]

There is an issue with too many people moving here... no doubt about that. Coupled with a 3% housing tax that adjusts to market and not purchase price, I don't think I'll be buying a house/raising a family here. So either we move, or I live in apartments for the next 40 years

Originally Posted by CptnRn

Rainfall Intensity: Texas holds the records in the US for maximum rainfall intensity.

Ya, it was very impressive to first experience. REAL THUNDERSTORMS. Being from Socal, I saw a few here and there, but they are more intense and frequent here.

OH and don't forget it gets pretty dang cold around this time of year. We've already had 3 freeze warnings. The average lows this last week were in the 28-32F range. Do you know of anyplace that goes from 107 to 28 in the span of a few months? Maybe the desert...

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by FarawayFaraway

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?

I moved here on a lark in 1985 and loved it so much I never left. I probably never will leave (except to get close to future grandkids someday maybe). But I'm familiar with some of the "reality checks" the relocation people encounter upon arriving to scout the city or look for a home after having already made the decision to come here.

1) Housing Prices - not as cheap as people think.
The Austin that people hear about and fall in love with is Central Austin, the core. 78704 for example, which is $200-$300 per sqft for homes on average. So, people can fall in love with the idea of living in Austin, but find out after further investigation (or upon arriving) that they really can't afford a house in the part of Austin they were looking forward to, or that the houses they can afford are not adequate. Instead, they end up in Avery Ranch or some other "Anywhere USA" subdivision surrounded by "Anywhere USA" strip malls. Granted, you're still "in Austin", or thereabouts, and have easy access to al "cool vibe" areas, but you're not living it in the way you had looked forward to.

2) Heat. Some people just can't deal with it. Other find it more than easy to deal with. If you're in the former group, it's something you will wish you had determined prior to committing to a move.

3) Traffic. Already been said. If you are prone to road rage, stay away. If the traffic is an improvement on where you came from, you won't mind. If you can live/work Central, it doesn't affect you.

Those would be the top three I think people should consider most.

Steve

[Zembonez]

Originally Posted by eepstein

Austin is pretty much as TEXAS as it gets.

I, for one, am really glad that is so. No apologies for that from this guy. Sounds like you might want to consider relocation. I doubt Austin likes you any more than you like Austin. You want more diversity and public transportation? Move.

I live outside the city but I lived in Austin for 20 plus years. Great entertainment city full of really "out there" people who don't much give a damn about being one of the many phony cities across the country. It's an honest city that is growing like mad (which is good and bad). I know many people who have moved here from other parts of the country and they love it!

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by hoffdano

It is a message board in which many opinions are expressed and sometimes facts are presented. You confuse the two very often. A clear example is your continuing use of the "most trucks/SUVs per capita" item when you have never presented any data to defend it. I do not believe it is true (opinion) and have been unable to find any data that agrees with you. If you have this data, produce it please.

Your post above is full of exaggeration (such as the 5 million line above - we all can look up the size of the Austin metro - far closer to 1M than 5M).

I specifically presented data that refuted the SUV claim which is definitely not true.

[MtnLion512]

Originally Posted by Zembonez

Spewing vitriol because you are unhappy... and essentially making up half of your "opinion" because you are an unhappy person is an offense that is well worth calling out. It contributes exactly NOTHING to the thread or the OP's question.

I mostly agree. Most of the posts in question are hardcore hyperbolic and antagonistic, which sucks because it hurts the value of this forum. No need to react to it though. At this point it almost seems like a gimmick.

Originally Posted by CptnRn

Very little Public Land: Most of the places I lived before had lots of public land where anyone could get outdoors to go camping or get out away from people. Texas has very little of that except on the barrier islands along the coast. Texas does have some excellent State Parks, but they are often crowded.

This is a big one I forgot to add, Cap. This is probably as big a neg for me as the heat. Thankfully there are enough nice outdoorsy spots in town that can tide me over between trips to CO

[Zembonez]

Spewing vitriol because you are unhappy... and essentially making up half of your "opinion" because you are an unhappy person is an offense that is well worth calling out. It contributes exactly NOTHING to the thread or the OP's question.

His rant about Austin is nothing more hatred based on his having to leave wherever it was that he thought was perfect... probably because his job was smart enough to relocate to Texas.

[eepstein]

Obviously people don't ever travel on this board. I probably travel 50% of the time throughout the country. Metro austin has more pickups and SUV's than any other metro area. No question about it. As I have said many times before, if you don't believe me, just goto your local shopping center parking lot. It is also stated within the vehicle tax data for Williamson, Travis, and Hays counties when I used to work at TxDot (for the brief time I was there). Per capita, the three counties combined have the greatest number of "truck" registrations of any major Texas metro area. "Truck" is considered to be a pickup truck, large SUV, or any other vehicle weighing more than 3 tons. I am talking MAJOR METRO AREAS, because obviously smaller counties have a higher percentage of trucks than Metro austin.

For all you "austin boasters" travis country BY ITSELF does have the highest percentage (per capita) of hybrid vehicles as well. Followed by Dallas county, and Harris county respectively.

Originally Posted by Austin97

I specifically presented data that refuted the SUV claim which is definitely not true.

[veloman777]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

Those are some pretty realistic negatives. To which I would add:

Humidity: is so much higher then anyplace I have lived before, it makes both the hot and cold weather harder to take. I grew up riding motorcycles in the cold in Wyoming and Colorado, it was tolerable. Not so here, the humidity made it much less enjoyable. In the summer it is impossible to walk a mile most days without ending up dripping with sweat. This makes the use of public transportation even more unworkable for many. People use umbrellas here to walk on sunny days. Anything to break some of the heat helps.

Rainfall Intensity: Texas holds the records in the US for maximum rainfall intensity. Austin gets some of that. I have never seen rainfall so intense that an automobiles windshield wipers could not keep up with it. Sometimes it is literally impossible to see even with the wipers on high. I never understood the meaning of its "raining cats and dogs" until moving here. However, after this years drought, I'd welcome many more of those rainfalls.

I am going to have to say that it's no different than many other areas in the country.

Humid: Try the east coast in the summer. 90 on the east coast is a lot worse than 90 in Austin. Austin is considerably drier IMO. Compared to the Rockies? Well, sure we are more humid, but it's DRY in the mtns from what I've heard.

Rainfall intensity: Again, the east coast (I grew up in CT) has torrential rains quite often. Roads turned to rivers and you have to pull over to wait for it to let up. But it's not that often, even here in Austin. This seems like a minute factor, unless maybe your job has you in a vehicle all day, or you work outside.


Regarding what I dislike the most about Austin:

It's nothing that isn't occurring in other areas, so why mention it? It's so much better here than in CT. The biggest downside for myself is the lack of quiet, safe, interesting roads for road cycling here, compared to CT. This really has no significance to practically anyone though.


The main thing possible newcomers to Austin need to know is that is does get really hot here for 4-5 months. If you are bad at tolerating heat, you may not like it if you want to not be stuck in AC all day. I love the heat though. There's nothing else like cruising down a nice quiet street on my electric bike, coasting, wearing just swim trunks, heading to Barton Springs in 100 degree heat.

Traffic: the worst way it affects me is if my gf and I want to go out to eat and need to drive 35 because it's too cold for her to bike. It's rare though. I work at home and use a bike for 95% of my miles.

ALERT: Traffic on 35 will never get better. The city staff at a recent meeting told me that they will never be able to expand the highway outward, below, or above. PLEASE understand that if you need to rely on driving 35 in central Austin, it's going to be very slow during normal rush hours. Mopac might get one more lane in a few years, but that is IT. You are warned.

[rickc007]

Originally Posted by veloman777

I am going to have to say that it's no different than many other areas in the country.

Humid: Try the east coast in the summer. 90 on the east coast is a lot worse than 90 in Austin. Austin is considerably drier IMO. Compared to the Rockies? Well, sure we are more humid, but it's DRY in the mtns from what I've heard.

Rainfall intensity: Again, the east coast (I grew up in CT) has torrential rains quite often. Roads turned to rivers and you have to pull over to wait for it to let up.

It's nothing that isn't occurring in other areas, so why mention it? It's so much better here than in CT. The biggest downside for myself is the lack of quiet, safe, interesting roads for road cycling here, compared to CT. This really has no significance to practically anyone though.


The main thing possible newcomers to Austin need to know is that is does get really hot here for 4-5 months. If you are bad at tolerating heat, you may not like it if you want to not be stuck in AC all day. I love the heat though. There's nothing else like cruising down a nice quiet street on my electric bike, coasting, wearing just swim trunks, heading to Barton Springs in 100 degree heat.

This ^

I'll take 4 months of Austin summer over 2 months CT summer any day.
CT is Brutal, for 2 months

CT IS the SUV Capital of the world, 4 wheel drive, you need them there
out of necessity. SUVs are cool, not sure why it's viewed as a knock

[MtnLion512]

For the record, ol' Epstein's gotta be LOVING this. The guy's pretty much a minor celebrity on here.

Also, just for fun, I popped outside to see how many full-size pickups/'major' SUVs there are parked in my area of the apartment complex (about 100 vehicles). Not a single full-size SUV or pickup. In fact, it seems the largest vehicle on the block is my '91 4Runner hooptie. (Well, there also is a tricked out school bus...) Our Toyota Yaris (aka "The Magic Egg") wasn't even the smallest! There was a Fiat, a couple car2go's, and a couple compact pickups & SUVs. Overwhelmingly sedans and lots of station wagons with bike racks. A couple "South Austin Secede" bumper stickers.