Moving from Boston area (Austin, West: apartments, rentals, crime)

[ahughes8491]

Hello all, I just received an offer to work at the University of Texas - Austin. I am wondering what would be the best area/place to live commute wise. I am a 27 year old single man, moving by myself. I'd like my own apartment, what can I expect to spend? I'm looking for an area with a lot going on, ideally.

[atxcio]

You have tons of great options.

Closest to the university, more neighborhood-like: Hyde Park and Rosedale. There is always stuff going on near the university, and Hyde Park will be right there next to it. You can find some pretty run-down cheap stuff in Hyde Park... maybe even as cheap as $650-750 for a studio on the fringe of the neighborhood. But it will be very crappy. Expect $1200 for something nice, or a 2 bedroom.

More bars and restaurants a little farther away? Try downtown. Less of a range there, but approx $1200+ is probably a safe bet for a 1br.

Want to be in the hipster mecca? Try South Congress. Fun location. Even farther away from the university, but still bike commute distance (although it's not fun to ride on some of those busy streets). More of a range like Hyde Park, but there is some decent middle-of-the road stuff that's not too crappy and would likely be in the $800 range. Again, though, if you want something new and fancy it would be $1200 range.

Want to be in the REAL hipster mecca (what SoCo used to be): Go to Central East Austin (78702 zip). Have to put up with a bit more crime and transitional neighborhoods, but housing is cheaper and it's a bit closer to UT than SoCo. Lots of small art galleries and interesting clubs and restaurants. Mix of traditionally hispanic culture being pushed out by urban pioneers. Practically zero chain stores. No idea what the price range is, but I'm sure it varies wildly.

[ahughes8491]

Originally Posted by atxcio

You have tons of great options.

Closest to the university, more neighborhood-like: Hyde Park and Rosedale. There is always stuff going on near the university, and Hyde Park will be right there next to it. You can find some pretty run-down cheap stuff in Hyde Park... maybe even as cheap as $650-750 for a studio on the fringe of the neighborhood. But it will be very crappy. Expect $1200 for something nice, or a 2 bedroom.

More bars and restaurants a little farther away? Try downtown. Less of a range there, but approx $1200+ is probably a safe bet for a 1br.

Want to be in the hipster mecca? Try South Congress. Fun location. Even farther away from the university, but still bike commute distance (although it's not fun to ride on some of those busy streets). More of a range like Hyde Park, but there is some decent middle-of-the road stuff that's not too crappy and would likely be in the $800 range. Again, though, if you want something new and fancy it would be $1200 range.

Want to be in the REAL hipster mecca (what SoCo used to be): Go to Central East Austin (78702 zip). Have to put up with a bit more crime and transitional neighborhoods, but housing is cheaper and it's a bit closer to UT than SoCo. Lots of small art galleries and interesting clubs and restaurants. Mix of traditionally hispanic culture being pushed out by urban pioneers. Practically zero chain stores. No idea what the price range is, but I'm sure it varies wildly.

Wow, thanks for the response! What would you personally recommend? I'd like a place within walking distance to some bars, restaurants, live music. $1200 a month is about what I plan/expect to spend.

[bgrn198]

You might like the Triangle it's close to downtown and UT

Triangle Austin Austin Apartments | Apartments in Austin, TX

[TerryDactyls]

Any chance you play hockey? We have quite a few hockey players from the Boston area living in Austin and they might be able to help you also (and they can understand you when you speak - wicked accent!).

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by ahughes8491

Wow, thanks for the response! What would you personally recommend? I'd like a place within walking distance to some bars, restaurants, live music. $1200 a month is about what I plan/expect to spend.

Good question. Its been about a decade and a half since I've been your age, so I'm really not the best person to ask (although I'm from Providence originally, so not too far off! Be ready for some serious culture shock, treat this as an adventure).

I guess I'd probably pick Hyde Park initially due to it's connection to the university culture and reasonable walkability. But you will be living around some students.

[ahughes8491]

Originally Posted by TerryDactyls

Any chance you play hockey? We have quite a few hockey players from the Boston area living in Austin and they might be able to help you also (and they can understand you when you speak - wicked accent!).

Haha, no I don't play hockey. I am a huge hockey fan, though.

[ahughes8491]

Originally Posted by atxcio

Good question. Its been about a decade and a half since I've been your age, so I'm really not the best person to ask (although I'm from Providence originally, so not too far off! Be ready for some serious culture shock, treat this as an adventure).

I guess I'd probably pick Hyde Park initially due to it's connection to the university culture and reasonable walkability. But you will be living around some students.

I had read that Hyde Park can be brutal if you are at a complex with a bunch of noisy college kids. I want a great social life in Austin, but I also don't need to be kept up all night, haha. I'm *thinking* SoCal area. Thoughts??

[JohnHenrySDM]

Originally Posted by ahughes8491

I had read that Hyde Park can be brutal if you are at a complex with a bunch of noisy college kids. I want a great social life in Austin, but I also don't need to be kept up all night, haha. I'm *thinking* SoCal area. Thoughts??

Honestly, the best social life setting will be downtown. Of course rentals are more expensive the closer you get to downtown. South Congress, South First and South Lamar would all be good streets to look around, but I wouldn't go much further south than Oltorf (or thereabouts). The further away from downtown you get, the further away you'll be for commuting and going out.

Also, definitely consider the 78702 zip code, the closer to I35 the better (in that it's closer to downtown). It's where I settled. It's definitely the best price-to-proximity-to-downtown ratio you'll find. Don't worry about all the talk of hipsters- they're not nearly as common as reported and generally harmless.

[mark311]

Originally Posted by ahughes8491

I had read that Hyde Park can be brutal if you are at a complex with a bunch of noisy college kids. I want a great social life in Austin, but I also don't need to be kept up all night, haha. I'm *thinking* SoCal area. Thoughts??

I'm thinking that you meant the SoCo area and you could easily come across the same issues that you're worried about in SoCo with noise and people walking around making noise at night. The nice thing about Hyde Park since you're working at UT is that you can ride the UT Shuttle to work for free as it's on the shuttle route and you wouldn't have to worry about parking. Hyde Park has more graduate students/faculty and less noisy undergrads. West Campus is where the majority of the noisy undergrad housing is (or Riverside, but you'll definitely want to stay away from there). But, as the poster above stated, if you can find an acceptable 1 bedroom place downtown in your price range, that would probably be the best option.