My first visit to Austin: Observations (Houston, Dallas: rental car, for sale, real estate) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

readymade · 09-01-2007, 12:44 AM

I'm still in Austin, but nearing the end of my visit and thought I'd type out some of my observations. My husband & I are reloacting here from Socal, fyi, and we visited to check the place out and look at houses.

The heat: I've was told that the weather is a bit cooler & more humid than usual, but I've loved it so far actually. getting into a hot car isn't fun, but it isn't the end of the world either. Actually, I've been colder than usual because I didn't bring any warm clothes, and our hotel room is FREEZING! I like the heat, and my hair & skin feel really good compared to when we're in CA.

The people: Wow people are friendly here! Almost everyone we talked to has been SO friendly and helpful. I had read about this and sort of expected it, but I was still pleasantly surprised. One woman turned out to be from my husband's home town and she gave us her number telling us to give her a call when we were back in town so she could take us to some cool clubs, so it looks like we already might have made a friend!

Most people have been pretty nice about the fact that we're moving from SoCal. Not everyone, though. When we first got here, though, we encountered a really rude woman (over the phone) who basically chewed us out for Californians driving up housing prices. My husband asked her if she was from Austin originally and she admitted THAT SHE WASN'T! "But I'm a Texan!" she proudly boasted. Ohhhhhkayyyyy. A couple of other people made comments as well, but not as rudely. We finally took to saying that we were originally from Boston & Chicago (which is true), and that seemed to be OK. I need to stress that on the whole, I have never met nicer people than in Austin.

BUGS: Where are the swarms of mosquitos I was promised? My husband DID get bitten quite a bit while we were under the Congress St bridge near the creek (sitting on the grass) waiting for the bats that never showed (I didn't, for some reason). But other than that... no major mosquito action.
Our hotel room is FILLED with crickets, however. We're in a 4-star hotel, too, and we were told that this was totally normal and part of being in Austin. We're on the 7th floor and we don't want to kill them, so as of this typing, our bathroom door is closed and it's filled with crickets. We already took about 10 downstairs to let go. Going to the bathroom in the middle of the night should be an adventure.

Traffic: OK, we drove all around downtown during Friday night rush hour. WHAT rush hour?! There's really not as much traffic (that I've seen) as everyone says. I was even watching Rt. 35 during rush hour, and yeah... there was traffic, but it was still moving. It's been known to take two hours to drive two miles in LA. I'm not kidding.

Stupid drivers: Wow, people were NOT exaggerating about the stupid drivers! We actually saw 4 fender-benders today. FOUR! One was a hit & run. One was actually our real estate agent getting hit by a guy with no license or insurance in a borrowed car. The police came, gave the guy some tickets, and sent him on his way SANS license and/or insurance!! What's up with that? (she wasn't hurt, by the way, but she's stuck with having to fix her car). It's kind of scary to drive around here in a rental car. I would recommend getting the insurance (which we didn't do).

Food/clubs: The food has been great! We went out Wednesday night to some clubs along River Rock, but it was pretty dead. We each got a beer at Club Deville (mine looked like an 19 oz or a 20 oz of some pretty decent beer) and the guy charged us $6. SIX BUCKS! In LA, that wouldn't even buy you a Corona! We were too tired to go out any other night because we're lame.

Locations: We drove out west, out east, and down south. We weren't wild about the west area (although we did get pretty lost). I know lots of people like the east and that it's being gentrified and all that, but we really didn't like it. The houses looked very small and were all very close together. We drove by a park that had about 7 or 8 men in their 30s or 40s hanging around. It looked like drug deals were going down by the looks of the various "hand-shaking". It was pretty creepy.
We liked the south the best. We LOVED the 78704 area code, but it's just too expensive for us. Maybe someday. So, we're looking further south. We never even drove north, since there just wasn't enough time.

The Tract Housing: YIKES! I know some people like it, but I actually felt sick to my stomach driving through them. Not in a million years would I live in one or raise my (someday) kid in one.

To sum up: We LOVE Austin and we can't WAIT to move here. YAY!

OntheMoveAGAIN · 09-01-2007, 02:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by readymade

Our hotel room is FILLED with crickets, however. We're in a 4-star hotel, too, and we were told that this was totally normal and part of being in Austin. We're on the 7th floor and we don't want to kill them, so as of this typing, our bathroom door is closed and it's filled with crickets. We already took about 10 downstairs to let go. Going to the bathroom in the middle of the night should be an adventure.

This is NOT normal or acceptable for a 4* hotel at all. I stayed in 2 x hotels last week-end and neither had crickets in the rooms/bathrooms. I would change rooms.
Sharing the bathroom with large bugs isn't my idea of a 4* experience.

case44 · 09-01-2007, 05:50 AM

I live in Dallas, but my visits to Austin have always been great. There are lots of fine eating places and many great places to sight-see. I can't believe you didn't like the west side of town. That's the most scenic of all. Lakeway is a fantastic suburb out in the hills. Just keep studying the area and I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for. West, northwest, and southwest are truly gorgeous areas and they are on the edge of the Texas Hill Country, so you should give those places a chance. But the cost of living is a little higher than in Dallas or Houston.

By the way, sorry about your hotel experience. That's definitely a one-time deal. They do have great hotels in the city and, trust me, I haven't seen any crickets in my visits.

If you've never had Texas barbecue, you need to give it a try. You've got the perfect area to begin.

austin_momma · 09-02-2007, 12:25 AM

Glad to hear you liked Austin overall. When do you think you'll be an Austinite?

Phisch · 09-02-2007, 08:22 PM

My neighbor told us that crickets this year are better than last. I'm sure it's related to the area. But I agree with the prior poster, it's not ok for that to happen in a hotel.

On a side note: we saw bunches of them hugging a crevasse on a wall at a big box store. It's fun to stomp your feet next to their huddled masses and make them all jump. My children were not as amused as I was. I had to remind them they don't bite!

twange · 09-02-2007, 10:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by readymade

Stupid drivers: Wow, people were NOT exaggerating about the stupid drivers! We actually saw 4 fender-benders today. FOUR! One was a hit & run. One was actually our real estate agent getting hit by a guy with no license or insurance in a borrowed car. The police came, gave the guy some tickets, and sent him on his way SANS license and/or insurance!! What's up with that? (she wasn't hurt, by the way, but she's stuck with having to fix her car). It's kind of scary to drive around here in a rental car. I would recommend getting the insurance (which we didn't do).

Funny, when we were there in July to find an apartment, we got in a fender bender ourselves

Read the thread:

//www.city-data.com/forum/austi...ml#post1064248

BTW, we loved south-central as well, so that's where we'll be living. But we're not buying right away, so renting an apartment in that zip is much easier than buying a house for sure. Where West did you drive? The hill country is really pretty...

We hitch up the wagons and head to Austin this Wednesday

readymade · 09-03-2007, 07:52 PM

Yay! I don't know when we're moving. We still have to put our house up for sale here in SoCal, which means getting it ready (i.e. putting half our stuff in storage). I can't WAIT to move!!!

As my husband & I were sitting here trying to decide whether to got to Applebee's or Red Lobster for dinner, we both remarked "I miss Austin!"

We didn't drive too much in the west, fyi. We mostly got lost in some kind of nowhere land. I don't know WHERE we were! There wasn't much around except for the occasional tract-housing development. Then we got ourselves over to the Zilker Park area and LOVED it, but couldn't even come close to affording it. There is an electric blue house over there that is amazing.

I want to move now. I want someone to walk into our very cluttered house, love the fact that we painted our living room orange, and offer us a ton for it right now. I would move next week if I could.

llkltk · 09-03-2007, 09:18 PM

I'm glad you enjoyed your visit, but remember it was just a few days visit. Once you move here, I'm sure you will find things to dislike, everyone does when they move to a new area. I'm sure you will be meeting Mr. Wood Roach at some point. It's Texas and don't forget about ye ol' scorpions. I thought a few of the comments you made about tract housing, etc. were kind of rude. Most people in Austin are nice, I agree with you there so you should start following that example.

justanothercalifornian · 09-04-2007, 06:20 AM

I'm sure the OP was not trying to be rude. I have to admit, after driving through all the tract housing myself I was so hoping we did not have to live there. I have friends in the burbs who totally love it. I just don't think I'd be one of them. I did however love the east side...even some of the not so nice spots...it had such a laid back feeling and lots of old bungalows (a lot were really in need of some tlc though). I wonder if any of the schools are ok over there? We don't need the best, just decent. I'm also worried that the pricing is already going way up (like in French Place and Annadale)....

Trainwreck20 · 09-04-2007, 06:53 AM

The crickets are seasonal and they seem to appear out of nowhere and then one day they are gone.... Not sure when they come and go, but I think it happens about twice a years. Anyway, they are almost impossible to to keep out of any public building they seem to randomly target. You will see them in banks and office buildings, as well as hotels. The property management would have to use a lot of poison, and then they would just be falling dead everywhere....and after you cleaned them up, they would be back. They are annoying, but are pretty much harmless and should be gone soon. Some years are better or worse, this year seems to be about average, I would guess.