Young Professional Moving from San Diego (Dallas, Austin: apartments, rental, condo)

[Cagueno]

Would like to get a feel for the types of changes to expect and recommendations on which areas to live. I would like to rent initially, but will definitely think about making the most of the lower cost of living and investing in a home. I will be relocating from San Diego (currently live downtown), and will be working near the intersection of the 1 and 183. I enjoy nightlife (I'm in my mid twenties) and have an income of ~ 100K. I hear the traffic can be bad, so given my work location, where would be recommended areas to live? Are there nice areas between my work and downtown?

Thanks in advance.

[janejanejanejanejane]

Check out all of the other posts about moving here. You should try to live as close to your work as possible. Driving into town for nightlife will be easy, it's getting to work that is not.

[EzPeterson]

It really depends on what you're looking for.

Single, want to bike or have a 2 minute commute? Try the apartments at the Domain or the Riata - think slightly more refined La Jolla Village/UTC area.

Want some PB flavor without the Bird Rock thugs? Try a condo Downtown - you'll be reverse commute and about 15-20 minutes from your job.

Honestly, if you live DT San Diego, and you enjoy that, those would be the two spots I'd recommend, but it's really hard to compare the two areas. On the surface, both cities are fairly similar, but the attitudes are totally different - Austin is much more like a blend of OB and North Park about 10-15 years ago in terms of mindset, and there is a definite adjustment.

There's tons of spots between, but its a matter of what type of housing you're looking for that will narrow things down. The drive between 183 and MoPac and the heart of downtown is maybe 15-20 minutes, so you're fine going in either direction.

Now, for the quick "SoCal to Austin street name nomenclature primer":

Loop 1 is not a highway or freeway, nor is it an actual loop. It's MoPac - call it that and people will know what you're referring to. Call it "The 1" and people will think you met someone special. The toll portion runs from Cedar Park to right about where your office will be. After that, it's a two lane expressway that can get congested through downtown. It ends randomly into Hwy 45 south of Circle C. Of course, that's a different Hwy 45 than the toll road that runs from 183A to Pflugerville on the far north side of town.

183 is at times a Highway, and at times a country road, there's a new 183 that's also a toll road, but it doesn't follow the path of the other 183. So neither can be "the" 183. It's Ed Bleustein Rd. Research Blvd or Hwy 183, depending on where you are talking about. From the airport north to about Manor Rd, it is Bleustein, then it turns into Research Pkwy, then Hwy 183 as it goes out of town.

IH 35 is the only freeway, runs from Canada to Mexico, splits in Dallas to become 35W and 35E, then rejoins before it hits Denton. It's still not "the" 35. It's the freeway. Has about 14 different speed limits between Georgetown and Buda, think I-5 through the S curve and you get an idea of the traffic it can have.

Now, for the east/west roads:

There's 71/290 that runs from east of the airport to Dripping Springs. Call this 71 until the airport, then Ben White, then something - the road past the Y.

There's another 290 up north, but not all the way north - this goes to Manor. If you say you're exiting onto 290, this will be where people think you are. They'll also think you're heading east.

There's the aforemetioned 45's. One north (toll), one south (one lane highway).

There's a variety of FM/RR and a number roads. These all have multiple names, but one consistent number. The FM/RR designation depends on what part of the road you are currently on - it may or may not have an actual street name at that section as well. They follow no set direction or pattern, they just get somewhere.

All in all, Austin makes San Diego look like a pretentious wannabe when it comes to quality of life, but you have to assimilate - oh, and buy/rent/timeshare a boat on Lake Travis. After 2-3 months, you'll feel landlocked, nothing cures that faster than a day on the lake.

[Cagueno]

EzPeterson - exactly the type of info I was looking for, thank you!

[Cagueno]

All in all, Austin makes San Diego look likea pretentious wannabe when it comes to quality of life,

Could you clarify this statement please?

[EzPeterson]

Originally Posted by Cagueno

Could you clarify this statement please?

Yes. San Diego loves to hype itself as "America's Finest City", which is great for tourism. Honestly, SD is probably the best tourist destination out there - I always tell people it was a great place to visit, and a tiring place to live.

From a quality of life perspective, you will find far less:
1. Traffic
2. Tourists
3. Bars and Clubs pretending to be something they're not
4. BMW/MB driving everyone-look-at-me-I'm-successful-even-though-I'm-in-debt-to-my-ears-and-live-in-a-crappy-condo.
5. Taxes

Housing prices are much lower and the whole "chase the next guy up the ladder" mentality that exists from LA south just doesn't exist to the level you're used to right now. People won't care if you valet your F150. People seem to take all this extra time and money saved and enjoy their life, instead of pushing harder on the hamster wheel to stay afloat.

So call an apartment locator (they're free to you here), get really specific about what you want and rent yourself a nice place for 6-12 months so you can get your bearings and figure out where you want to stay long term.

[mark311]

Originally Posted by EzPeterson

Honestly, SD is probably the best tourist destination out there - I always tell people it was a great place to visit, and a tiring place to live.

It IS possible to praise Austin without being negative about your former home. Yes, San Diego is pricey, but it's worth it if you can afford it. If you're an outdoors person, it's tough to be negative about a place that is 75 degrees in August and 75 degrees in December. I love the Austin area, but the weather alone in San Diego sets it apart from most other places.

In response to the Op, the cost of housing is definitely lower than San Diego, but the other things that make up your "cost of living" aren't going to be that much cheaper than what you're paying in San Diego. Since you live in downtown San Diego now, I would probably live downtown somewhere near the 2nd Street district or in some of the apartments around 4th Street.

[Aquitaine]

but the other things that make up your "cost of living" aren't going to be that much cheaper than what you're paying in San Diego

Jan. 2011 cost of living index in San Diego: 131.4 (high, U.S. average is 100)
Read more: //www.city-data.com/city/San-Diego-California.html#ixzz1qDiNORZ2

Jan. 2011 cost of living index in Austin: 94.8 (less than average, U.S. average is 100)
Read more: //www.city-data.com/city/Austin-Texas.html#ixzz1qDicxijJ

San Diego is an awesome place and I can see why some people would prefer it to Austin. Cost of living is not one of those reasons.

[EzPeterson]

That cost of living is probably skewed high due to housing. If you take housing and taxes out of the equation, the only real significant differences are going to be gas (30 cents per gallon higher in SD), and entertainment (bars in SD in my experience are like drinking at an airport).

Of course, housing, income tax and gas are three pretty big expenses!

[mark311]

Originally Posted by Aquitaine

San Diego is an awesome place and I can see why some people would prefer it to Austin. Cost of living is not one of those reasons.

That is exactly my point. Cost of living is different than cost of housing. If you could provide me some data that extracts the cost of housing from the cost of living index, I would almost guarantee that it wouldn't be as far apart.

An apartment rental in downtown San Diego compared to an equivalent downtown Austin apartment in the 2nd St. district will be a lot closer in price as well. Couple that with a cost of living (minus cost of housing) that is closer than the numbers on paper show, it isn't as great of a savings as one might expect. Just blindly putting out "cost of living" numbers without evaluating a lot of other individual factors can definitely be mis-leading. I can spend a day in San Diego, fill my car with gas ($4.29 per gallon), eat at Taco Surf and Miguel's and go to the beach for about the same price that I can fill my car with gas in Austin ($3.61 per gallon), eat at Torchy's and Guero's, and spend the rest of the day at the lake. Yes, the gas is a bit cheaper, but it's not half price like a lot of people seem to expect.