Gtown, Central Austin, etc... (Georgetown, Rollingwood: sale, house, neighborhoods)

[faithr]

Thanks to everyone for answering my questions about Gtown and access to Austin. We are visiting at the end of October and will drive it ourselves and see what we think. The other areas we are looking at are Central Austin (Tarrytown, etc...), Rollingwood, and NW Hills.

Faith

[achtungpv]

If you can afford central Austin, it's a non-decision. Central Austin it is!

[faithr]

Well the problem (for me) is that my partner and I each want our own house. We've done this for almost 15 years and it works for us, so I don't need any critics out there commenting. Anyway, he can afford Central Austin without a problem, but the sort of house he wants will cost close @$1.5 million. He would prefer not to spend that much although he could.
And I could probably afford something in Central Austin, but probably not as nice as what I would like. I'd rather not spend more than 600k and would love to spend less than 500K which is what I will probably end up selling my house for in Northern Virginia.
From what we've seen in Georgetown on the internet, he could buy a beautifully remodeled historic home for @7oo k and I could spend significantly less for my house and even pocket some money after my sale in Virginia.
the other issue is that we would both like to be in a walking neighborhood, and we really have not seen much of that in Central Austin at all.
But, if we are going to be miserable in Gtown, we will suck it up and spend the $$$.
Any more insight?

[achtungpv]

Regardless of what anyone says, there's very little to do in any of the surrounding suburbs and towns. You can find a very nice house in Georgetown easily, but I personally would be bored to death there and I'm pretty easily entertained.

You could find a very nice place in central Austin with those price ranges - just get out of Tarrytown a bit.

There's plenty of walking neighborhoods in central Austin, more so than in any of the surrounding towns in the sense that you can actually walk SOMEWHERE and not just around the neighborhood and back home.

Your best bet is to get a realtor who specializes in central austin to drive you around and not one that's going to steer you to the suburbs.

[faithr]

What neighborhoods do you recommend?

[love roses]

I still say if you live close enough to downtown Georgetown, you won't be just walking around the neighborhood and back home. But just visit both areas and don't go entirely from what everyone says on the boards.

[car957]

I would look in the South Congress Area. It's a pretty neat, hip area.

Mr. South Austin

[achtungpv]

Travis Heights, Barton Hills, Shoal Creek, Hyde Park, etc. are all great neighborhoods.