Has anyone moved to Austin and regretted it? If so, why? (Houston: real estate market, houses)
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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 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 last spring for grad school at UT (which I'm not continuing, consequently). I don't regret moving here...ok, maybe just a weensy bit. There have been adjustments. Since you've already heard the positives, which there are many for me and my family, I'll mention my negs:
1) Heat. The biggest was the loooooooong season of heat & humidity. Yes, it was humid, unless it was over 103 or so, but at that point who cares? At least from my perspective, coming from CO. I'm pretty adaptable and still managed to stay pretty active...it wasn't as much the bazillion days of 100s (which did suck) but more the fact that it took FOREVER before it felt like anything but summer. Meanwhile, my friends & fam back home were enjoying delicious fall weather. (Although I have the last laugh, b/c it's been wonderful here the last few weeks and it's been subzero last week up there!!) So for someone who doesn't prefer warm weather, I wouldn't recommend Austin.
2) Congestion & Traffic. It's a major bummer, man. Thankfully neither of us work traditional hours, otherwise I can't imagine. Traffic is often a huge pain in my ass. Also, many fun things/events, particularly on weekends, are overcrowded with people, thus losing much of their funness. If you aren't able to
3) Scenery. Again, this is from my perspective, and I came from CO....I miss the mountains. There are really lovely areas here but nothing I would call beautiful. Part of that is probably the drought....all summer everything was brown and I have yet to see a stream flowing.
That said, none of these things have made me miserable...we've had tons of fun here. But they're negatives nonetheless. Overall Austin is awesome and has been a mostly positive experience so far...but for us, I'm having trouble seeing us stay more than a few years.
Moderator cut: orphaned
We moved here about a 1 1/2 years ago from the Bay Area in CA. We love it here, but there are some things to get use to really depending on where you are moving from.
1. Hotter than hell here during the LONG summer months, but I love the warm nights so for me it's a trade off.
2. While Austin and the surrounding areas can be really pretty, well excpet for this year due to the drought, I do miss the giant redwoods and mountains.
3. Not as much to do in the surrounding areas compared to where we came from.
That said we have no regrets about our move and we are extremely happy to be here. Austin is a very fun place to live and we love the people.
Last edited by Bo; 12-10-2011 at 05:15 PM..
Reason: Orphaned - the post you quoted and replied to was deleted
Oh goodness...must we go there AGAIN?? Ok, i will answer your questions with my opinions in red.
Quote:
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?
When I moved to Austin back in 2003, I wasn't expecting too much quite honestly. Since the marketing campaigns for this area have been going strong for well over a decade now, I kinda got "roped" into believing many things about the area that simply aren't true.
*What do you dislike about the place?
High cost of living (mainly Austin), extreme traffic congestion, hillbilly cowboy culture, lack of sophistication, high property taxes, lack of shopping options, lack of fine arts, Austin's intolerance for poor/middle income people, lack of professional sports teams, horrible place to raise a family, very little outdoor activities, very few places to take kids, horrible summertime climate, gas guzzling/anti environment culture (highest pickup and large SUV percentages/ownership of any major metro area in the country), overall arrogance of the locals, extreme jealousy toward Dallas and Houston, obcession with college (pee wee) football, unwatchable UHF based news channels, completely disfunctional public transportation, obcession with "hillbilly country", more than 12 hour drive to any mountains, 5 hours from any beach (if you can call Galveston a beach), overall lack of diversity (whitest major city in Texas), overall intolerance for minorities, claiming to be a "major city" when you are only an overgrown college town.
*What do you think a person should know before they move there?
The fact remains that Austin is a VERY average unremarkable city deep in da heart of Texas. Austin IS Texas...and represents the state more than any other major city. Don't be fooled by the marketing campaigns. Austin is pretty much as TEXAS as it gets.
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 had always lived in small cities and so I wanted to a change to a bigger place. I considered the bay area but ended up in austin because I quickly got an offer here. I regret not moving to the bay area because the high tech community there is much more vibrant and interesting (austin is good, but the bay area is the best in the entire world). Easy access to one of america's great cities would also have been nice.
We are entrenched here now but someday I would like to move to the bay area.
I moved here last spring for grad school at UT (which I'm not continuing, consequently). I don't regret moving here...ok, maybe just a weensy bit. There have been adjustments. Since you've already heard the positives, which there are many for me and my family, I'll mention my negs:
1) Heat. The biggest was the loooooooong season of heat & humidity. Yes, it was humid, unless it was over 103 or so, but at that point who cares? At least from my perspective, coming from CO. I'm pretty adaptable and still managed to stay pretty active...it wasn't as much the bazillion days of 100s (which did suck) but more the fact that it took FOREVER before it felt like anything but summer. Meanwhile, my friends & fam back home were enjoying delicious fall weather. (Although I have the last laugh, b/c it's been wonderful here the last few weeks and it's been subzero last week up there!!) So for someone who doesn't prefer warm weather, I wouldn't recommend Austin.
2) Congestion & Traffic. It's a major bummer, man. Thankfully neither of us work traditional hours, otherwise I can't imagine. Traffic is often a huge pain in my ass. Also, many fun things/events, particularly on weekends, are overcrowded with people, thus losing much of their funness. If you aren't able to
3) Scenery. Again, this is from my perspective, and I came from CO....I miss the mountains. There are really lovely areas here but nothing I would call beautiful. Part of that is probably the drought....all summer everything was brown and I have yet to see a stream flowing.
That said, none of these things have made me miserable...we've had tons of fun here. But they're negatives nonetheless. Overall Austin is awesome and has been a mostly positive experience so far...but for us, I'm having trouble seeing us stay more than a few years.
Quote:
Originally Posted by eichlerfan
I'm surprised Eeptein hasn't jumped on this thread already, lol.
We moved here about a 1 1/2 years ago from the Bay Area in CA. We love it here, but there are some things to get use to really depending on where you are moving from.
1. Hotter than hell here during the LONG summer months, but I love the warm nights so for me it's a trade off.
2. While Austin and the surrounding areas can be really pretty, well excpet for this year due to the drought, I do miss the giant redwoods and mountains.
3. Not as much to do in the surrounding areas compared to where we came from.
That said we have no regrets about our move and we are extremely happy to be here. Austin is a very fun place to live and we love the people.
I agree with nearly everything written by these two. I am originally from the Bay Area but we also moved here from CO and I spent 13 years there total.
First, we moved here specifically for a quality of life change -- lower cost of living allowing us more job flexibility to spend more time with our small children... we were both working too hard, too many hours in CO to support our COL there. Other than that, we loved most parts of CO. We have given many things up but, for OUR specific reason to relocate here, we've not regretted it and it suits us very well for right now.
This past summer was rough and I DON'T mind hot weather normally.
As mentioned above, in contrast to where we came from, there is not a lot of truly beautiful scenery here. But where we came from sets the bar rather high. And I grew up going to the beach every week and vacationing in Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada.
I agree with the warm nights and mild winters being a good trade off... so long as next summer isn't quite as bad as this one. Spring came VERY late in CO and I suffered major cabin fever every year come March. This makes Austin very similar to CA as far as weather that allows for getting out and doing things during wintertime.
Miss the professional sports teams. Of course, Denver is one of the few cities in this country that has a professional team in EVERY sport, so we were spoiled.
The job market here in contrast to CO or CA is MUCH better -- I don't care what anyone says. May not be "great" in terms of what it's been in the past here, but it IS better. So is the real estate market. And both are CONSIDERABLY better.
People are friendly, not too much, just right. We like this.
I have lived and driven in many of the biggest cities in this country and the drivers here are the WORST, hands down. I noticed it the first day I was here. There are two categories: 1) dangerously agressive or 2) no clue, as in a learner's permit-aged kid who doesn't know the rules of the road, except you're an adult. Don't even get me started on how NO ONE uses their signals here, it's ridiculous.
Austin is very family friendly and parents here care about giving their kids the best in education. We ove this.
No state income tax, really great. Property taxes not great at all.
There's not much to do outside of Austin... it's just, well, Texas. I've been spoiled living in the Front Range as there were amazing day trips and overnight destinations to choose from. The Bay Area, obviously, is off the charts with options as well. The options here are limited and don't compare.
I like the trees here. Where we came from, not a lot of trees. Of course, it's all relative. I've also lived in Atlanta and New England and they've got some pretty great trees.
Oh goodness...must we go there AGAIN?? Ok, i will answer your questions with my opinions in red.
Expensive houses (mainly central Austin), extreme traffic congestion, hillbilly cowboy culture, lack of sophistication, high property taxes, lack of shopping options, lack of fine arts, Austin's intolerance for poor/middle income people, lack of professional sports teams, horrible place to raise a family, very little outdoor activities, very few places to take kids, hot weather, gas guzzling/anti environment culture (highest pickup and large SUV percentages/ownership of any major metro area in the country), overall arrogance of the locals, extreme jealousy toward Dallas and Houston, obcession with college (pee wee) football, unwatchable UHF based news channels, lacking public transportation, obcession with "hillbilly country", more than 8 hour drive to any mountains, 4 hours from any beach (if you can call Galveston a beach), overall lack of diversity (whitest major city in Texas), overall intolerance for minorities, claiming to be a "major city" when you are only an overgrown college town.
The black comments I can accept as someone's legitimate cons. The red comments are a little dumbfounding to me. It's interesting how people can have polar opposite experiences in a city. I've experienced quite the opposite from those comments. Not sure what to suggest - maybe try getting out of the house more? The fine art scene is healthy here for one to get you started - here are some links if you're really interested: austinlinks.com/Arts/
Last edited by senormatt; 12-09-2011 at 12:00 PM..
That's why this is an "opinions" board. The COA doesn't want anyone to know about what's in red because it will effect their bottom line! Trying to squeeze 5 million people into a metro area capable of comfortably handling about 500,000 (with it's current infastructure)
With 1.7 million currently, they want to have 5 million in the next 30 years. Can they do it???
Quote:
Originally Posted by senormatt
The black comments I can accept as someone's legitimate cons. The red comments are a little dumbfounding to me. It's interesting how people can have polar oppositie experiences in a city. I've experienced quite the opposite from those comments. Not sure what to suggest - maybe try getting out of the house more? The fine art scene is healthy here for one to get you started - here are some links if you're really interested: austinlinks.com/Arts/
I moved here last spring for grad school at UT (which I'm not continuing, consequently). I don't regret moving here...ok, maybe just a weensy bit. There have been adjustments. Since you've already heard the positives, which there are many for me and my family, I'll mention my negs:
1) Heat. The biggest was the loooooooong season of heat & humidity. Yes, it was humid, unless it was over 103 or so, but at that point who cares? At least from my perspective, coming from CO. I'm pretty adaptable and still managed to stay pretty active...it wasn't as much the bazillion days of 100s (which did suck) but more the fact that it took FOREVER before it felt like anything but summer. Meanwhile, my friends & fam back home were enjoying delicious fall weather. (Although I have the last laugh, b/c it's been wonderful here the last few weeks and it's been subzero last week up there!!) So for someone who doesn't prefer warm weather, I wouldn't recommend Austin.
2) Congestion & Traffic. It's a major bummer, man. Thankfully neither of us work traditional hours, otherwise I can't imagine. Traffic is often a huge pain in my ass. Also, many fun things/events, particularly on weekends, are overcrowded with people, thus losing much of their funness. If you aren't able to
3) Scenery. Again, this is from my perspective, and I came from CO....I miss the mountains. There are really lovely areas here but nothing I would call beautiful. Part of that is probably the drought....all summer everything was brown and I have yet to see a stream flowing.
That said, none of these things have made me miserable...we've had tons of fun here. But they're negatives nonetheless. Overall Austin is awesome and has been a mostly positive experience so far...but for us, I'm having trouble seeing us stay more than a few years.
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.
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.
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