Denver to Austin (Round Rock, Georgetown, Cedar Park: fit in, transplants, short sales)

[cocoeubanks]

My husband's company is offering him a transfer to the Austin area. We've been living north of Denver, CO (Broomfield) for two years. We definitely like Colorado for the scenery and weather (kind of tired of the snow, though), but we were both born and raised in the Carolinas, and culturally things are just a bit too different here. Does anyone have any insight on the Austin area in terms of religion, politics, lifestyle, etc? We don't expect to move to a place where everyone is an ultra conservative Republican Baptist ( we aren't, either), but we'd like to be someplace where folks don't think we have three heads because we go to church, either.

The idea is tempting even if it's not exactly what we'd want culturally, as housing is infinitely cheaper there than here. We really want to settle down somewhere, and there's no way we can do that in Denver.

If it makes a difference, we'd be looking at houses around Pflugerville and Manor.

[Idlewile]

We moved from Broomfield to Austin two years ago. Spent 13 years in the Denver metro (Boulder too). The only reason we moved here was a lower COL -- mainly cost of a single family home -- which in reality, isn't A LOT lower, just a little in areas with top schools. (Also, factoring in much higher property taxes, higher utilities, etc.)

More conservative here? Yes. Especially the further out from central Austin you go. You will likely be happy if you're looking for a more church-going area in general.

I can't comment on Manor or Pfugerville.

You don't mention weather concerns other than you like the weather in CO (other than the snow). The weather in Austin is opposite in every way. But maybe you'd welcome it since you're from NC/SC. 5 months of 100+.


You can search the Welcome to Austin Sticky as well as any of my posts about the two areas, across the CO boards and here. There are many. Good luck to you.

[cocoeubanks]

Thanks. We moved to CO from Columbia, SC, so the ever present heat wouldn't be anything new. It's downright miserable there for the better part of the year, mostly because of the 90-100 degree temps plus 90+ % humidity regularly. The company is actually in the far north of Austin, so we wouldn't be looking in Austin proper. Schools also aren't much of a concern. Our daughter is 8 months old, and while I know she will eventually be in school, both my husband and I went to some pretty pitiful places and still turned out reasonably.

Thanks again for the info.

[hound 109]

Originally Posted by cocoeubanks

My husband's company is offering him a transfer to the Austin area. We've been living north of Denver, CO (Broomfield) for two years. We definitely like Colorado for the scenery and weather (kind of tired of the snow, though), but we were both born and raised in the Carolinas, and culturally things are just a bit too different here. Does anyone have any insight on the Austin area in terms of religion, politics, lifestyle, etc? We don't expect to move to a place where everyone is an ultra conservative Republican Baptist ( we aren't, either), but we'd like to be someplace where folks don't think we have three heads because we go to church, either.

The idea is tempting even if it's not exactly what we'd want culturally, as housing is infinitely cheaper there than here. We really want to settle down somewhere, and there's no way we can do that in Denver.

If it makes a difference, we'd be looking at houses around Pflugerville and Manor.

Regarding COL - Count on 2.3-2.6% per year for property taxes. AC bills run higher. Factor those costs in.

Regarding good home values, along with semi-church go'ers to hard core church go'ers.....you'll be in good shape in Pville & also the the huge swath of land north of Toll Road 45....from 183 all the way to the Toll Road 130. (Including the towns of Pville, Cedar Park, RR, Hutto, even Georgetown). All are typical, middle class, nice suburban areas (all with good to OK schools...which aren't a concern to you).

I'd pass on Manor.

Austin is a little bit hotter & not as humid as SC. But hotter for a longer part of the year.

Give us the cross streets near the location of the employer so folks can help you more. "Far North Austin" means different things to different people & could be anywhere.

[cocoeubanks]

Far north may be an overstretch...since we've never been there, I'm basing that off of looking at Google maps. My Texas geography is...well...nonexistent.

It's a tech company in what appears to be a business park at the junction of La Posada Dr and La Calma Dr. It's in the Cybertex Institute of Technology, if that helps. Looks like you take the 290 Frontage Rd to get there.

Slightly off the subject, but not really, I guess, what are car registration, tag and insurance fees like? When we moved to CO, each of those better than doubled, though we knew that coming here. Just curious.

[EzPeterson]

Vehicle registration/tags are lower, Auto Insurance is higher (but not by much), Home Insurance will be about the same.

For that location, I'd rule out much of Cedar Park, and confine the housing search area to (in order)

Pflugerville - Good new builds that will be in nicer suburban neighborhoods, decent schools or you can find some larger lot homes closer to the old "downtown" P'Ville, for a very good price.

South Round Rock - Along the 620/45 corridor (commute to that area off 290 will be atrocious if he uses I-35, you'll want to plan on using the toll road network to avoid 45-60 minute commute times.

Brushy Creek - Once O'connor opens up to the toll road, it's a very nice area with a mix of mature neighborhoods and new builds.

Politically/Religioulsy, you'll fit in fine. From a weather perspective, the good thing is that (usually) as it gets hotter, the humidity comes down, so we don't have that SC "swamp effect".

[RooCeleste]

I actually work in that area myself and I drive from Cedar Park (Brushy Creek Road) -- on a good (non-school) day, it takes about 30-35 minutes during normal rush-hour traffic. On a normal day, it is more like 45 to 50 minutes and has even taken as long as 1.5 hours when something goes askew on the road! BUT I was happy to move OUT of Austin and up into Cedar Park, so I'll deal with the drive. Pflugerville or Round Rock wouldn't be bad, nor would the Mueller development in Austin.

I've tried every possible route over the past 4 years and surprisingly, the best has turned out to be 620 to I-35! There are only a couple of locations where traffic balls up on a regular basis, but generally it moves, albeit slowly at times. There are other sections where you can actually drive faster than the speed limit during rush hour!

[cocoeubanks]

We'd like to keep the housing in the $150-$175k range, and aren't really looking for a huge place. A 3 bed/2 bath would work fine, or a 4/2 so we could have a designated guest sleeping place (all of our relatives are on the East coast). Maybe 1500-1800 sq ft, but not much bigger, as I'd like to keep the cooling costs down some, and we don't really need a huge space anyway. As far as property taxes go, you're absolutely right that they are WAY more than here, but when we considered that a) TX doesn't have a state income tax and b) the cost of the kind of home we want here vs. TX are on two opposite ends of the spectrum, it pretty much evens out.

I also miss being in a place that has a bbq joint that isn't a national chain

How is the house selling market? The plan, of course, would be that if we made the move we'd be there for several years, but we all know how things go. That's one of the big reasons, aside from cost, we haven't bought in CO. We have several friends that are transplants here that still own homes in other states and can't get rid of them, or have ended up in short sales and foreclosures.

[centralaustinite]

In your price range, take a look at Pflugerville! Homes everywhere in Austin are selling fast and prices are going up!

[cwl1994]

Housing market in Austin right now? HOT. All I have to say. Fastest growing city in the nation. If you find a good home you like put an offer and don't think about low balling. My dad is a relator and his client put an offer on a house at the asking price and was still beat by someone who offered $5,000 over the asking price. My friend's mom thought she over priced her house (just over 2000 sq ft, built in the 70s, great neighborhood) by asking 480k for it and got a few offers in the first three days, without even putting it on MLS and has now since bumped her asking price up to 499k and puts it on the market this weekend.

That being said Pflugerville has a lot of construction going on right now, one thing to think about is buying a home that is not finished yet that a builder is building in a subdivision. Buying new would be a great idea!