Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas > Austin
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 03-05-2014, 05:07 PM
 
6 posts, read 6,821 times
Reputation: 10

Advertisements

My wife, 18-month-old daughter and I are considering a move to Austin, TX, and I needed some opinions on some good neighborhoods to consider.

All of the normal things that a family is considering when making a move are important to us (great schools for our daughter, proximity to downtown since we will both probably be working in the city, walkable town if possible, lots of restaurants and shops to stroll through on the weekends). Our budget is up to $400,000, and we would love a house with a yard, no apartments (we've been doing apartment living in NYC for quite a while now).

One of the biggest things that we are looking for, though, is a great sense of community with people like us. My wife and I both come from a performing arts background, and although neither of us make our careers anymore in the performing arts (I'm a web designer/developer and she works in fashion), we have found that we relate best to artists and/or people who enjoy the arts. Although these are the people we relate to most, we're not eclectic, so communities that are solely based on the arts and nothing else (NoDa seems to have this vibe, which is a little more than we're looking for) aren't really for us, either.

Does anyone have any suggestions for communities where we might be able to find some of these qualities?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 03-05-2014, 06:04 PM
 
1,549 posts, read 1,945,851 times
Reputation: 1668
Why Austin?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-05-2014, 06:17 PM
 
269 posts, read 426,926 times
Reputation: 272
You won't find a neighborhood in this city that meets all or even some of your criteria for 400k and under. Central East Austin would be your best bet (minus the great schools) but unless you are wanting to buy a tear down, you'd need more than 400K.

You can find a house in this city with quick access to downtown, and good schools but you will have to sacrifice on walkability.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-05-2014, 06:27 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX
1,283 posts, read 2,728,703 times
Reputation: 1040
Honey, Austin is still in Texas. We are very friendly but also proud of our unique southern heritage, i.e., you will meet and interact with 'actual' Texans, some of whom are conservative. Are you ready for that?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-05-2014, 06:50 PM
 
Location: Round Rock, Texas
13,437 posts, read 15,374,341 times
Reputation: 18959
You can find maybe a home in Hyde Park/Highland and a few other central areas but it will be small. That area is like a Manhattan equivalent in terms of being very pricey for less size. I'm a New Yorker, myself. I started off being a creative person but didn't end up that way, so good for you. Can't say there's an equivalent performing arts scene here, though.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-06-2014, 05:49 AM
 
Location: Warrior Country
4,573 posts, read 6,753,657 times
Reputation: 3978
Quote:
Originally Posted by A-Tex View Post
Why Austin?
Yes, & where's your job?

& what's a NoDa?

Dump the "great" schools requirement or double your budget if you want an area near downtown with all of your data points.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-06-2014, 07:06 AM
 
Location: Central Texas
20,958 posts, read 45,245,177 times
Reputation: 24738
Okay, by working "in the city" do you mean in Austin city limits or actually downtown? Do you have jobs lined up, or employers that you've tagged as being the most likely to be working for? Austin is a VERY different place from NYC, geographically, and looking at what fields you're in, it's entirely possible that you wouldn't be working downtown at all, and that can be a real game changer as far as finding the best place to live that meets the most of your requirements. Also, define "proximity" - enough people have moved here from enough different places that we've learned that that word, like "good commute", has very different meanings depending on where the speaker comes from and what they're used to experiencing.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-06-2014, 08:27 AM
 
Location: Austin
4,105 posts, read 8,266,976 times
Reputation: 2134
Kiss walkability goodbye.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-06-2014, 08:56 AM
 
1,588 posts, read 2,305,336 times
Reputation: 3371
You are really going to need to come out here with your wife for at least 5 days (leave the kids with the grandparents) and cruise around and see what you find. Have a realtor show you areas within your price range and go from there.

It's great out here but it's hard to explain just how low density it is, I'm hesitant to say this but here it is.

As spoken by Eastcoasting: "Austin is one giant suburb of itself"



400K houses, great schools, walkability, shops educated bohemian-lite vibe...I think you need a time machine to go back to one of the Hudson River Line towns circa 1994.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-06-2014, 09:16 AM
 
51 posts, read 115,483 times
Reputation: 55
There are lots and lots of people moving to Austin from both coasts that have a similar background as you. It will be a culture shock, but you can adjust, like so many other people have.

Central Austin is probably more expensive than what you have in mind as far as budget and schools.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas > Austin
Similar Threads
View detailed profiles of:

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top