Possible Relocation to Austin from greater Phoenix (Round Rock, Spring: real estate market, rent)

[DLL333]

Hey everyone,

Wanted to put some feelers out there, as my wife and our 2 young boys may be moving here sometime around March or April, and Austin is on the list of possible destinations. We've been in Chandler, Arizona for a little while now. I've no crazy issues as far as quality of life or crime (It's actually a very safe place), but we feel we could make better money elsewhere and put our boys in a better public school system when it comes time to put them in school (state by state, Arizona ranks as one of the worst.)

We're both 30. Politically, we're pretty moderate, we're not religious, we would call ourselves pretty intelligent and pretty cultured people. We don't have a crazy nightlife, being that we have young children so that's not a big deal. We both work in mortgage.

I guess what I'm trying to find out is greater Austin a good place to be? What are the nicer areas? Not-so-nice areas? How is the public education system?

We're looking to purchase a house in the range of $300k, in or around that price range. Basically we're looking for a safe, quiet area with good schools. Doesn't have to be ritzy or super upscale, but I know for housing, your dollar goes just little further in Austin than it does here.

Thank you so much for all of your help!

[clarksvillemom]

sorry to be the bearer of bad news but $300k won't get you much here now. have you looked at san antonio

[Philipaustex]

Leander has great schools and you can find plenty of homes in good neighborhoods in $300K range.

[A-Tex]

Originally Posted by DLL333

Hey everyone,

Wanted to put some feelers out there, as my wife and our 2 young boys may be moving here sometime around March or April, and Austin is on the list of possible destinations. We've been in Chandler, Arizona for a little while now. I've no crazy issues as far as quality of life or crime (It's actually a very safe place), but we feel we could make better money elsewhere and put our boys in a better public school system when it comes time to put them in school (state by state, Arizona ranks as one of the worst.)

We're both 30. Politically, we're pretty moderate, we're not religious, we would call ourselves pretty intelligent and pretty cultured people. We don't have a crazy nightlife, being that we have young children so that's not a big deal. We both work in mortgage.

I guess what I'm trying to find out is greater Austin a good place to be? What are the nicer areas? Not-so-nice areas? How is the public education system?

We're looking to purchase a house in the range of $300k, in or around that price range. Basically we're looking for a safe, quiet area with good schools. Doesn't have to be ritzy or super upscale, but I know for housing, your dollar goes just little further in Austin than it does here.

Thank you so much for all of your help!

Wrong. Housing is significantly more expensive in Austin than it is in the greater Phoenix area. A $300K budget will mean the suburbs such as Leander, Cedar Park, Round Rock. There are many good to excellent school tracks in those areas, but not every area in those cities will have the best schools so you will need to do your homework. If you choose an affordable suburb to live, you'd better hope that you find a job close by because traffic in Austin is no joke.

Speaking of jobs, it would be a huge mistake to assume you'd make better money in Austin. Unless you're in one of a few high demand areas (such as software development), you'll be competing with a high number of young recent college graduates who are willing to take artificially low salaries in order to move to (or stay in) Austin since we're the trendy place to move. The employment statistics you may be reading don't tell the whole story. Those high salaries are skewed by a few industries and although the unemployment rate is low, underemployment is an issue.

[hound 109]

Originally Posted by Philipaustex

Leander has great schools and you can find plenty of homes in good neighborhoods in $300K range.

Leander ISD has some very good to great schools. (But they aren't located in Leander. Some are in Cedar Park & the best ones are in Austin)

I agree with A Tex & Clarksville. 300K for a nice SFH will likely put you in the outer suburbs & the school tracks might be good....or they might just be average.

Get the job first. If you rent or buy on the wrong side of town, you'll be scr*wed on the commute.

[Leaving Arizona]

DLL333: we moved here from the same area you're at (well, a city over to the west) back in January...

Cost and quality of living is better. Moving here is the best thing we ever did. That said, we missed the window by about two years - when my better half got the job offer initially back in 2012, we were dealing with a family death and the aftermath and it was a bad time. If we'd moved then, the real estate market wasn't as crazy as it is now. But this year? The boom is on and we've had some sticker shock.

The real estate market - rent or buy - is far too hot with this huge influx to get a deal on a house. If you have your heart set on living and working in the idyllic PR dream of foodie areas downtown, South Austin, or Barton Springs, $300k is not going to get you squat. Even in Cedar Park, Georgetown, Leander, or Round Rock, $300k might not get you what you're thinking of. And if you're working in central/downtown Austin, you're going to be hating life with your commute.

The tax structure is a bit of a shock. Make sure you do your research before jumping in. Getting your drivers license and plates is nothing short of going through the hoops for your passport. The frontage road systems. Oh, and toll roads.

Austin is nothing like Phoenix, especially in terms of getting around. The Phoenix area's on a nice grid with a loop system and an interstate running through it; you can cross the Valley in roughly an hour in good traffic. The airport is easy to get to from everywhere. The greater Austin area is not on a grid because of the terrain, and the distances you have to go are something else entirely. Traffic here can be a nightmare. Access to the airport can be difficult, depending on where you're coming from. And the traffic control is a bit of a shock, too, much different than in AZ/CA; it took me a few weeks to get used to it.

And most importantly, my advice is that you must have a job offer in hand to really make the move fly. The markets - both jobs and real estate - is very competitive here. And tying real estate back in, where your job is must dictate where you look, because as already stated, traffic here, depending on where you are, is bad juju.

Good luck.

[riaelise]

In Austin proper, it looks like you can still find homes for sub 300k in parts of 78750 (the caveat being that the elementary schools aren't the most desirable (but not necessarily poor either, depending on who you talk to. I only see an upside with them) but they both track to a great middle and excellent high school), 78727 (Milwood), looks like there are some bargains to be found in parts of 78717, 78729... I am not mentioning 78745 because many of those listings track to average to below average to schools. Despite this, it is a popular zip code.


I don't believe your post stated how big of a house you desired, how old, etc. That makes a difference because many of the houses in your price range in Austin will be older and probably not updated. The houses will likely be small.


The suburbs provide good options too. You'll likely get a newer house and the good schools to boot, though the suburban pricing is escalating as well. You're not going to find a giant sized house with good schools for below $300k in the suburbs either. I further recommend Pflugerville, specifically the Northeast part of the city. It is the fastest growing and the schools are pretty good (though the HS is average. That may change once they build the fourth one).

[TexasHorseLady]

Okay, you say you both work in mortgage. Depending on what that is, you very likely won't be working downtown (at least most of the mortgage brokers/lenders that I deal with don't. That opens up things for you a bit. You do still need to find out where you'll be working in order to minimize the commute as much as possible. So that should be your first step (sort of like getting pre-approved is your first step in looking for a home to buy).

Once that's established (north/south of the river is a biggie), you can look at school options. There are good ones north and south, but you'll want to look at the ones that are closest to where you're going to work. But once we know where work is, that'll open up a lot more advice that will actually be useful. Things like size of house, etc., are important, too.

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

Check into Cherry Creek, zip code 78745 in Southwest Austin between Manchaca and Westgate on the east and west, and Wm Cannon and Stassney on the north and south sides. It's a quiet, safe, well kept neighborhood of mostly 1970's ranch style homes. They run anywhere from about 225,000 up to right around 300,000.

My parents bought a house there for less than 70,000 dollars in 1995. Now it would sell for about 250,000 $$$. There are alot of older people in the area who bought their house in the 70's. The vast majority of the neighborhood are owners, which is why it is so well kept.

In my opinion, I think you will be hard pressed to find a higher quality, safer, and and more affordable neighborhood in Austin than Cherry Creek.