Moving to Austin / Neighborhood + Snake Advice (West, Howe: apartment complexes, HOA, townhouse)

[haiderva]

Hello Texans!

I have been offered a job in Austin which I have accepted and will be moving there from Virginia by end of May. My wife and I have a 3 year old and a 5 month old. My job will be in downtown and we're looking for neighborhood suggestions.

We're looking for a safe, family-oriented neighborhood with great schools and close to downtown. We are even open to nice modern apartment complexes and townhouse communities.

I would greatly appreciate any ideas you all can give. Also, most of the blogs I have read have my wife and I terrified of the snake "problem" in Austin. Is it really as bad as people are saying? Naturally with 2 kids, should I be concerned about this? If I live in a well-developed (non-woodsy) neighborhood, am I able to let my kids play outside?

Thank you so much for your guidance and look forward to being neighbors with you wonderful folks.

[DMChicago]

Gonna need the budget.

[haiderva]

DM, budget is around $1,500 - $2,000.

[DMChicago]

Originally Posted by haiderva

DM, budget is around $1,500 - $2,000.

I don't know how close to downtown you can get for that.

What will you need...a 3 bdrm?

Don't worry a second about snakes. There are here but just be cautious when in snaky looking areas.

[haiderva]

DM, 3 bedroom would be ideal. My job is on Research Blvd (78759). In terms of snakes, so I don't have to worry about a snake coming into our house or crawling up through the toilet pipes?

Thank you very much

[haiderva]

Also, it doesn't have to be IN downtown, just close enough for a 15-25 min commute.

[TexasHorseLady]

Research isn't downtown, it's in North Austin, so that opens up things a bit. (No way you're getting anything close to downtown for that budget.) However, there are several in 78759, houses and duplexes, that are in your price range, currently on the MLS. All are older, which means established neighborhoods, which means less likely to be disturbed by snakes looking for where their home went when the Intergalactic Bypass (new construction) came through. As for schools, you'd need to check that out yourself (my two kids ended up going to very different private schools because they are so different in the same family, so I would not say what would be a good school for someone else's child, never mind kids as young as yours!), but most appear to be tracked to Westwood or Anderson high schools. Not that your kids would be going to those high schools, necessarily, but they are highly rated.

[RunninJT]

most of the blogs I have read have my wife and I terrified of the snake "problem" in Austin

I'm sorry I found that to be hilarious. We have a snake problem? In established Austin I have not seen a poisonous snake in 40 years, scorpions either. Mind you they are developing areas in the outskirts of Austin that are now "considered Austin" where they might show up, because it was their home just a short while ago before they threw up McMansions all around them. But Austin proper? lol no. If you could find a rattler around Rosedale I would consider it a miracle. In 78753 we do not even have them at the outskirts, closest we got was last year when somebody was killed by their pet cyclops cobra in a walmart parking lot and it promptly escaped from the car and got run over on the I-35 feeder a few hundred yards away. Note, Cobra's are not native to the area.

Dealing with Texas snakes is actully pretty strait forward. Leave them alone if you can. They do not want to deal with you any more than you want to deal with them. Backing away and letting them have space is pretty much all it takes. If that is not an option and fire arms discharge is discouraged by your HOA then long handled gardening tools have never failed us yet. Also some pets are better at dispatching them than we will ever be. I've seen small, fast neurotic Jack Russell mow through a snake without so much as a pause. But if you never want to worry about laying eyes on a poisonous snake ever then you will probably have to move downtown and up your budget a lot. But a lot of people have moved to the outskirts of Austin and just deal with it. Welcome to Texas, if the snakes are what you are worried about then you are not giving enough respect to our weather which is far more dangerous. But nothing kills in Texas like our traffic.

[centralaustinite]

I used to have a cat that would bring me harmless little Red Racer snakes all the time! She could find a snake anywhere.

Don't raise chickens -- even in the city, black snakes will find chickens and eat the eggs. But otherwise, snakes aren't looking for people and you will rarely see them. I think I have seen three in almost 30 years here (not counting the ones the cat brought me) and I am on the water and in brush all the time.

Fire Ants are what freaked me out when I first moved here! And my first tropical storm! I grew up in the midwast and seen plenty of thunderstorms but nothing prepared me for the wall of water that a tropical storm can produce. Don't drive through a flooded street --"turn around, don't drown" is REAL!

[DashRiprock]

I'm confused - the job is downtown or off Research Blvd? Those are two completely different areas.

Snakes are pretty bad throughout Texas compared to the northeast. Just a fact of life here, and nothing you can really do about it. I'd stay in Virginia if that's of concern to you.