Question from retirees moving to Austin - prefer not to be in flood zone (living in, car)

[mschrief]

I'll stay in Fort Worth. We drove thru Austin this summer and I could not believe the traffic.

We have our issues here, but as a retired couple we love it. I am from here, husband is from another PNW state and he loves it also.

Medical care in Fort Worth is great - he has several medical issues - and he gets good service from the VA clinic here, shopping is great, restaurants are good. And you have the plaza in downtown Fort Worth.

Not much of a 'senior' community that I can tell but I don't like hanging with old folks anyway

[little.old.lady.]

Originally Posted by Austin97

how many square ft?
how old of a house?
Do you need to be close to nightlife/cool restaurants/walkable?

etc

We don't need a new house. The house we currently live in was built in the 1930's It's 1700 square feet.



Size? Three bedrooms, two bathrooms would be fine. Hubby would like a nice size room to use as a study, and would love a separate room over the garage or attached to it ... though I suspect that would not be easy to find (!)



As for walk-able -- we currently live half a mile from a Whole Foods and a Trader Joe's so I suppose that would be nice ... but it's not an absolute "must have". We definitely don't need to be walking distance to nightlife and cool restaurants.

[Snowpacked]

Originally Posted by DCtoTejas

Yes I understand it as well, I spent many years in Maryland, one of the Californias of the east. I had zero exemptions and still had to have extra money taken out of my paycheck and send another check at the end of the year to pay Maryland taxes. It's one of the main reasons I left and vowed to never send another red cent to that corrupt state government. But even at MD rates, an 850k house here is equivalent to state income tax on about 200k income. That's pretty high. Granted they may be over 65 and not have to pay that much, it's hard to speculate on their financial situation given the information they provided. But, as I tried to say in my post, I don't even think that is the most important consideration really.


Edit: To add one more thing, I think Austin is a pretty fine place to work and build savings / wealth -- but I don't think I would ever choose it for retirement.

So you take zero responsibility for voting them in and then abandon the problem to have it happen over again at your new home?

[flashfearless]

I would never retire to Austin. You should be seeking out something more quaint nearby to Austin. If it is taxes you're looking to avoid, I would look strait to TN. Avoid the humid FL, TX.

Also NM is beautiful.

[CptnRn]

There are many creeks in Austin that can flood if we get a deluge of rain in that particular area, but the extent of the flood planes are limited and you can view them here. Floodplain Maps | AustinTexas.gov - The Official Website of the City of Austin

I have been retired in Austin for numerous years and I enjoy living here. Property taxes are excessively high, but there are some exemptions available that help https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/...sabled-faq.php

There is also a tax ceiling on school district taxes that helps.

It is a limit on the amount of taxes you must pay on your residence. If you qualify your residence homestead for an age 65 or older or disabled person homestead exemption for school district taxes, the school district taxes on that homestead cannot increase as long as you own and live in that home. The tax ceiling is the amount you pay in the year that you qualified for the age 65 or older or disabled person exemption.

I have been evaluating alternative places to live that I could move to, including several where I have family, and I honestly have not found an area yet that I feel suits me as well as Austin, even though I no longer have any family left here. Items I've included in my evaluations are: Climate, Seasonal Allergies, Friends, Family, Winter and Summer weather, Water supply (drought), Economy, Educational, Political and Social factors, Crime, etc.

If you are not already aware of it, City-Data has data pages on just about every city and town in the USA. I have found them helpful in comparing the dozen or so areas that I have considered.

Austin Data: //www.city-data.com/city/Austin-Texas.html

Other States and Cities: //www.city-data.com

[creepy]

Yes OP this is what is happening to your question, more or less. What Need4Camaro said "Yeah I have to agree with this. It does seem like alot of natives here are purposefully sabotaging because they do not want people to continue to move to Austin in fear that it will forever change from what they grew up in. "

It is funny too because about 4 years ago I became the "don't move here" person on city data forum and some other Austinites at the time told me I was being unfriendly and unhelpful, etc. THEN another year passed or so and the stats came out that like 120 people were moving to Austin per day or week or something and traffic got noticeably worse.

Then I noticed over next several years instead of people getting 90% helpful post to moving here it did a flip-flop and now it is 90% or a significant number saying "please don't move here for reasons, etc"

So...I am sure a Realtor can tell you if a house is in a flood zone. Just be aware too that so many Californians have moved here, "Californian" has become a dirty word of sorts. Maybe since you do not have to drive so much you might consider moving to a smaller/cheaper city than Austin in Texas? Seguin? Bracketville? Kingsville(near the coast)?

[ashbeeigh]

Originally Posted by creepy

So...I am sure a Realtor can tell you if a house is in a flood zone. Just be aware too that so many Californians have moved here, "Californian" has become a dirty word of sorts. Maybe since you do not have to drive so much you might consider moving to a smaller/cheaper city than Austin in Texas? Seguin? Bracketville? Kingsville(near the coast)?

Seguin is a flood zone no matter where you are at. When I was at Texas Lutheran from 2003-2007 there were several tropical storms that came through that made walking on campus nearly impossible. The dams are so in need of repair that the river authority is draining the man made lake (Placid, Dunlop, McQueeny, etc) and have no time frame on when they are goin to rebuild them. I know you were just throwing out ideas, but Seguin is probably one of the last places I would offer as an option for someone, especailly if they don't want to be in a flood prone area.

[DCtoTejas]

Originally Posted by Snowpacked

So you take zero responsibility for voting them in and then abandon the problem to have it happen over again at your new home?

I've never voted for any of them it was and is a one party run state you could vote to your little heart's content against them and be overwhelmed by the other side JUST LIKE AUSTIN.

[earthisle]

You're in for a rude awakening if you think as retirees you'll be paying lower taxes in Austin!

[earthisle]

Originally Posted by little.old.lady.

Thank you for all the responses!


I think with the property tax situation which you all have enlightened us about, we'd prefer to buy a house for around $400K to $450K. That should be do-able since our kids are adults and don't live with us, and we won't need a good school district.


We are hoping to come out to visit the city and look around, perhaps in September.



Thanks for all the input.

You can expect to pay at about $10k in property tax each year