Moving back to Tx (Houston, Austin: real estate, how much, house prices)

[lizzytex00]

Spent most of my life in Houston, moved to New England for the last 5 years, thinking about moving back in probably 2ish years. Hate Houston but love the Austin area, so will start looking there. Hubs doesn't want to be in Austin because of nightmare traffic. What are some great towns within 30 mins (maybe even on a lake?) with cute little downtown areas, schools aren't super important b/c ours are all grown, need good restaurants as we are foodies, and no nightmare traffic. Can spend up to $1m on a house. Any recs?

[Austin97]

Austin traffic woes are way overrated. Houston traffic is much worse. I would think new england traffic would be worse in their big cities.

Most traffic studies use a method where they look at ratio of slowest to fastest times. In cities that are always congested the ratio looks good because traffic is always slow.

If you instead look at average total commute austin doesnt rank high at all.

I commuted downtown from the north for a summer and my commute time was about 18 minutes.

If you can spend 1M on a house you should live in the city and you will not have to deal with traffic. But you can also live lakefront on lake travis for 1M. Very few good restaurants outside of the austin core.

I love to eat out and one reason why I live closer in is because of the proximity to restaurants. All the newest trendy restaurants are on the east side. If you live out by the lake it would be extremely difficult to get there.

[ashbeeigh]

Small towns within 30 minutes if Austin with cute downtowns? Add another 15 minutes and you might it. I agree with the idea of finding something g in town though. How much do you know about central Texas just looking at the map? Have you done any research on your own? I hate to be a pain, but we’re here to offer advice, not do the research for you. Throw out some names of cities/towns and we might be able to help some more.

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

If you can afford $1m for a house, you should be able to live just about anywhere you want. Definitelty in the top 10% in Greater Austin of house prices.

If I had a $1m budget for a house in a small town within a short drive from Austin, I'd be looking in Lake Travis, Lago Vista, Jonestown and probably Spicewood. They are all by the lake.

Wimberly, while not by the lake, is a nice little town that many people might call "cute" in the Hayes County portion of The Texas Hill Country about 12 miles NW of San Marcos and 18 miles SE of Dripping Springs on RR 12. There is not a lake there, but there is a creek that looks like a river and a good place to swim. From what I hear, Wimberly is not a town for the "financially challenged", so to speak, but for a million dollars, it's definitely do-able, if you will.

[Melissa Hall]

Originally Posted by lizzytex00

Spent most of my life in Houston, moved to New England for the last 5 years, thinking about moving back in probably 2ish years. Hate Houston but love the Austin area, so will start looking there. Hubs doesn't want to be in Austin because of nightmare traffic. What are some great towns within 30 mins (maybe even on a lake?) with cute little downtown areas, schools aren't super important b/c ours are all grown, need good restaurants as we are foodies, and no nightmare traffic. Can spend up to $1m on a house. Any recs?

I would look into Georgetown. We just moved here from out of state, and we really like Georgetown. It has a great little downtown square and a cozy more smaller town vibe. If you have that budget you should look out at a beautiful suburb called Oaks of San Gabriel. (that's the only one we know in Georgetown, but the homes are beautiful and it feels like a country setting with beautiful trees all over, nice trails, and a nice pool area).

[McJ]

Within 30 mins is a hard one -- that is sort of a dream scenario for what you want. Lakeway might work, although there isn't really a "cute downtown area" that I know of. It does have a lake and amenities like restaurants, a mall, and grocery shopping.

[lizzytex00]

Having grown up in Houston, I spent a lot of time visiting Austin and the area. We rented a house one summer in Lakeway, which I loved. I also like Georgetown and Bee Cave is cute. It's good to hear the traffic isn't as bad as my husband thinks it is. If that's the case, I'd much rather live IN Austin than on the outskirts, unless we decide we'd rather be on a lake. I love Austin, and can't wait to get back to great Mexican food. I'll check out some of the other towns mentioned here, though, that I hadn't heard of. Thank you!!!

[sanmiguel]

Marble Falls. 45 miles from Austin.

[gabetx]

With your budget, I would look into Bouldin Creek, Zilker, Travis Heights, and Tarrytown. They are all within 5 minutes of downtown Austin and there will be some great real estate within your budget. Tarrytown is right by the river, which is really wide around there, is hilly and there are multiple trails and places to swim nearby. A couple of other great central locations to look into are Rollingwood, and Westlake Hills, but those areas may be pushing your budget.

If you are adamant about being further out from the city, the only places I can recommend with your specifications is the Bee Cave/ Lakeway/ Steiner Ranch area. It will have everything minus the cute little downtown, as they are very commercialized areas. But from these areas, you are going to experience traffic headaches anytime you need to come into Austin.

[ClaraC]

Lizzy, with your budget of a million bucks, you need to find a realtor to accommodate you.

A million dollars will get you a property you want in Austin, and you won't have to rely on CityData to tell you where to go.