Gay professional moving from Atlanta to Austin (Houston, Wells Branch: real estate, coupons)

[semperfit]

Hi everyone,

I'm a 30 something single gay professional who may be moving to Austin from Atlanta on a job opportunity. I will be working in the Wells Branch area.

I have a couple of questions that I'd appreciate some advice on:-

* I guess I will do the 15 hour drive in my car. Google Maps shows me the quickest route as going on I-20W - but as I have never been to NOLA, I was wondering whether it might be a nice drive to come south and take I-10 across to Austin, instead? Certainly more interesting cities that way?

* I was wondering if anyone on here had any advice on the moving process from Atlanta in terms of the cost. Has anyone used a transportation company from Atlanta to Austin that they would recommend? It doesn't need to be full service - just picking up the packed boxes and furniture and dropping it off at my apartment in Austin.

* I am looking for a nice 2BR apartment in the $1000 range in a gay-friendly neighborhood not too far from Wells Branch (~20 mins commute max). Can anyone recommend a neighborhood? I would be open to living in a house that someone is renting out - is there a resource for searching for these places besides Craigslist? How much time should I budget to rent an apartment or house? I've never moved with furniture before so I was wondering how that worked so that you can have an apartment ready before your stuff arrives.

* Besides what shows up in the search engines, are there any online resources that would help me in the move to Austin? I'm really excited - I've heard it's a great town! I'm very into fitness - so I love all the things I am hearing about Austin and fitness!

Thanks a ton!

SemperFit

[1mintjulep]

The only advice I can give you as far as moving goes is - be very careful about the moving company you choose. There are some scam operations out there that will take your money and you may never see your stuff. My partner's mom fell victim to this when she moved from N.O. to Austin a couple of years ago. She ended up getting her stuff, but they damaged most of her things (even busted her TV) and stole some of it, and she had no recourse because of the terms of the contract (that she didn't look at closely enough, apparently). Evidently, this kind of scam is fairly common.

Most if not all of Austin is fairly gay-friendly. I'm gay and have never felt uncomfortable anywhere I've lived here, but I generally feel more comfortable the closer to central Austin I am. However, you'd probably be fine in the Wells Branch area. You may want to check out Riata Apartments between 183 & Parmer Ln. I've known several gay folks who've lived there, and they all liked it (it seems to cater to young, childless professional types or at least it did a few years ago). There are several other nicer complexes relatively close to the area you're talking about.

[doctorjef]

Use a national moving company such as Allied Van Lines or Mayflower. This will avoid worst case scam scenarios, though it won't save you from incompetent and even dishonest packers and moving crews. These national franchise operations have good crews and not so good crews, and some people have good luck with a particular company and others not such good luck.

My partner and I lived in Austin for 19 years. I agree about what's been said regarding the more gay-centric aspect of Central Austin as opposed to the more far-flung burbs. We lived for about half our years in Austin in a far south Austin neighborhood (Shady Hollow) that really isn't a gay neighborhood, but we never had any problems other than just the inconvenience of being such a drive from downtown and central Austin generally. We then lived in south-central Austin and found that a lot more to our liking. I really wouldn't recommend Wells Branch as a place for a young gay male professional, but you could live there for a time and determine where in Austin you'd really like to live. In any case, Austin's gay community is not at all ghetto-ized into gayborhoods. Some areas are more heavily gay and lesbian than others, but gay people are really spread out and integrated into the overall fabric of Austin, even if Central Austin is more Gay HQ.

[nature's message]

Austin seemed like a very health-conscious city when I came there. The city has a splendid park system, so if you are wanting o go on a morning jog or whatever, then you should definitely go do it around Lady Bird Lake.

Like everyone else said, Austin's gay scene is not as centralized as Atlanta's. Here's an apartment search.

Apartments for Rent in Central Downtown/Campus Areas | Apartment in Central Downtown/Campus Areas*Texas

Good luck with the move.

[semperfit]

I don't necessarily want to be in the middle of a gayborhood - but if the dating scene is as good as they claim it is, then I don't want to be in a neighborhood that would make my date roll his eyes

I made the mistake of living in one of the Atlanta suburbs to be close to work and to say the dating situation looked bleak was an understatement. I should say though that I'm not a fan of a long commute so if I can get from work (Wells Branch Pkwy & Mopac Expy) to South Central Austin in 20 mins, I should be ok!

[paul6835]

I used Mayflower then drove from NYC. Its a good fit if you're going to drive because they can work with you to time the delivery. Its nice to be able to pick up and deliver with the same company and have them call you with status. Delivery is an estimate with a follow up call on exact date/time. Pack enough to live in an empty apartment for 3-4 days. From a cost perspective, it was no different than renting a U-Haul if I remember correctly, because they're moving multiple people in 16 wheelers at once - economies of scale. For that reason alone, I would never recommend going with someone who wasn't nationwide and established, there's no way they're going to be able to have the efficiencies built in to give you a cost effective move cross country.

Random comment, not sure if it still is (for some reason I think the law changed recently), but at the time, moving expenses were tax deductible. Keep the receipt just in case.

Culturally, Austin strikes me as extremely gay-welcoming, but the casual shorts and t-shirt, college football, outdoor sporting & music culture doesn't seem to attract a big gay community.

[doctorjef]

I don't know about that -- gay male Austinites tend to take on the local culture on their own terms. For instance the First Splash and Last Splash Events, as well as Memorial Day, all out at Hippie Hollow (on Lake Travis) get big gay crowds -- indeed the Splash events are specifically gay events. This always includes a good number of gay-owned boats of various kinds -- speed, cabin cruisers, houseboats, etc. And I knew quite a few guys who were really into football, though my partner and I certainly weren't. In terms of shorts and t-shirts, well how do you think gay people dress? In Austin that's pretty much how everyone dresses, weather permitting.

[corntortilla]

I think a good house rental website is Austin Real Estate | AustinHomeSearch | Austin Realtors | Austin TX Real Estate. You can search for leases and specify neighborhoods and price range, which isn't something you can easily do on craigslist.

If you go the route of renting a van yourself, you can find really good coupons for Budget's line of trucks at the post office with their moving packets. We looked into having people move our stuff for us and it seemed way more expensive than just doing it ourselves.

My parents make the trip from NC to TX a lot and they like going down to New Orleans more than taking the other route - and I don't think that there's much time difference as long as you don't hit major cities like Houston during rush hour.

As far as neighborhoods go, I would look into Hyde Park/North Loop area (78751), which is more liberal and has some house rentals - although $1000 for a 2 bdrm might be a little low. There's a good website on neighborhoods and moving advice at Move to Austin TX - A Definitive Guide to Relocating to the Best Place on the Planet too.

[doctorjef]

You might also look for house rentals in the Zilker and Barton Hills areas (real estate area 7). I agree that $1000/mo. is very much on the low side for anything fairly central unless it's a complete dump. The Crestview area is also a good place to look into and has been attractive IME to a sizeable number of gay households.

[1mintjulep]

Originally Posted by doctorjef

You might also look for house rentals in the Zilker and Barton Hills areas (real estate area 7). I agree that $1000/mo. is very much on the low side for anything fairly central unless it's a complete dump. The Crestview area is also a good place to look into and has been attractive IME to a sizeable number of gay households.

Yeah, we just bought a condo in Allandale - it's nice and I'd highly recommend the area, but if you're gonna rent something decent there or in Crestview (which is nearby), you're gonna pay more than $1000 a month. I suggested Riata because it's relatively close to where the OP says he'll be working; there are some nice apartments around Wells Branch and there are surely gay people that live around there, it's just not a terribly happening area, at least not to me. Having a 20 minute commute to work is nice, tho and for a lot of people that's an acceptable trade-off.