Where to live in Austin (Cedar Hill, Cedar Park: fit in, for sale, real estate)

[mogulka]

Dear Everyone,

We are a Hungarian family, and we may move to the US, to Austin. My questions:

1. With neighbourhood is recomended with two sons under 3?

2. We would like to rent an apartment two bedroom, about 120 m2. How much rental fee shold we calculate for that?

3. Wich activities are good for the babies. My older son is may attend a kinder garden group. Wich oppurtinities do we have, wich are the approx. fees for kinder garden?

4. My husband would have his job, but I would like to work too. I have Masters degree in communication and literature, but I don't think my English is fluent enough to start with that. I have a Pilates Instructor degree as well, I made it at an US institute. If I had a green card is it possible to work with that?

5. My hubby thinking to move to Pflugervill, or somewhere in the suburb, but I'm afraid it's to isolated, please recomend a district wich is close enogh to the city life, but the rentals are still aviable.


Thank You for any information!

[rpowell]

Mogulka,

120 m2 is about 1100 sq ft of living space. The best way for you to get an idea for the cost is to go to craigslist: dallas / fort worth classifieds for jobs, apartments, personals, for sale, services, community, and events and click on the 'city of Austin' and then click on 'Housing'. This will show you properties for rent by people in the Austin area. The 1100 sq ft will cost you about $1000 to $1800 per month depending on the area that you wish to live.

There are no fees for a normal kindergarten in the public school system.

Robert

[mogulka]

thanks Robert, that's good news!

Do anyone has other opinion?

What about the social life. Is it big deal, that we are not native US citizens? How friendly the people there are?

[Trainwreck20]

Most people will be quite interested in meeting people from other places, and it may help you make friends, actually. Judging by you written English, I am guessing that your spoken English is at least passable.

Kindergarten is available for 5 year old kids and up. Care for kids younger than that will cost something, although I couldn't tell you exactly how much, and it depends on what kind of care you get.

[WoodyTX]

Our 2 year old daughter is at a local child development center (like a daycare center, but more focused on education). Tuition ranges from about $400 to $800 per month, with younger children costing more. They're open from 6 AM to 6 PM. At age 5, children go to public school kindergarten (or private school, if you can afford it).

Some thoughts on moving to Austin:

You may want to rent a house for six months to a year, so you can get a feel for the city and where you want to be.

Austin has a diverse selection of neighborhoods, from downtown urban condominiums, to urban neighborhoods (expensive, but similar to European lifestyles), to suburban life (houses over here, big box stores over there, jobs over there, etc), to rural and semi-rural living (yards measured in acreage, 1 acre = 4047 square meters), to actual farmland. The more that you can define what you want, the more that members can help you find it.

Because county and city governments in Texas receive much of their revenue from property taxes, be aware that they may be as high as 3%, so a $100,000 home (not terribly expensive) may pay up to $3,000 annually. This is normally part of your mortgage payment, not something you have to save for. Taxes in the city are actually a bit less than taxes outside Austin, although the houses are also generally more expensive.

Austin and the surrounding communities will have no problem with immigrants, especially legal ones who make an effort to speak the language and fit in. There are many cultures celebrated here: Mexican, German, Czech, Indian, Persian, Vietnamese, and both kinds of Chinese, etc.

Pilates is still popular here, although yoga is beginning to eclipse it. I suspect a Pilates instructor with a foreign accent would be popular; human nature sometimes seeks out the exotic.

[mogulka]

Thanks Guys! It's so good to read what you've written!

I try to improve my English, and we are moving just in case if it's legal.

Dear Woody! The problem is that I don't really know what lifestyle the diffrent areas mean. My husband visit Austin freqently but I haven't been there yet. Right now we are living in the capital approx. 15 miniutes from centre, in a green district in a 3 bedroom house. Two kids, two dogs, two goldfish. I worked hard before the babies, and I'm pretty active. My elder son doesn't attend the kinder garden, but we go every day a group where we play with the children. For us important to have a swimming oportunity close to us. We would like to give out max. 2000 USD/month as rental. I have driving licens, and we are planning to have a car for me too. I do cooking, so good grocery is more important than restaurant chances close to us.

I wold like to live close to kinder garden, medical service, other families. I visited on the internet Steiner ranch (I was not able to find rent option), Cedar Hill (good price but the real estate was not that nice), and Pflugerville (that would be closet to work, good price nice properties) and I'm going to check Leander later.

What do you think are this places too far from any social activities, or this distances are common in US.

I'm looking foward to read your answers!

[WoodyTX]

We are moving soon, and have considered renting out our current house. 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2000 square feet in our neighborhood should cost about $1500-1800 per month. We are north of Austin near Anderson Mill and Parmer Lane, close to schools, day care, hospitals, shopping, etc.

I am not sure how to explain the different lifestyles in Austin, but almost all neighborhoods have grocery stores, day care, schools, restaurants, cafes, etc nearby. Some neighbors are friendlier than others, but I have found that most Texans are friendly.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by mogulka

Thanks Guys! It's so good to read what you've written!

I try to improve my English, and we are moving just in case if it's legal.

Dear Woody! The problem is that I don't really know what lifestyle the diffrent areas mean. My husband visit Austin freqently but I haven't been there yet. Right now we are living in the capital approx. 15 miniutes from centre, in a green district in a 3 bedroom house. Two kids, two dogs, two goldfish. I worked hard before the babies, and I'm pretty active. My elder son doesn't attend the kinder garden, but we go every day a group where we play with the children. For us important to have a swimming oportunity close to us. We would like to give out max. 2000 USD/month as rental. I have driving licens, and we are planning to have a car for me too. I do cooking, so good grocery is more important than restaurant chances close to us.

I wold like to live close to kinder garden, medical service, other families. I visited on the internet Steiner ranch (I was not able to find rent option), Cedar Hill (good price but the real estate was not that nice), and Pflugerville (that would be closet to work, good price nice properties) and I'm going to check Leander later.

What do you think are this places too far from any social activities, or this distances are common in US.

I'm looking foward to read your answers!

In my experience, Europeans don't like US suburbs too much, so I'd eliminate Pflugerville, amd Cedar Park. I can say this because I work with Europeans everyday in my job so I get to hear their viewpoint everyday.

I'd probably recommend something in South Austin where you could get good schools and be 15 minutes to downtown, maybe some other people on here could comment on whether Circle C would be good. It has an olympic swimming pool, parks and trails nearby, decent schools, and is close to grocery stores since that's more important to you than restaurants.

Hyde Park (central Austin) would be another option but you may have to send your children to private schools.

[mogulka]

Dear Woody, Thank you for info, i'll check Anderson Mill and Parmer Lane too.

Dear Bach, I absolutely agree that suburb is not nessery our best choice. Actually I'm really envy those people who grew up in suburb, know all bushes, and neighbours. For our point of wiew it could be hermit like a bit. Do you know about the rental fees in South Austin, and Hyde Park (I do not need exact ammount, just a relation with other districts)? Of course I'm interested in other opinions too!

Private school is not a problem, we are ready to pay for it, we are making savings for that time. Of course it's not a question of prestige, when we have good public schools nearby I won't hasitate to send the children there, but we are ready to pay for the education (in Europe you have to pay for the good school the same too).

Does anyone know about West Lake Hills, Wooten and Heritage Hills, are they affordable for us?

[RooCeleste]

Originally Posted by mogulka

thanks Robert, that's good news!

Do anyone has other opinion?

What about the social life. Is it big deal, that we are not native US citizens? How friendly the people there are?

I don't think you'll have a bit of a problem, as long as you're friendly to others. On our two block section of our street (13 houses in a new neighborhood in Cedar Park), we have a Turkish family, two Indian families, and a couple from New York. (Ha - couldn't resist that one! ) Everyone gets along wonderfully!