Want to move to Austin Texas (Round Rock, Cedar Park: 2013, insurance, violent crime)

[Jimmyp25]

Hi,

My wife and I are considering moving to Austin , TX from Chicago, IL. We are very very unhappy in the state we are in. I will be wanting relocating my business to Texas . I purchase tons of inventory from texas all the time and pay thousands of dollars to have it sent to me here in Illinois. So that definately will be saving my business a lot of revenue. We have never been to Austin but have heard a lot of good things.We are planning to be visiting the area this summer. Currently We have one son(4 years), and will be expanding our family in the coming years.We would be moving in a year or so... So my big questions are.. How are the school districts? Taxes? Gasoline(around 3.50-4.00+ a gallon here)? How far is the beach from austin? Malls shopping areas? Traffic...Crime? Nice suburbs..as good bad areas... How is the weather? Hurricanes , flooding, hail, tornadoes?Insurance rates? Snakes? Any dangerous insects spiders? Allergies??? Family activities? Average temp winter/summer? Humid? Illegals..? are they everywhere or just pass through?? Any input from people that have moved from other states to austin or current residents would be greatly appreciated.. I am 25 Y/O and my wife is 24

[OpenD]

Hi Jimmyp

You'll find that people here are friendly and helpful, but honestly, as the suggestion said when you signed up, all the general questions you asked have been asked many, many times before, so you'll get the most value the fastest by digging into the archives here using the Search function. Then when you have done some basic homework, you'll be able to ask more focused questions specific to your personal situation, and folks here will be better able to help you.

Good luck.

[txranger19]

Originally Posted by Jimmyp25

Hi,

My wife and I are considering moving to Austin , TX from Chicago, IL. We are very very unhappy in the state we are in. I will be wanting relocating my business to Texas . I purchase tons of inventory from texas all the time and pay thousands of dollars to have it sent to me here in Illinois. So that definately will be saving my business a lot of revenue. We have never been to Austin but have heard a lot of good things.We are planning to be visiting the area this summer. Currently We have one son(4 years), and will be expanding our family in the coming years.We would be moving in a year or so... So my big questions are.. How are the school districts? Taxes? Gasoline(around 3.50-4.00+ a gallon here)? How far is the beach from austin? Malls shopping areas? Traffic...Crime? Nice suburbs..as good bad areas... How is the weather? Hurricanes , flooding, hail, tornadoes?Insurance rates? Snakes? Any dangerous insects spiders? Allergies??? Family activities? Average temp winter/summer? Humid? Illegals..? are they everywhere or just pass through?? Any input from people that have moved from other states to austin or current residents would be greatly appreciated.. I am 25 Y/O and my wife is 24

I am an Austinite who lives in Round Rock, Tx which is basically a suburb of Austin. I will try and go in order to answer your questions honestly.
Westlake, and Leander are the best school districts in my opinion. You will want to spend the money to live in Westlake hiils, Lake Travis or less money for Cedar Park (Leander schools, great community).
Anywhere east of I-35 is a bad idea. Except Lamar and 35, avoid completely and Pflugerville is not that great either.
Gas is $3 gal right now.
A good beach is 4 hrs minimum (Port Aransas. Its not a great beach by any means.
We have outlet malls, regular malls, and the Domain. You will NOT want for shopping at all.
Property Taxes are some of the highest in the country, but no income tax. I believe it averages to be 20% of the mortgage payment.
Traffic is bad, wrecks are plenty and the way the Texas government is trying to solve the issue is by building toll roads which are lightly used. We continue to build stuff the City does not need but the roads are not being addressed in the capacity that they should.
Crime. average. Same stuff you will find anywhere.
Weather is hot almost year round. Its 70 in December. It is humid. From July to early September you get 100+ degree days with humidity. Down right miserable.
we have rattle snakes and water snakes that are poisonous. Brown recluse spiders can eat your flesh away and scorpion stings hurt like hell. Plus mosquitoes infected with west Nile virus.
Allergies. Cedar fever is a big deal. People get sick for weeks with allergies here.
Winter Temps are usually 50's with a few cold weeks around 35, hardly ever snows and hardly ever rains. Our lakes are drying up. Seriously. Check out Lake Travis.
We have had many tornadoes in central Texas. One wiped out a town called Jarrel very close to Austin.
We get hail every few years and it does a lot of damage.
Illegals!!! You hit a nerve. Texas is #2 in the country in estimated illegal population with 1.1 million. They are the landscapers, painters, framers, drywall hangers, heavy equipment operators, mechanics, drug dealers and almost every other low wage job available. If you visit here and go to any fast food place and you will encounter an almost 100% latino staff. Mexicans still believe that Texas is rightfully a Mexican state and they want it back. If your worried about Illegals then don't come to Texas. However if you need low wage employees then this is the place for you. Polish up on your Spanish.
There is a lot for family activities. That is a plus.
Now that I have told you all of this please know that I am getting the heck out of Texas and moving to Idaho due to most of the stuff I mentioned, especially the illegal problem. I tried to be honest with everything I wrote. Good and bad.
Good luck to you.

[txranger19]

I forgot to mention that cyclist believe they have as much right to our roads (major thoroughfares) as cars do. 2 or 3 cyclist are killed on Austin roads every year and each and every time the cyclist want the driver of the car sent to jail. Lance Armstrong turned Austin into to a cycling city. This town is very liberal and lots of idiots who will vote yes to any balloted issue. The local government in my opinion is out of control. Plus our Governor made a fool of himself on a national stage. Austin has it's good parts, but none good for me. Depends on what interests you. But be careful when you read other peoples opinions. Are the republicans? or Austin liberals.
Again good luck to you.

[hoffdano]

Property taxes have nothing to do with the size of the mortgage payment. Everyone borrows different amounts of money when they finance a home. Property taxes in the Austin area are in the range of 2.5% of assessed value. They are probably lower than than what most homeowners in Illinois pay.

Our governor may be occasionally embarrassing but he isn't in jail like Illinois' last two.

Based on txranger19's post no one here would live past 10 because of snakes and scorpions. We do have some critters. But I've lived here since the mid-1980s and never seen a rattlesnake (except in South Texas).

I think Austin's liberalness is exaggerrated. It has a liberal image, partially because of its music culture going back to the 1960s. Austin is tolerant. Most people here don't care much what other people look like or what they believe. Austin is less liberal than Chicago (or San Francisco, Seattle, or Portland).

There are many good suburbs and areas to raise a family. Many good good school districts.

Violent crime in Austin is very low. But property crimes, mostly theft, are a bit high. But people feel safe here.

Txranger19 said "Mexicans still believe that Texas is rightfully a Mexican state and they want it back." Wow. He makes it sound like civil war is imminent. Nope. Mexicans and Americans have happily coexisted in Texas for a very long time.

[riaelise]

OP: While you're at it, just go ahead and ignore txranger's "avoid East of 35" and "Pflugerville" comments. Totally not true. I'm not going to touch on the tiresome "east/west of 35" argument, but let's leave it at this -- it's *******s.

[MaryleeII]

Originally Posted by riaelise

OP: While you're at it, just go ahead and ignore txranger's "avoid East of 35" and "Pflugerville" comments. Totally not true. I'm not going to touch on the tiresome "east/west of 35" argument, but let's leave it at this -- it's *******s.

Not PC, but you can believe it!

[good tchr]

I'm a California teacher who wants to relocate to an Austin suburb. Does anyone know what will be happening with hiring in 2013?
I'm planning a visit next month...where should I go and what should I see? Any good restaurants?
How is your economy and what do you love about living there?

Thanks!

[Komeht]

Originally Posted by txranger19

I forgot to mention that cyclist believe they have as much right to our roads (major thoroughfares) as cars do.

Cyclists DO have same rights to use roads as cars with a few exceptions.

[riaelise]

Originally Posted by MaryleeII

Not PC, but you can believe it!

What does pc have to do with it huh? Unless you are confirming that race does indeed play a role in this east and west crap. That's your opinion. Don't pollute others minds with such garbage. The op doesn't come from peoria, he comes from Chicago.