What makes Austin different?

[LHBR702]

Yikes... is right!

[southaustingal]

Originally Posted by LHBR702

Where we are now, up North, we'd have to spend anywhere from $250K (on the very low end) on up for a home close to our jobs. We'd of course like to find more affordable housing as compared to our incomes in whatever city we decide to move to.

Not sure where in the North you're coming from, but as for my husband and me, our salaries would greatly improve if we headed North. Our housing is cheaper than housing in parts of the Northeast, but the property taxes are high. There's no state income tax, but the sales tax is 8.25%. And if your salary stays stagnant, expect to hurt as the home values appreciate, since our taxes are based on appraisals. The trick is to keep earning more money and outpacing the taxes.

Makes the slacker lifestyle a definite challenge.

[Trainwreck20]

In my very unscientific view of taxes, the average person ends up with about the same percentage of disposable income - if income taxes are lower here, then property taxes are higher. So, when you figure the higher property taxes, remember that you are also taking more home in the paycheck.

Anyway, as for houses in the $150 to 200k range, there are a few that are closer in than the suburbs if you are willing to take an older house. In August, I sold my 1977 1,500 sf house for $168k. It is located just off north of Duval between 183 and MoPac. Of course, it DOES back up to the RR tracks (which are quite active) and the new owner will probably want to upgrade the AC to something more efficient. On the other hand, the back yard was huge and the neighborhood great (think it is called Champions Crossing). There are quite a few houses in this area from ~$110 to $125 per sf.

This area has good access to the downtown areas. It is not necesarily the most family oriented neighborhood in town, but I think that is because so many of the families have been there so long the kids have grown up. It has very good schools in that area. What keeps the prices down (somewhat)? There are almost no neighborhood ordinances, so there are strange houses, a couple of pot-bellied pigs in the front yard, it is mostly curbless with few sidewalks, a car or boat here or there in the yard.... None of this bothered me (I really hated to leave the neighborhood), but it will bother somepeople.

[deeptrance]

What makes Austin unique? Especially relative to Houston, Dallas and other TX cities...

First, keep reading other threads. Check out the chat that SouthAustinGal and I have been having on the last couple pages of the thread titled "Recommendations for communities that might meet our needs" and you'll catch a glimpse of one aspect of Austin's quirkiness.

Here's my take on Austin's uniqueness:

1. It has a personality. Most places are just places, but Austin feels like a friend to me. It has a very distinctive personality that is difficult to convey in words.

2. Austin is progressive and tolerant, not just for Texas but for ANY place in the USA. I've lived in the most proggy places in the country (the Bay Area and western MA) and I'd rank central Austin right up there in that level of "anything goes" liberalism. However, this is an island, whereas those other places aren't quite so isolated in their attitude and lifestyle.

3. It's a beautiful city. The urban core is surrounded by heavily-wooded neighborhoods with a mix of housing types, lots of older homes that are classic plus some boring stuff plus some modern stuff, but the big thing I love is the terrain (rolling) and the trees. In the suburbs there is a noticeable absence of large trees because most of the land that gets developed is flat and treeless, or it's covered in juniper and mesquite which just gets bulldozed out. The nicer suburbs obviously cost more, they're mostly west and SW in environmentally sensitive areas where developers aren't allowed to strip-mine for profits from cheap housing and malls. Directly north and south along I-35 is kind of nightmarish, about as ugly as you can imagine until you get well out of the city. East of 35 is pretty bad except in downtown Austin, Round Rock and Georgetown (and places north of there like Salado.) To the south, anything east of 35 is mostly treeless and is getting paved over with the most tacky, hyper-cheap housing imaginable. It's really gross, but it's VERY affordable!

4. Austin WAS a smallish city that felt like a town, wasn't at all cosmopolitan. If you want a cosmo feel then you want Houston in particular, then Dallas (others might reverse that order.) But Austin is growing very rapidly and placing a lot of emphasis on attracting world-class arts, entertainment, chefs, etc. There is an upscale trendiness spreading through parts of downtown that has completely wiped out a lot of the former funkiness of that area. It's nice, don't get me wrong, but it's just very different from how it used to be. Not long ago NOBODY lived downtown. Now there are cranes all over the place building pre-sold-out condominium highrises, and they're competing to see who can build taller and faster. Is that good or bad? It's up to you. I like it. I enjoy walking downtown now, it's vibrant and feels safe and clean. Need better sidewalks but so does most of this car-dominated city.

5. Nature, water and topography --- unique to Austin. Flying over, it looks flat and the water looks unimpressive. Get onto the small backroads of the hill country, or go for a hike on one of our 50 miles of urban park trails, and you'll see that this ain't Dallas by any stretch of the imagination. People in Dallas drool at the prospect of someday being able to live in Austin, but Dallas has the better jobs and better ratio of income to cost of living. You pay a premium to be in a nice place, and Austin's one of those nice places that charges a hidden "access fee" just for BEING here.