Where to live north of Austin and a stupid newbie question (Georgetown: transplants, rent)

[JayBrown80]

Originally Posted by rp911

Well, as I said, my wife will be commuting. I (will be an) unemployed art director doing some freelance work, and a part-time musician, abandoning a good working band up here.

We would probably prefer something newer -- our house in Boston is modern, which is a rarity here -- and don't really mind a HOA, we would like a nice neighborhood with some privacy -- i.e., homes not right on top of each other. We have no children, although in my experience, being in a town with good schools is good for property values.

We generally do boring married things (when the band is not playing), like try new restaurants, grill outside, we'd like a pool to lounge around, my wife likes to garden (not sure how practical that will be there), that kind of thing.

I'll leave the placement issues with realtors. They are more knowledgeable of what areas will fit your needs.

I did want to say though, if your wife likes to garden, she will love it here. Coming from a northern climate she will be shocked that she can garden clear thru December. If she has a knowledge of cold weather plants, she will be sitting pretty all year long.

Except August. Nothing grows in August. But who wants to be outside during August anyway?

[TexasHorseLady]

Well, don't be surprised if you find a good working band pretty quickly (I know someone who is in three, and he's my age!), and as for gardening, we have an 11 month growing season here, it will be VERY practical (our fall gardens tend to be our best). There's lots of restaurants (I have a meetup group, Central Texas Foodies, and we try to never go to the same one twice, for variety, though there are a couple that we're more than happy to re-visit).

What you're saying, though, confirms my thoughts that Berry Creek, Georgetown Village (though those houses are closer together and it might not work), North Lake, and a handful of other neighborhoods in Georgetown would work best for you. Maybe, just maybe, a couple in north north Round Rock that come to mind. What's your price range?

[Moonlady]

I lived in Georgetown. I also did a Temple/Austin commute for a year. I would look in both Georgetown and Round Rock. The commute is not significantly different but the two towns are. Georgetown is more of it's own community while Round Rock feels more like an extension of Austin - to me anyway, you'll probably get some differing opinions.

[eepstein]

Avery Ranch all the way man!! There is no substitute, ok except Steiner Ranch maybe.

Originally Posted by rp911

My wife, who is a doctor, is considering a job opportunity to relocate to the Austin area. We currently live in Boston, MA.

She's more familiar with Texas than I am, having done her residency in Houston a while back. My only Texas experience was seeing the Grateful Dead in Houston and at Manor Downs in 1985, which was a really great time ... but I don't necessarily remember all that much about Austin as a result.

We're trying to get a handle on where it would make sense to live and coming to visit soon. She would be treating patients in Temple 2-3 days a week, one day in Killeen, and eventually also in Round Rock, but we would like to live relatively close to Austin, as we are about 20 miles from Boston now and do like to be near the city.

Georgetown seems to be somewhat central to all those locations and convenient to I-35, which would be good for the ride north, presumably, or at least within 40-50 miles and in theory easy traffic headed north against the commuter traffic. Any other areas to investigate?

For the newbie questions, tops on the list is, not knowing whether Georgetown or the surrounding areas are really considered the "country" or not, whether or not our 5 pound chihuahua is going to be killed by a scorpion the moment we move in

Any thoughts welcome. Thanks!

[Tondo1984]

Georgetown seems REALLY country to me. I go there frequently and most people I know live on several acres of land and its an "everyone knows everyone" type of place.

Not bad, (how I grew up), but it feels wayyyyyyy less city like than RR to me. I went into the starbucks and the sun city crowd was there and it just all seemed very country. Just to give you an idea.... not quite boston like

[TexasHorseLady]

Really? You think Georgetown feels country? Small town, I'll grant you that, that's one of its charms, but country?

Sorry, I live in the country and there is a distinct difference. A town of 50,000 isn't it. Sun City and its population is pretty much the opposite of country, for that matter. Though Starbucks would not be the place I would choose to go to get the "local feel" of a community, in any case.

It's definitely not Boston (population approximately 620,000 in 2008), though. You're right there!

[1751texan]

Originally Posted by rp911

My wife, who is a doctor, is considering a job opportunity to relocate to the Austin area. We currently live in Boston, MA.

She's more familiar with Texas than I am, having done her residency in Houston a while back. My only Texas experience was seeing the Grateful Dead in Houston and at Manor Downs in 1985, which was a really great time ... but I don't necessarily remember all that much about Austin as a result.

We're trying to get a handle on where it would make sense to live and coming to visit soon. She would be treating patients in Temple 2-3 days a week, one day in Killeen, and eventually also in Round Rock, but we would like to live relatively close to Austin, as we are about 20 miles from Boston now and do like to be near the city.

Georgetown seems to be somewhat central to all those locations and convenient to I-35, which would be good for the ride north, presumably, or at least within 40-50 miles and in theory easy traffic headed north against the commuter traffic. Any other areas to investigate?

For the newbie questions, tops on the list is, not knowing whether Georgetown or the surrounding areas are really considered the "country" or not, whether or not our 5 pound chihuahua is going to be killed by a scorpion the moment we move in

Any thoughts welcome. Thanks!

This is what to watch for...
Texas Coyote

[RowdysMom]

I would recommend River Chase in Georgetown - there are really nice houses and they are NOT on top of each other. There's even a camel that roams the area - no kidding! The addition is about a mile west of I35 off highway 29.

VERY nice area! Easy in and out to jump on I35 to Temple or Round Rock.

[Tondo1984]

Texas Horse Lady,
There is nothing wrong with it- I didn't mean to imply that.
I just want them to know what it's like there. Just seems like a pretty rural place/residents, that's all.
Charming, for sure though, but they'd have to be used to smaller town life.

[love roses]

I have to second THL here. Georgetown rural? Really? Since when? Granted, there is a teensy bit of country property left but I don't think it's been very rural since at least the late 90's. It's growing by leaps and bounds now. Along I35 you can't tell where Round Rock ends and Georgetown begins.