Seattle to Austin area 2 generations (Howe: to rent, condos, houses)

[Thorga]

Hey Everyone-

So here's the deal both my parents and my boyfriend and I are looking to get the heck outta Seattle (high cost of living, no sun for 9 months of the year etc etc) in the next year or so. Grampa and Great Grandpa were bordertown sheriffs back in the day so it's more like a coming home...if you've been raised somewhere else completely....but I digress. My parents are retired, conservative (but non churchgoing) and looking to run a nice retirement business like a coffee shop (think pastries not chicken fried steak kind of coffee shop) in a smaller town in the hill country outside of Austin.

The bf is a "screaming hippy liberal" as he happily describes himself. He and I feel that Austin would be a better fit. He's currently a call center rep and we've looked at the jobs on CL and they actually seem to pay as much as they do here. I am in administration, not your basic secretary, I run the office and finances for a small engineering firm here in Seattle.

So that's enough history. What we're looking for are some recs for areas to visit when we come down on a recon mission later this year both for my BF and my folks. Also, I've looked on CL where I've had great luck finding Admin jobs in the past and it seems like everything points to basic HS educated secretary or to a temp agency, is there anywhere I should be looking? Are there staffing agencies that are reputable? Ideally we're looking to rent for a while and then buy in city in a year or so. We like old houses with character rather than condos or McMansions. Our budget stops at a little over 200k, maybe 225.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Any Seattlelites that have moved I'd be happy to meet up when we come down and pass off some Seattle goodies (Verite coffee, salmon products?) for some help. Thanks!

[malarkey]

;-) fellow Seattleite here, also looking closely at Austin for a possible move. Can I ask you, what is "CL" ??

[Thorga]

Originally Posted by malarkey

;-) fellow Seattleite here, also looking closely at Austin for a possible move. Can I ask you, what is "CL" ??

CL is craigslist.org

[love roses]

a screaming liberal hippie would probably be more comfortable inside of Austin, However, Austin is more tolerant of other points of view, and we don't usually have a lot of "In your face" arguments or screaming matches. It's not socialist/way far left like Seattle, LA, NY, etc...

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by love roses

a screaming liberal hippie would probably be more comfortable inside of Austin, However, Austin is more tolerant of other points of view, and we don't usually have a lot of "In your face" arguments or screaming matches. It's not socialist/way far left like Seattle, LA, NY, etc...

I would characterize the north as more yuppized and consumerized, where down south is more traditional austin weirdness (liberal).

Down south has good values and is probably your best bet.

[Thorga]

Originally Posted by love roses

a screaming liberal hippie would probably be more comfortable inside of Austin, However, Austin is more tolerant of other points of view, and we don't usually have a lot of "In your face" arguments or screaming matches. It's not socialist/way far left like Seattle, LA, NY, etc...

My honey doesn't argue, the "screaming liberal" description was more hyperbole than anything else. We're more tolerant than holier than thou liberals of which there are too many in Seattle, one more reason to move....

I've looked through the posts but haven't come across any discussions of the job market except tech industry and the big Dell layoff...does anyone know what the market is for high lever admin/office managers? I haven't seen many listings and most seem to point to agencies. Do most of your jobs come through agencies there? or is there a thread that discusses this that I've missed? Thanks!

[love roses]

There was a thread on this not too long ago. But, I think they were talking mostly about agencies. But I doubt that's the only way to find something.