Rural Central Texas towns (San Antonio, Austin: homes, neighborhood, high school)

[ruralgal]

Originally Posted by mpope409

Do you want to be close, but seperate to a big town? Or do you want to be completely isolated from any dense area?

We could go either way. We're looking to establish a family farm, so we want to be far enough away from the major cities (Austin, San Antonio, Houston) so that we don't end up living in the middle of a subdivision 20 years from now. But whether that's on the outskirts of a small town or more isolated - we don't have strong feelings, and it would really depend on the town and the land.

[mpope409]

Originally Posted by ruralgal

We could go either way. We're looking to establish a family farm, so we want to be far enough away from the major cities (Austin, San Antonio, Houston) so that we don't end up living in the middle of a subdivision 20 years from now. But whether that's on the outskirts of a small town or more isolated - we don't have strong feelings, and it would really depend on the town and the land.

You make a very good point about land turning into a subdivision years from now. I don't know to much about rural land, but you mentioned Central Texas and I've seen atleast one or two ranches in that area (I'm positive there's more). I've also seen some large houses sitting on a great deal of land.

[karnival96]

I am not familiar with all of these counties, but from what I have seen of Bastrop lately, explosive growth and change are the order of the day. I drove through Bastrop along Highway 71 after not having been there in about 3 years and the place looks like it's been totally transformed. The road has become a freeway and there are numerous new suburban style strip malls and other businesses all along the roadway. There are also many new suburban developments on the outskirts of town. Bastrop still has nice scenic rural areas to the north and east and the pine forests in the area tends to make the area feel more like the deep South than its Central Texas location would indicate.

Caldwell county seems to be a fairly nice small town but it is not nearly as scenic as the Hill Country towns to the west of Austin and San Antonio. The barbeque there is probably the best you'll find anywhere, though.

The more expensive expensive, scenic and less populated areas tend to be to the west of the Austin/San Antonio corridor. It probably gets cheaper as you get further from these cities.

[Joli]

Originally Posted by ruralgal

We're looking to move to a rural area in Central Texas -- probably Caldwell, Bastrop, Lee, Fayette, or Milam Counties. Can anyone recommend really great towns (or warn us about places to avoid!)? If you have a town you love or hate, please tell me why

Hi Ruralgal!

My husband and I own 12 acres south in Giddings in Southern Lee County.
The area is beautiful with green rolling fields. The people are very friendly.
The acreage is on a paved road and has Lee County water along the road.
I live and work in San Antonio and hope to build a weekend or retirement
place there. We have an ag exemption, so the real estate taxes with no
buildings are extremely reasonable .

When looking for this acreage, we looked a lot in Fayette County. LaGrange
is a nice small town, and many parcels for sale in Fayette Country.
The web site I used to find land that is very active in these counties is
www.trrn.com. In Fayette County, there are a lot of producing wells,
so some parcels may have pipes or storage tanks on them that can not be seen
in the pictures. Look in the Schulenberg area and Flatonia in
Fayette Country. This area is about 1/2 way between
San Antonio and
Houston. There would have to be explosive growth if that area
was a sub-division in 20 years.

As regards to Calwell Country, make sure you visit Luling before
looking at any property in that city. There are many sour wells
in that area and
the city has a stong sulphur smell all the time.
However, there is a large farmer's market in Luling,
so agricultural is alive and well in the area.

Another pretty county in central Texas, but closer to Houston
is Austin Country. Nice areas in this county are Columbus and Belleville.

Good luck. If you have more detailed questions, PM me. The realtor we
used lives and works in LaGrange. I would recommend him as he really knows
Fayette County and southern Lee County.

I would also avoid Bastrop County as it is becoming a suburb area of Austin,
especially the city of Bastrop.

[lesliegrace]

Originally Posted by ruralgal

We could go either way. We're looking to establish a family farm, so we want to be far enough away from the major cities (Austin, San Antonio, Houston) so that we don't end up living in the middle of a subdivision 20 years from now. But whether that's on the outskirts of a small town or more isolated - we don't have strong feelings, and it would really depend on the town and the land.

I can't remember where I learned about this website, which gives informatin about the Trans Texas Corridor, but it was somewhere on the Texas or Austin forum. I haven't read much about this so I'm really not up on it, but I think it has to do with areas that may be used for future highway construction.

Included on this website is a map of Texas that shows what growth has been for the different counties of Texas since 1900 as well as projected future growth until 2060 or so. Maybe you could look at the counties of interest and see what their projected population would be in 2030.

Here is the url for the Trans Texas Corridor website: http://www.keeptexasmoving.org/

Here is the url for the interactive map that I was telling you about: http://www.keeptexasmoving.org/flash/population_growth/population.htm (broken link) .

I hope this helps you figure out the best place to buy your farm!

[GutenTag]

Originally Posted by ruralgal

We're looking to move to a rural area in Central Texas -- probably Caldwell, Bastrop, Lee, Fayette, or Milam Counties. Can anyone recommend really great towns (or warn us about places to avoid!)? If you have a town you love or hate, please tell me why

A little late to the game but stumbled across your post when doing some other research. If you haven't moved to any area in Bastrop county, don't.

In our move from Austin to 'rural America' we've had rentals in Bastrop and Elgin as we look for acreage and have been so 'inspired' that we're completely leaving the county. To give a brief summary of what we've discovered: crime is higher in Elgin than Bastrop; he school system in both towns are a disaster (if that matters to you)...morally; Bastrop & Elgin police will get on you for any infraction, I've been pulled over more times (all due to vehicle issue, none due to moving violations) in less than a year than in 7 years in Austin; just heard today, which I haven't verified, that they'll soon be changing the law to not allow ag-exempt on anything < 20 acres.

There is an element of people in the town that are going to continue to attract the wrong people. Before some people comment on my being racist and think I'm referring to the cultural diversity you better check that at the door, that is one of the things we liked about Austin and Bastrop county. I want to live somewhere where my family will be feel safe (we've already been robbed once and we've been out here less than a year) and coming from an ex military guy that has seen a few things in his day I'd say that should say something. If you want to get a good idea go spend some time in the local WalMart in Bastrop and just listen to some people and watch them. There are some nice people in Bastrop and Elgin but those few people will not be able to stop the progression of the people moving out east of Austin.

Sorry to dump it on you like that but for someone who has lived all over the country (one being Queens New York) Bastrop county doesn't rank high. There will probably be some from the area that will defend their home but ask them how many other places they've lived and go from there.

Best wishes on your search.

[Bill12345]

Florence pop.1056 "The friendlest town in Texas" home of the "Friendship Days"and an awesome 3rd grade teacher (my wife)

[JimHillTx]

Hope someone can help me with this, as keep getting the round-a-bout.
Moving to Caldwell Tx, but on a small lake just outside of town. Tried the city of Caldwell and although very friendly, did not know.

Anyone have any idea what company supplies power to the area? Called Blue Bonnet and Intergy, both said they do not serve the lake area just off FM 908. May have to go knock on neighbors doors to find out, but wanted to get it turned on ahead of time.

The area is, for me, very quite and peaceful looking and so far the people I have met have been extremely friendly. Kinda' like the small town I grew up in, so my hopes are high.

[blusteel]

If you are looking at farming, you are looking in the right direction. At least the soil has some merit in the counties east of Austin. I've always thought the areas around Lexington and Smithville were nice.

It has been mentioned above, but look very closely at the county taxes and agricultural exemption status wherever you decide to buy. Just because land is ag exempt when you purchase it does not necessarily mean it will be given that status for your purposes, whatever they may be or however legitimately farm-related they are. We backed out of a 23 acre farm in eastern Travis Co. because we saw that continuing the ag exemption was going to be a costly legal fight and the taxes without that exemption were beyond our budget. Less populated counties are going to welcome your tax dollars and not mount too much of a challenge. But counties that surround large cities will fight you for the exemption.

[JimHillTx]

No, just to retire where the people are still friendly and the big city is far enough away not to see the lights.