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Possibly moving to Austin Texas (Updated 6/28 Resolved)
MoSiAc
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I have been searching for a few new jobs and I may be moving to Austin Texas. I've been looking at apartment websites and the like since I can't make a quick jump down to look, and I don't really have any friends that live in the area to ask this sort of advice and I figured I could get some help from a bunch of people this way.
What I need to know is what are the better parts of Austin to live in. Most cities have a good side and a bad side. I would like to live on the good side. Not sure about where in Austin the job will be yet so any useful information about towns and stuff would be greatfully appriciated.
Also where are the cheaper parts of town and the expensive parts of town?
What I need to know is what are the better parts of Austin to live in. Most cities have a good side and a bad side. I would like to live on the good side. Not sure about where in Austin the job will be yet so any useful information about towns and stuff would be greatfully appriciated.
Also where are the cheaper parts of town and the expensive parts of town?
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Anywhere near the UT campus will most likely be:
A: Very Expensive
B: A Dump
C: Both
The super nice area is the North-Western area I believe...but that's EXPENSIVE. I had some friends who lived in the suburb of Cedar Park to the North of Austin, wasn't too bad. The commute was pretty long to Downtown though (1 hour-ish).
There's also Pluegerville(sp?). It's in Northern Austin...very close to Dell. Pretty nice area and I don't think the prices are too bad.
My brother lives in South Austin. Parts of South Austin (mainly East of I-35) are known as "Little Mexico." There's a reason for this. He's lived there for almost 3 years now, and has never really had any problems. The area is just very "rundown" looking. The upside is that rent is cheap.
Austin is a pretty cool town. Lots of local bands as the music scene is great, 6th street is fun, lots of artsy places, good restaurants.
Traffic is a bitch though. Austin's growth far outpaced its infrastructure over the past 20 years. They're slowly making headway, but the downside is the constant construction throughout the city. Learning alternative routes to places is a lifesaver.
Also, the whole "Keep Austin Weird" thing gets old, but that may just be me.
Take this all with a grain of salt though. I don't live there, but I visit my brother almost monthly since I only live a couple of hours away. Overall it's a cool town.
Now, I lived on Campus apartments, so I had the added sense of security, but where I was in South Austin it was as Heir described, a bit rundown but relatively safe. You can find a decent apartment for about $500 a month for one person. Look for apartments on Slaughter Lane (terrible name but it's right where some nice development is coming up) for those nice type of apartments. The trade off is that its near I-35 which makes traffic suck.
East side is the worst part of Austin. If you look at a map of Austin (google it), everything east of I-35 is where you need to watch out. That's not a guarantee that you will run into trouble, but that's pretty much where APD is all the time. Only live there if you have a gated community.
North Austin is nice but expensive, and around Mopac (loop1) in the north you have beautiful scenery (Lake Travis) but also hella expensive housing. That's where Andy Roddick, Lance Armstrong, Software millionaires and other celebrities live. Right along the Research Blvd./FM 2222 area you can find nice housing which is from the 60's-70's but is in good neighborhoods.
Other points of interest:
Austin has a very high smug factor. Not San Francisco smug, but it is bad. There are a lot of hippy hypocrites though, and exploiting their weaknesses for massive damage can be fun if they really get on your case (this is mainly in the Downtown area around Texas Legislature time). Just look out around the UT campus in the Fall semester, where the smug and the sense of 8 years for a college degree on daddy's money makes for really elitist SOBs.
Lots of illegal immigrants, moreso than in Houston it seemed (because I-35 is the Southern corridor for Texas).
Posing as a UT Football fan is natural in the city.
They are more Dallas Sports team oriented than Houston, and therefore they suck (like the Cowboys, boo ya!)
TV stations suck, so you need to get digital cable immediately.
Austin has lots of homeless and bums, which can detract from public transportation, because there are some nasty bums there. I see someone has a thread about a bum shitting on their steps, and it immediately reminded me of Austin.
Traffic is terrible. Worse than Houston, which I thought sucked hard. Austin was in denial about expanding their highways a few years ago and are suffering for it now. Also, the hilly roads insist on having good brakes on your car.
Austin City Limits festival is fun, but is being aimed more and more at the "poser music listener" demographic.
Lots of good parks. Zilker park is nice, and near Downtown for a good jog, or pretty much any sort of physical activity.
It can snow in Austin around December-February, and ices over roads regularly in Winter. Texans are made for the heat, so this element makes us look confusingly at the sky.
Austin Bergstrum Airport thinks it's bigger/more prominent than it really is, and I honestly would just fly out of Dallas or Houston and rent a car to get to Austin. Nice scenery on the way too.
First Thursday is fun Downtown. 6th St. is good but is getting more rowdy as time goes on. Lots of douchebags go their now to throw their dick around, and the "manufactured cool" bars are popping up their now (fuck Coyote Ugly)
Apparently The Real World: Austin was one of the worst Real World's ever. It seemed to have done the city an injustice, gathering what others have said about it.
Despite glaring, "OMG why don't you fix these problems" flaws, Austin is a very good city to live in, especially for single people.
I'll take more of an internet look at south austin, thanks for the quick reply.
I don't know about Pflugerville's rates but the housing there is pretty nice. I would expect it to be pricey too though.
The cheap areas are in South Austin where I used to live, even then my rent went up TWICE in a year and a half I had to move to the eastern part of Austin after that happened . Even though east Austin is the "barrio" it still wasn't that bad. No street violence or anything lethal. Just keep your car out of sight within your lot or something (I had stupidly left my car on the side of the street one night when I had visitors and someone broke into it and took some change.)
Traffic can get annoying but it's not as bad as San Antonio. I-35 can get you almost anywhere in Austin.
It's a great place to live but expensive. As for the whole "Keep Austin Weird" thing, I love it! Only in Austin can you have a homeless transvestite running for mayor every term!
1)Riverside-
Riverside sucks, but housing is dirt cheap. It's a college apartment area in southeast area. TexiKen is right, though; east Austin is a hellhole. The developers found really cheap land and built a ton of apartments with low rent to attract college kids. It's cheap for a reason. Also, traffic coming north is awful.
2) Campus area-
West Campus and North Campus are areas next to UT-Austin, so rent's really high, the areas are full of frat kids and wannabe frat kids, and the apartments suck. Avoid
3) Far West-
Not really as far as the name implies, it's just far from campus. Basically at intersection of Far West and Mopac/Loop 1. Housing is not too expensive, and the area is kind of nice. If you look here, go away from the main UT bus lines and you should find a good deal.
4) Arboretum area-
Near 360/Mopac area. This is pretty expensive, but really nice.
5) Rundberg/Lamar
I lived around here my senior year with some people in a rented house. The rent was super cheap ($1050 for a 4-bedroom house), but it was maybe 10 miles to campus. Also, the area is largely a lower middle-class/immigrant neighborhood, if that matters. I never had a problem and I parked my car on the street every night for a year there. Nowhere near as bad as east of I35, though, or even West Campus (I had my car broken into while parked in West Campus). There are some decent apartments around here, too. North on Metric past Braker had some nice places, if I remember correctly.
6) Hyde Park
I can't remember the exact boundaries, but let's say Burnet/38th and I35/45th form the corners of the area. I lived around here junior year (well, 41st and Red River). Hippie-ish area, but you can find decent housing deals if you look.
If I remember anything else I'll add it.
Good luck with finding a place if you move. Just don't get a place near campus as others have already said, expensive and shitty.
Beyond that, you can usually find a decent place anywhere within your pricerange (so long as it isn't westlake to the southwest). Traffic can be a bitch though so let us know where you are going to be working!
I think Far West, as mentioned earlier, is a pretty good compromise for the distance from the actual city, price, and types of people.
It is a decent city, but a little full of itself.
I live in Hyde Park, I have a really great deal on rent here, and it's really nice. I'll second the Far West area. I have a friend that just moved over there and it's great. I had a decent, if in need of remodeling, apartment for around $550 that was a five minute walk from Zilker Park. If you're into hiking or swimming, that's a great area. Though, honestly, there really isn't a section of Austin proper that isn't more than 15 minutes from a trail, a creek or some other outdoor activity.
Another nice area is Burnet between North Loop and 2222. There are a few great neighborhood bars, Poodle Dog and Jenny's Little Longhorn, as well as shopping, an alamo drafthouse and local cafes, like The Omelettry, around and you're not more than 15 minutes, taking surface streets, from downtown.
As has been previously stated, much of this depends on your job -- try to get something up north or down south so you don't have to deal with the downtown traffic and you'll be much better off. Let us know when you know more and we can give you more specific information.
Also, a cheap plug: My roommates all work for apartmentratings.com, which is located here in town, so I'm fairly certain it's got pretty extensive coverage of the city. If you haven't given it a try it might be a good bet.
Hope that helps.
The best neighborhood I've lived in is Hyde Park. Most are houses here and you'll need a roommate. A two bedroom runs 1000-1350 per month, a 3 bedroom 1600-1900 per month. Etc. The apartments in Hyde Park are actually affordable 450 to 700 but they lease quickly due to the student population. I've lived in south austin, but the apartments aren't that great, but some houses are, again get a roommate.
I hate apartment living, but you can get a pretty good deal on a place off of E. Riverside if you are looking cheap.
The east side of austin isn't that bad. Gentrification has converted most everything between I-35 and Airport into yuppie living. As a matter of fact some of the best eating/drinking in town can be found on Manor on the east side.
I actually own a place on the east side, off of springdale, (Springdale is not in the "Gentrified area" and while I lived there was the only white guy on the street. I'd still stumble home at 2:30 am from a cab and feel perfectly safe.
Don't live in north austin unless you dig shit like applebees and sprawl.
Now I live in Hyde Park. I've lived in most of the neighborhoods here and I keep coming back to hyde park.
buy warhams
I went to First Thursday once and it was fun.
Price ranges would definitely help, mosaic.
My impression is that there are some very nice apartments that aren't too expensive in south Austin, like around William Cannon, or south of the river and west of I-35 in general.
I'm in the process myself of looking for an apartment that's close to downtown(capitol specifically). I've loved living in the Barton Skyway area, it's a fantastic location that I would recommend, it has quick access to downtown, and the better of the two north-south highways, but is not at all crowded and has some really nice forested areas. However, it's going to cost you about $650 to find a single bedroom(maybe 600 square feet?).
And now I'm looking for a new place. Possibly somewhere around the 30th-45th street area in central Austin, but you've got to be careful about West campus(expensive, not too nice, and loud), and as stated, Hyde Park is mostly houses. Alternatively, apartments near central Ben White blvd. These seem fairly nice, and shouldn't be too expensive, but they won't be as new or fancy as places further south like William Cannon that I mentioned above.
What line of work are you in, mosaic?
If $500 is your cap, I'd say check out riverside/east-Austin, and maybe further south like around Stassney near I-35. I know of no big tech companies in that area.
Also, those prices are pretty low. I pay $600 a month in rent, and my apartment is a fairly small, one bedroom on the south side.
I just hate the thought of paying money for a place to stay that isn't really mine just seems like a waste espcially that much money.
I'll take the roommate idea into consideration.
It has. Property values have more than doubled in the last 5 years and rent is increasing along with it. The sad thing is, there are thousands of condos being built but it's not having any affect on rent.
If you can afford to buy in Austin, you could do a lot worse, the housing market in Austin is still pretty hot. Typically Apartment people want about 1/2 a months rent for security deposit and more for pet deposit (sometimes they want pet rent) and pre-pay 1st months rent. A house you can sometimes get by with less deposit, but might be intolerant to pets.
If you can move RIGHT NOW, you might get a break on rent as the students are away and there may be summer vacancies with landlords motivated to fill them. This is one way of getting a more reasonable yearly rent. Landlords typically will only raise rents upon renewal of new lease, they also usually want at least a 9-month commitment (if coinciding with school year) or more likely 1-yr minimum.
You'll have to choose between north, south and riverside in your pricerange. North (Scofield, Parmer area) and South (Slaughter, Wm. Cannon) are both pretty far from the Austin-y things/places (which tend to be more centrally located). Riverside is closer in but you'll have to deal with more asshattery.