Reviews & Comments
Austin, TX
Don't move here: A native Austinite's view -
6/26/2014Austin: Live Music Capitol of the World! Amazing food, tons to do, drink yourself silly, swim to cool off, play in the park, great community. I know, I grew up in Travis Heights, and I love this city. I moved to Berlin for college, thought I was a ski bum in Colorado, but I came back to Austin. It's a great city.
But I'm fed up with it.
Affordability: Don't listen to stats about affordable housing for $200k, or rent at $600. It's not true. The people who live in neighborhoods where housing costs $200k are places you don't want to live. The people who live in those neighborhoods aren't there because they want to be, they are there because they can't afford anything else. These neighborhoods are generally run down, feature small, poorly built houses from the 1970s and 80s, and are not where people want to live.
I'm not just talking "I wish I could live in that super luxurious neighborhood," but just a standard home. Houses in any neighborhood where you can ride your bike or walk to shops will cost you $350k, and that's for a fixer upper, little rinky dink house.
Want a decent house with 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, a modern kitchen, and hardwood floors in a central neighborhood? Try $500k or more. Much more. This wasn't the case 10 years ago.
Now, people from Cali or NYC are going to say "THAT'S A BARGAIN!" Hold your horses. Unless you are a sought-after techie, or a business exec, or a doctor or lawyer, you will probably earn $35-$50k. Most people in their 20s to mid 30s earn $35-$43k. And that's with college degrees.
Think you can qualify for that $350k shack on the East Side making $40k? Think again. So now you're one of the many, many renters.
Apartments are at 98% occupancy in Austin. The rental market is fierce. If a listing goes on Craigslist, they will have 50 e-mails within a day or two. You can squeeze into a bedroom in a 3/1 house for $650 a month, but the house is going to be 1100 sq ft with few perks. Want a cool house in a hip neighborhood? $2500 month for a 3/1. Since you will probably take home $2500 a month--if you're working a decent job--you're pretty much out of luck.
Don't think you're going to make due without a car. Sure, you can live within biking distance of everything, but that means you have to pay high rent in a cool neighborhood. If you're within biking distance (roughly 5 miles in any direction from downtown), you will be in a posh neighborhood.
What people don't understand about Austin is its very unique geography. It's a city hemmed in by hills and highways, so you need to live within the "loop" in order to be anywhere desirable. Look at a map of Austin and you will see. 183 loops from the north around the east side of the city. Highway 71 to the south. Mopac (loop 1) to the west. All the cool stuff is within this perimeter. If you look on Craigslist or Trulia and see houses outside of this loop, you won't want to live there, trust me.
For every mile traveled in Austin, it's like traveling 4 or 5 miles in another city. If you see a house that's 10 miles away, plan on 30min to travel those 10 miles. I35 traffic is terrible. Mopac traffic is terrible. 71 and 183 traffic is terrible. The point is, unless you want to be a suburban commuter and spend 1.5 hours a day in traffic, you better live within the "loop."
The problem with Austin is that 10 years ago things were affordable. You could buy houses for $200k, you could rent nice apartments for $650 a month. No more. If you want your own 1 bed apartment, plan on $1000 a month. If you want a house, plan on $350k+.
Trust me, don't look at median home prices and assume Austin is cheap. It will be a struggle to afford a half way decent lifestyle unless you make $65k+.
Portland, OR is cheaper now, if that tells you anything.