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After 10+ years of not living in Texas, I am moving back to Austin. Where should I live?

Work will be around Mopac and 183 but likely will be going to the airport often. Married with no kids or any planned.  Strongly prefer a house instead of condo. Assume will need to spend $400K - $700k but don't need a big house as location is more important.

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After 10+ years of not living in Texas, I am moving back to Austin. Where should I live?
Work will be around Mopac and 183 but likely will be going to the airport often. Married with no kids or any planned.  Strongly prefer a house instead of condo. Assume will need to spend $400K - $700k but don't need a big house as location is more important.


If you don’t mind an older house, I would look in the old section of Great Hills or down Steck ave somewhere. Another option would be the neighborhoods close to the Domain. Schools in that area are decent just in case you change your mind about the kid situation or want to sell in a few years.


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If you have no kids and none planned I'd be looking east of I-35 between MLK & Riverside. Area is blowing up and I believe over next 5-10 years will drive strong returns and you can get in for a relative ( to Austin) deal.

You are going against traffic so commute would be no issue.

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NW Hills is quieter and "nicer" than most of Crestview, but you won't be walking to bars or restaurants except in a few spots.  However, it can actually be a little cheaper than Crestview.  Commute to the airport should be a little quicker from Crestview, though.  Either should be relatively recession-proof given close proximity to campus/capitol/downtown.  Nothing is immune to a 20% drop, though.

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On 4/2/2018 at 12:44 PM, BrazilHorn said:

If you have no kids and none planned I'd be looking east of I-35 between MLK & Riverside. Area is blowing up and I believe over next 5-10 years will drive strong returns and you can get in for a relative ( to Austin) deal.

You are going against traffic so commute would be no issue.

Hear all the Crestview and Allandale and leaning towards this area. Any thoughts on the above as I may be going to airport a lot and the thought of buying where the neighborhood is still changing interests me from an investment standpoint. Could create a side project and buy another house for rental if I went this direction due to cost.

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I think the MLK to Riverside option really depends on your tolerance for hood rat shit. I’m not saying it’s Compton or anything, but a different world from Allandale and Crestview.

Definitley more upside to the investment as I think the other two mentioned neighborhood’s prices are overinflated. I wouldn’t worry to much about the airport commute from Crestview or Allandale..typically 30-40 minutes. 

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16 minutes ago, LostHorn said:

Hear all the Crestview and Allandale and leaning towards this area. Any thoughts on the above as I may be going to airport a lot and the thought of buying where the neighborhood is still changing interests me from an investment standpoint. Could create a side project and buy another house for rental if I went this direction due to cost.

Prices are steadily going up in both areas.  And north bound 35 traffic from there to 183 would be a shit show.

Crestview gets you to the airport and work both in around 25ish minutes and there's plenty of stuff to do over there.  Komei (sushi), The goodnight (beers and bowling), and you can get down to west 6th relatively easy by taking lamar south.

Source:  I lived in Crestview for 2 years and travel a shit ton for work.

Edited by GlenFromTheMailRoom
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6 hours ago, LostHorn said:

Hear all the Crestview and Allandale and leaning towards this area. Any thoughts on the above as I may be going to airport a lot and the thought of buying where the neighborhood is still changing interests me from an investment standpoint. Could create a side project and buy another house for rental if I went this direction due to cost.

I live in Allandale and fly 20-30 times a year.  It’s 15-20 minutes to the airport via Airport Blvd at anytime other than the evening when you’d be driving with  commuters. 

I gotta say I love living here. Easy access to downtown and plenty of bars/restaurants within a mile of home. Neighbors are fantastic. The community in the hood and schools is phenomenal. Two acquaintances both moved from Allandale to NW Hills and were disappointed that there wasn’t the neighborhood comraderie like in Allandale. It was more suburban, leave me alone in my house. 

Edited by CooterBrown
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19 hours ago, LostHorn said:

Hear all the Crestview and Allandale and leaning towards this area. Any thoughts on the above as I may be going to airport a lot and the thought of buying where the neighborhood is still changing interests me from an investment standpoint. Could create a side project and buy another house for rental if I went this direction due to cost.

Both those areas are great and do keep you on easier commute side of river/35 for where you work. 

I think rent house in area I referenced is good idea. Oracle just opened huge new office over there, an even bigger development is going up adjacent to Oracle’s place etc etc

the east side is going to look radically different in 5-10 years. 

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On 4/5/2018 at 12:11 PM, South Austin said:

Agreed on Rosedale, Allendale, Crestview.  The whole Burnet Road area done blowed up. 

We drove around this area and didn't love it. It was very suburbia. I am willing to pay more to be closer to downtown / walkable neighborhoods as the significant other doesn't drive. It will result in longer commute for me but important she can get around not just via Lyft. 

Did we not go the right area?

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33 minutes ago, LostHorn said:

We drove around this area and didn't love it. It was very suburbia. I am willing to pay more to be closer to downtown / walkable neighborhoods as the significant other doesn't drive. It will result in longer commute for me but important she can get around not just via Lyft. 

Did we not go the right area?

You probably did.  If the significant other doesn't drive, that changes things a bit.  If you want a house closer to downtown that's walkable though... you're going to be looking at 900k-1mil for anything that doesn't look like a trap house.  

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46 minutes ago, LostHorn said:

We drove around this area and didn't love it. It was very suburbia. I am willing to pay more to be closer to downtown / walkable neighborhoods as the significant other doesn't drive. It will result in longer commute for me but important she can get around not just via Lyft. 

Did we not go the right area?

I don't think most folks in Austin would consider Rosedale suburbia, but it's all relative.  There aren't many walkable neighborhoods in a city like Austin outside of downtown.  Maybe discrete areas in Clarksville, South Congress, Barton Heights.

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1 hour ago, LostHorn said:

We drove around this area and didn't love it. It was very suburbia. I am willing to pay more to be closer to downtown / walkable neighborhoods as the significant other doesn't drive. It will result in longer commute for me but important she can get around not just via Lyft. 

Did we not go the right area?

I was just starting to wonder if it's necessarily a selling point that that whole area has "blowed up." I used to love driving down Burnet when I lived off Mopac/Steck a few years ago, now it has almost completed its transformation to #GenericMillenialCity like the rest of NW Austin/Domain.

I'm currently renting off MLK and I still really like the area. I've been here for 3 years and never been in any trouble (no break-ins in house or car, nothing). So the "hood rat shit" is overblown. 12th & Chicon is hip as shit now, there's a few families on our block (13th street) and a lot of young professionals. If the gentrifiers took over 12th & Chicon I'm not sure what else there is to be afraid of. Holly (e. Cesar Chavez area) is probably a bit ahead than my area. I don't know if the drive is desirable, but heading north on 35 at rush hour isn't too bad once you get to Capitol Plaza area, you're heading away from DT anyway.

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2 hours ago, LostHorn said:

We drove around this area and didn't love it. It was very suburbia. I am willing to pay more to be closer to downtown / walkable neighborhoods as the significant other doesn't drive. It will result in longer commute for me but important she can get around not just via Lyft. 

Did we not go the right area?

What's your definition of "walkable"?  Do you want a 10 minute or less walk to a grocery store and a dozen restaurants?

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5 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

What's your definition of "walkable"?  Do you want a 10 minute or less walk to a grocery store and a dozen restaurants?

This is the rub. We have lived in SF for a longtime and not expecting SF walkable but at least where she feels safe to wander around to 1 place or bike to a few. I think Hyde Park is walkable / bikeable and that would be good enough vs downtown where you have a lot of options. 

Crestview, et al felt that you wouldn't even want to walk around the neighborhood except to walk the dog. I'd feel safe having her bike through Hyde Park to the grocery store but don't see that possible in many other areas. Maybe east Austin or North Loop / Rosedale?

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I would consider Rosedale roughly equivalent to Hyde Park.  I wouldn't consider Crestview quite as safe.  North Loop would be about my limit given those restrictions.

As you surely have realized, you'll pay more in Rosedale or Hyde Park than other areas.  Without checking prices, I wouldn't be surprise to see $350-$400 per sf for a smaller house, maybe more.

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Crestview has been pretty darn safe the years I've been here. I often walk to Brentwood park, Arlan's grocery, Little Deli, Enchiladas y Mas, Crestview Barbershop, etc. Could walk to the Drafthouse Village too though haven't yet.

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18 hours ago, LostHorn said:

I am willing to pay more to be closer to downtown / walkable neighborhoods as the significant other doesn't drive. It will result in longer commute for me but important she can get around not just via Lyft. 

Going back to this, curious as to why your wife does not drive.  Is she Amish?  Not 16 years old yet?

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