Howdy everyone. Posted this on the real estate forum as well. Wife and I (mid/upper 20s) are going to be moving to the Austin area in a few months. Both of us are in mostly WFH jobs, so we have flexibility with location. We are planning to rent for a year or so to familiarize ourselves with the area before purchasing a home. We are considering different areas, but wanted to get more advice from those who know the area better. Things that are important to us: being OUT of Austin itself but close enough if needed, having places to shop/eat/workout/groceries etc close by, sound doctrine Biblical church & community.

We really like the southwest part of ATX: 290 towards dripping springs area, but seems to be the most expensive. Also open to more of the western side of Austin but don't know a ton about that area. Lastly, it seems a lot of the new areas with people in our life stage and more affordable cost of living is north in the Leander/liberty hill/georgetown area.

I've been looking online at rental homes as well as homes for sale to get an idea of the market and different areas. Seems to be a pretty big difference in pricing/availability from the 290 areas vs north of Austin as mentioned above.

Would appreciate any and all advice and thoughts on the topic! Thanks!

Any place you're looking at that you mentioned would have grocery stores and the needed amenities. It sounds like finding a church is essential. I'd maybe find the church first, then go to the neighborhood house next. Nothing worse than finding an awesome church and realizing with Austin traffic, it's 45 minutes to an hour to get to on Sunday. Plus, you want neighbors close by for small groups and involvement.

Here are some churches that I know that are good in your life stage:
Grace Covenant (my church)
The Ridge
The Stone
Grace and Peace
Providence Church
Trinity Church of Austin
The Vine

But get ready, Austin is just a very expensive place to live, no matter how you slice it.

Btron said:

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Any place you're looking at that you mentioned would have grocery stores and the needed amenities. It sounds like finding a church is essential. I'd maybe find the church first, then go to the neighborhood house next. Nothing worse than finding an awesome church and realizing with Austin traffic, it's 45 minutes to an hour to get to on Sunday. Plus, you want neighbors close by for small groups and involvement.

Here are some churches that I know that are good in your life stage:
Grace Covenant (my church)
The Ridge
The Stone
Grace and Peace
Providence Church
Trinity Church of Austin
The Vine

But get ready, Austin is just a very expensive place to live, no matter how you slice it.

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Have a couple of friends who attend Providence Church and love it. Seems very theologically sound as well.

Mid 30's here in sw Austin and highly recommend it. Have lived sw for 8 years and love being 15-20min from most places around downtown and the airport.

West side of town (closer to 1 mopac) is preferred to avoid traffic. I-35 is the absolute worst.

The popular churches in my circle are Austin Stone, Austin Ridge, and Red Rocks. I think you can find community anywhere here in Austin if you look for it.

All of things you're looking for in Cedar Park, Georgetown, Dripping Springs, Round Rock and Bee Cave outside of Austin. Mueller is also a really cool area but not cheap.

Since you both WFH just decide how much you'll want explore downtown area and be close driving distance. If you're in the burbs you'll be much less likely to go into town based on people I know. Me personally I enjoy being in an established neighborhood with a young family but still close enough to get a 20min uber downtown to go to HH/dinner or see a show. Lots of cool things to do in this city.

Happy to answer any specific questions on neighborhoods or anything else.

Thanks for the input. Can anyone speak into the cost of housing difference from the dripping springs area vs the Georgetown/liberty hill/leander area? Am I off that it seems to be a lot more affordable in the latter area, or is that accurate?

That is accurate as far as I can tell. Dripping springs area has absolutely exploded with higher dollar development the last decade. The rule is the more hills it has, the more it costs to live there, at least south and east of the lake.

I also looked at Dripping Springs when we moved to the area in 2021.

Head east on 71 and look at Bastrop. Cost per square footage is substantially less.

I work from home 3 days per week and have AT&T fiber to my home with service exceeding 1Gb.

lodell22 said:

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Thanks for the input. Can anyone speak into the cost of housing difference from the dripping springs area vs the Georgetown/liberty hill/leander area? Am I off that it seems to be a lot more affordable in the latter area, or is that accurate?

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Dripping Springs is the beginning of the Hill Country, which is much more desirable.

Georgetown/Liberty Hill/Leander/Pflugerville/Cedar Park are all just typical suburbs. It feels like you are living anywhere else in the US, strip malls and chain stores. If that's what you want, you could always look south at Kyle or Buda as well.

Lakeway could be an option as well. Not sure of your budget.

Great Hills may be an option.

lodell22 said:

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Thanks for the input. Can anyone speak into the cost of housing difference from the dripping springs area vs the Georgetown/liberty hill/leander area? Am I off that it seems to be a lot more affordable in the latter area, or is that accurate?

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Here's my response from the Real Estate forum just in case you didn't see it. Don't count out Real Life off of 1826. We're a growing church. If you go, you'll see me helping out with the parking crew.

https://www.myreallife.org/

You are correct with Georgetown/LH/Leander being more affordable. My take is that they are much farther away from Austin than Dripping Springs. This is a reason why Belterra homes are more expensive than Dripping Springs homes. If you're working from home, then that shouldn't be a factor but I believe you mentioned you'd like to be in close proximity to Austin when needed. Cedar Park could also be an option for you as the prices are more affordable as well and it's closer to Austin.

My business partner and his wife were long term South Austin folks. They moved to Marble Falls a couple of years ago and love it. He tells me he can get to Austin in less than an hour and ABIA in just a little over an hour. Not bad.

That sounds really optimistic, Marble Falls isn't far but it's mostly smaller roads and you're not making it to Austin in an hour without zero traffic.

As someone who's lived in Cedar Park and Leander it feels a lot closer to Austin than Dripping Springs but I suppose that depends where you're trying to go. I'm fully remote as well and often go into town on the weekends, if you're not doing a daily commute it's a great location. Also has a ton of Austin restaurants with second or third locations now out that way (Via 313, The Grove, Ramen Tatsuya, Peached Tortilla, Stiles Switch, etc.).

Actually it really worked for him. Our office was in South Austin for over two years and I watched him do it daily for most of that time. Leave Marble Falls around 6 am and be in the office around 7 am.

So…zero traffic

Not zero, but not bad if you leave a little early. I live in north Austin and made the 20 mile trip to our South Austin office in about 22 minutes leaving at 6:30 in the morning.

Love Georgetown. The city has a lot of growth ahead of it and is well managed

Can't stand round rock to be honest. Feels like city planning was an afterthought there and it's a muscle car/traffic light hellscape.

We were shopping similar criteria 3 years ago, but with the added component of good public schools less than 10 minutes away. We ended up in west Dripping Springs and really like it. Only drawbacks are proximity to Target (supposedly getting one near Polo club) and restaurants. ABIA is ~45 minutes from my garage to terminal including blue garage park time for early morning flights. It's probably 15-30 minutes longer at peak traffic. The 290 expansion is moving along nicely, but it seems like 2-3 stop lights are added each year on 290 in Dripping Springs to offset any time saved as you get into Austin.

Bee Cave is another good option west of Austin.

Dripping Springs for sure. It has grown over the years but nothing like CP/Leander/RR. We only have a HEB and Home Depot. Plenty of Protestant churches to choose from and an Orthodox parish whenever you are ready Mercer Street is cool and there are a few bars, Barbershop is my favorite. Lots of breweries in the area. Cool stuff out in Driftwood. It's the gateway to the hill country if you want to get out quickly.

Honestly the other areas around Austin are just typical suburbs. I would still live in those areas compared to other suburbs in the state but I would go with Marble Falls before the burbs. If you can't afford Drip then the far west side of Buda isn't too bad. There's not a lot of development from there to Driftwood so it feels less crowded imo. South Austin sucks, don't bother. If you can afford SW Austin then you can afford something in Drip.

I'm off Sawyer Ranch in the Highpointe community. My house has an Austin address, but we're part of Hays county. We have been here since 2020 and absolutely love it. My son is a senior at DSHS and loves it. I teach the real estate program at DSHS. I took over the program from another Aggie as well.

Homes in my area are a little more expensive than homes in Dripping Springs, but I have noticed that prices are starting to come down a bit. We also have an HEB now off of Nutty Brown. Before then, we'd have to drive into town for groceries.

Ghost of Bisbee said:

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Love Georgetown. The city has a lot of growth ahead of it and is well managed

Can't stand round rock to be honest. Feels like city planning was an afterthought there and it's a muscle car/traffic light hellscape.

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Interesting, I hate Georgetown, with all the olds and the terrible traffic. Downtown is a nightmare. 29 should have been widened 20 years ago. The stupid diamond at Williams Dr and 35 is terrible. Have to wait through multiple lights mid day.

That's a nice area for sure. I just consider all of that to be Belterra haha. I miss Nutty Brown. Wish they hadn't taken the one good music venue away from us.

JAW3336 said:

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Ghost of Bisbee said:

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Love Georgetown. The city has a lot of growth ahead of it and is well managed

Can't stand round rock to be honest. Feels like city planning was an afterthought there and it's a muscle car/traffic light hellscape.

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Interesting, I hate Georgetown, with all the olds and the terrible traffic. Downtown is a nightmare. 29 should have been widened 20 years ago. The stupid diamond at Williams Dr and 35 is terrible. Have to wait through multiple lights mid day.

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Man, anything beats round rock traffic. 29 is bad, but that's why I avoid it

West Lake Hills. If I had to live anywhere else, I wouldn't be in the Austin area. I used to recommend other areas, but they are all now as much or more expensive plus painful commutes.