I just accepted a new position with my Company and will soon be relocating to the Austin area. For the first few months it looks like I will be commuting from DFW, but as soon as I can sell my house I will be making the permanant move.
I was wondering if anyone could pass along any good information about the local area, real estate agents, best areas to live, poperty taxes, etc.
Does Austin require smog/emissions testing like the DFW area?
Any good information for a new comer is greatly appreciated.

 

Travis county does have smog testing now, not sure about Williamson. I have personally been looking in the Pflugerville and southern Round Rock area for homes recently because its near work for me, the neighborhoods are nice and relatively new, and property taxes arent too bad(Appx $2800-4500 a year depending on location and land size, this is for 1800-2500 sq ft homes in the 150-200k pricerange).

That said, having talked to friends that live in the DFW area, Austin isnt near as bad for property tax unless you live in a really ritzy neighborhood.

 

I just sent you a PM. I'm a Realtor and would be happy to help, and of course, we'll have to go for some drives and eat more sushi

Taxes are about as bad or good as any metro area, but they just got "adjusted" here (read: they went up) this year. There are lots of great areas, but a lot depends on where your office is.

Yes, Austin smog tests too.

You might want to visit the forums at s2kca.com. There are a lot of S2000 people over there who go between both sites or don't visit this one at all.

 

What part of town will you be working in? There are lots of nice areas to live, but I'd use your office location as a starting point, then figure out how long a commute you're willing to accept. Next step is your budget.

http://www.mls-austin.com/ is a great website to search for properties based on all kinds of criteria.

Oh yeah, judging by the pot leaf in your sig, you might want to avoid Williamson County. They don't put up w/ lawlessness, and are pretty heavy-handed in their law enforcement and sentencing. It's a great place for law-abiding, conservative senior citizens, though.

 

HAHAHA Thanks Chris!!! Good advice!!

I will definitly be in touch Sondra! You shold have a reply to your PM as well.

I am not 100% sure of all the details of my relocation yet, or even when the commute will begin. I guess we are pulling our current engineer from the location and the Company intends to leave it unmanned for a bit to make Applied Materials sweat a little. We provide coverage there for free and my Company intends and getting Applied to start paying for it. We'll see how that works out though.
As for where I will be working, it's at the Applied Materials manufacturing facility there in Austin. I am not 100% sure, but I think it's near 183 and MLK? Somewhere in that area. I am trying to get specific details today so I can start researching the area more.

Thanks everyone and I look forward to meeting all of you in the Austin area!
Brian

 

Round rock is a really nice area. My aunt lives there. Traffic is a mofo there though. Pfleugerville is nice as well.

 

We relocated here from DFW about 5 years ago. I now live near Pflugerville and I've had projects with Applied Materials on occasion. With the new 130 and 45 toll roads I can make it to Applied Materials in under 15 minutes.
The north end of 130 will open before the year's end so a commute to Applied will be possible from as far north as Georgetown, Round Rock, Hutto, Pflugerville or the Parmer vicinity. The east-west toll road, Texas 45 feeds from the west, eventually from 183 to Texas 130. In another year TX 130 will extend south to the airport opening up easier access to and from points south. The local homebuilders have plenty of inventory to move. My company builds marketing centers and offices for most of the larger builders in the state so we see all of their offerings and inventory in the form of plat table maps. I know of at least two homebuilders planning $15K December incentives to buyers and $$$ bonuses to realtors in the area. In my community there are half a dozen brand new homes ready to move-in from the $160's to the mid $200's. Despite declines in home prices we've seen the prices moving up in our location.

 

Looks like I will be in Austin next week to meet the people at AMAT and start my new position. Still unsure if I will be there the whole week or not.
Anyone interested in dinner or something once I have definite details?

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

 

Not sure when I'll be back from CO, but if I'm back in time, I could be convinced!

 

Me too, depending on which evening....Wed. and esp. Monday evenings can be difficult due to conf. calls.