Austin....so over it

[Brons2]

one of my friends moved from California ( LA) to a smaller town in Kansas..
town has a Walmart, a hospital and that is about it.
I asked him why he moved there and his answer;

This town has all of the things I need and none of the things I don't want.

That's about what I grew up with in the Pacific NW and it was great. We played outside every day all day, all summer and were never bored. Spent a lot of time camping, fishing and hiking on the weekends. We had a few grocery stores and a Fred Meyer, that was about it. Had to go to a larger city for school shopping every year but that was fine.

 

[Finklejag]

Just another American city that the internet ruined, Nashville and Boise are next.

 

[Kira]

Any tourism data re The Racetrack of the Americas?

 

[Brons2]

Just another American city that the internet ruined, Nashville and Boise are next.

Nashville is already there. I don't know that much about Boise other than it's also grown a lot.

At least you can go skiing if you live in Boise, which I miss. It's minimum 8 hours in the car to Ruidoso from here, but the snow is more spotty there. 12 hours to Taos or anything else on the Enchanted Loop like Red River or Angel Fire.

 

[Brons2]

No I doubt it, I was in San Francisco a long time ago, gosh maybe 15 years ago? It was bad.
My daughter went to college in the area back then.
She took me around the city, we came to the entrance of a park forgot the name but it was big, you could see families watching their kids playing soccer in the park. Like a lot of people, yet where we were standing at the entrance it was like a drug market and we were solicited!

I was in shock! Couldn't believe it, Ill never forget it right past the entrance were the families, lots of games going on and here right before them I had to walk past drug pushers openly selling drugs. The sight is etched in my brain. No I never encountered that in the NYC

We came to SF all the time when I was a kid in the 70s and 80s.

I was there again in March of this year, the homeless/drugs are much worse. There's drugged out homeless people everywhere.

 

[Brons2]

How many 100% has your home's value gone up recently? Sell, and move to some place you like better. My area is now a refuge for homeowners from the Toronto area... As Toronto is now too this, that, or whatever their pet peeve is... Its good for the tax base I guess and the majority like country living with its pluses and minuses, and haven't tried to turn it into the "city".

Already did that. Sold for double the money as 4 years prior in 2022 and moved 8 miles farther out. It was definitely good for my retirement picture. Even if this current house doesn't go up at all or even goes down, we'll be fine. I was worried we'd go down 15-20% with the higher interest rates but the demand is just so high here it isn't happening. There are literally probably 100,000 people living within 10 miles of me that weren't here 5 years ago. I would bet money it's at least high 5 digit range.

 

[FZ1]

I've lived in the Austin area for 32 years and I am so done, but I'm stuck because of all the nearby family I have, my parents live nearby plus all my inlaws.

What I really hate are all the non-stop positive articles about this being a great place. Just came across one again this morning.
https://austin.culturemap.com/news/city-life/best-cities-in-world-2024/

This place is not even close to being one of the 50 best cities in the world. I am not sure what they are talking about. I've had the good fortune to travel around the US and the world quite a bit, this place is not even in the top 100. The infrastructure has not changed that much since I moved here in January of 1992, yet there are now literally 3 times as many people. We are so far behind. And it's so expensive now to live here. And the extortion property taxes. And we have a homeless situation on par with LA, SF, Portland and Seattle. Not to mention all the tech bros moving here from Silicon Valley.

I've moved about as far out as I possibly can while still being in the catchment area of a highly rated suburban school district. If I didn't have this consideration it would be even farther.

Austin sucks, there I said it.

Dallas is same ; same.

 

[Brons2]

If Austin keeps growing at the rate it has been, the City of Austin will actually be larger in population than the City of Dallas in 5-10 years. Not the metro for sure, but just saying.

 

[BISCUT]

Wow, surprised to hear it, Times Square area? Theater District.
Maybe I am out of touch but have heard comments from those who were there even this summer. They said the smell of pot on every street and pot sellers on every corner ruined their trip there. So I assumed the worst.

I haven't been there myself in 14 years now but it wasnt as it used to be even then. Born and raised on Long Island, spent 4 decades in Nassau County and decided to get out while I could, best move our family could make, worked out great for our kids too. Still own property in one of the city suburbs though but never want to go back there.

It is still a dangerous place. Not as bad as it was over the last 24 months but don't be lulled into a false sense of security. I started going back for dining/women but it remains unsafe to bring my kids out.

 

[alarmguy]

It is still a dangerous place. Not as bad as it was over the last 24 months but don't be lulled into a false sense of security. I started going back for dining/women but it remains unsafe to bring my kids out.

Ahh... yes, I have family members that do the same, dining, theater

 

[chrism563]

I've lived in the Austin area for 32 years and I am so done, but I'm stuck because of all the nearby family I have, my parents live nearby plus all my inlaws.

What I really hate are all the non-stop positive articles about this being a great place. Just came across one again this morning.
https://austin.culturemap.com/news/city-life/best-cities-in-world-2024/

This place is not even close to being one of the 50 best cities in the world. I am not sure what they are talking about. I've had the good fortune to travel around the US and the world quite a bit, this place is not even in the top 100. The infrastructure has not changed that much since I moved here in January of 1992, yet there are now literally 3 times as many people. We are so far behind. And it's so expensive now to live here. And the extortion property taxes. And we have a homeless situation on par with LA, SF, Portland and Seattle. Not to mention all the tech bros moving here from Silicon Valley.

I've moved about as far out as I possibly can while still being in the catchment area of a highly rated suburban school district. If I didn't have this consideration it would be even farther.

Austin sucks, there I said it.

Sounds like Denver 2014-2019

 

[loneryder]

Sounds like Northern Virginia.

Although the entire state of Virginia seems to be filled with people who have their nose up in the air about what a great state it is because of things that happened decades or centuries ago, like the 8 Presidents born there. EDIT: Don't even get me started on all the people claiming to be descendants of Pocahontas.

Va is still a pretty good state outside of NoVa, Charlottesville and a couple of other places. Nova is not even in the US anymore. Go to a Costco or Walmart and you have to try to find native english speakers.

 

[loneryder]

I've always found it's relative to what people are used to seeing. To me, every city is cleaner than Philly. Old City Philly is very nice, but outside of that not so much.

I had to go the the U of Penn area in the 70's and there was trash everywhere. I thought what a trashy University.

 

[wag123]

If Austin keeps growing at the rate it has been, the City of Austin will actually be larger in population than the City of Dallas in 5-10 years. Not the metro for sure, but just saying.

IDK, it appears that the kind of growth that Austin has been experiencing is going to be pretty much self limiting due to the collapse of infrastructure.
They have nearly every major road and highway torn-up already, all over the county, traffic is already at a near standstill almost 24/7, and when they tear-up I35 through downtown it will be game over, for MANY years. I certainly won't be alive to see it finished. I have no idea what they are planning to do with all of that I35 traffic for all of those years. Your part of town isn't going to escape this either. 183 is already torn-up, they are in the planning stages of tearing-up 29, and they are talking about tearing-up Ronald Reagan.
When outsiders come here to check out moving here and experience our traffic, many/most of them are going to say "no thank you". That and the fact that long time residents are moving out of here in droves. I have many friends that have moved away in the last 5 years.

 

[The Critic]

oh, no need to defend it, I only relayed an experience on the one time I was there. But you mention not letting people impede your tasks. That means you must see what I am saying, homeless etc... that isnt for me, for sure.

Not defending it - I just do not get affected by things that I cannot personally change.

 

[brianl703]

Va is still a pretty good state outside of NoVa, Charlottesville and a couple of other places. Nova is not even in the US anymore. Go to a Costco or Walmart and you have to try to find native english speakers.

The Wal-Mart here has a cop parked in front of it all the time. Ditto for the Best Buy.

Fredericksburg is a congested mess. Probably about as bad as Manassas was 20 years ago. NoVA is creeping south on I95.

 

[CKN]

It would not at all be a sacrifice for me. I can work anywhere, and live somewhere I like. It would be a sacrifice for my wife and child, which if you're a decent human being, has to be a consideration. One doesn't sign up for a family situation then act like a single person.

You mentioned nothing about a wife and child in your original post. So basically-you moved there in '92-and now everybody who moved there invariably for some of the same reasons YOU DID doesn't make it desirable anymore.
OK on edit you did mention your In-Laws. It's a shame to live some where where you are miserable-and your wife has family-and doesn't want to move away.

Welcome to the continued migration of the GREAT AMERICAN WEST.

 

[MSCH]

You mentioned nothing about a wife and child in your original post.

fact of life, most people once married and with children, possibly a mortgage are pretty well trapped wherever they happen to be.
Hard to extricate yourself from ties that bind.

 

[CKN]

fact of life, most people once married and with children, possibly a mortgage are pretty well trapped wherever they happen to be.
Hard to extricate yourself from ties that bind.

The population shift to the Western U.S. the last five years or so would prove this statement WRONG. Not everybody who has made the move-and drove up beyond reason the real estate prices (for single family houses-I may add) in places like Arizona, Nevada, Idaho and Utah, etc. are single.

 

[ChrisMU]

I moved to Austin in 2010, then a bit further west to the suburb of Dripping Springs in 2011. Now… where are all these people are getting the money to buy $700K houses that sold for $170K in 2011? California is one big source… for some it was cost of living in their even more overpriced market and for others it was escaping a certain political environment. Austin has some tech jobs, usually no real winter, and In-N-Out burger, so I can see the appeal for them. Since so many people from all over move here, driving styles are all over the map and it’s infuriating.

The traffic here is atrocious, even in the suburbs. Poor planning (schools too close to major highways) and parents who are too good to let their kids ride the bus crowd the roads. I-35 and Mopac/Loop 1 (which isn’t actually a loop at all) are the only major North-South freeways, unless you count the tollway nobody uses. The only East-West freeway is 290/71. It is getting worse every day, with traffic jams even on weekends. Maybe I’m just used to Milwaukee’s overbuilt infrastructure that was intended to see a population boom (that never happened). Here, the attitude is reverse Field Of Dreams… “If we don’t build it, they won’t come,” …and yet, they still do. Austin has no true “loop,” while San Antonio has two and I believe Houston has three.

The biggest shocks for me moving here:
1. Traffic and lack of infrastructure
2. How hard it is to find non-HOA houses (I wrongly thought Texas was known for rugged, independent folk, not conformist Karens)
3. The huge amount of homeless (even in 2010)
4. Toll roads in Texas? I don’t believe this Chicago!?
5. Cars actually can wear out before rusting out?
6. High restaurant prices (I was used to getting an omelet with potatoes and toast for $6 in 2010, not double or triple that).

I switched my work hours recently from 8-5 to 5:30-2:30. That shaved a total of 45 minutes/day off my commute. Overall I still like living here, but would consider retiring to somewhere more remote in the hill country.