Anyone near Austin?

[RickG55]

My retirement becomes official in August, and my wife and I are talking about moving to the Austin area. She has family there, and our son is going to move there when he's finished with his deployment in Afghanistan. We're not interested in living right in Austin, but instead, getting a few acres within an hour's drive and making a small homestead. Any suggestions? Is this practical?

[txquilter]

Very practical. I live in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area but have spent many a weekend in the Austin area. I grew up in South Texas so I've been here all my life.

I don't know what kind of $$ you have to spend but if you go Southwest of Austin (Johnson City, Boerne, Kerrville areas) you can find some pretty good deals. You might also look in areas like San Marcos, Sequin and areas around there. The high priced areas are Northeast and North of Austin so if you focus on South of the city you should be able to find a great place.

This is a beautiful area and the exact same thing my DH and I are looking at doing here real soon.

Good Luck!

[littlesheeps]

Hey there from NM; I am a former Austinite for 20 years and originally hail from SE Texas, still with strong ties there... a "New Texican" now. I loved Austin, still do, but one of the reasons I left was it was getting too big, loved to death, everyone seemed to be moving there. But you probably already know, there is so much access to education, music, great food there, friendly people, decent weather, good quality of life. I do miss it.

Depending on what you want to do in your retirement... garden? Livestock? If so, anywhere east of Austin would be your best bet... more rainfall, more pasture. Columbus, LaGrange, Smithville, all good (locate some ways AWAY from those sleepy little rivers!). I lived in Elgin (east) and "Lively" Lockhart (south) for quite a while and no complaints. North of Austin up around Georgetown has gotten pricey, but very nice and rolling... though they seem to get hit with devastating tornadoes on a regular basis. West of Austin, in the hill country (lived there, too!), is sure pretty but very, very hard to grow anything. It's all limestone shelf just under the soil. What soil there is, is poor. I also lived in Oak Hill and Dripping Springs... loved "Drippin'", as we called it, but alas... so did everyone else and it's just not what it usta be. But that's just about everywhere, I guess.

I am recently retired and one of my choices for my final relocation was back to central Tx, but I would have gone somewhere around Johnson City or Fredericksburg. BUT, a higher elevation called to me and I am realizing that I can't do that heat any more. No turning back now, I am headed for southern Colorado. GOOD LUCK in your relocation and retirement! There really is no place like Texas.

littlesheeps in NM

[Big Dave]

TEXAS or MInnesota?

[whiterock]

littlesheeps spoke the truth, if you want to grow things go to the east, pretty but rocky go to the west. Toward the east is Blackland Prairie, deep dark clay soils. Toward Bastrop there is an area called the lost pines if you like pine trees but don't want to go to east Texas.

[Alice In TX/MO]

Very very expensive area now, unfortunately.

I grew up there, and my older son lives there. The eclectic culture and opportunities are wonderful.

I'd love to afford land closer to Austin, as I'm 140 miles away, but it's just too high.

As mentioned before, east is wetter, west is rocky and dry. Do not even THINK about north, as that is yuppie-ville, and the traffic is beyond bad. Horrendous.

Be sure you check on the taxes on any land that you look at.

[Mel-]

my sister has lived there since around 94. moved a couple of years ago to the northside(ish) and I think is now between austin and round rock (?).

horribly expensive to live there I think. she has a new house worth around 400k and her property taxes alone are $1k a MONTH. she literally had to go back to school and get her masters to get a better paying job or they were going to be downsizing (hubby is in software industry which keeps getting more and more outsourced).

I live an hour and 45 minutes away, in Central Texas. Land prices are MUCH cheaper here especially east of I35. I don't make as much as I would in Austin or DFW, but I live a lot cheaper too!

[RickG55]

Hmmmm...I may have to re-think this.

[Alice In TX/MO]

I got out my map and looked south and east of Austin, within 60 miles or so. The only two places I'd look at are around Lockhart, which is more south, and Giddings, which is more east.

25 acres in the Lockhart area = $159,500
5 acres in the Lockhart area = $80,000
http://www.homes.com/Real_Estate/TX/...OCKHART/Type/L

8 acres in the Giddings area = $75,000
http://www.texasproperties.com/scrip...pe=4&Mode=List

[glazed]

I really, really love the Canyon Lake area ... Wimberley, Blanco, New Braunsfels ... but you'd be more like, smack-dab between Austin and San Antonio.

Beautiful, beautiful country ... used to live in Wimberley ... my sister and her husband live on a 42 acre farm, and are custom home-builders there.

And my best friend is a real estate agent there ... knows exactly what to look for.

[Ark]

We live about 2.5 hours west of Austin and love it.
We grow a great garden too - just had to haul out all the rocks first!
It is a beautiful area and not humid like east Texas.

[Linda J]

I'm north of Austin 20 miles near Liberty Hill. West of IH35. Edge of hill country. Very rocky on my property. Less rocky east of IH35. Weather is wonderful. We didn't have much rain last year, but this fall and winter made up for it. If you get property with a well, make sure it is nice and deep in the Liberty Hill area. More water east of I35, but city water is moving into the rural areas, slowly but surely.

Our taxes are 4,500 per year on 8.29 acres with barn, 3 bdrm house (1850 sq ft). A little high, we are working on ag-exemption. So, if you can find land already ag-exempt, even better.

We don't go in town much, our jobs are in suburbs. The theme of Austin is "Keep Austin Weird", the town-folk are doing a good job doing just that. Don't want to destroy the eco-system, you know, so we stay away. Most everything we want, we can get within 10 miles of our house.

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

We live in the Kerrville area. Politics here are Conservative. Politics around Austin are very Liberal. With Liberal comes control of your life and higher taxes.

[Linda J]

deleted by author