austin....oh, austin

[dvs1]

we've been talking about moving to austin...taking the husband to there in july so he can feel the heat. i want to live in south or east part of the city...lots of mature trees, homes built in the 50s or 60s...something that we can work on...wood floors and giant windows. mid century modern is what attracks us and i believe we can find that in

Comments

[malaka]

fun! but East side? No way Jose!

[dvs1]

ya know...i heard that the east side is prettty ghetto, but to give it a chance? lol, you've lived in austin for a long time, so i trust an austinites opinion.

do you have any locations that you can recommend??

[malaka]

it obviously depends on what you want to spend, but I can give you some pointers, I've actually been looking at real estate recently, for my sister.

I *really* like the west side (west of mopac) as far as north as far west and as far south as 71.

[dvs1]

we want something we can work on, but nothing thats more work than its worth...u know what i mean? with that said, our max is 300k...1 story houses with open floor plans..close enough to the city, but not too close and...older is better....i know you're not a realtor, but i know you'd be able to point me into a direction from which i can start from lol...thanks!!

[malaka]

300k is pretty low for close-in, even for a fixer-upper. I would look around in 78704, 78703, 78702, 78731, 78746

Here's a zipcode map:

http://www.city-data.com/zipmaps/Austin-Texas.html

[dvs1]

I should take back what I said about being close...I want to be close enough, meaning not a 30 minute drive to anything fun. The 78704 area looks great and in our price range. 300k still goes much further then what I could get living 5 min from the beach...that makes me happy to see what I can get in Austin.

There were some properties that were further away from the city, that really got my wheels turning. Like this one for example...i like the style, the year it was built and the mature trees....i just dont know if this place is in the hood. I'd just love to get my hands on a house like this and rip out all that carpet and redo a bunch of stuff.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/8705-Honeysuckle-Trl_Austin_TX_78759_1113575207

[malaka]

oh no that's not the hood at all. that's a great area, actually -- but be careful because 78759 does have some hood in it.

I thought you were looking for a house more like this..

http://www.austinhomesearch.com/Search/Details.aspx?li=145234&or=1&cp=1#

(or one that needs more work, I know what you're saying about doing the reno's yourself, but this is the first one I pulled up.)

FYI.. austinhomesearch.com is a good resource, it's MLS so it'll show all the listings.

[dvs1]

that house is adorable! thats actually what our house looks like right now...love it. thank for all your tips...please keep them coming :)

i'll for sure check out that other link you sent me.

[malaka]

Don't forget our property taxes are high here, for example.. I pay about $7k/yr on a 250k valued house, that adds over $500/mo to my mortgage payment.

[dvs1]

thats right..arent they the highest in the country?

Ok check out this house...its pretty f'd up..that kitchen is heinous, the front door has to go..and whats up with the upstairs being unfinished, but with awesome gigantic windows!?

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/2704-Sherwood-Ln_Austin_TX_78704_1115774405

I wanttt...and its in the 04 area. I seriously cannot wait to come down this summer and check things out.

[malaka]

haha that has potention. There are soooo many though, especially if you're willing to fix them up.

The only problem with the 04 is that there are a lot of college kids, which is fine except that means a lot of rental houses, which means lawns are shitty and there are 2342324 cars in front of every house. I prefer the 03 but it's high dollah!

[dvs1]

yea, i am definitely not interested in owning a house in a neighborhood with a shit ton of cars...im trying to get out of California...not move to another city/state thats the same. Plus, I am not interested in living near loud as kids...shit, I'm old!

i'll scope out the 03 area too...see whats up..my friend also recommended anything east of Mopac and north of the 71...do you agree?

[malaka]

there are a lot of cute houses on the east side, but the problem is that it's straight ghetto. Brave people are buying up property, ripping down houses, and building new ones. The problem is that you end up with crack houses on each side of you. Whores walking the street, drug deals everywhere, etc. I would be too scared to live there.