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Notes from the Lone Star State
Since I’ve been in Texas for 18 hours now, and have already jogged from my hotel to the Capitol (see the photograph — and please accept my promise that in real life the dome is bigger than my nose and not the other way around), I am, you will agree, an expert. What strikes me so far:
Item: People in service positions — the staff at the rental car agency, the waiters at restaurants — somehow carry themselves with a certain relaxed and unself-conscious pride. Like equals. Like people who are doing things and going places. When I asked directions to the rental car garage at the airport late last night, the young janitor did a well-spoken job of giving them to me, responding to my thanks by looking me in the eye and saying, “You’re welcome, Sir.”
Item: Space — there’s space. You have the sense here in downtown Austin that you could drive 15 minutes in any direction and find yourself in open country. That means a lot of things, but one in particular that’s on my mind just now: Housing costs are reasonable. Young people can buy houses and start families. As I left California, the young Uber driver who took me to the airport devoted about 20 minutes to a detailed analysis of Bay Area housing, naming neighborhood after neighborhood in which he could never hope to live — and explaining that his parents, one a cook, the other a housekeeper, had had to move to Utah to escape rising rents. In California, there’s a built-in hostility to working people and the young. Not here. Not in the Lone Star State.
Published in General
God bless Texas!
Glad you’re enjoying your time here.
And Austin is freakishly expensive compared to many other Texas cities.
While that’s true of the area near the airport, in downtown that’s more due to the hills hiding the sprawl. Houston feels huge since it’s so flat; Austin feels very cozy since you can’t see the suburbs tucked in the hills and trees.
Oh, I love this place. Just love it!
But am I right that you can find affordable housing within 15 or 20 minutes of both downtown Austin and downtown Houston?
What is amazing is that many of us that have lived here for years including 5 years in Austin think housing costs are getting ridiculous. I’ve several friends in real estate that make the point. One of our best selling points was always affordability, not anymore.
Given the traffic we are experiencing it may be more like 30 minutes plus.
If any other Californian said this, I’d plead: You go Uruguay and we’ll go ours.
Compared to California prices, everything’s affordable here.
Austin is more consolidated than Houston or Dallas. People who work in Houston often live an hour or more outside the city limits.
If you want a sane place to retire, Peter, don’t live near a major city.
The hill country east of Austin is full of very interesting country drives. We took my aunt there on a spring trip to view the bluebonnets several years ago and the views were just breathtaking. There is a mapped route available on the internet which we took along with a few detours. We also saw quite a few African animals, ibex, giraffes, etc. I found out later that there are some private areas that offer ‘African Safaris’ for East and West Coasters that want to hunt game animals either with gun or camera. Gotta love Texas!
Well, maybe the sense but it takes a while since Austin’s growing so quickly.
Are you going to make it to Snow’s in Lexington?
For Austin, very difficult to do. The median listed here is low, and probably further out than 15-20 minutes for a house. Maybe 30-45. Not sure about apartment prices, but renting prices are about ~$1500 for a two-bedroom in both cities. Most of the difficulty comes from Austin’s refusal to invest in traffic infrastructure until it’s well past needed, combined with restrictive zoning laws. The suburbs (Cedar Park, Pflugerville, Kyle, Dripping Springs) are all booming.
Note from a former Round Rock resident: A small family with a single income in the upper 40’s K range can find affordable and decent housing within 12 miles of downtown Austin in any direction. In Austin proper, say in the Violet Crown neighborhour where one of our churches is? No. And it’s not the most expensive by a long shot.
I would insert a list of “places to visit in Austin” here but will limit myself to saying if you have time and can get to Round Rock for one Mass at Saint Williams you should. The priests are all solid and it’s rather Catholic media central: Jennifer Fulwiler, Abby Johnson and Devin Rose are all parishoners.
Welcome to Texas, now go home.
Okay, okay, we might make an exception for you, Peter. But go back and tell your fellow Californians what a horrible backwards hick state this is. Maybe that will slow the onslaught.
It’s getting crazy how expensive homes are here in north Texas.
About that wall, Donald….
After the recent flooding here north of Houston, a tiger was found loose. Funny part is: that’s not the first time (different tiger too).
Let it be known that Peter turned down a Texas BBQ lunch with me to write this post. His loss.
You all have to eat at Scholz Garten while you’re there. It’s an Austin institution.
These posts pretty much confirm that costs are relative. Set a price and see what you can get for it. There are places with a higher cost of living, and some with a lower coat of living. Of course you may need to earn that living, and due to Texas’ business climate that may be easier in Texas.
Native Texans are second to none. Stay there too long and you’ll get spoiled for anyplace else. Have to warn you, though: Sentences beginning “Well – back in California we…” May not be well received.
What you wrote is true all over the South, and for that matter, the heart of America – it is what I was trying to explain to Claire when she asked me what I thought was different about America after watching the latest Paris Periscope. In spite of all the political hoopla, when you get away from the big cities of the East and West Coast, and get into the south, the mid-west, it’s just average Americans who still have manners, talk to you, look you in the eye when speaking, smile – the heart of America is still intact, as you are discovering.
Has Houston ever recovered from what Tom Wolfe did to it in The Right Stuff?
We spent 10 days in San Antonio last year and noticed an inordinate pride taken by everyone we talked about their city. I mean everyone – hotel clerks, bus drivers, shop clerks. I’m sure a lot of it was just being nice to the tourists but so many took time out of their workday to talk to us about the city. Really made us feel welcome.
Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Hold Yer horses.
“Pecos Pete” has been made an Honorary TEXAN; sanctified by Gov. Perry, no less.
Pleeeeeeease tell Me You didn’t do it with Yer sweater draped over Yer neck.
He is clearly a sick man. Get him some burnt ends, fast!
I was visiting a friend of mine in a quaint town in Texas last October. She was pointing out all the older houses and (to paraphrase) said, “Look at the opportunities, this is just like Palo Alto.” I thought she just meant the gentrification of the downtown, as she would have nothing but French restaurants if she had a choice. Nope, real estate. We did get to Mueller’s, excellent.
I’ve found the same kinds of observations here in Charlotte, NC – I moved here a year ago from Vermont. Same kind of people who are genuinely nice, in all kinds of jobs – eye contact, saying it like they mean it, whatever they’re saying. Had an example of that tonight at Harris Teeter, from an older woman at the checkout, hustling across the aisle to help me out with something. Crazy. Let’s just say if that was Vermont the words sullen, lazy, and insulting would have described the “help”.
Also, housing prices here are insanely cheap compared to Vermont, Republic of. 10 year old house, 3 bedrooms, two baths, 1,600 square feet, in a good neighborhood, north of Charlotte but an easy commute – bunches of these go for $200k, or less. If you transported that house to Vermont, it would easily be another $100-$200,000 more.
It’s not just Texas. But sadly it’s not in more states. The sanity, I’m referring to. Something entirely absent in Vermont.
Texas is an odd experience. Quite the accepting and polite lot all about. Even 6th Street in Austin on the weekends was civil with all the attendants. And the place is clean, which is odd compared to other festive locals. The comedy clubs are also great.
Save that, all you wanna bees, visit then go home, Keep Texas, Texas !
Peter, as a fellow Californian who visited Austin recently, two recommendations: