Downtown Versus Suburbs
Hey ladies, I’m Lani and I work at GoSinglePointe.com, a progressive real estate company born right here in the ATX as the Asset Director (which I love)! Catherine has been working hard here on LiveMom.com to bring you the richest, most well rounded content possible and I’m hoping that by contributing a real estate related article here and there, the recipe for greatness will be one degree spicier!
Today I wanted to talk to you about something heavy on many of our minds- the battle between living downtown and the suburbs. There are awesome benefits to living downtown- proximity to food, entertainment and shopping as well as access to the amazing cultural scene. There are also wonderful aspects of living in the suburbs like owning a bit more land and having a larger house as well as enjoying community pools and having barbeques in the cul-de-sac. Many people we talk to tell us that they want to live downtown because they can walk to anything they want to whereas suburban living doesn’t allow this luxury. Some of us want to save gas for monetary and/or environmental reasons while others simply enjoy restaurants and shopping downstairs from their home. But did you know that many of the suburbs have extremely high “walking scores?” That means that there are a lot of alternatives to living outside of the 78704 or 78705, just take a peek at WalkScore.com to see how your dream neighborhood ranks! Keep in mind that many businesses have not been mapped yet by this website, but it should give you an idea of how the area you love is trending. So here are three alternatives to downtown living that keep you near the hustle and bustle:
| FAR WEST | Just north of Austin, the Far West area has incredible homes, is on the Capital Metro shuttle route (zips you right to campus and downtown), has bike lanes and abundant sidewalks, offers El Arroyo, HEB, shopping and gas stations all within walking distance. The homes are beautiful- many were built between the 60s and 80s so that traditional feel is easy to find here.
| SUNSET VALLEY | If living south of Austin is more your pace, Sunset Valley has exploded with commercial development making it super easy to live near food and entertainment. Many homes here are new and builders are continuing to build in this area. Capital Metro also services this area and what we love is that the local city council is extremely progressive, so we anticipate that this area will continue to grow and be vibrant.
| ROUND ROCK | Round Rock is a more suburban area than Far West or Sunset Valley and depending on your goals may suit your pace better. Aside from downtown, Round Rock is not set up to be a walking city but because it has evolved into the hub of the northern suburbs, where everything you need butts up to your neighborhood. Much of Round Rock is brand new and building will continue for likely another decade, so this is a great opportunity to get in a new home, hold it for a few years, then move UP in the same area so the kiddos don’t have to change schools- how cool is that?
You may be surprised at how cool the non-downtown areas can be! Most of us take into account the school districts, the overall environment and most importantly the convenience of being nearby everything we need on a daily basis and our suburbs offer so much, so check it out! If for some crazy reason, you aren’t using GoSinglePointe.com, invite your Realtor to coffee and bring an open mind- they might know a jewel of a neighborhood that you never knew existed!
April 9th, 2008 at 6:18 am
I LOVE THIS LINE:
you may be surprised at how cool the non-downtown areas can be!
people always ask me: dont you SO wish you lived downtown in a cool loft?
uh no.
I love where I live and Im the EXACT SAME PERSON (cool or not so hip :)) no matter where I reside.
M.
April 9th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
M, you’re SO right! You can be the same cool, hip person inside the 78704 and outside of it! There are cool little coffee houses scattering the suburbs that ma and pa (or joe dirt) own and awesome jogging trails and parks WITHOUT the parking nightmare.
I would LOVE living in a loft but I’m cool with the ‘burbs and so are my kids who are grateful we don’t live in a 2 bedroom loft (but if I were single, that would be a different story…).
Thanks for the comment!! If there are real estate tips, analysis or stories you’d like to hear about, let us know!
April 9th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
One reason I choose the burbs- I can stay in my pajamas longer since I don’t have to dress right away to walk the dogs. It’s nice to be able to open my door and let the dogs do their business while standing there in my comfy pj’s.
Luckily, Austin isn’t so big and you can go almost anywhere within a reasonable amount of time- as long as it’s not rush hour. But where’s the proper public transportation? how convenient would it be to walk a couple of miles to a train/ light rail/ subway… no driving and no rush hour hassles? I think that would make Austin near perfect and living in the burbs wouldn’t be considered such a bad/ un-hip way of life. Now, can we do something about the summer heat?
April 10th, 2008 at 9:36 am
I think the premise of this post is good - walkability is an important factor in how pleasant, healthy and sustainable a lifestyle you will be able to have in any particular area. But check the “walk scores” for the suggested neighborhoods. Out of a perfect 100, 78704 gets a 65, 78705 gets an 88 and 78701 gets a perfect 100. Far West (78731) gets a 20 and Round Rock (78644) gets a 17, both pretty bad. Sunset Valley (78745) gets a 32, but I think that is probably overstated, because almost any trip involves a long walk down William Cannon Drive. Ever seen many people walking around down there? I haven’t.
I think the idea of finding affordable locations with high “walk scores” is a good one, but don’t pretend that you are going to be walking a lot if you live in Far West, Round Rock or Sunset Valley. Any other ideas?
April 10th, 2008 at 10:33 am
I liked this post so much, I did a post about it myself:
http://austinist.com/2008/04/10/reblogging_live_1.php
Also, I gave the wrong zip for Round Rock in my last comment - I meant 78664.
April 10th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Sunset Valley now reminds me too much of Plano.
Round Rock is way too damn far away.
Far West is nice, but not the best walkability compared to price. Isn’t it almost as much to buy a house there as closer to downtown?
I’ll give a plug for 78741. We get a 57 walk score and there are still some reasonably priced houses there.
April 10th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Why be in Austin if you really want to live in Plano? I moved here from East Texas to escape all that. I plan to stay downtown as long as I can afford it, even if that means living in a box.
April 11th, 2008 at 9:28 am
@Catherine- proper transportation has a long way to go, our city is so spread out and to create lightrails or commuter trains, the city would have to destroy people’s yards, kill tons of trees and it would/will be a long battle to get non-bus transportation approved. I TOO love letting the dog out and not having to go down an elevator with his indecisive self!
@Shilli- the truth is that Austin (unless you’re downtown) is NOT a truly walkable city like Portland or Seattle, you know? It’s tough, but the closest you can get to a walkable city is one with a shopping center nearby that is diverse enough to keep you entertained and fulfill your needs (like groceries) and a nearby bus if you need to get downtown or other areas. I used to live at Far West and didn’t have a car- I *loved* walking down the hill to El Arroyo, HEB, Blockbuster, Quizno’s, the cleaners, Starbuck’s, Wendy’s, the post office and more. I took the bus to downtown and the UT campus and loved it! But the walk was much more of a workout than going down an elevator to a retail district, you’re right!
@Tim- As for pricing, there are awesome deals to be found but like downtown, you’ll sacrifice some space to live here. Plano?
@Stella- Come on, don’t say Austin and Plano in the same sentence, I just might send you to your room. It’s cool that you live downtown, I think I just had a twitch brought on by jealousy. Problem for me is that it’s hard to go from a 3000sf house for the same price as a 900sf loft- call me the crazy cat lady but 3 cats, a dog, 2 kids and my husband would crowd me! I’m cool with hopping in the car
OTHERS are not though, and should move downtown (with the only truly good walkability in Austin).
April 11th, 2008 at 9:53 am
Some other areas to consider:
| ALLANDALE | As an alternative to Far West, the Allandale area is just across the highway and property values are pretty sexy there. There is a house listed right now for $259,000 among homes for more, so there ARE deals to be found! (MLS#8798800)
| HIGHLANDS | The alphabet roads around 51st street (just west of IH35) are great because they are near the Capmetro routes, shopping is nearby (although I’d drive to those instead of walk because of IH35). There’s a super cute house that was just remodeled and is a heck of a deal for that area (MLS#5949913) and because of the Mueller redevelopment, this is a great place to be!
There’s a new tool online where you can check out homes on a map and with a simple slider you can adjust prices, home sizes, even see Google Street View etc. (and search for MLS numbers up top)- check it out and tell us **where YOU think is the best place to live**:
http://www.singlepointerealty.com/search/allcities
April 13th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
You can have walkable while still having yards. More expensive, sure. It’d help if we didn’t outlaw true row-houses, which still allow for backyards while making more efficient use of lots (McMansion ordinance basically made this even more impossible, BTW).
Allandale? GMAB. Most definitely NOT walkable - the proto-suburban-sprawl poster-child.
BTW, we could have had great light rail in 2000. Almost did, and it would have been running by now. Commuter rail, which passed in 2004, will not only never work for most of us (2000 per day capacity compared with 46,000 per day predicted on LRT in 2000), it even prevents light rail from ever happening later on.
May 21st, 2008 at 11:22 am
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