I think everyone is always "wondering" what other people earn. I'm and "old" class of 75. My first job after graduating was $16K/year. However, I stayed with the same company for 25 years and my average earnings over the 25 years was $121K/year with that company.

I am retired and currently live in Lakeway, which is about a 45 minute commute to downtown Austin. Good schools and great football program! Bought my current house on a private golf course (2005) for $257K and now it appraises for $400K. Not really wanting to go anywhere else.

Good luck!

I get the increase in salary over the the years, but to my point, how comfortable would you be now looking at a home $250k on top of the $400k your home is appraised at today?

Lake way, Circle C, Avana, Cedar Park, Steiner, Brushy Creek....all your standard suburban Taylor Morrison, Standard Pacific, David Weekly, Lennar, Toll house homes in the edges of town and 45min+ out. Circle C may not be quite that far...

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I get the increase in salary over the the years, but to my point, how comfortable would you be now looking at a home $250k on top of the $400k your home is appraised at today?

Lake way, Circle C, Avana, Cedar Park, Steiner, Brushy Creek....all your standard suburban Taylor Morrison, Standard Pacific, David Weekly, Lennar, Toll house homes in the edges of town and 45min+ out. Circle C may not be quite that far...

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Too answer your question (I think), I am on the path of downsizing so I do not want a bigger, nicer, more expensive home now. Just before the home I am in now, I built a new home (Toll Brothers) in "The Hills" in Lakeway. It was 5000 sq ft on the golf course with a pool. We lived in it for 5 years but sold it after my kids went off to college. We made a slight profit but sunk the profit back into the smaller home I live in now. If I were to sell the home I live in now, I would not be looking to get something larger, more expensive than $400K. Different stage of my life than you. Good luck!

Well, we have a contract on a 1050 sq ft house, so...wouldn't say that was too large.

Mookie said:

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Most of those folks aren't buying their first home and are not putting 20% down. Equity from prior home is the diffeeence maker. If you bought in Austin between 2009 and 2014, you definitely have 6 figures of equity to move toward a 600k house.

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This.

According to 2018 TCAD there must be a bunch....

I'm with ya on RR. Of course, back when I went to Junior High and High School here, we still had a TG&Y, and no Dell. Property taxes were astronomically low. Schools were good.

I still love Round Rock, and some parts for Austin, but none of this Califormia wierdness crap was going on back when I was young.

RR is an easy pick..

Great schools

Safe neighborhoods

Decent local govt

Although my taxes went up10% again for the fourth year and a row.I owe 400 more. Damn somebody

I'd be interested to hear an update from you on Greyrock, and if you've got a feel for your neighbors' experiences as well. I'm currently looking in Circle C, and today checked out Avana and Greyrock. For the money these days, it sure is appealing to get a brand new home, especially at Avana that's straight shot to ****r.
But, I've seen some negative reviews of Lennar. Might be one of those things where the <1% of customers who have an issue are the only ones making noise.

DI8Ks here!

Bastrop is picking up. Get in while you can.

Central Austin is still rolling hot around this price point, I have two friends looking and striking out left and right

chefrogi said:

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I'd be interested to hear an update from you on Greyrock, and if you've got a feel for your neighbors' experiences as well. I'm currently looking in Circle C, and today checked out Avana and Greyrock. For the money these days, it sure is appealing to get a brand new home, especially at Avana that's straight shot to ****r.
But, I've seen some negative reviews of Lennar. Might be one of those things where the <1% of customers who have an issue are the only ones making noise.

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I think you get a much less personable experience if you are building new now. All the mergers have made Lennar a little too big.

Most of the floor plans are tight (small living and kitchen areas) but getting brand new appliances, windows, flooring, and a more modern feel is a big deal. Most homes in the main sections of Circle C will have a much older feel to them.

For us, living 15 minutes to downtown and 78704 area is a no brainer, only other option is Westlake or Central Austin where you have to spend 50-75% more.

I think a lot of the location discussion is also highly dependent on where you work, not every needs to get downtown.

I'm in Cedar Park and work around Braker and 183 and I'd imagine lots of folks in tech are similar. I'll take that 20ish minute commute in a heartbeat over the hour plus I spent in Houston not even getting across the west side of town.

And 20 minutes into town on the weekends is a fair trade off.

It will be interesting to see what the Austin market does this summer. New construction is still present in every corner of the metro area, and while we are still technically in a shortage of supply in most places, it has creeped up. I don't expect to see a big dip in prices, but I would not be surprised if we don't see things increasing quite as dramatically over the last few years.

Agreed on that. My policy is reduce your daily commute as much as possible. Then if you can afford to, reduce your weekend commutes as much as you can. Some people value more square footage over the commutes, but that will never be us.

They are putting in $1.1m+ single family homes behind us at The Grove. Zero yard, all home. I think most are sold.

Hopefully the Grove ends Up with all the promised amenities, that will make that lack of yard more bearable

I have a friend that built near zilker for 600k and sold it one year later for 1.1 million in cash. 3 similar offers in one week. All from west coast (according to realtor).

I actually work for Lennar in Austin and your assessment is correct in that the most displeased customers are most often the most vocal ones. Our customer satisfaction scores are pretty solid overall and I can tell you the company is very well run here locally in Austin. I wouldn't be working here if it weren't.

YOu in idlewild?

Yessir!

ReloadAg said:

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I actually work for Lennar in Austin and your assessment is correct in that the most displeased customers are most often the most vocal ones. Our customer satisfaction scores are pretty solid overall and I can tell you the company is very well run here locally in Austin. I wouldn't be working here if it weren't.

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I dont know much about Lennar other than they had the single worst jingle in the history of advertising about 10 yrs ago. Glad yall dumped that one but now its stuck in my head.
E-I-E-I- OH!

We live in Rosedale. They've torn down several homes on 45th that back up to The Grove development. I assume they're doing this to create additional entrances. I'm a little worried about The Grove decreasing home values in the surrounding older neighborhoods.

I live about a half mile from the Grove development. I was hoping it would raise property values

I noticed that. I can tell you that I prefer a big field behind me and less ppl vs what they are doing. Some neighbors think it'll increase value. Some think it'll decrease. I'm not sure we will ever know a true comparison since both realities are not possible.

My wife thinks it could be nice to go to coffee shops or places to eat. Nothing really compares. Triangle is by itself mostly. Mueller is 20x the size (or more).

The prices they are listing for units are insane. Does that make our home more valuable? Doubtful.

Those are torn down to provide a shared use path (10-foot wide sidewalk) and pedestrian hybrid beacon crossing to provide pedestrian access to the grove, new park, and eventual shoal creek trail for the neighborhood north of 45th Street. It is a very expensive pedestrian connection!!!

Bump

Any update from you late 20 year olds on what you decided to do? Gave in and moved to the burbs?

Mid 30s here about to wrap up a year long project adding 600 sq feet to our central Austin home

Keeper of The Spirits said:

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Mid 30s here about to wrap up a year long project adding 600 sq feet to our central Austin home

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Excited for you and the addition! We've been watching the grove and waiting to figure out how we will also add on. We've been kicking around the idea of first doing a Kanga system or small 500 sq ft ADU and then potentially address the house 5-7 years down the road.

A house sold down the street. Asking $565k and the realtor told me it's a tear down on a 7660 ft lot. All builders offering.

Before

After

Wife and I (30, no kids) want to buy our first home in central or north Austin but still looks like we need to be ready to pay in the $500k-600k range to do so. Although we can afford to, it just makes me really uncomfortable.

Have you looked out towards Dripping Springs? Definitely some prices that get up there but still some lower.

Heading a bit northwest isn't too bad either, there's a number of reasonably affordable subdivisions along 183 before you get into Cedar Park and Leander.

This is what we did. Moved to Rattan Creek back in '07 and have since moved into a bigger house in the same neighborhood. For us it hits a sweet spot because we have easy access to 183, Mopac and Parmer and have an Austin address but are just over the Williamson county line and are part of the RRISD. We're also not actually in the city of Austin so not subjected to their idiotic local government and taxes. The neighborhood is bounded by 183 on the west, Parmer on the east and Anderson Mill on the north. We'll be less than a mile to the new Apple campus that is being built.

We bought out 3000 sq for house built in 1990 back in 2014 for $310,000. We've put some work in it and my best guess now is it's worth 425-450 so the neighborhood is still affordable. We have nice mature oak trees and a huge park in the middle of the neighborhood.

Hello fellow Rattan Creeker. We bought our starter home here 15 years ago, then never bothered moving. It would be harder now that I've grown accustomed to not having a mortgage payment.
Our place backs up to the greenbelt, and we felt we would lose out on a lot if we ever moved - park, trail, tennis courts, pool, green space. We have great neighbors, and we love seeing so many people who are out and about walking, running, and biking in the mornings and evenings. We have spent quite a bit upgrading siding, flooring, kitchen, etc., though.