Just got a job offer that's located on West 6th. Wife and I (both 29, no kids) would be moving from Houston if I accept.

I grew up on the southside and went to highschool up in Pflugerville (class of 08). Things are much more expensive and crowded these days.

I work off W 6th and live in Cedar Park, I go in a bit late (leave around 8:45) and my average morning commute in is 35 minutes or so and 45 sometimes up to an hour on the way home. I'll hit one or two bad long days a month, but overall it's pretty manageable.

Gramercy Riffs said:

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I work at 6th & Congress and live four blocks south of that. I made the drive from SW Austin for 7 years, and finally got tired of spending 45 minutes to go 9 miles. So my suggestion, whether it's four blocks or four miles, is to find something as close as possible. All that time in the car adds up.

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I'm guessing in an a condo/apartment?

For the last six years, Up until a couple months ago, I was living near 183 & McNeil in NW and commuting to Congress & Riverside just south of the river. Crossing the river was the worst part. I was working 7-4 and would take maybe 30 minutes in the morning and 45 to hour 15 in the afternoon depending on the phase of the moon or whatever randomly makes traffic terrible.

As long as you expect it to be terribly slow and have a station or podcast or something to entertain you it's not all that bad. If you take the express lane on mopac prepare for that to be stop and go also even after your $9 blood offering. When I was getting off at 5 I would also just stay downtown and work out before driving home. That was a solid set up and running around the lake was always fun.

All that being said, I started a new job a few months ago near 183 & 360 and moved just a couple clicks further north to west RR and it's 20 minutes either way regardless of time of day. It would take a hell of a job offer to get me back downtown after getting a taste of the short commute life.

Work on 9th and Congress. Live off of 183/Mopac near the Domain, but am looking to move south when my lease expires in February. The prices just aren't worth it anymore up there.

Morning traffic isn't too bad if there is clear weather and no wrecks; takes about 30 minutes. You will be sitting in traffic for at least an hour every evening no matter what, and it can easily take 2 hours if there is a wreck or bad weather. Half of that time will be spent just getting out of the downtown area.

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When I was getting off at 5 I would also just stay downtown and work out before driving home. That was a solid set up and running around the lake was always fun.

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This is a good note, I kickbox and play soccer after work a few times a week so I'm not stuck in the bulk of rush hour every night.

2012Ag said:

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Gramercy Riffs said:

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I work at 6th & Congress and live four blocks south of that. I made the drive from SW Austin for 7 years, and finally got tired of spending 45 minutes to go 9 miles. So my suggestion, whether it's four blocks or four miles, is to find something as close as possible. All that time in the car adds up.

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I'm guessing in an a condo/apartment?

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Yes, The Ashton. Sold the house and moved here. I'm surrounded by people who did the same. And if I could go back to being 29, there's no question I'd want to live downtown.

Anyone talk to the advantage of being DT? Is it really a walkable, everything you need is there type of experience?

I work at 4th and Congress and live in Hyde Park.We currently are renting in Brykerwoods while we are remodeling. Both neighborhoods are great with a limited commute, decent size lots, and access to anything you could want.

I work a ways north of downtown and live about 45 miles east of town. I do drive in at 5:15 am every day and hit the gym before work so I miss the great majority of the traffic. It is pretty thin until about 6:30am

Downtown is scooterable or bikeable in nice weather, walkable depending on how far/fast if you are single or DINK.

With kids and school it gets more interesting, and parking down there is nutty.

Split time working in DT and in the Domain. Live in an apartment in Mueller and we love it here. Easy access to downtown when you want to go out, but also plenty of walkable places in the area when we don't want to Uber or drive/park. H-E-B is just blocks away as well.
Commute time to downtown on W 6th is about 15-20 minutes. Commute home is usually around 30 minutes with 20+ of that spent trying to get out of downtown.

2012Ag said:

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Just got a job offer that's located on West 6th. Wife and I (both 29, no kids) would be moving from Houston if I accept.

I grew up on the southside and went to highschool up in Pflugerville (class of 08). Things are much more expensive and crowded these days.

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Live as close to your work place as you can safely afford in renting/mortgage.

Lived in CP from 2008-2015. Never again. It's just too life draining. Was okay back then when traffic was 30-35 minutes in evening, but the 45-75 min commute home steals your time and it's too valuable.

How far west 6th?
E 1st (Cesar Chavez) and/or E 5th/E 7th areas are a decade gentrified if you dont want to be in a downtown high rise. Decent lot sizes, lots of ww2 era homes.
A good friend just moved from RR into the jenga bldg and that place is pretty baller.

The main thing about the 'walkability' of downtown living is that it's still austin texas so roughly 75% of the year is too hot to walk 3/4 blocks to dinner or to the grocery store or to work.

500,000ags said:

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Anyone talk to the advantage of being DT? Is it really a walkable, everything you need is there type of experience?

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It absolutely is. A couple months ago, my car was in the shop for something minor. The dealership was backed up with other jobs and blah blah blah couldn't get to it for a few days. They also didn't have any more loaners available, and they asked if I just wanted to bring it back at a later date. I said no and just walked everywhere. It ended up being 12 days without a car, and the only change was not being the one to drive to CS for the Aggie game on Saturday.

I walk to work, happy hour, dinner, theaters, and shopping. I can access the trail by simply crossing the street, and we have a great gym in the building. I get dry cleaning and groceries delivered, but I walked for those too while I was still figuring things out. Everything I need is right here. Several coworkers and friends also live downtown, and that helps too. I've always been a suburbs guy, but as long as I'm in a big city I may never go back to that.

expresswrittenconsent said:

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The main thing about the 'walkability' of downtown living is that it's still austin texas so roughly 75% of the year is too hot to walk 3/4 blocks to dinner or to the grocery store or to work.

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I was concerned about that too, but it isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Plenty of shade to make things easier.

i work downtown off 3rd and Congress. live in one of the Circle C neighborhoods.

morning commute: i leave no later than 6:30 and am driveway to parking spot in less than 20 minutes almost every single day. if i leave after 6:30, it's 45 minutes especially with all of the Mopac S construction.

afternoon commute: i try to leave the office at 4 on the dot. if i do, i'm 35-40 minutes parking spot to driveway. that's partially due to the absurdity of how you access our neighborhood. every 10 minutes after 4 adds like 5 minutes to the commute. at 5pm, you're looking at an hour to get home.

I work downtown at 15th and Guadalupe. Live in Mueller.

Moved to Mueller 5 years ago after living in G'town for 28 years. Traffic got worse and simply got tired of dealing with it so moved. My old commute was about 45 minutes in the morning and an hour + in the afternoon. Now its 12 minutes both ways.

Mueller is nice. Close to a lot of stuff in the neighborhood and not far from almost anywhere in Austin.

But my point is it sounds like you still have a car per adult in your home. So you didnt move downtown and go from 2 cars to zero cars like if you had moved to NYC.
There's no subway, there's no way to get (we're all Aggies here so it's unlikely UT events are important) easily to campus for a football or basketball game or out to the suburbs to see friends in new Braunfels or see one of our fine minor league sporting events in round rock or make it to concerts out at the racetrack in BFE without your own car (or repeatedly using a car service).

I do think the downtown experience has come a long way (very quickly) and the constant addition of more high cost downtown condos means it will likely continue to improve. The amount of telecommuting/work from home means more and more people can "choose" to live downtown without having to drive way up 183 to an office each day.

Mass transit seems unlikely to ever happen, though.

Also live in Mueller area and work downtown. Luckily schools aren't a concern as of now. 10 minutes in the morning, afternoon can absurdly be anywhere from 20 minutes to over an hour depending on weather and traffic. The downtown area is truly a cluster**** and if one drop of rain falls or it's overcast they're shutting the F down. Record was 1 hour 25 minutes to go that roughly 3 ish miles.

I'll be starting a new job outside of downtown (thank god soon) out near west lake hills and will be moving to the bee cave/lakeway area. Partly for a quieter lifestyle and also to position ourselves for good schools down the line. Commute will be ten mins both ways.

I'm moving to Austin next spring, but I'll be working a bit south of downtown, near St. Edward's.

We decided on the southeast area of Austin, in one of the newer subdivisions called Easton Park.

I've never lived in Austin, but I'm under the impression south east Austin is starting to develop out a bit more, and it seems relatively easy to get to the downtown area.

Gramercy Riffs said:

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2012Ag said:

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Gramercy Riffs said:

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I work at 6th & Congress and live four blocks south of that. I made the drive from SW Austin for 7 years, and finally got tired of spending 45 minutes to go 9 miles. So my suggestion, whether it's four blocks or four miles, is to find something as close as possible. All that time in the car adds up.

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I'm guessing in an a condo/apartment?

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Yes, The Ashton. Sold the house and moved here. I'm surrounded by people who did the same. And if I could go back to being 29, there's no question I'd want to live downtown.

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Agreed. We recently moved from midtown houston (bar area, walkable, urban side of town) to a neighborhood for our two dogs to have a yard. I'd definitely be down to experience downtown austin, just a matter of convincing my wife haha.

expresswrittenconsent said:

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How far west 6th?
E 1st (Cesar Chavez) and/or E 5th/E 7th areas are a decade gentrified if you dont want to be in a downtown high rise. Decent lot sizes, lots of ww2 era homes.
A good friend just moved from RR into the jenga bldg and that place is pretty baller.

The main thing about the 'walkability' of downtown living is that it's still austin texas so roughly 75% of the year is too hot to walk 3/4 blocks to dinner or to the grocery store or to work.

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6th and Guadalupe. Wow, had no idea the jenga place was residential.

expresswrittenconsent said:

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But my point is it sounds like you still have a car per adult in your home. So you didnt move downtown and go from 2 cars to zero cars like if you had moved to NYC.
There's no subway, there's no way to get (we're all Aggies here so it's unlikely UT events are important) easily to campus for a football or basketball game or out to the suburbs to see friends in new Braunfels or see one of our fine minor league sporting events in round rock or make it to concerts out at the racetrack in BFE without your own car (or repeatedly using a car service).

I do think the downtown experience has come a long way (very quickly) and the constant addition of more high cost downtown condos means it will likely continue to improve. The amount of telecommuting/work from home means more and more people can "choose" to live downtown without having to drive way up 183 to an office each day.

Mass transit seems unlikely to ever happen, though.

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Your first sentence seems like you're replying to me, but the rest of your post is a little different so I'm not sure. We were talking about it being too hot to walk and then we went straight to needing a car to get to Round Rock. Those seem like two separate points to me.

At any rate, of course I still have a car. My family lives in Dripping and I still make trips to the coast to see old friends, so yes I still need to drive. With regards to the walkability of downtown, I still have everything I need when it comes to everyday life. I'd never compare it to NYC, and the point about still owning a car seems like moving the goalposts a bit. I wouldn't recommend selling a vehicle, but like I said that's a separate topic altogether.

I'd love to have a subway here. If we had one that was similar to NYC in any way at all, my entire plan might change. But we don't and never will, so I enjoy living downtown and recommend it to anyone who's considering it.

are you renting or did you buy? assuming no kids.

i rented at the 360 Condos my first year and a half here. i really enjoyed walking to the office. but, when looking at buying one, i don't see how the numbers ever work.

Yeah, in a similar boat here. We own in Cedar Park and would be very interested in moving into town, but a 2 bedroom condo in a nice building is...steep.

My gf and I debated DT when we moved to Austin this year, but went with the east side. The idea of paying $2,500-$3,000 per month in rent without DT being truly walkable was actually why we chose the east side instead. Might have to rethink based on your experience. Although with the Whole Foods and Target going in, East 6th will be pretty self-sustaining soon.

What's the after-hours crowd like DT? A second concern was that the crowd would be bourgeois.

Buy a condo downtown.

500,000ags said:

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My gf and I debated DT when we moved to Austin this year, but went with the east side. The idea of paying $2,500-$3,000 per month in rent without DT being truly walkable was actually why we chose the east side instead. Might have to rethink based on your experience. Although with the Whole Foods and Target going in, East 6th will be pretty self-sustaining soon.

What's the after-hours crowd like DT? A second concern was that the crowd would be bourgeois.

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Is that about how much you're paying on the east side? House I assume?

We went the complete other way and got a studio off East 6th for $1,650. I'm nowhere near sure where I want to live in Austin yet. The east side has been cool, mostly walkable. My gf's office just moved from San Jac to East 6th, so she is literally a few mins away from work. It'll be tough prying her away from this commute.

I live off of Southwest Parkway and 290. Mornings are tough, afternoons worse. I find that going down to 290 and taking 1st street into downtown can be faster than going down mopac. Either way use Waze.

Been in Austin 8 years and have lived in AMLI on Riverside, Domain, the Triangle, and then last year bought a house here on East Side off Cesar exactly one mile from 35. I work at 3rd / Congress, so with a 10 min commute I am LOVING life right now haha.

The area will only get better and I'm guessing 1-2 years from now Cesar will look completely different. Walkable enough now but that will improve too.

Just got my 1st city tax bill and now that's a different story...