delliott00

We've lived in Austin for 6 years now and love it. We live in the NW hill country out by Lake Travis. Its absolutely wonderful.

My favorite things (in no particular order):

- Great driving roads! (1431, Lime Creek, etc) The Hill Country is littered with them.
- Max Performance summer tires work all year round.
- Hill country is beautiful.
- Weather is great. Bit hot in the summer so get a pool.
- Food. Best Tex Mex and BBQ in the country.
- Its a very environmentally aware city. Lots of parks and plenty of trees everywhere.
- No state/local income taxes.
- Housing prices outside the city are excellent and allow me to buy things like Porsches and M3s.

Only downside is that the Tech job market is still very soft.

-Dave
'00 996C2
'97 M3
'00 A4 1.8TQ
'89 M3

Trojan Man

I AM one of those gun toting idiots, and I don't want to pay for other people's healthcare.

Sorry, looks like toronto is out.

Lydon

I just don't want to pay for anyone's bullet holes, so we don't


idiot was a strong word, lets just say i don't like guns!!

Rob in WA

Bellingham, WA

Three great cities close by Seattle, Vancouver, and Victoria. No state income tax, 35 dollars for tabs, great value on real estate (average market time for a house here is 11 days), mountains, ocean, lakes, the San Juan Islands, Mt. Baker, Whistler, nice earthy people, great seafood, tons of fresh produce - organic farms a plenty. And miles and miles of seldom patroled scenic mountain roads w/great twisties.

My buddy was in town a few weeks ago and we did all this in one day. First we climbed Winchester Mountain.



The we went out to the islans and caught some crab for dinner.



God I love it here

Trojan Man

Rob, I have several friends who are from Washington and they say that I would like it from the standpoint of recreation, scenery, and weather. Quite frankly, from these 3 aspects, Washington is probably the closest I can come to Cali. This all sounds great, but how are the politics & gov't regulation? I seem to recall massive demonstrations when the WTO was in town.

JasonW

Wow, those pictures are great! WA looks like a beautiful area.

Personally, I would go with Newport, RI or Maine - anyplace in New England on the coast. I lived in Newport a few years ago and fell in love with the place. I'll be moving back in another year or so.

OldGuy

Washington and Oregon have gone the way of Kalifornia
If you look at the voting maps Seattle and the Portland area
dominate the rest of the state in voting. Just like LA and
the SF area dominate Kalifornia. they are voting in more and
more entitlement programs and raising taxes on people who work for
a living. thats why I suggested Idaho. You can bet as Portland and
Seattle get bigger it will only get more and more like illegal immigrant
Kalifornia. SOrry had to vent. How bout those illegal immigrant Drivers
licenses!! Thanks Gray!!
OG

Rob in WA

I really don't get involved in local politics. There are quite a few clueless liberials here, as seen when the WTO was here and during the Iraq war, there are also a lot of highly educated liberials here.

carrageous

Trojan,
Just moved from Napa Valley back to the Texas Hill Country, just west of Austin, where I've had a home for several years. Also have spent many years hanging out in the Boca Raton/Palm Beach coast. So let me put in another vote for you in the Austin area for you, specifically any neighborhood on Lake Travis, which is west and northwest of the city. It would be helpful if you had a map of the aread in front of you.

Here's one:
Austin Map

And to bring it back OT, let me address you as a Porsche nut. In making your choice, I presume you want a place with great roads, and particularly, great roads that lead somewhere fun. You also want quick access to those roads, not have to drive hours in traffic to get there.

Looking at the map, any of then neighborhoods around the lake (Lakeway, for instance). These are all real fun roads and you can head north, west or south and have hours of fun driving right from your driveway. A little like living in Malibu, where you can head for the hills and have fun. To be honest, you don't have the variety of roads I had in Napa Valley, nor the ability to go from ocean to mountains to desert. But the roads are fast and uncrowed and perfect for what WE love to do.

Extend the map out and west, and you can see that you can drive west for hours. In fact, I know a couple of roads west of here I can stay in triple digits for an hour or more. Fast sweepers with good shoulders, etc. In South Florida, you can't do that, that I'm aware of. And there are interesting destinations at the end of the roads.

Plus there are lots of Porsche people and events around here, if you like that.

As far as water, obviously Florida beats this. But if you want a place where you can have a waterview home with easy access for swimming, water skiing or a run across the large lake to have lunch at a fun restaurant, this is a good compromise.

Climate: In the summer, this is about the coolest place in populated Texas, which isn't saying much. But summers in the hills are better than Dallas and similar to say, the San Fernando Valley. We were mid-nineties most of the summer. In the winter, it's very temperate. Winters get the occasional ice-storm but have lots of nice mild, clear days in the high 60s, low 70s. What I like way better than Napa Valley, is that I can spend lots of time outside looking at the view or the sunset and then stay outside until midnight under the stars. Napa gets way cold real fast. Depending on where you are (I'm on a higher hill) you get no mosquitoes.

Shopping for your honey: Generally equal to Orange County, but Dallas is about 3 hours away, and it's a major fashion and design center with amazing shopping. So there's another reason to drive your Porsche.

Taxes: No state income taxes, sales taxes equivalent to OC.

Gas prices: Filled up yesterday, premium $1.64/gallon.

Wine: I have a few friends in the wine business here and wine grown in Texas can be said to be surprisingly not bad. That means there's never any on my table. I bring it in from Napa or Italy.

Gun-totin': We invented it, Bubba!

House prices: after Orange County, you may never stop laughing. Water-view homes about a quarter of the price of Laguna.

Canada: with a 200% tax on wine in BC? I think not!

Good luck.

Trojan Man

Dain,

Thanks man, that was an awesome write up!! It makes me want to drive to Austin right now and check it out.

Premium gas for $1.64 - I just filled up for $2.20!!!!

offroadr35

i'm trying to figure out where i want to live next year when i'm done with school also. Annapolis, MD is really nice but you definitely have all 4 seasons. I get frustrating just visiting my parents in Southern California, i can't imagine living there for very long.

I have always loved Nappa Valley, what is it like to live there?

-Steve

carrageous

Call me when you get into West Texas and I'll put the coals on the grill!

carrageous

Steve,
It's great but it's expensive. Figure a million for a nice house, nothing special, with some sort of vineyard view. Plus taxes and a variety of other cost of living increases.

On the other hand, great wine! And is there any place on Earth that's prettier?

Trojan Man

Don't forget some great food to go along with all the fabulous wine - French Laundry and Brix just to name a couple.

If it were not for the taxation, immigration, and excessive legislation issues, I would say that Napa is one of the best place in the world to live.

I absolutely LOVE to vacation there, but I cannot fathom paying $650K+ for a 1200 sq ft. "fixer upper".

pig4bill

Ever been there in the summer? With all the 100 degree days, you'd think you were in Texas.

I think you're going to have to relent on the weather thing or 2 or 3 of your other requirements. It's sort of funny to read people here recommend their towns, when I hear people in Toronto talk about how much snow they get, people in Dallas and Austin talk about the heat in the summer, people in Florida talk about the rain and humidity (never mind the hurricanes), and my buddy in the Seattle area talk about the rain, rain, and more rain. BTW, Austin is a college town and very liberal politically.

One area that comes to mind that meets many of your requirements is the Las Vegas area (outside the city limits since Las Vegas requires handgun registration).

yes

Bzzzt! Can't have everything. At least it's a dry heat.

No state income tax, machineguns allowed, concealed carry permits issued.

yes

$150-200k buys a lot of home.

Lake Mead, the largest lake after the Great Lakes in the U.S. (I think) is 30 miles away.