If you’re considering moving to Austin, but you have not really explored the city in person, it’s really important to figure out which part of town is the right match for you, whether it’s the north side, the south, the east or the west. There’s big differences in the style of homes, the activities that surround the area’s and also in the topography of the land itself. I’m going to break down some key differences between East Austin and West Austin.
Austin is divided east and west by a highway I-35 that runs right up and down the middle. Now, when you live here, one of the first things you realize is that you never want to drive on I-35 because of the horrible traffic. So you quickly learn all the back roads to get around town. Now, what some people also don’t realize is that there is a big fault line, the Balcones Fault Line that runs right along that same area, it actually kind of goes across the middle of Texas and Austin is right in the center of it. Now, don’t be scared by the term fault line. This is an inactive fault line that hasn’t moved in probably millions upon millions of years. But it did completely change the topography of the land.
So on the east side of town, what you’ll see is more farmland prairie lands, and then it turns into the coastal plains. And so it’s pretty flat if you drive from Austin out to Houston. That’s why the airport is built on the east side of town much easier to land a plane there, big factories like the Tesla factory is also out on the east side of town because there’s no way you could have built a building that big if it was in the hill country. So to the west of the spotlight is the Texas Hill Country. It is big, beautiful rolling hills, lakes, rivers, it’s very green, and it has tons of park some of the most spectacular parts of Texas are in the hill country. And it’s a pretty big area, it extends past Austin out into Fredericksburg, Kirbyville bunch of little towns out that way. And we love to go out there just for day trips and to explore some of the natural beauty and parks out that direction.
Now some differences also are in the soil on the east side of town, the soil is good for farmland, it’s going to be a little bit softer, have more clay in it. So you are also a little more prone to have foundation problems on the east side of town. It’s not a guarantee and not a reason to not buy over there. But just something to keep in mind. If you’re buying an older resale home, definitely check out the foundation to make sure it’s still good. And if you’re getting a new home, make sure it’s well built and that you actually take care of your foundation to protect it. On the west side of town, there’s less soil and more rock. In fact, a lot of times like on our home, we actually had to have a dump truck come in and bring soil because we’re pretty much on bare rock when we were building our home, less likely to have foundation issues because you’re on solid limestone for the most part. Again, there’s no guarantee though, always make sure that your foundation was well built and get it inspected. Cost of building a pool or even planting a tree is going to be a lot more expensive to because you’re going to have to jackhammer and really cut into the stone in order to get a decent sized hole to put in a pool. People are sometimes shocked at how much pools cost. But for just a basic Splash Pool, I’d estimate at least $100,000 or so. And if you wanted a more significant luxury pool, the price is going to go way up from there.
Along with that house prices are going to vary quite a bit from the east side to the west side. The west part of Austin, especially around Tarrytown, West Lake Hills and Rollingwood. Those are some of the most expensive parts of the city. And it extends out that way towards Lake Travis or some beautiful luxury homes out there overlooking the lake. They have $1.5 million and up around Austin. Almost all of that are out on the west side of town. They have $450 in Austin, almost all of that are on the east side of town. You can get home prices anywhere between any of those amounts, but I just want to show you that if you’re looking at a lower budget, median home value and Austin’s about $550 or so. So if you’re wanting to shop way below that the east side is going to have way more options for you even going north and south to Buda, Kyle or up to Pflugerville, Round Rock, Hutto. It’s just better opportunities and it’s easier cheaper to build because the lands a little bit flatter. On the west side to get you know a basic starter home out in the Lake Travis area you’re going to spend probably $600,000 or so if you’re closer into town in the WestLake Area $600,000 may just get you a basic condo, you know two beds couple baths, so your money goes a lot farther on the east side.
Now there are some luxury communities out there, like the Colony and Bastrop has some really high end homes. There are some newer developments like Easton Park, Whisper Valley out of manor, that have some beautiful masterplan communities. But you can still get a really great home for well under a million. And it’s just bringing more options and different styles and price points to the east side. Now East downtown, you can definitely find some really cool modern contemporary design homes built into older neighborhoods, or maybe someone bought and older home, took it down and then build a big, beautiful modern home. There’s really cool restaurants and just an awesome culture for art, music and entertainment on the east side, which a lot of people love.
And whenever we meet with new clients, we always try to figure out three things. Where do you want to live, work and play? Live means the style of home that you’re looking for? Do you want a huge house a small house? What’s your budget? The second is where are you going to work because commute times in Austin can be really extreme. So we want to make sure that if you have to drive into downtown or to the airport or something on a frequent basis that you’re not going to hate having a really long commute. And then the third thing is where do you want to play? What kind of lifestyle do you want? Do you love being on a golf course? Do you like being in the heart of the city with a highly walkable area? Do you like being out in the suburbs? So once we kind of get a feel for what you’re looking for it is so much easier to narrow down some neighborhoods and that’s where the fun begins because you can truly start to discover where you want to find your home and Austin. If you have any question, contact us.
