btampico's Profile

Austin housing prices vary widely. At the highest end -- Pemberton Heights, Old Enfield, Clarksville, Judge's Hill -- you're looking at $450-$500/sq ft minimum, unless it's a teardown or on a tiny lot or outright hideous. Cool areas in Central and South-Central Austin -- Travis Heights, Bouldin Creek, Zilker, Brykerwoods, Rosedale, Hyde Park -- are roughly $250-$350/sq ft, with exceptions like the grand 19th-century Victorian mansions in parts of Hyde Park and Travis Heights. (This being Texas, 19th-century housing is considered ancient. Hell, anything pre-1950 is "old.")

It's virtually impossible to find any decent-sized, renovated house under $300,000 unless you're willing to live north of 2222, south of Ben White, or east of I-35. South Austin (the 78704 part) outside of Travis Heights used to be affordable -- I bought a 2BR bungalow there in 1997 for $125K -- but it's since been "discovered," and prices are now comparable to those north of Lady Bird Lake. My old $125K bungalow was on the market for $300K two years ago and sold almost immediately, never mind that it had an unrenovated kitchen -- '50s black-and-yellow tile still in place -- without a dishwasher and no dining room (just an eat-in nook in the kitchen with room for a table for no more than two).

Rents run the gamut as well. There are bargains to be had in places like the Congress Square apartments someone mentioned earlier -- the Bouldin and Clarksville areas have a number of funky, cool, mid-century apartments -- but you won't find anything under four figures a month in downtown proper, and anything within walking distance of UT will be outrageously priced (even in the mid-'90s I was paying $600/month for a West Campus 1BR that was a complete dump; it's probably double that today).

I'd say the best bargains to be had are in "Far" South Austin (which is basically three minutes away from "cool" South Austin). A friend of mine just bought a '60s-era 3BR house in the neighborhood near S. Congress and St. Elmo for just under $200K. East Austin is a crapshoot; some areas close to downtown are rapidly escalating in price as they get gentrified, but others are still superscary, don't-venture-out-at-night types of places.