Central Texas, Hill lCountry Towns

[Rustic23]

Maybe you could explain your concern about Hurricanes a little more. For me, it is water/surge damage that is the key. Wind damage not so much. Loss of power, a minor inconvenience and one that a whole house generator will solve. Also, have you considered the other weather related threats i.e. tornadoes. It seems the further you get away from hurricanes in Texas the more you get into tornado country. For me, I'll take a good hurricane wind storm to a tornado. Personally, neither really worry me that much, because we are not in a water surge zone. If you get too far west, it is real dry, but there are also dust storms to contend with. i.e. Lubbock.

 

[Throwdownmyaceinthehole]

New Braunfels of course!! two rivers, Canyon lake for sailing, Gruene, Wurstfest, new Resolute Hospital, the biggest Buccees, equidistance between Austin and San Antonio airports, driving distance to Houston and Galveston for cruises, awfully hot, but not humid, housing in gated community is around 230k for 2200 sq ft, but it is booming

 

[aja8888]

Little town I have stayed at from time to time, about 1/2 between Ft. Worth and Austin. Small town atmosphere, not too far from Waco.

City of Gatesville 

 

[iac1003]

Austin traffic - 4th worst in the country.

Austin medical care - really subpar until they get the medical school up and running, which at full blast will take a few years.

If I were to do it again given your parameters I would choose either Waco or closer to San Antonio.

Oh, and I like New Braunfels but it might be too small for you. I have to go down there monthly on a Friday late afternoon/early evening for a meeting and the trip to SA from NB is about an hour on a rush hour Friday night and about 75 minutes from NB to central Austin (north of downtown).

(NYC native living in central Austin with an MD degree)




Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[Turn_the_Page]

Wow, lots of good feedback. Here's the plan for now:

- keep Kerrville and F-burg on the list. Continue to explore and discuss.

- plan recon trip to Brenham, Smithville, and Bastrop.

- do research on towns west of I-35 and north of F-burg/Kerrville, ie - Marble Falls, Burnet etc.

- talk more about East Texas (Lufkin, Conroe etc.). I'm not thrilled about being without electricity for 2 weeks after a 'cane so Huntsville/Conroe are probably not options. And I'm really not excited about joining the teeming masses for an evacuation.

- Look at grocery budget for Waco (ha, ha).

Gatesville, hmm. Have to look into it. I thought about Temple last night also.

 

[Hamster]

We went through almost exactly the same search a few years back and ended up in Bastrop which we loved. While it has grown a lot, it is still a pretty small town. The growth mainly means you don't have to drive a long way for everything you need.

Biggest benefit is being very close to Austin without actually being in a big city. Fifteen miles to Austin airport and less than twenty to downtown. The traffic in Austin can be horrible, but since we weren't commuting to work it was easy to miss that and Austin always has an amazing variety of things going on.

 

[martyb]

Sounds like a great way to spend time, checking out all those places! If you go to Smithville, you gotta check out the BBQ at Zimmerhanzel's, which I mentioned previously. Keep in mind that they close around 5 pm...yep, seriously! I asked them once about it & they said "we're a family owned business & although we realize we could make more money by staying open, we make enough now to take care of our needs, & value time with family more than more money". I liked that answer! Anyhow, best wishes in your research & travels. Oh, with regards to the weather in east Texas, while I know there has been the occasional hurricane in the Gulf, I never experienced any really bad weather in my 5 years in Lufkin. No doubt when a big storm does track that direction, you'll get some rain & wind, but personally I'd have zero reservations about living there because of that. By the time a storm gets that far inland, I think most of it's teeth are gone. If you lose some roof shingles, that's what insurance is for. Lot's of plusses vs. small possible negatives, IMHO. Happy research!

 

[martyb]

Hamster, when I was living in Bastrop, my job was at Bergstrom AFB, which as you most likely know, is where the Airport is now. At that time, since I lived in Tahitian Village, it was a 26 mile drive for me to work. When I first moved to Austin & drove out to check out Bastrop, there was ONE stop light on Hwy 71. Seriously! That was in the early 80's. Almost no traffic between the base & Bastrop. Sure has changed, huh? lol The only grocery stores were an IGA near Fisherman's Park and a Star Mart on Chestnut St. Lot's & lot's of changes, as you know. There was almost nothing to look at between Austin & Bastrop. Smithville is still very close to the way it was back then, but has added maybe less than a half-dozen new businesses. Anyhow, nice to hear from somebody who also lived in Bastrop! I have a lot of good memories.

 

[eytonxav]

Yeah...but do they Rudolph the Red Nosed Christmas Oil Rig every year at Christmas like Lufkin? I think not!! lol Google it!

Oil rig, I have no idea what you are talking about

Must be a Lufkin thing.

 

[W2R]

I'm in the class of 2016 and recently relocated from the midwest to Houston. I'm a Waco native. Struggling a bit finding the retirement town that we want.

Since you are a Waco native, I'm sure you (and others here) know so much more than I do about Texas towns.

I just know about one - - College Station, where I lived from 1984-1996. I don't think it is what you want, but I'll describe it anyway from my memories of 18 years ago. If it interests you then you can look for more recent input about it.

• Low/moderate humidity The humidity did not seem that high to me but the summer heat was the most brutal I have ever experienced (including here in New Orleans). The weather was terrible.
• No Hurricane worries Hurricane worries were pretty trivial and not a concern IMO. I'd be more worried about tornados, although they aren't excessive either IMO.
• Close to good health care Health care was good with two good hospitals right there in Bryan/CollegeStation, and more in Houston.
• Reasonably close to big city for occasional amenity trips and airport. Houston is maybe an hour and a half or two hours away depending on where in Houston you want to go and how fast you drive.
• Small enough that we'll actually do things without worrying about traffic I wouldn't worry about traffic there except on game days (see below)
• Nice homes close enough or in town so we'll actually do things without the big 'drive to town'. There are nice homes close to College Station; buy just outside of town to avoid the HUGE College Station school taxes. We didn't because we had a school aged child at the time, and she got a wonderful education. The school taxes were staggering (to us), though.
• 55+ community is a nice to have, not a must have I don't know of any 55+ communities but there could be some.

The biggest advantage to College Station is also its biggest disadvantage - - it's a college town. When there are home games you might as well just stay home because the town goes nuts. But wow, members of the community can buy passes to its HUGE library and what a wonderland for book lovers that library is. I could spend years in there happily browsing through all those books. Also there are events on campus, speakers, and so on that can be interesting, and that hardly scratches the surface of the many things going on there. My daughter even saw the Bolshoi Ballet in person there when she was in first grade, for example, and Broadway musicals or other types of first class entertainment sometimes make it there too during the off seasons.

 

[Cobra9777]

We've lived in North Texas for 35 years, and are more-or-less planted here. But DW and I love taking trips to the Hill Country. We've been to almost every town mentioned in this thread. We especially love driving through all the small towns on Highway 16 from Kerrville all the way up to the DFW area. One of our favorites that I didn't see mentioned is the Wimberley/Driftwood area, about 28 miles SW of Austin. Lots of wineries, great restaurants, quirky shops, easy access to Austin or San Antonio, classic Hill Country scenery, not too humid, and reasonable real estate prices. We also love Fredericksburg and Marble Falls.

 

[Turn_the_Page]

Thanks, but no thanks on College Station. I'm a Longhorn alum, I'm afraid I'd die shortly.

 

[MichaelB]

I'm a Longhorn alum

Hook 'em horns.
.
.

 

[heeyy_joe]

Check comfort index, compare cities:

Compare Cities

 

[meierlde]

One other thing to look at after you pick a city is flash flooding risk. Be sure you locate away from streams. The hill country because of its bare limestone rock is the flash flood capital of the US. This might mean a bit further from town in some cases.

 

[sparkee]

My wife and I live in Denton (I teach at UNT) and we like it here. The Courthouse Square downtown continues to get more interesting, better restaurants, etc. On the other hand, construction on I-35E to widen it will go on for a long time and will make the drive to Dallas more and more miserable.

But, we love our neighborhood--lots of mature trees.

I'd still consider it (although we like the Hill Country, too!).

 

[W2R]

Thanks, but no thanks on College Station. I'm a Longhorn alum, I'm afraid I'd die shortly.

Yep, that'd be the end of you! Sorry.

 

[aja8888]

I drove through Bastrop recently on a run to San Angelo. Bastrop looks much better now that most of the new trees are planted and the new homes are up after the place nearly burned to the ground during the drought two years ago. Still a lot of barren land on the southeast side towards Brenham. Maybe those folks haven't rebuilt yet.

 

[eytonxav]

Thanks, but no thanks on College Station. I'm a Longhorn alum, I'm afraid I'd die shortly.

Having your horns cut off might be worth it to be closer to a stronger football team

 

[braumeister]

For someone like me, the key factor is summertime humidity. Can't deal with it.

 

[audreyh1]

I'm going to have to disagree with you. I lived in NW San Antonio for 6 years and the humidity in the Hill Country is miserable. I hated that the clouds (and resultant humidity) would roll in around 10 in night and linger until noon the next day when it was burned off with three digit heat. I'd recommend taking a look at a dewpoint map to get a good idea about humidity. It's pretty brutal all the way up to the Red River. And this opinion from a guy who's from Georgia where humidity is just as bad...

Sent from my mobile device so please excuse grammatical errors.

Just comparing my decades living in Austin to several years spent in Kerrville. There is a significant drop in humidity moving from east to west. It's all relative though.

 

[Rob]

I used to live in San Antonio, and since it was the only place I ever called home, it seemed natural years ago to plan on retiring there. BUT- what turned me away from San Antonio or Texas in general is (1) the three digit heat every summer where you just can't venture outside for any sort of recreation, (2) the bad traffic (at least in San Antonio), and (3) the general lack of courtesy (I remember having car trouble a few years ago on a visit and walking to someone's house for help only to be looked at suspiciously with a gun in his hand- not what I remember from the 1950's).

I opted for the Pacific Northwest.

 

[REWahoo]

...and (3) the general lack of courtesy (I remember having car trouble a few years ago on a visit and walking to someone's house for help only to be looked at suspiciously with a gun in his hand- not what I remember from the 1950's).

The world has changed in many ways since the 1950's, some good some bad. One thing that apparently hasn't changed is the unfortunate quirk of human nature to assume the bad behavior of one individual is representative of all. Sad we're wired that way.

 

[meierlde]

For someone like me, the key factor is summertime humidity. Can't deal with it.

Interestingly you seem to leave the inter mountain west as what is left. Basically if Tx humidity is to high then you can rule out the entire southeast as well. Another alternative is the high plains of Tx such as Lubbock (which has a med school also, Texas Tech) But then you do face dust storms.

 

[braumeister]

Interestingly you seem to leave the inter mountain west as what is left.

Not really. I currently live in a G zone on that map, which is borderline for me, and would be quite content in F or below.