Dallas residents Pat and Cindy Fox wanted a rural retreat with easy urban access. They chose to build in Dripping Springs, a small Texas town that calls itself “the Wedding Capital of Texas.” Here they paid $1 million for 100 acres of land and built a $3 million, modern country home on it.
“You can hear the wind and the birds, and see the stars, but in 30 minutes you can have dinner” in Austin, said Mr. Fox, a 58-year-old a real-estate investor who commutes from Dallas and plans to retire on the property.
The Foxes, who built their home in 2010, are among the Texas Hill Country’s latest wave of settlers, affluent buyers from large metro areas seeking getaways in the countryside. Located in central Texas near Austin and San Antonio, the Hill Country covers about 17 counties across 11 million acres of terrain noted for gnarly live oaks, spring-fed streams and rocky hills.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/in-texas-hill-country-a-land-rush-for-the-rich-1465396904
The subtitle for this article is "A new wave of settlers has arrived in remote central Texas: affluent buyers seeking luxury getaways on hundreds of acres."
I certainly don't consider Dripping Springs "remote." It's city from the western edge of town until you in to Austin proper. I suppose for WSJ types Central Park is "remote" once you get where the actual grass is.
I tried to "like" that area. I took a 28 state tour of the USA last summer, after "eject, eject, eject'ing" from Kalifornia, after living 55 of my 60 years in that wretched, freedom hating state. I avoided the Northeast like a heart attack, and most of the mid-west, because why give up California only to land in Cleveland, Detroit, or anywhere in Massachusetts and Maryland? I liked east Texas, wanted to like Waco (blechhh... to slumy), went to Austin only because my married daughter sharing the trip wanted to see it, and then checked out the famous Texas parking lot...er.. Hill Country. Roads were worse than Caly. Prices, nearly as bad. Ended up returning to Idaho, where we started our trip (well, I didn't count Oregon or Washington state; just more "East Bloc" commie countries to avoid).
What killed it for me in Texas was the 3.2% and higher property tax rates on $400K, 1600 sq foot single family homes. The taxes alone would have been higher than a California mortgage, and there's no chance of ever retiring a property tax "mortgage". I don't hate Texas, but I won't live there under local tax tyranny.
Happy in North Idaho. Wish I'd moved here 30 years ago, because the same thing is happening here as in Texas. California's are moving here by the droves - there really is no other reason for the growth here. There's no real economic boom, e.g. new core businesses, etc., just more Caly money fleeing Kalifornia, and landing in one of the most beautify places on earty. I've been trying to finish a home, and I can't hire a sub-contractor. Even when they commit, a week later, they push the schedule out another 30 days. It's understandable, if you're a sub-c, and the GC's who have kept you in business for 15+ years are begging for your help. They'd rather piss off the homeowner acting as his own GC, than the half dozen GC's he depends on for a livelihood year in and year out.
I'm thrilled that folks are doing well up here, but it sucks when you're trying to build a house. I'm taking on more and more of the project on personally, which wasn't the original plan, and talking to sub-contractors I know from out of state. I need to get this thing built and then move further North, or maybe to Montana. Too many California's here for my tastes.
Anyhow, wish ya all luck in Texas. My suggestion: Build barricades and keep the Californian and Colorado liberals out. Plus, the Northeastern progressives; just shoot them at the gates. Don't bother reasoning with them at all. Florida? Better screen 'em for zombie disease.
