Choosing a Condo

Now that we have decided to move to a condo in downtown Austin, which one should we pick? Austin has experimented with Condos since the 1980s. Condos have been through boom, bust and are currently in another boom period. New condos of all shapes and sizes are being developed to supplement the already extensive inventory. This leaves you with a multitude of choices. Buy, rent, high rise, mid-rise, modern, south side, north side, industrial, luxury, amenities, etc.

So, how did we approach it?

Access to the Trail

Probably the most important thing for us was access to the jewel in the Austin crown, also known as Town Lake Trail. With more than 1.5 million visits a year, the 10-mile hike-and-bike trail is Austin’s most recognized and popular recreational area The Trail Foundation.

Our new condo had to be within a five minute walk of the trail. After all, in my previous post I was just complaining that a 15 minute drive to the trail was too long. BTW, don't let anyone try and convince you that it is a lake, it's not, it's a river.

Time to Street

Living on the 30th floor of a high rise gives you a fabulous view of Austin, stunning sunsets and a great place for a party. It can also gives you a five minute wait for an elevator and a mile to exit the parking lot (7th floor parking at 360 anyone).

For us, we had to be able to get from our front door and on the road in our car in five minutes or less. This meant a mid-rise or a low enough floor where we can walk down the stairs to the parking garage.

Room with a View

One of the reasons for moving downtown for us was to be in the middle of it all. There is no point being in the middle if you can't see anything. I don't necessarily mean skyline views or fabulous sunsets but we did want to be able to see city life. Believe it or not traffic, pedestrians and the odd traffic incident can be quite entertaining. Is that guy going to make a break for it and cross the road in front of the number 38 bus? Will the fire engine get to the scene of the accident before the police? Almost endless possibilities for entertainment. BTW, the fire engine always wins!

This also gave us some cost relief and additional choices as you usually pay a premium for the 'scenic' views.

Amenities

If only they would build a condo that had no amenities. Really, how many times are you going to go for a swim in the 20ft swimming pool, host an art showing on the 56th floor, invite your friends to a movie showing or use the massage room for who knows what? Don't even get me started on the library, mandatory valet parking, the residents wine cellar or the 10th floor dog park!

You are living in a small room in the heart of a vibrant and fascinating city. If you want something to do, walk two blocks!!

There are a few exceptions to by no amenities rule, 24 hour concierge being one. I usually baulk at social interaction but there is something comforting about saying hi to someone as you walk into your building. It gives you a sense of being home, without the commitment to having a conversation. It also allows you to pick up your packages and let the cleaner etc. into your unit and provides an extra sense of security. My other exception is a small but functional gym, coming from the UK 100 degrees and exercise do not work for me so it is nice to get a quick workout without having to go outside and sweat!

Taxes & HOA Fees

The very close companion of un-necessary amenities are high HOA fees. You are paying for every single amenity so make sure you are going to use them. Some condos have HOA fees up to $0.70 / sq. ft. Let me do the math for you, that's $8,400 / year for a 1,000 sq. ft. condo.

I have never heard of a HOA fee going down. When planning for what you can afford, assume it is going to go up every other year.

Another consideration for HOA fees is the size of your unit, you pay by the sq. ft. so you can reduce your monthly cost by selecting the size of unit that you really need.

Taxes also factor, you are paying higher prices per sq. ft than a suburban house so don't expect your taxes to be significantly less. A great choice for reducing taxes is the Brown building, it is a historical building making the taxes ridiculously low.

We wanted somewhere with limited amenities and thus a more reasonable $0.45 /sq. ft HOA fee.

Location

As with any property decision, location, location, location still applies. You are paying a premium for being downtown Austin so if you are a big movie fan don't live in a place where you have to drive thirty minutes to watch a movie.

If you live right in the middle of Congress Avenue you are going to be paying a premium but if you move your search a block south of the river you are still half a mile from Whole Foods, a couple of hundred yards form the trail and the cost of your condo will be a third less (although you will have to suffer the ignominy of living without a building wine cellar or someone parking your car for you).

We definitely wanted to be close to the trail, walking distance to Chuy's (or Chipotle) and a short bike ride to Whole Foods (who can afford to fill the trunk of their car with a grocery shop at Whole Foods). Having somewhere to grab a sandwich or a reasonably healthy meal also helps and of course you have to be within staggering distance of a coffee shop (bet you thought I was going to say bar).

Finally, there is the magic area of downtown served by the purveyors of delivery services. Sometimes the half mile to Whole Foods is just too much and only Instacart or Favor can scratch that itch. If you live outside that area you are forced back to the nightmare of the Westlake HEB on a Sunday afternoon (it still gives me shivers).

The Decision

In the end we decided to rent in a condo building on South Lamar just South of the river which meets (nearly) all of our criteria. Here is our new view:

Our New View

Conclusion

One size most definitely does not fit all. In fact that is part of the genius that is Austin. You have pick up trucks driving side by side with Tesslas, stock brokers living in the same building as hippies and the Austonian in the same zip code as the Brown building.

The point being there is a lot of choice, choose what is important to you and what you can do without and go for it.