6 Reasons NOT to Move to Georgetown

So you’re thinking about moving to Georgetown, Texas. Before you start packing, you should hear me out. Don’t get me wrong, I love Georgetown. It’s a great place. It’s a cool suburb just outside of Austin, but it may not be the best fit for everyone. In this blog post, we will discuss six reasons you may not want to move to Georgetown, Texas.

The Traffic can be Unbearable

Before moving to Georgetown consider the traffic. Georgetown is outside of Austin, but it still has Austin traffic, and driving in Georgetown is a nightmare. Rush hour can last for hours, just like rush hour anywhere, and you’re going to be in your car for long periods, which is typical for every rush hour, but it’s scorching here. So, sitting in your car when it’s that hot during rush hour adds an extra layer of agitation, and it’s not that fun.

I’m specifically talking about traffic on I35, the main thoroughfare in Georgetown from Georgetown down to Round Rock and Austin. Any time of the day you’re on I35, it isn’t enjoyable. It’s awful during rush hour, which we all know will be anywhere from 8:00 AM to 9:30 AM, and in the afternoon, anywhere from four to 6:00 PM unless it’s a Friday, and traffic usually starts at 3:00 PM.

Traffic is usually much better in the summertime because we don’t have parents dropping kids off and the buses and all those things, but it can still be a nightmare. What drives me crazy about traffic in Georgetown is that it’s crazy even when it’s not rush hour. So you’ll be on I-35 driving up north or down south to and from Georgetown, and traffic is still insane. I need help understanding what’s going on. There is a lot of construction going on in and around Round Rock in Georgetown, which clogs everything up. But every time I drive to Georgetown, I look at my clock, and I’m like, oh my gosh, it’s 1:00 PM on a Wednesday. Why are we having traffic jams? Why is there crazy traffic?

If you are not coming from a high-traffic area and you’re coming from more of the Midwest or more of a suburban area, traffic in Georgetown is something that you will have to get used to. If you’re coming from some of the other major cities that many people are moving to Georgetown (or Austin) are from, like San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and Seattle, traffic will not be as bad as those areas. You’ll come to Austin and be like, that’s it. This is all you guys got. It’s nothing.

The traffic here will be relative to what you’re used to, but in general, even though it’s a suburb of Austin, expect traffic to be challenging, and it’ll take 10 minutes to get everywhere. It can be difficult sometimes.

The High Cost of Living in Georgetown

Another consideration when you’re thinking about moving to Georgetown is the cost of living can be high here. So, the cost of living is higher than the national average, primarily due to the housing cost. Everything else is either at or below the national average. So, if you’re coming here from San Francisco, from LA, or from New York, the cost of living in Georgetown will be significantly lower than what you’re used to, hands down.

However, if you’re coming to Georgetown from anywhere else in the US, Georgetown may be more expensive than what you’re used to. Primarily, again, when it comes to housing – everything else like milk, bread, eggs, all of that stuff is relatively consistent with the national average. It’s really the housing that is going to surprise you. So if you’re coming from Lexington, Kentucky or Mobile, Alabama, or any place like that, expect an overall higher cost of living because the housing will just be more expensive. Housing, insurance, taxes, everything related to housing, it’s going to be more expensive.

So, for all of my clients that I work with, we have a Zoom call to make sure that Austin is a place that they want to live. It fits their lifestyle; it fits their budget. There are jobs here. All of those things, and this is one of the things that I talk about, is I want to make sure people have an excellent understanding of what the real estate market looks like in Austin today, whatever day that we’re speaking, because the market is changing here all the time. So, for people moving to Georgetown from New York and California, I tell ’em how low prices are, and they’re really excited. For people who are moving to Georgetown from anywhere else, I will talk about the actual costs that they can expect.

If we’re looking for a four-bedroom, 2,500-square-foot house in a certain area, we will talk about specific prices and share with them what is happening in the market today so they have clear expectations of what it will be like moving forward. I don’t want anyone to move down here under false pretenses or think, oh my gosh, it’s like the wild, wild west, and they’re just giving land away for free. Yes, if you’re coming from California. No, if you’re coming from pretty much anywhere else. Austin is still relatively expensive for the rest of the country.

Georgetown is Hot and Humid

The third thing that you want to be aware of when you’re thinking about moving to Georgetown is the weather. So, it’s no secret that Georgetown gets pretty hot and humid during the summer months, and if you’re not a fan of the heat and sweating all day, there may be a better place for you. So the weather in Georgetown, Texas, is generally warmer and more humid than Los Angeles and San Francisco, than New York or Seattle.

So, the average high temperature for Georgetown in the summer months is 90 to 95 degrees, and the average low temperature during the winter months is around 40 to 45 degrees. Compared to Los Angeles, which has an average high of 75 to 85, Austin is much hotter. And when I say Austin, I also mean Georgetown.

Right now, as I’m filming this, the earth is experiencing some of the hottest temperatures in recorded history, and Austin and Georgetown are no exception. In July, Austin broke yet another heat record. Austin hid temperatures of a hundred or higher every day from July 10th to July 20th. This is an 11-day streak, and this breaks a 100-year-old record that was set in August of 1923. The streak was broken on July 21st when temperatures only reached 104.

If you’re not used to the heat or you don’t like being in heat, you’re going to have a hard time living in Georgetown and really enjoying your life during the summer months. Summer here runs from June to September. Our first hundred-degree day this year was in June, and it’s going to be a hundred until we get to mid to late September. That’s four months. If you don’t like the heat and you don’t like sweating, that’s a good chunk of the year that you may be miserable.

This is something to make sure that you’re aware of. I really make sure that I talk about the heat and lifestyle. When I talk to people on my Zoom calls, I encourage them to come out here and visit in July or in the summer so they can really experience what it’s like to live here and to live in the heat. Also, Georgetown experiences higher humidity levels than other cities that people may be moving from, like San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, and places like that. The humidity makes the heat feel more intense. Before moving to Georgetown, make sure this is something you’re amenable to.

You Have to Deal with Bugs

The fourth reason you may want to think twice about moving to Georgetown, Texas, is the bugs. So with the heat and the humidity come many bugs, from mosquitoes to cockroaches. You will want to invest in getting your house sprayed if you decide to move to Texas. So I get my house sprayed inside and out every quarter. So do most of the people who live in Austin and in the Austin area. Moreso, with the record heat that we just talked about, bugs are looking to escape from that as well. So you’ll have more bugs trying to get into your house when it is 105 degrees outside. And not just when it’s hot but also when it’s pouring.

Pretty much anytime you don’t want to be outside, bugs don’t want to be outside either, and they’re going to try and come into your home. They can handle the heat for a day, they can handle rain for a day, but when we’ve had 11 days of it being 105 or over, they cannot deal with that. So they’re going to try and find any nook and cranny that they can to get into your house.

So if you cannot deal with bugs, Texas may not be the best place for you. I’m not saying that your house will be invested in crawling with bugs, but it is something to be aware of. Like you will have bugs, you’ll find a cockroach here and there. Just get your house sprayed inside and out. It doesn’t matter which company you use; everyone does the same thing, but it’s just another service that you’re going to want to plan on and add so that you don’t have bugs all over your house.

In general, the cities that we’ve been talking about like Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Seattle, are going to have fewer bugs, fewer mosquitoes, and fewer cockroaches because they have lower temperatures and lower humidity, conditions which are less conducive to the breeding and survival of these pests.

We have high heat and high humidity, which is more conducive to the breeding and survival of animals and pests. Therefore, that is who we’ve got. But those other cities have higher instances of insects like ants, spiders, and termites. You really can’t escape it. There are bugs wherever you go. You may not be seeing them where you’re at right now, but they’re there. You’re just going to see more mosquitoes and more cockroaches in Georgetown and the Austin area.

Georgetown Politics

The fifth reason you should think twice about moving to Georgetown is politics. And I say this as a joke because Georgetown is really relatively evenly split when it comes to Republican or Democrat. It has a reputation for being fairly conservative, and it is true that the further away you get from Austin, the more conservative your town will be.

But what I think is really interesting is that for the 2020 presidential election, Williamson County, where Georgetown is, and many other cities, their votes were split pretty much down the middle between Republican and Democrat. And in fact, it actually tipped the scales in favor of Democrats. So, Democrats won by 1.41 percentage points over Republicans in the 2020 presidential election for Williamson County, where Georgetown is located. And these results include other cities like parts of North Austin, Round Rock, Cedar Park, and Georgetown.

So basically, what I’m trying to say is you won’t live in an echo chamber in Georgetown no matter what side you land on because it’s split 50-50 Republican or Democrat. It’s something to be aware of if you’re trying to live in a city where everyone thinks the same as you. Georgetown is not the place for that.

The Distance Between Georgetown and Austin

The sixth reason you should think twice about moving to Georgetown is its distance from Austin. If you’re moving to Austin to be close to Austin, Georgetown is probably not going to do it for you. It’s out there. It will take 35, maybe 40 minutes, to get from Georgetown to Austin. That may not sound like an extended period, mainly if you are used to an hour-and-a-half commute or being in the car for 45 minutes just to go to the grocery store. I totally understand that. But if you’re moving to Georgetown for a better life, maybe you don’t want to sit in traffic for an hour and a half one way.

So if I plan on going to Austin regularly, I could not live in Georgetown right now. I live about 20-25 minutes from downtown Austin, which is excellent. I would love to be closer, but any further away, and it would not suit me. I like to go down there and eat and have drinks and do all the fun stuff that’s going on in the city. I moved to Austin to be in Austin.

But if you’re moving to Georgetown and plan on going to the city infrequently, cool, then it’s okay. If you’re moving to Austin, though, to be part of the Austin culture and the Austin vibe and do all the fun Austin stuff, living in Georgetown may hinder you from doing the things that you want just because the drive can be a hassle.

We talked about traffic being one of the issues of living in Georgetown. It’s not just the time of driving down there. It’s the frustration of sitting in traffic. So you may think, oh, we’re going to go down to dinner. Oh, we’re going to go see a show, or we’re going to go to one of the museums down there, and you get home from work at 4 35, and you’re like, oh my gosh, I was sitting in traffic to get home, and now I’m going to sit in traffic to get down to Georgetown. I don’t know if I really want to go. That’s going to start happening more and more. You’ll then realize that you live in any other suburb. You don’t even go to Austin, so why did you move here? Travel time is a major consideration when moving to Georgetown. Make sure you’ve given it a lot of thought.

When you are driving to Georgetown right now, it’s a mix between neighborhoods and farmland. So I had some clients come in one time and they were coming to check out the new construction areas. They were from California. They flew into Austin, and the Austin airport is really close to downtown, so you kind of drive through downtown.

They drove through Cedar Park, they’re going north and north, and then they start driving past cow pastures and farms, and we finally get to the new construction area, and they were like, where are we? This is so far out. I don’t even feel like I’m in Austin anymore. We drove past farms. I’m like, I know that’s what’s happening. And Georgetown is pretty far out there. You are going to pass some cows. You will pass some farm fields on your way to your house in Georgetown, especially if you’re looking for some of the new construction areas. They’re out there.

So it’s something essential to keep in mind if you’re moving to Austin to be in Austin Georgetown may not be the best spot for you. Georgetown is a really cool town. There’s lots of fun stuff to do there, but it is not the best fit for everyone.

I just want to make sure that everyone is aware of what Georgetown is and what it isn’t. And these are some of the factors that I talk about when I get on Zoom calls with people that are moving out to Austin. So why are you actually moving here? What do you want to do? What kind of lifestyle do you want to live? What are you looking for in your home? And is Georgetown the right fit for you? Or is there somewhere else that we should be looking?

If you’re thinking about moving to Austin, please get in touch with me. I will get you squared away when you’re moving to Austin.