Can anyone here tell me about New Braunfels

[Susan Calvin]

I'm poking around looking for some place to retire to. My first choice was Southern California, but I recently found out my Quaker parakeet is illegal there. It seems kind of nice that New Braunfels is within reasonable driving distance of San Antonio and Austin and Fredericksburg, but aren't there some conservative racist nutcases there as well? I'm currently in the Houston area, and about the only things I like about it is its diversity and the fact that it's Democratic. Aside from that I want out of Houston.

[marble falls]

1. There's political assholes everywhere in Texas. New Braunfels no doubt has it's share ...

... but its nice enough.

[unblock]

2. nice, quaint place. german heritage. schlitterbahn water park.

seems nice. haven't been there in a couple decades but it seemed like a nice quiet place when i was there.

not too far from bigger places, as you mentioned.


as for conservative racist nutcases, well, it is texas, so you're never too far from those types. but mostly they keep to themselves. central texas isn't too bad in that department, though.

[Chipper Chat]

3. I almost took a teaching job there in the 80s.

I loved the town especially the river and the area around Greene. I'm sure it has changed a lot since then with San Antonio creeping closer. It's German in heritage so good food is obvious.

[tanyev]

4. New Braunfels was an organizing point for the Trump Train that attacked

the Biden campaign bus on I-35, but I don’t know where you can go to completely avoid RW aholes. I lived in San Antonio for a few years and New Braunfels was a nice place for an occasional day trip.

President cheers, FBI investigating after Trump supporters surround Biden campaign bus through New Braunfels
http://herald-zeitung.com/community_alert/article_086fc4be-1d3c-11eb-8da2-1743ad496970.html

[LizBeth]

5. It is a fun area wrapped round hills. When I had dinner there and drove thru, I thought I could live

there. More liberal than west Texas for sure but still Texas.

OK, I am wrong. I checked out their 2020 vote. Comes in moderately conservative. 22.9% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 72.6% voted for the Republican Party

[LizBeth]

6. San Marcos is a fun place and more liberal, probably lower cost of home than Austin and

half an hour away.

I always thought Denton cool and not far from Dallas and more liberal.

[LizBeth]

7. I always liked Los Cruces NM, the way they put the town together. Taos and Santa Fe.

[catrose]

11. I wondered if San Marcos would be better, with the college there.

NB is lovely but it’s hard to find blue outside of the urban areas.

[LizBeth]

14. Biden: 54 Trump: 44. So still in Texas not too big, pretty and voted blue. Lol.

That is a hard find.

[abqtommy]

8. I've lived in California, Arizona and other places. I've lived here in Albuquerque,

New Mexico for the last 16 years and really like it. Check us out.

[LizBeth]

9. I like the NW area of Albq but can spell the city name for anything, lol. I do like Albq.

I moved to the NW 4 years ago and utopia and still I miss the SW.

[abqtommy]

13. We researched New Mexico and Albuquerque for 6 months before we moved here in

2005. We first lived in the NE but moved to the SE to be closer to work. Now I'm retired but still here in the SE. It's home. I've lived here in this apartment for longer than I've lived
anywhere in my life. That means I really like New Mexico and The Q!

[Jirel]

10. I'd look closer to Austin, or in the Hill Country (Fredericksburg, etc.) area.

Keep in mind that some of the worst Trump-humpers who organized the bus attack come from the area. Also from a practical standpoint, being in the middle of a town where you have Schlitterbahn and other tourist attractions including tubing, puts you in a very high-traffic, high-DRUNK area to live about 1/2 of the year. East of San Antonio in general is not a great place to live for weather or traffic, either.

West of SA, you have the true Hill Country. It’s usually 5-10 degrees cooler than SA due to elevation, plus it feels mountainy in places. Boerne, the first exurb to the west, is full of crazies too, so that’s no good. But 30 minutes out of town you have tiny Comfort, which has fairly little to offer itself, but is wonderfully situated to go anywhere. North of there is Fredericksburg, which is great - wine country, shopping, tourists, festivals, exhibitions, great food, EXCELLENT medical care, and more. It’s also closer to Austin. Kerrville a bit farther west, but it’s a college town with easy access to medical care in Fredericksburg- do NOT go to docs in K-town itself, or their awful hospital! But otherwise, lovely town, lovely river, and all the amenities.


Are there crappy Trump-humpers in this area? Yes, but not quite as bad. This area of Texas was populated by the German intellectuals and professionals in the freethinker movement. So while we have Trump Trash everywhere in TX, there are also good, sane people in the area.

[Susan Calvin]

12. I already know I can't afford Fredericksburg. nt

[Jirel]

18. Dripping Springs or Marble Falls/Burnet area?

More affordable than Fredericksburg, but very pretty and on Hwy 281 for easy access to Austin or San Antonio.

[Sucha NastyWoman]

19. Real estate prices are soaring anywhere in the hill country/Austin. New Braunfels included.

Multiple contracts are the norm for anything nice.

For some reason San Antonio has much better pricing. Peole want to move out of big cities, Austin excepted.

[Jirel]

21. Yes and no.

Yes, the market is trending toward overpriced all over. Regardless, a good friend just sold her home for a non-outrageous amount, in Kerrville. But was it snapped up in about a week? Yes. Speed is definitely important in buying, right now.

[katusha]

15. maybe try wimberley too

really anywhere in the Austin-San Antonio-Fredercksburg triangle is great retirement country.

[flying_wahini]

32. Wimberly is even more Trumpish than New B.

Less students but kind of remote.
Everyplace down there is judged by how long will it take to get into Austin.
If you Do consider anything down there do NOT live anywhere close to water or flood zones.
The Pedernales river is especially dangerous.
They have LOTS of flash floods down there.

I lived in Austin for several years, Houston a decade plus and now live in Fort Worth.
It’s home for me and I live it. Hot as hell here tho.

[Paladin]

34. Wimberley is just New Braunfels with more pretense. Higher realty prices, as well. (nt)

[XanaDUer2]

16. Thanks for asking this

I'm thinking of retiring to So Cal. Mobile home park. Someplace relatively affordable, like Riverside County. Also thought about New Braunfels. Love to hear input

[Susan Calvin]

25. I thought about a mobile home park in Southern

Before I found out I can't do California at all on account of my bird. The lot rent worries me, as something I have no control over whether it goes up. And when I saw $800 lot rent described as reasonable, that really lost me.

[XanaDUer2]

26. Yes, it seems affordable until the lot rent

nt

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

17. I will make another vote for New Mexico.

The northern part of the state is generally liberal and Democratic. Overall the state is liberal and Democratic. I'm in Santa Fe. I moved here in 2008 from Kansas after a divorce. Best thing I could possibly have done for myself. People in New Mexico think Santa Fe is totally unaffordable. It's not. I live in a 2 bedroom, 2 bath, 3 skylight little town house - attached on both sides, no HOA and I have a million dollar view of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains across my back yard.

Do check out New Mexico. There are enough cities and locations that you ought to be able to find one that suits you.

Even if New Braunfels or any other specific location seems good, it's still Texas. I know, I shouldn't be smearing an entire state, but the claim that it's rapidly going purple seems overblown. It still went for Trump last year. Plus, that state is going to have stupid mismanagement fiascos like the recent loss of power and water going into the future. Unless you move to El Paso, which is right up against New Mexico and is on a different grid.

Do look very carefully at whatever places you are seriously considering, and definitely spend time before you make a final commitment.

[Paladin]

20. New Braunfels is great.

Check out the developments west of town for a solid taste of the Hill Country. And don't let the right-wingers get you down; there are as many of them in Fredericksburg as there are in New Braunfels.

[Shell_Seas]

22. The Texas Trump Train is headquartered in New Braunfels

[bobandrileysmom]

23. El Paso here.

The eastern part of El Paso is extremely affordable. Here in Horizon City, you can get a 3B2B for under 165K. Democratic city for the most part. Good schools, good hospitals. Doctors can be hit or miss, but I didn’t mind doctor shopping when I moved here from NoVA. All over Texas the property taxes are high, but for what you get in terms of housing, worth it. Flying points west is easy, points east, not so much. Excellent roads, fabulous downtown farmer’s market, people and businesses are keeping to the mask, social distancing despite our crazy ass governor. Oh! And on the up side, you can sometimes get a glimpse of Beto when he’s not off doing good in the rest of Texas!

[Susan Calvin]

28. Yeah I was seriously thinking about that.

It looks like they have a lot of live music, is that right? What I basically want is some place that looks decent, and decent house I can afford, theater, restaurants, and live music.

[Susan Calvin]

29. And I wouldn't mind a place where I could substitute teach for a little extra money.

Or maybe some place they want a computer science teacher. Although since we became CTE, I don't know about that. We should never have been CTE.

[Susan Calvin]

27. Thanks for the replies everybody

New Braunfels proper was pretty ugly. Maybe the outskirts are better. I saw the Old Town, it was also pretty ugly, and mobbed at 75 degrees in March. I would hate to think what it would be like in the summer. Hard to believe but the old and new neighborhoods are both uglier than the ones in Houston. Particularly the new. Uglier houses on smaller lots, not a winning combination. Of course I'd go back to Southern California in a heartbeat if I could afford it. The only reason I'm considering leaving Houston is hurricanes and flooding. It's the best place available in Texas otherwise. At least they try to make things look decent. The things I saw near New Braunfels, they just plop buildings down. At least in Houston they plop buildings down and try to put plants around them to make them look better.

[LeftInTX]

30. How about Katy?

Houston without the hurricanes

[Susan Calvin]

31. They didn't have any flooding in Katy during Harvey?nt

[flying_wahini]

33. Katy is awful. Don't move there.

Crowded, expensive burbs. Traffic is a nightmare.
Flood plain too.
I lived in The Woodlands and it is MUCH nicer there.

[Susan Calvin]

35. It's very pretty up there in the Piney Woods.

But I hear the Woodlands is almost exclusively Republican, and a lot of those the really crazy kind.