I've been in and around Austin for for well over 20 years (excluding a couple years in Seattle, which was't my best move.) I'll offer you some good insight from an actual resident.
I lived in Manor for a time and drove through Hornsby Bend every day. Honrsby is close to the gigafactory, but not a great area. The houses there used to be cheap, and now they're expensive cheap houses. Manor houses south of 290 are too expensive for what you get (I bought one in 2009 for just over 100K, now it's worth 300), and even more unreasonable on the golf course side. It gets better to the east. Elgin might not be too bad, and it gets even more rural the further you go. There are some nice small towns out there. Trafficwise in that area, 71 sucks going west the closer you get to the airport. It's probably way worse with Tesla now. You could find an alternative by driving north of the gigafactory and then east..
We live in Buda now, which is just south of Austin. Many former Austinites have fled down here. Kyle is just south and pretty nice too. Unfortunately, Buda prices are inflated now, but nowhere near Austin level. There is actually still some good open space down here, and the schools are better than Austin. I can get to downtown Austin in 20 minutes or so most parts of the day, so it's a good alternative.
So, what about Austin? First came the condo towers and then the influx of all the tech companies. With the tech companies came well compensated employees from out of state paying ridiculous over asking prices for houses, and now the price of real estate is beyond stupid. Nobody I know can afford to live in Austin proper anymore.
Austin is a progressive city, and it has it's progressive city problems. The homeless population, almost a total lack of a police force, big money spent on public transportation projects that may or may not ever happen... The traffic is ridiculous and forget about public transportation. Austin used to have a cool vibe and was arguably the live music center of the universe; a cool place to spend much of my 20's. That cool vibe is mostly gone now. You wouldn't catch me anywhere near 6th Street on a weekend night. it's violent and not a good scene anymore. I miss the old Austin.
Is Austin a "chit hole?" No. People who've never lived here apparently think so. It's just another big generic city now.
What's good about living here? Tech- you can make a lot of money with no state income tax. Good BBQ and overall food scene. Texans are generally friendly, agreeable people. Lots of sunshine here most of the year. The Midwest winter can be long and grey.
The big thing for me is the heat. It's HOT. I mean like surface of the sun hot. And it's not a "dry heat," it's humid now, and I swear it gets worse every year. Mowing your lawn for two hours in August could kill you. You're not doing much outside for months. I've always said anyone thinking about coming here should have to visit for a week in August. My wife and I will move out of here the second my kid graduates from high school just because of the heat.
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So, come down here, rent a house south of the city for a few years, make a bunch of money and take it back to a more comfortable place.