As far as liking Austin, love it. Moved here from Dallas to go to UT and never left.
I bought a house 2.5 years ago and could help steer you in the right direction area and price wise. Affordable lake homes, that's relative to your level of affordability. Might find a good home in a lake community for under 200K if your lucky. Probably an hour commute to town though. Hard to find a decent house local to Austin for less than 150K. You can do better if you commute. Feel free to ask away, glad to be of any help.