Old houses, walkable, central, but with GREAT schools (moving)
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Because I don't want to uproot my children anymore, this is why. Again, less than ideal situation. I know what these moves do to them, that's why. They become more introverted and cautious of becoming attached and making friends, because they know those attachments will end soon. To be honest, I hope my husband gets a job somewhere else. Austin's real estate is ridiculously inflated. Yes, I know it's a hip city with lots of psuedo-hippy yuppies driving up the prices, but still, it's very surprising. I live south of Seattle right now and the prices in Austin are on par with the prices here. I didn't expect that. We're trying to get away from this kind of market. Anyway...
I moved here from Seattle a year and a half ago and prices are NOT similar. If you want to live in a nice house centrally located you will pay 500-600K here the same would cost you about 750-800 K in Seattle. We sold a DUMP in Seattle for 400K and live in a much nicer house here that cost us 75K less. When we were up there we were in Wedgwood about 8 miles north of downtown. Here we are about 10 miles southwest of downtown.
I don't want to transfer because that creates a complicated situation with transportation. I have an autistic 13 year old who is now too old for a day care center but will never be able to stay home by herself. So...I would have to leave my workplace everyday to get her (not to mention show up late in the morning also). That just isn't very practical. My ideal situation would be to live close to the school she, they, attend and have them ride the bus home to a friend or neighbor who would accept payment for watching her for an hour or two after school. Or, if she and my youngest go to school together they could ride home together and she could watch her. Anyway...that's long-winded...but that's why.
Do you mean your 11 year old, not your youngest? Trying to figure out how that would work otherwise! ha
Crestview is very cute -- I'm considering moving there myself. Allandale is my first choice but it's hard to find anything decent under or around $300K. You'll see lots of people out jogging, biking and walking their dogs. It has a friendly vibe to it. I have heard there is some random crime. A friend's car got broken into and they spray painted it too. Not sure how common that kind of thing is but I always assume that living intown means a little crime.
Barton Hills is a neighborhood just south of the river that has good schools. I'd look there too. Good luck!
I moved here from Seattle a year and a half ago and prices are NOT similar. If you want to live in a nice house centrally located you will pay 500-600K here the same would cost you about 750-800 K in Seattle. We sold a DUMP in Seattle for 400K and live in a much nicer house here that cost us 75K less. When we were up there we were in Wedgwood about 8 miles north of downtown. Here we are about 10 miles southwest of downtown.
Yes, I guess it's not fair to compare the Seattle suburbs to the Austin downtown living I want. I live in a suburb. I really had to lower my standards when we moved here (we live in a nice new home, I really shouldn't complain I suppose, but I really love older homes, which are always so expensive). You're right, central Seattle is much higher. But, I think the 'burbs are high too. I really want to have a more reasonably priced and sized home (this 3400 square foot monstrosity is not what I consider charming). I would rather have a smaller home with a little character. I love the craftsmanship in old homes. I was hoping moving back south might put me in a more reasonable market. It is slightly, but it's still out of my price range by a long shot. That was disappointing.
Yes, I defintely mean my 11 year old could watch her. She is a very mature girl and has grown up helping with an autistic child. She would be able to do this in a couple of years. But, in this transition time, I have kind of a complicated situation as far as transportation and after-school care goes.
Yes, I defintely mean my 11 year old could watch her. She is a very mature girl and has grown up helping with an autistic child. She would be able to do this in a couple of years. But, in this transition time, I have kind of a complicated situation as far as transportation and after-school care goes.
Thanks for the link
That's a real need for many parents. Good luck. I hope things fall into place for you.
There's a beta version of a new and improved walkscore available. It takes specific routes into account instead of as-the-crow-flies which means physical barriers like lakes will lower scores for some locations. Also it shows the weighting of categories so you can ID what is important to you:
Yeah what is your Budget?
all the areas that i consider to be really great in Central Texas. are all outside of the rather small city limits of Austin Texas. but you said (Central) so i assume you mean Central Austin Texas, in the Austin City Limits. So you probably are looking at the Downtown Area- which is very expensive! and very crowded with traffic at all hours except Nighttime, but hell even at night it can be rather busy! its downtown after all!
the 78704 zipcode, has a lot of neat Homes and Great neighborhoods. and a lot of them are not to expensive, but it also depends on your budget. as 95% of the great places i can think of are not in austin immediate central area. and the ones that are are very expensive.
you can move to a Area like Rosedale!
or Clarksville
or Tarrytown- though Its expensive a 4500 square foot home that is 2 story with a 3 car garage can easily cost you 700k-1.1 million. prices do not range to much i dont think!
Balcones is really nice- but its not Central Central, the elementary schools in Tarrytown or Baclones are great. But the High Schools Suck! overall id honestly say Any public schools In Austin Suck completley! unless you are not used to actually learning and good levels of education. i say this because know that i have seen how some kids learn in some other schools, some private schools, and know that i have travelled a little bit. i have Seen how hard school is in Some Countries, like Sweden, or Germany! they dont really have multiple choice, and school is not a joke like it is in the UK or USA!!
I believe not to long ago Texas Ranked like 48th for the worst education in the country!
all in all-
you finding your perfect area- will depend upon your budget! and as far as anywere in the downtown or central area goes. you can find a lot of nice homes and unqiue areas, but a lot of those areas are not so family freindily as the suburban areas are like meridan or Circle C are, or parts of westlake. those areas are booming with families and their schools are way better. hell bowie is actually pretty good for a public school. and westlake- is on another level! of course to go to westlake you must live in the exculsive but rather large Eanes area. and its not to cheap to live there.
But of course you want Downtown close, and Old homes, and Public Schools!
i would say Tarrytown, And Clarksville and Bryker woods are you closet bets!
Travis heights is another great area with older Homes, many are unique and its right off congress and downtown basically. only problem is the Middle School is fulmer which sucks! and it feeds to William b Travis high school. not to be confused with Lake Travis high school which is a 4a school far outside of Austin near the lake. William b Traivs, sucks! all around! so if you lived in that neighborhood you may want to send your kids to some other school like a private school.
Clarksville and Tarrytown- feed to Austin High, and Ohenry elementary, north part or most of tarrytown feeds to Casis elementary which is great. hell its an elementary school in a good part of town, what can go wrong?
but O-henry isnt that great of a school. and Austin High is a lot of fun, but lets just say the school when i went there a few years back is a joke! and the academics and how a lot of teachers were was simply a joke. its nothing compared to schools in germany! or others parts of the USA, and it left me rather unchalenged. know while i messed around and had fun, i must say from an education standpoint, its not the best school at all for education! let alone a lot of the people there are more into partying and fun and drugs than some kids from other schools. Although Austin High is without a doubt probally the 2nd best school in the AISD area for Public High Schools.
id say Bowie, Austin High, Anderson, mccalum for education and SAT scores. oh LBJ is a crappy school. but has LASA which has some of the smartest kids around! kids there build like robots and stuff in there freetime. of course i belive thats the magnet program and exisist, simply because if it did not exsist i would imagine that LBJ as a whole would not be able to Meet the standard or required Testing scores and thus would be closed down. just like Johnston High School was! so they had to rename Jonhson and than opend it up as Eastside Memorial.
But overall id say your best Bet is Tarrytown/Clarksville/pemberton/bryker woods area.
Austin High is 1 of the better high schools in Austin. but at that its not saying much in my opinion as i feel Public Education as a whole in the state is vastly lacking. and i feel as a NATION we need to improve!
I just want to point out that live in Bee Cave and while I'd love to live Central I wouldn't necessarily equate the 'burbs with Plano-- having grown up in that area. Yeah, nice cars and stuff but no one really cares like Plano. You don't have to be "dressed" to run errands and I don't feel like it is so much about keeping up with the Jones here... more like 'yeah, i like nice stuff, so what, never noticed what anyone else drives' kind of deal. I don't think you should rule out the burbs if the schools (especially programs for your daughter) and amenities are right.
I searched for all those things with a budget of 350k max and found nothing. You need 500k and up...
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