Cat Mountain..... (Austin, Round Rock, Cedar Park: real estate, apartment, rentals)

[justanothercalifornian]

I've only seen google images of this area but it looks like a fabulous place to live. It also looks like only well-off people live there. Is this true and also if this is true are all hill area homes (rentals also) going to be out of our league? We are looking to rent from $700-1000 and when we buy it will need to be under $200k. I'm sure I'm dreaming.

[AustinTraveler]

I'm afraid Cat Mountain will be out of your price range. It is a really nice area but the homes probably start around $350K and rentals would be much more than your budget. One reason rentals are expensive is because of property taxes. Make sure you figure those into your house-buying budget.

Sorry....

[llkltk]

If you are looking to spend under $200K, you will most likely need to settle in the burbs, such as Pflugerville, Round Rock or Cedar Park. Cat Mountain is very exclusive and way over 200K.

[justanothercalifornian]

boo
that's what I figured.

[jwb123]

Where IS Cat Mountain?

I recently saw a "House Hunters" episode featuring a home in Cat Mountain It's exclusive? These were pretty average, older homes!) - but I have never heard of or seen, this area...

[atxcio]

Cat Mountain is east of 360, north of 2222 & west of Mesa. There are entrances to the neighborhood on 2222, Mesa, and where Far West Blvd ends. It's a really nice area with almost no flat lots and some great views... some of the older homes have decent sized lots, but there are many "villas" with small lots. Not too many families, or at least I never saw many kids running around.

As far as rentals, there are some townhomes and a street of duplexes (Smokey Valley). However, even the duplexes are $1400+ rents at least.

I used to live in the older, adjacent neighborhood of Highland Hills and looked extensively in Cat Mountain for our new house. It was one of the few areas at the top of our list... it's primary quality, in my mind, is the Hill Country topography so close to downtown. Only a few areas like that.

[mimimomx3]

Not too many families, or at least I never saw many kids running around.
Respectfully disagree with you...or at least my 3 kids would! There are plenty of kids in that area and the adjoining NWHills area. You're right, though, you won't see them in the street- they go from backyard to backyard!

[AustinTraveler]

I wouldn't call Cat Mountain exclusive, although there are some very nice homes there. Most of the homes are older, like the one you saw on House Hunters and most of the ones I have looked at needed updating (kitchen, baths, etc). I looked at homes in the area for months and I would say that a majority of homes I looked at were definitely family homes with children.

The reason the area is expensive is because of location, location, location.

[TheHarvester]

Originally Posted by justanothercalifornian

...We are looking to rent from $700-1000 and when we buy it will need to be under $200k. I'm sure I'm dreaming.

You can easily live anywhere in Austin at those prices. Just move here in 1980. You do have a time-travel machine, don't you?

Sorry, couldn't resist. Your options are going to be very limited. Anything that you see online that looks nice is probably out of your price range unless it's a half hour from the nearest store. There's still a lot of very cheap real estate in Texas, but not in Austin unless you go DEEP into the high-crime zones.

If you're willing to live in a smaller 1-BR apartment then you can find some pretty nice places that are close in to town and out in some of the surrounding communities. If you want a 2-BR apt. at that price, it would probably be in a very run-down complex where you might not be happy unless it had a nice community of residents. Avoid north-central Austin (Rundberg to East St. Johns) --- you can find deals there and there's a good reason for that. So much crime is occurring in that area, they just had a big neighborhood protest march on Rundberg with support from police to try to send a message to all the hoodlums who have wrecked what was once a decent place to live.

[texastea]

Originally Posted by llkltk

If you are looking to spend under $200K, you will most likely need to settle in the burbs, such as Pflugerville, Round Rock or Cedar Park. Cat Mountain is very exclusive and way over 200K.

Don't know about Pflugerville or Round Rock but the nice, hilly neighborhoods of Cedar Park and Leander are over 200K (Twin Creeks, Bella Vista, Deer Creek, Crystal Falls...) But you can get a nice home in a good flat neighborhood