Moving to Austin, Avery ranch? (Round Rock, Canyon: estate, job, custom home)

[woodinvilleguy]

We are moving from Seattle to Austin as soon as we sell our house here. We have been looking online and were wondering what areas we should look at. My job will be on the north side by the 183. We are kinda tired of having a large lot (we have 1.3 acres now), and would like to go with something that we can maintain. We would like to live in an active neighborhood, good schools, maybe a community pool.

We visited Steiner ranch a few years back and liked that area. Online it looks like Avery ranch is a little closer in and similiar style.

Any thoughts?

[gigi927]

Avery would be a good choice considering your work location. I would also look at Canyon Creek, Grandview Hills, the Great Hills and Northwest Hills area, River Place, and Jester Estates (not sure about the schools in Jester - you'd need to check to make sure they are "good." I believe the elementary/middle are good - it is Austin ISD).

[neddy]

Avery Ranch is a nice place. You might also look into Crystal Falls also a range of homes for $200000 up to about a mil very pretty area.

[texastea]

Avery Ranch is very nice and I personally wouldn't hesitate to live there...lots to do, LOVE the hike/bike trails, golf course, small lake, schools and location. But just want to make sure you're aware of the Round Rock ISD football stadium that's right next door and/or across the street. In the fall, it can be "trafficky," loud and bright around there on a Friday night. If that bothers you, be sure and ask a neighbor how that affects a specific area in Avery before you consider it. The highest-end homes of Avery Ranch are in Leander ISD so it won't even be "the home team" that's playing down the street.

[woodinvilleguy]

Thanks, I going to have to check it all out. I'm totally going to have to get used to high school football. I've heard it is huge there.

[texastea]

Yep, its huge...and lots of fun. Don't know how I'll feel when my kids are out of high school, though. ; )

[FromCalitoSteinerRanch]

Originally Posted by woodinvilleguy

...We visited Steiner ranch a few years back and liked that area. Online it looks like Avery ranch is a little closer in and similiar style.

Any thoughts?

Well let me say that Steiner is even prettier than 5 years ago. We have a 3rd amenity center that just has to be seen, and the amount of open space preserved is still here.

Lake Travis is great, and with you and yours coming from Seattle, I will guess and say that a lake that is about 86F right now probably is pretty enticing.

Anyways, I suspect you will com' on out Steiner way when you get into Austin, but just in case this is just extra motivation to ensure you have enough data points to make such a big decision.

When I first came on this site, I would have said Steiner is is superior to Avery, but really that is up to each individual family to do their own list of positive and negatives.

"woodinvilleguy" Feel free to PM me for the reasons we chose SR, but please know we only looked at Avery Ranch once.

[smckim]

That is funny you are looking to get a smaller lot. We are selling our home in Avery Ranch to get and acre+ to build a custom home (our dream home) We actually have enjoyed living in Avery... our kids are small and we want room to play.... Good Luck in your home search! Sheri

[satanoid]

Man, going from an urban metropolis like seattle to a suburb outside austin must be a jarring transition.

[woodinvilleguy]

We actually live outside of Seattle so it is not all the "urban".

It is a lot of work keeping care of a lot of an acre+. Right now a 1/4 acre sounds very appealing. In the Northwest trees, moss, and blackberries grow like crazy.

Are there any hills near Avery Ranch? I do long distance biking and I think that I'll miss our hills between 10-20% grades for climbing on the bike.