Austin and places nearby north neighboorhoods (Round Rock, San Marcos: to rent, HOA, house)

[erub]

Following the questions thread:
1) What is your budget?
350k-450k
2) How large of a house do you need? what kind of views? what size lot? how old? updated? style? HOA?
Updated, newer is better as I am not handy. 2000-3000 sq ft. Views aren't so important. Smaller lot is better so I don't have to spend all time cutting the grass :P HOA is okay
3) What part of town is your job? What type of job (planning for the next job)
MOPAC and 183 (computer engineer). Wife is a college educator, so is primarily looking at UT, but she could end up at Texas State-Round Rock, San Marcos, ACC, or anywhere..may need to rent initially due to this
4) What kind of commute is acceptable? I'd like to commute by bike at least 1-2 days a week (so less than 10 miles). Obviously without knowing where she will be working initially it will be hard to limit her commute, but less than 30 minutes to UT would be ideal
5) What kind of schools are you looking for? no kids yet, although our religious organizations are clustered in the Arboretum area
6) What hobbies do you/kids have? running and biking (see above), occasional hiking. Run 3-4x a week and really enjoy paved away from the road trails.
7) What kind of entertainment are you looking for?
some of each of these :P - big box shopping, boutique shopping, bars/nightlife, hanging out on the water
8) What kind of food preferences do you have? everything, especially Asian, wife is a foodie
9) Coming from Henderson, NV, but both lifelong Texans (she went to UT) so we know what we are getting
10) Are Malls important? WholeFoods or HEB? Trader Joes or WalMart? BBQ joints or Sushi Bars?
people shop at malls still?! WholeFoods/HEB/Trader Joes are all good. Gotta have both BBQ and Sushi!

[EzPeterson]

Look around Parmer/Mopac.

Might stretch the bike commute, since the routes suck, but ticks a lot of other boxes.

[Novacek]

For biking, the first resource I would check out is the Austin bike map.

http://austintexas.gov/sites/default...p_v10_FULL.pdf

For biking, depending on what what side of the Mopac/183 intersection your job is on, it may help direct your search. Being highways, they're a bit of a barrier, at least for right now (construction in the next couple of years on Mopac is supposed to add some more bicycle accessibility). Bicycle & Pedestrian Enhancements | MoPac Improvement Project

For disclosure, I work at National Instruments, which is on the west side of Mopac a bit above 183, and I live near the intersection of Burnet/Anderson (just below 183). I've done that bike commute, and it's doable, but I look forward to the improvements I mentioned above.