How bad is traffic from Leander to my destination, Also what can you tell me about Leander ? (Austin: 2013, homes)

[ramamni]

Originally Posted by RoadWarrior12

You're not wrong, but good schools aren't exclusive to Leander. They're all over the place. Living in Leander and commuting down to GM would be a HUGE mistake.

Tons of other options that would be half the distance.

RoadWarrior - you make a good point. The closest city to GM is Pflugerville. And I did some research on it, but when it came down to school ratings, the research kind of faded away. However Pflugerville is still on our list. Pflugerville is 9 miles away from GM. What can you tell me about Pflugerville ? we can start from the questions i asked above.

Thanks

[mark311]

If you're open to other areas, I would personally rule out the city of Leander and focus on closer areas of Round Rock to GM. Neighborhoods like Forest Creek and Sonoma would be at the top of my list, but again, without a price range, we're all just guessing.

[mamacatnv]

I can't help with the commute aspect. My Hubs goes to Round Rock via the 45 toll road, my son goes to far south Austin and leaves by 6:30 a.m. every day. My commute is opposite, I head West.

We settled on Leander before we knew son was going to be returning to the nest to attend grad school, his commute is the nastiest there is but he makes it work. He leaves early, goes to the gym after class and heads home after the main crunch if he doesn't make it out before 3:30 or so. This works just fine for him.

We have been here in Leander for a year and we really like it. Our focus was keeping my commute under an hour (its 52 minutes) and we wanted Leander high school for our DD. We chose Leander for several reasons. The commute was doable, the school system was good (sure, there are "better" but there are also worst) Leander offered what we were looking for along with housing we could afford. Leander offered every amenity we wanted with shopping, theaters, restaurants as well as a quick drive into the peace and quiet of the hill country.

Leander also offered a community feel we were used to, not too big, not too small with families of all ages and combinations. In our neighborhood we don't have a lot of young families, we also don't have the attractive to young families amenities (pools and parks) we have a mixture of families with teens, retired folks and many empty nesters. There are several communities that have a variety of amenities, it depends on what you want, what you want to spend etc.

The schools are very subjective, what I want is not necessarily what someone else wants and in all honesty school ratings are just a tool. The attitude, the feel and the fit is really hard to know until you are in it. We learned the hard way when we first came to TX. We moved very rural where the company I relocated with was at. Thankfully we rented a house while we were selling our NV house. We put our then 7th grade DD into an Exemplary Rated school and learned that just because its a great school does not mean its a good fit. We were outsiders in a small rural community. My DD's bus ride to school was 90 minutes each way and we lived 30 minutes from her school itself.

Now we live less than a mile from DD's school, she has friends in our neighborhood, she has access to many different courses and electives and is happy. Her current school is not rated exemplary but she is so much happier, she fits in and overall due to the extensive electives as well as the IB and AP program she will get more out of a school that is not rated at the very top than she would have from the top rated but significantly smaller rural school.

There is a metrorail station here in Leander. I have used it along with my teenage daughter a few times to go to conventions downtown. When the timing works, its a pretty nice system but there is only one line, it has limited runs and can require extensive planning to make it work well. There is no Sunday rail at all and no Saturday out of Leander, one must go to the Lakeline station. IMO the system is okay for a limited group of 8-5'ers that commute to specific areas of Austin and are willing to trade drive time for train/bus/walk time. Its convenient for a Friday night out but the last Friday night train departs downtown Austin at 12:30, the venues close at 2 am so again, not completely useful if one wants to close downtown.

[RoadWarrior12]

While schools in Pflugerville aren't as consistent as LISD, there are a number of good-great tracks you can find quite easily.

Apart from that, the two are relatively similar. Very suburban, big-box stores conveniently located, etc.

Leander might have a few more hills - PVille will have a water park very soon.

Pricing might be a bit lower on the Pflugerville side.

[riaelise]

Originally Posted by ramamni

RoadWarrior - you make a good point. The closest city to GM is Pflugerville. And I did some research on it, but when it came down to school ratings, the research kind of faded away. However Pflugerville is still on our list. Pflugerville is 9 miles away from GM. What can you tell me about Pflugerville ? we can start from the questions i asked above.

Thanks

I've written quite a detailed post about pflugerville the last time you inquired. My area, northeast pflugerville, has very highly rated schools that are on par with Leander ISD. The elementary murchison is rated 10, the middle school 9 and the high school 8. There is abundant retail, low crime, and excellent quality of life. All of this and you can find yourself a great home for 200-300k. I've lived here for almost a decade and I have no intention of leaving. Ruling out pflugerville in my opinion would be a mistake. No offense but it boggles the mind why you'd choose a farther out suburb that is in no way different than pflugerville. Don't add more time onto your commute than you have to.

[Idlewile]

Originally Posted by ramamni

The only reason to live in Leander is because of the schools. From my research Leander has very good school ratings. or am I wrong ?

Yes.

LISD offers some great schools but, as others have said, you don't need to live IN Leander proper to attend LISD schools. Same goes for other districts and towns. We live in NW Austin, frequent the Great Hills Costco and attend arguably the one of the two best school tracks in all of Austin (just based on ratings) and our schools are RRISD but we do not live in Round Rock.

[scm53]

Originally Posted by Idlewile

LISD offers some great schools but, as others have said, you don't need to live IN Leander proper to attend LISD schools. Same goes for other districts and towns.

I think the OP's confusion stems from the nature of our school districts. In Virginia, schools are just a department of another political body, like a city or county. So if you live in Fairfax county, you attend Fairfax schools. Not the same here. Just try looking for an "Eanes" mailing address.

[Idlewile]

Originally Posted by scm53

I think the OP's confusion stems from the nature of our school districts. In Virginia, schools are just a department of another political body, like a city or county. So if you live in Fairfax county, you attend Fairfax schools. Not the same here. Just try looking for an "Eanes" mailing address.

Very true... and it's not just VA, all the other places I've encountered approach it in the same way too. It's confusing for sure.

[ramamni]

Originally Posted by scm53

I think the OP's confusion stems from the nature of our school districts. In Virginia, schools are just a department of another political body, like a city or county. So if you live in Fairfax county, you attend Fairfax schools. Not the same here. Just try looking for an "Eanes" mailing address.

Wait, I am trying to understand, So just to reconfirm, you guys are saying if I lived in pflugerville for example my kids can attend a school in RR or GT ?? Yes in VA, if you live in Fairfax, you have to attend a fairfax school.

[ramamni]

Originally Posted by riaelise

I've written quite a detailed post about pflugerville the last time you inquired. My area, northeast pflugerville, has very highly rated schools that are on par with Leander ISD. The elementary murchison is rated 10, the middle school 9 and the high school 8. There is abundant retail, low crime, and excellent quality of life. All of this and you can find yourself a great home for 200-300k. I've lived here for almost a decade and I have no intention of leaving. Ruling out pflugerville in my opinion would be a mistake. No offense but it boggles the mind why you'd choose a farther out suburb that is in no way different than pflugerville. Don't add more time onto your commute than you have to.

Thanks for your input. I am really considering pflugerville because its only 9 miles away from work. And I can buy a Gehan home for less than 300k for sure (brand new). Also, from my research, pflugerville is much cheaper than the other cities around it. My family and I are flying down there mid April to check out pflugerville, RR, and GT. It seems everyone is telling me its a mistake to live that far out from where I will be working. I guess i have to fly down and see the traffic myself.