Relo advice for family who hates the suburbs of DFW (Dallas: apartment, HOA)

[riaelise]

Originally Posted by scm53

Village of Western Oaks, Legend Oaks, Maple Run for starters. Who cares about appreciation if your kids are in awful schools? You don't get a "do-over" with YOUR kids.

Exactly. While you don't want to buy a house in a declining area or in a sucky location, you have to LIVE in the house and send your kids to school. Quite frankly, when we buy a house it's a HOME not some money making vehicle. Appreciation is just an upside.

Too much talk of people thinking they're gonna get fat wallets around here. I've always bought a home because it fit all of my family's needs. Whatever money we made just happened to go along with it. My home value has always gone up, down, and now back up. In my current neighborhood, inventory is at an all time low and it ain't in the City of Austin either. It didn't matter what the value potential was, it tracked to nice schools, had a great location, and offered the solitude that we desired.

[JT-3]

Originally Posted by scm53

Village of Western Oaks, Legend Oaks, Maple Run for starters. Who cares about appreciation if your kids are in awful schools? You don't get a "do-over" with YOUR kids.

Agreed. For schools, as I stated right off the bat the schools require a little time/faith or creativity. That's the downside but the upside is location location location. And Nearby Mueller is exploding with $800k homes and shares some of the same schools and education values.

For starters, not many choices in those neighborhoods and they are the typical track homes farther away from downtown. Commute times will only get worse and the mass transit system is years from any improvement.

Based on the criteria OP requested, with short commute time being #1 and the #2 point being fairly detailed, the Windsor Park/University Hills neighborhoods are worthy recommendations.

[Moonlady]

Originally Posted by Austin97

there is an area around 183 and oak knoll/barrington oaks etc that I think might still be in your price range. The schools are excellent (feed into cathy caraway, canyon vista, westwood) and the commute will prob be 45 minutes in rush hour, but only about 20 minutes not in rush hour.

The houses are 70s ranch style and it is not really like suburbs as they are grid streets.

you can use google street view to see what the streets look like.

You can use redfin.com to do a map based search to find houses within your parameters.

Sorry to say that the starting price point for that neighborhood has gone up to about $350K. We looked in that area 3 years ago when looking to relocate north to reduce the commute. The houses are kind of funky and to us it wasn't worth the premium for the excellent schools since our kids are grown.

We ended up in the 78729 zip code, 5 minutes north and east of there. You can still find some nice houses in Milwood and the other Jollyville neighborhoods in the OP's price range. Most of that area is also Round Rock Schools. It's certainly worth taking a look.

[BlueBear1]

I'm in the Barrington Oaks neighborhood mentioned above. It is a FANTASTIC neighborhood, for us anyway. Pricing depends on which pocket of the neighborhood you're in. If you're in Oak Forest, yes, they're going to start above 350. In various sections of Barrington Oaks, they are well below.

Also agree with Moonlady's post about the area in general. But I think this area maybe isn't quite what the OP is looking for. Anyway, might be worth a look, OP.

[pop251808]

I guess I read her requirements differently, or, maybe misery just loves some company. She's working from home but needs to meet people all over town throughout the day: hmmm, maybe being somewhere centrally located would be good.
He's going to attend UT? Hmmm, being near UT might be a plus. Who the heck wants to go to UT by starting and ending their day with 45 minutes plus in a car? And where would you park it? Why even have it? Not having a second car could save enough money monthly to rent or buy a more expensive house. And time saved in not commuting could be put to time spent studying, picking up children, etc.
It's news to me that ALL schools near UT and near north Austin are "dismal." It might come as a surprise to all of those people living near them, as well. Is "dismal" the new code for "not every kid is white"?
She didn't say she HAD to buy a house: in fact, she could rent in many central Austin neighborhoods for far less than she could buy in them; take advantage of that, I'd say, especially for your first year in town while you see what's best for you.
I thought I read that she disliked living in the Dallas suburbs and looked forward to something different in Austin; why would people here pile on with suggestions for THEIR favorite suburban neighborhood? Oh, I forgot: the topic that fascinates like no other is: house prices.

[A-Tex]

Originally Posted by pop251808

I guess I read her requirements differently, or, maybe misery just loves some company. She's working from home but needs to meet people all over town throughout the day: hmmm, maybe being somewhere centrally located would be good.
He's going to attend UT? Hmmm, being near UT might be a plus. Who the heck wants to go to UT by starting and ending their day with 45 minutes plus in a car? And where would you park it? Why even have it? Not having a second car could save enough money monthly to rent or buy a more expensive house. And time saved in not commuting could be put to time spent studying, picking up children, etc.
It's news to me that ALL schools near UT and near north Austin are "dismal." It might come as a surprise to all of those people living near them, as well. Is "dismal" the new code for "not every kid is white"?
She didn't say she HAD to buy a house: in fact, she could rent in many central Austin neighborhoods for far less than she could buy in them; take advantage of that, I'd say, especially for your first year in town while you see what's best for you.
I thought I read that she disliked living in the Dallas suburbs and looked forward to something different in Austin; why would people here pile on with suggestions for THEIR favorite suburban neighborhood? Oh, I forgot: the topic that fascinates like no other is: house prices.

No, dismal as in poor performing as measured through many objective criteria. It's a shame you have such a jaundiced view on life. No one said all schools near UT and in north Austin are bad --- but indeed, in certain areas being discussed, the tracks are dismal. And the OP later stated they decided to buy. You might want to review all the posts.

[robertsacamano]

Originally Posted by pop251808

I guess I read her requirements differently, or, maybe misery just loves some company. She's working from home but needs to meet people all over town throughout the day: hmmm, maybe being somewhere centrally located would be good.
He's going to attend UT? Hmmm, being near UT might be a plus. Who the heck wants to go to UT by starting and ending their day with 45 minutes plus in a car? And where would you park it? Why even have it? Not having a second car could save enough money monthly to rent or buy a more expensive house. And time saved in not commuting could be put to time spent studying, picking up children, etc.
It's news to me that ALL schools near UT and near north Austin are "dismal." It might come as a surprise to all of those people living near them, as well. Is "dismal" the new code for "not every kid is white"?
She didn't say she HAD to buy a house: in fact, she could rent in many central Austin neighborhoods for far less than she could buy in them; take advantage of that, I'd say, especially for your first year in town while you see what's best for you.
I thought I read that she disliked living in the Dallas suburbs and looked forward to something different in Austin; why would people here pile on with suggestions for THEIR favorite suburban neighborhood? Oh, I forgot: the topic that fascinates like no other is: house prices.

To summarize: The OP said that she only $325k to spend but wanted an older home in a cool, non-tract-like neighborhood that's a quick commute to UT but with good/great schools. Find one for her on Zillow/Trulia and post it here. I'm dying to see it.

[austinnative69]

Originally Posted by robertsacamano

To summarize: The OP said that she only $325k to spend but wanted an older home in a cool, non-tract-like neighborhood that's a quick commute to UT but with good/great schools. Find one for her on Zillow/Trulia and post it here. I'm dying to see it.

It's small, but it's the same size my wife and kid started in.

Real Estate & Homes For Sale - 23 Homes - Zillow

And another more square footage and closer in:

http://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale...65_rect/14_zm/

[mesmer]

Originally Posted by austinnative69

It's small, but it's the same size my wife and kid started in.

Real Estate & Homes For Sale - 23 Homes - Zillow

And another more square footage and closer in:

Real Estate & Homes For Sale - 17 Homes - Zillow

I have a hard time believing that two adults and two kids are going to fit comfortably in a two bedroom house less than 1000 sq ft in size, especially if one of the kids is a newborn, one of the parents needs to study, and the other parent works from home some of the time. I'm not trying to be a size snob, but that sounds like at least 3 bedrooms and 1200-1400 sq ft to me.

[austinnative69]

Originally Posted by mesmer

I have a hard time believing that two adults and two kids are going to fit comfortably in a two bedroom house less than 1000 sq ft in size, especially if one of the kids is a newborn, one of the parents needs to study, and the other parent works from home some of the time. I'm not trying to be a size snob, but that sounds like at least 3 bedrooms and 1200-1400 sq ft to me.

I was asked to show a house in the OPs price range that met all the criteria she listed in her first post. You are the one who has decided to change the equation.

Older house with character -- check
Good Schools -- check
Central location/short commute to UT --Check
Walkable Neighborhood -- check
Coffee shops (not starbucks) --check

I even put them near numerous bus lines

I lived comfortably in a 2/1, sub 800 sqft house in Crestview with my wife and kid, as did my parents.