Leander vs. Marble Falls vs. Liberty Hill (Austin, Round Rock: apartments, rentals)

[bates0405]

We are relocating to The Hill Country this summer. We would be working in Marble Falls/northwest Austin area. We have a little one in elementary school. Any suggestions on the best place to live? We will be renting at first. Also, how are the schools?

[scm53]

Depends on how much of a small town vibe you are comfortable with. Marble Falls is a nice town, with a resort vibe due to the nearby lakes - and a couple of great restaurants. Liberty Hill is very much the Texas small town - only about 1,500 residents. Leander is an Austin suburb.

Schools are all at least good. Leander would be the best, Liberty Hill a close second, and Marble Falls a close third. Depends on where you will be mostly. It is 30-55 min from Liberty Hill to MF - MF to NW Austin an hour.

But the small town thing is the first question.

[hound 109]

Marble Falls & NW Austin are 35-40 miles apart (down a pretty but winding road). Specifically where is the job? (or are there two jobs?....then where are the two jobs?)

If one person worked in MF & the other in NW Austin (depending where), I'd be looking at Lago Vista.

Schools are very good in Liberty Hill & Lago Vista, & good in MF & Leander. Where you live will depend on where the job(s) are.

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by bates0405

... We would be working in Marble Falls/northwest Austin area. ...

These are completely different areas.

I think the rental market will determine where you end up. Not much to pick from in Liberty Hill or Marble Falls so you may end up elsewhere.

Good luck!

[sua2017]

I second the Lago Vista suggestion if you have jobs in both NW Austin and Marble Falls, but as someone pointed out they are not the same area. In fact they are VERY VERY VERY VERY different and pretty far away areas. In additions Northwest Austin is a rather large area (With many people considering Cedar Park and Leander a part of Northwest Austin) are you sure you have the right general area you are talking about? The commute between Marble Falls and Northwest Austin would be at least 40 minutes IMO

[mamacatnv]

Ohhhh I can help with this.

Company I worked for in NV sold and moved me to Marble Falls 3 years ago. We rented a house in Horseshoe Bay while we sold our NV home, rentals in that area were limited and expensive. My DD was in 7th grade and zoned for Llano schools which was a good thing (we thought) because Marble Falls schools were not note worthy.

I originally looked at Leander/Cedar Park and Lago Vista due to all the good things I learned here on the forums but my new boss talked me out of it, said I would hate the commute. So we moved to the hill country. The one thing we do know is we won't ever wonder, "what if" we gave it a shot, it was not for us and we couldn't wait to move towards civilization

We arrived in Marble Falls and yes, its pretty and resortish but its full of old retired folks, lots of retired folks! Shopping, eating out and entertainment are very limited. We found ourselves driving to Austin every single weekend. People are "nice" but its a closed circle kind of nice and they all talk about each other to the point I was shocked at what I would hear from the cashier who asked where I worked or the vet tech when I went to pick up my cat, she gave me an earful about my new boss. Then there was the school, DD was on a school bus for 90 minutes each way. While the school was well rated, much better than Marble Falls, it was a small country school district and was not a good fit for our DD.

We lived in the boonies for exactly one year and then we did what I thought we should have done in the first place, we bought a home in Leander. While my commute was now an hour, it was all highway, no traffic and we no longer lived in the freaking boonies with a whole bunch of not very welcoming people who do nothing but talk behind each others backs all day long. However, I was putting 100 miles a day on my car.

We considered Lago Vista but the small schools were now something that concerned us, while well rated the district is still very small. Also we wanted a gas kitchen and if I remember correctly Lago did not have natural gas, it was all electric or propane but its been several years, I could be wrong.

I commuted for a year, then found a new job closer to home in Leander. Turns out the tales the vet tech told me in Marble Falls about my new boss were understated to fact. I now commute to Round Rock, DD is in Leander schools which are a great fit for us, there are places to eat, shop and find entertainment. Leander/Cedar park is commutable to Marble Falls and NW Austin

Liberty Hill is pretty rural, its not too bad of a commute due to its location near Hwy 29/183 Toll. We looked at Liberty Hill but could not find a rental house and we couldn't buy until we sold our NV house so we had to rent. There are some apartments in Liberty Hill as well. We had too much stuff and too many pets, apts were not an option.

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by mamacatnv

Ohhhh I can help with this.

Company I worked for in NV sold and moved me to Marble Falls 3 years ago. We rented a house in Horseshoe Bay while we sold our NV home, rentals in that area were limited and expensive. My DD was in 7th grade and zoned for Llano schools which was a good thing (we thought) because Marble Falls schools were not note worthy.

I originally looked at Leander/Cedar Park and Lago Vista due to all the good things I learned here on the forums but my new boss talked me out of it, said I would hate the commute. So we moved to the hill country. The one thing we do know is we won't ever wonder, "what if" we gave it a shot, it was not for us and we couldn't wait to move towards civilization

We arrived in Marble Falls and yes, its pretty and resortish but its full of old retired folks, lots of retired folks! Shopping, eating out and entertainment are very limited. We found ourselves driving to Austin every single weekend. People are "nice" but its a closed circle kind of nice and they all talk about each other to the point I was shocked at what I would hear from the cashier who asked where I worked or the vet tech when I went to pick up my cat, she gave me an earful about my new boss. Then there was the school, DD was on a school bus for 90 minutes each way. While the school was well rated, much better than Marble Falls, it was a small country school district and was not a good fit for our DD.

We lived in the boonies for exactly one year and then we did what I thought we should have done in the first place, we bought a home in Leander. While my commute was now an hour, it was all highway, no traffic and we no longer lived in the freaking boonies with a whole bunch of not very welcoming people who do nothing but talk behind each others backs all day long. However, I was putting 100 miles a day on my car.

We considered Lago Vista but the small schools were now something that concerned us, while well rated the district is still very small. Also we wanted a gas kitchen and if I remember correctly Lago did not have natural gas, it was all electric or propane but its been several years, I could be wrong.

I commuted for a year, then found a new job closer to home in Leander. Turns out the tales the vet tech told me in Marble Falls about my new boss were understated to fact. I now commute to Round Rock, DD is in Leander schools which are a great fit for us, there are places to eat, shop and find entertainment. Leander/Cedar park is commutable to Marble Falls and NW Austin

Liberty Hill is pretty rural, its not too bad of a commute due to its location near Hwy 29/183 Toll. We looked at Liberty Hill but could not find a rental house and we couldn't buy until we sold our NV house so we had to rent. There are some apartments in Liberty Hill as well. We had too much stuff and too many pets, apts were not an option.

This all seems exactly as one would expect. We owned a lake house in Spicewood and almost moved into it and made it our main house back in 2002. That was only 40 minutes into Austin, 20 into Marble Falls. But it fed into Marble Falls schools and after I fully considered the realities of commuting from there instead of just weekending it, I decided no way.

People forget how isolating it can be to get out of the city. For retirement without a daily commute, I think that's a different animal, but working age with kids in school is hectic enough already without being stuck out in the boonies.
Steve

[ITO]

We also looked I these three areas, and I have family in Marble Falls.

I was not terribly impressed with the Marble Falls schools and general vibe. Yes there are some affluent areas around Marble Falls and the resort is nice, but the number of people I saw with "meth mouth" was a little concerning. Meth in the Hill Country is a dirty little Texas secrete.

Liberty Hills seems like a very nice balance the schools were a lot better and it was close enough to Austin that I could still commute to work easily. I also liked the options for homes around this area.

Leander was the other option but it just seemed like the next big Austin suburb and some of the really crappy home builders have been waxing enthusiastically all through it.

We ultimately decided on Cedar Park but only because the deal we got on the house was to good to pass up, but I still kinda wished we had looked more in Liberty Hill.