Specific relo questions for family of six... (Austin, Round Rock: HOA, how much)

[kschirra]

We are potentially moving to Austin in June and are looking for a walkable neighborhood with good public schools (preferably smaller) or reasonable private schools (<$8-10k/yr max per child). Our house budget is $500-600k depending on public or private schools. Kids are entering pre-K, 5th, 7th and 9th and I'd like to limit my commute to 20 minutes working downtown.

Ideally we'd like an existing urban/close-in suburban walkable neighborhood although master planned communities with walkable shopping/restaurants and a pool are a close second.

Kids play soccer, swim competitively and do gymnastics.

While this is ideal, I'm including everything so the last desire is an engaged community where neighbors socialize, coach youth sports, have block parties etc...

Any advice is appreciated...

[Moonlady]

Where are the jobs located?

[kschirra]

South of the University of Texas...

[centraleastaustinite]

Congrats on the new job and the move!

Quick question - is your job actually downtown? Or is it on a tech campus on the edges of town? A 20min commute to what you want is tricky if your job is downtown but if you're on the edges of town it's easier to find.

My best rec is to look around Mueller if you are downtown. $500-600K is the pay to play there. I don't know what the elementary school is but the middle is Kealing & the high is McCallum which are very good schools. I would guess the elementary is Maplewood which is a teacher by teacher situation. Some teachers awesome some not so much. If you're an involved parent the kids will be alright.

Another area to consider is the Oak Hill area which is SW Austin. 71/290 are the magic "not junked up yet" commute roads to downtown. Depending on where downtown you can probably make it in 20min door to door. 30min on a bad traffic day. They have a really nice neighborhood park with lots of amenities & greenbelt access. HOA is not intrusive. Schools feed to Westlake so A+ for the kiddos. You can get a house with all the bells and whistles for $500-600K out there.

You could also look at Circle C which is a bit more master planned in style than Oak Hill but the commute might be more than 20 min bc you'd be stuck on Mopac. $500-600K is maybe a bit low for that area. No idea what the school situation is but guessing good since it's a pretty desirable family area.

If you're in one of the N tech campuses that opens up a lot of the Lakeway, Round Rock, Cedar Park, etc master planned community areas.

[scm53]

Originally Posted by centraleastaustinite

My best rec is to look around Mueller if you are downtown. $500-600K is the pay to play there. I don't know what the elementary school is but the middle is Kealing & the high is McCallum which are very good schools. I would guess the elementary is Maplewood which is a teacher by teacher situation.

One needs to be VERY, VERY careful in Mueller. The dividing line between Kealing/McCallum and Sadler/Garcia/Reagan runs literally right through the new construction section just W of Berkman. That same line divides between Maplewood and Blanton, which are about equal.

I'd also say, as a long time AISD observer, the last place one wants to be is near a dividing line -- especially when one school is near capacity (McCallum) and the other is near empty (Reagan). The temptation to move the line W is pretty significant. One can hear it now -- "think how much better Reagan could be if we put those committed Mueller families in that school". Don't laugh -- it's the new buzz word, "equity". And what do you do if you get caught up in it?

Originally Posted by centraleastaustinite

Another area to consider is the Oak Hill area which is SW Austin. 71/290 are the magic "not junked up yet" commute roads to downtown. Schools feed to Westlake so ...

Anything S of Barton Creek -- meaning Oak Hill -- is AISD, not Eanes.

Originally Posted by centraleastaustinite

You could also look at Circle C which is a bit more master planned in style than Oak Hill but the commute might be more than 20 min bc you'd be stuck on Mopac. $500-600K is maybe a bit low for that area. No idea what the school situation is but guessing good since it's a pretty desirable family area.

You can buy in the Circle C area all day long for $500-600K, probably less. Great schools --- some of the best in AISD, K-12.

[hound 109]

Originally Posted by kschirra

South of the University of Texas...

on 15th street?

or 71/Ben White?

(why so cryptic?)

[unihills]

For gosh sakes. The original post says working downtown! Last two words of the first paragraph. Downtown is south of UT.

[kschirra]

Nothing cryptic - office is on W 15th St...

I haven't actually been to Austin so any inaccuracies or imprecision in geography are purely the fault of the author...

[centraleastaustinite]

Traffic can be SUCH a bear around here & one of your main requirements is "20 min commute" that people are just trying to get a sense of whether you meant actually downtown or just somewhere within the city limits with an Austin address that isn't downtown at all. That's all!

Originally Posted by scm53

Anything S of Barton Creek -- meaning Oak Hill -- is AISD, not Eanes.

We looked in Oak Hill a little bit before deciding that we wanted to be closer to downtown (my job is in one of the office towers on 6th). I remembered Redfin saying that the area fed to Westlake which is why I recommended it to the OP but the site probably had their property divisions wrong.

*the more you know!*

[hound 109]

Originally Posted by kschirra

Nothing cryptic - office is on W 15th St...

I haven't actually been to Austin so any inaccuracies or imprecision in geography are purely the fault of the author...

cool. now we're cooking with gas.

I'm guessing W. 15th takes the choo choo (to downtown) off the table. For a 20 min. commute, & all of your data points I'd look at neighborhoods that feed info Doss MS (Anderson HS). or the Shoal Creek area that feeds into McCallum HS.