Lets talk about Lakeway (Austin, Spring: middle-class, transplants, for sale)

[WildChicken]

If I bought a home in lakeway what can I expect?

[emeraldcitymer]

Lakeway is very, very nice. It's a ways from Austin due to traffic but it has a really upscale suburban feel. The drive out there is pretty and the hills and water is hard to beat.

[Gorfml]

Don't leave your trash cans out by the curb too long

[cBach]

The covenants are very strict in Lakeway and they are enforced to the letter of the law with immediate consequences. The police patrol regularly and love to give out tickets for overdue inspection stickers and speeding over 3 above the speed limit.

[tomchard]

... Depending upon where you look for a property in Lakeway, you could see anything from one with a structure built in the 1970's to one currently being built on a lot in an older section of the town.
There are some newer neighborhoods, too, but I believe they go by names other than "Lakeway" ...

We have Family living in an older section of Lakeway, and have walked-around, and driven-thru the whole area, when visiting. We really like the Flintrock and Serene Hills areas - but we just can't afford either of 'em. Same goes for Bella Montagna, too.
Back in 2009, we contemplated moving back to the (Austin) area, and almost bought a townhome in Lakeway (distress sale), but we weren't ready to make the move. The townhome was for sale for $45K, if I recall correctly. It needed a ton of work, though.

In the last few years, we've seen some very-nice and even some not-so-nice homes there. It really all depends (again) on where in "Lakeway" you are looking.

Hope that helps y'all ...

[Californian12345]

We're currently building in Rough Hollow, moving out from the Bay Area in spring/early summer. (just in time for the heat!). We did some research on Lakeway and Rough Hollow. From what I can tell:

- RH is new, tucked back a bit from Lakeway, but still considered 'Lakeway' I believe.
- RH has lots of radio ads and people are sick of it. Even when I went to visit, it was advertised everywhere, even I got annoyed, so I get it
- Lakeway used to a quite, older town. more of a retirement area. but with the growth of Austin and many young professionals (probably from the bay area) moving in, the sprawl reached Lakeway. So they've been building it up to be more family friendly.
- Schools are strong. my kids (4 and 2) will be in Serene Hills and I haven't heard anything horrible about it, and based on whats publicly available, looks like a good school
- I think they're building a new middle school?
- not worried Lake Travis High yet....my kdis are 4 and 2. Got enough to worry about at the moment!
- RH specifically seems really family friendly with lots of transplants
- I've heard the cops love to give tickets.

[FalconheadWest]

Originally Posted by Californian12345

- I think they're building a new middle school?

The new middle school opened last year for the 2014-15 school year.

[eirenecat]

Lakeway was actually started as a retirement community, a la Sun City. This experiment failed, and then it was opened up to all ages, including families with children. There have been families there since the early to mid 80s, when my parents moved there. We were one of the first wave of families with young children, and the older residents who had bought homes there expecting a quiet retirement village were PISSED, as you can imagine. This has all changed drastically in the ensuing years.

Just wanted to point out that Lakeway has been family-friendly for decades now. It's not a recent thing. However, it used to have a much more remote and rural feel than it does now. It was a decent place to grow up, but it was not diverse at all. Most residents were/are middle-class to very affluent.

However, the traffic on 620 is horrific, and if you have to travel anywhere on it to get to work, you will hate life.

[tomchard]

... "Cali...345" - It's a little off-topic, but I recall reading some discussion a month or two ago, about a topic in Rough Hollow; I don't remember exactly-what. Were you involved in that thread?
If not, and if you're interested, you should be able to do a search for RH on the forum here, and see what it was about. I think it had to do with privately-owned propane service, but that may have been a different thread.

Anyway ...

[tomchard]

Originally Posted by eirenecat

... [Snip]
However, the traffic on 620 is horrific, and if you have to travel anywhere on it to get to work, you will hate life.

... I haven't driven all the new(er) ways to get into Lakeway, but there is now a way to get out to Hwy. 71 without going down RR620. The issue is, that you have to go up & down some pretty twist-y roads to get to Bee Creek Road, and then to Hwy. 71, which is West of everything except Pedernales & Paleface. I couldn't even begin to tell y'all how to do that; my son drives us in his vehicle when we all have to go somewhere (together).

I can remember driving past the Lakeway water tower, back in the 70's & 80's, with RR620 being nothing but a 2-lane road ... the only time you had to stop was at Lakeway Blvd, and many times, I could catch the light green, going through. Coming from old-town Cedar Park, that was the quickest way to down to the South end of Thomas Springs Road. Thankfully, it wasn't a "regular commute"! In those days, the speed limit was still 50 and 55 (mph) on 620 & 71.
...