What can you tell me about these 78745 neighborhoods? (Austin, Deer Park: for sale, real estate)

[jco]

Even general "stay away from this one" or "this one's good" is helpful!!!

Austin Highlands
Banister
Beaconridge
Buckingham Estates
Carrell Oaks
Cherry Creek
Cherry Meadows
Cooper Oaks
Deer Park
Emerald Forest
Fairmont Oaks
Flournoys Sweetbriar
Grand Oaks
Greenwood Forest/Hills
Hillside Oaks
Oak Plantations
Park Forest
Salem Walk
Shiloh
Southampton
Southwest Oaks
Western Trails

I have looked through other threads. From what I gather, both Cherry Creek and Western Trails are good, with Western Trails being pricier, but I'm not sure of the rest!

[south side chap]

Hey jco,

We've lived in Western Trails, for about six months.

For us, its a great neighbourhood. Time is short so a brief rundown of why we like Western Trails:

Very established - no infill opportunities and houses so well kept that tear-down and rebuilds just don't really happen. There are some fab houses that back to Williamson Creek. Many residents have lived here for donkeys years .

Sooo quiet. Our street is a loop so there is no through traffic. Three cars in an hour constitutes traffic.

Trees - lots of them and established neighbourhood = established trees.

Location (which goes for most of the zip) - During school run hours we drive to my son's school near Zach Scotts (which is as near as you can get to Downtown without going across the water) in about 12 minutes. Journey back is the same. We very close to 290/71, 360, I35 & Mopac but don't suffer from noise from any of them.
Central Market South/Borders/Westgate Cinema are five minutes away, ten if you are walking. The airport is no more than 20 minutes away but no aircraft noise. Sunset Valley farmers market is also five minutes away, and the shops at Brodie are a couple of minutes further.

No HOA but an active (but discreet) residents association.

Let me know if you need to know anything else, and sorry for the rubbish post but as I said time is short!

[jco]

ssc, thanks so much for your great post! I don't think it's rubbish at all! Western Trails is a little out of our price range, but I'm going to check the neighborhood daily just in case something pops up. You're the second one to recommend it!

[austin-steve]

That's a long list, too long to comment on each neighborhood. Maybe it would be easier to say what characteristics are you hoping to find in a neighborhood?
Steve

[jco]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

That's a long list, too long to comment on each neighborhood. Maybe it would be easier to say what characteristics are you hoping to find in a neighborhood?
Steve

I wasn't thinking that anyone would comment on every one of them; any would be helpful! To answer your question, we would rather live in a 900 square foot house in a great neighborhood than a 2,000 square foot house in a not so great neighborhood. We're sending our son to private school, so schools aren't an issue, but safety still very much is (that's why we decided against east of 35). We like Austin's culture, and we're (probably) moving to 45 because it's the closest we can get to downtown in our price range without losing too much of the Austin vibe. I do hear a lot of people saying some of the neighborhoods south are "eclectic" and when I go there, there is junk in the yard or old cars piled up. That doesn't seem eclectic to me; it seems like people don't take care of their houses, so we don't want to be in a neighborhood where people could care less about where they live.

[ITChick]

Originally Posted by jco

I wasn't thinking that anyone would comment on every one of them; any would be helpful! To answer your question, we would rather live in a 900 square foot house in a great neighborhood than a 2,000 square foot house in a not so great neighborhood. We're sending our son to private school, so schools aren't an issue, but safety still very much is (that's why we decided against east of 35). We like Austin's culture, and we're (probably) moving to 45 because it's the closest we can get to downtown in our price range without losing too much of the Austin vibe. I do hear a lot of people saying some of the neighborhoods south are "eclectic" and when I go there, there is junk in the yard or old cars piled up. That doesn't seem eclectic to me; it seems like people don't take care of their houses, so we don't want to be in a neighborhood where people could care less about where they live.

Good point about "eclectic" vs. junk in the yard. I'm having difficulty as well in my decision as I am probably looking at the same areas you're interested in. It's a bit frustrating, and it looks like I'm going to have to take some more vacation time and go back to Austin in a month. It's too hard to know what going on in a neighborhood from just using the internet.

[HappyTexan]

Or just rent an apartment for 6 months to 1 year and spend your weekends looking around. When my job transferred me to Austin I was in the same boat..a 5 day trip was not enough to "buy" but was enough to "rent". I signed a 6 month lease and ended up renewing for another 6 months while I drove around looking for "my place". I'm glad I did that and was very happy with the result.

[jco]

Originally Posted by HappyTexan

Or just rent an apartment for 6 months to 1 year and spend your weekends looking around. When my job transferred me to Austin I was in the same boat..a 5 day trip was not enough to "buy" but was enough to "rent". I signed a 6 month lease and ended up renewing for another 6 months while I drove around looking for "my place". I'm glad I did that and was very happy with the result.

We did rent a month to month apartment and have talked about signing a six month lease to save even more on rent. Our realtor told us that our same price a year ago would have gotten us into some very nice neighborhoods. I'm hoping the recession slows things down a bit so that we all don't have to rush to find the perfect place!

ITChick - We drove around for awhile today, and I wanted to tell you what we found. I'm not sure that we have the same requirements or taste, but here's our opinion: We liked the area west of Manchaca the best. There were some nice streets east of there and north of William Cannon, but it was very spotty. We only went south of William Cannon into the Cherry Creek neighborhood, and we liked this part as well. I wish I knew the neighborhood names, but at least you'll have some idea when you mapquest the listings. I can tell you that we weren't impressed with Emerald Forest or Emerald Woods (although both those neighborhoods had the good and bad streets; we just decided it wasn't our neighborhood).

[AGA]

Real Estate Blog - South Austin Homes for Sale - 78745

Try this link!

[Texacan]

This Website will profile any zip in the country. 78745 has a high total crime index. A friend who lived in Cherry Creek was very happy to move out after his car was stolen.

http://www.moving.com/Find A Place/Cityprofile/index.asp?wtid=503 (broken link)