hill country (Austin, Round Rock, Spring: neighborhoods, to buy, schools)

[puddlejumper101]

Hey folks...out of curiosity, if I want to live toward the hills...what's a good neighborhood to look at? I know very little about Austin but strongly considering moving there. Round Rock has come up...I imagine the Lake Travis area is very $$$. Are there good neighborhoods around the airport? (or close to it).

[southaustingal]

If you want Hill Country, you'll need to be west of IH 35 for sure. Areas to look at include Northwest Hills in Austin, Westlake, Lake Travis, Marble Falls, and parts southwest, such as Wimberley, Dripping, and Blanco.

[deeptrance]

Originally Posted by puddlejumper101

Round Rock has come up...

It's not "Hill Country" unless you're way on the west side of RR, on the outer fringes of growth. And then you have to be careful not to buy a nice country property only to discover that they're putting up a shopping center across the street from you a year later. Seriously, it's growing VERY fast around there!

Originally Posted by puddlejumper101

I imagine the Lake Travis area is very $$$.

Not really. Depends on what part of the lake you're on. The shoreline goes on forever and there are many different communities along it, from retirement (Lakeway) to wealthy private drives to old hippie enclaves, you can find just about any type of community there.

Originally Posted by puddlejumper101

Are there good neighborhoods around the airport? (or close to it).

Yes, and this is where people will argue with me. I absolutely love the hills between the airport and Bastrop. It has developed very slowly and prices have remained low, but there are some nice developments out there including a very high-end Hyatt resort/conference center that is next to an equestrian park and a large beautiful nature preserve.

The reasons people will say that's not a nice area are:
1. its history of being broken-down trailers and shacks (hillbillies!)
2. poor quality schools
3. very dangerous highway from there to Austin and only one or two alternative routes which are slow and also a bit dangerous at commute times

Other than going east of the airport, you could check out SW Austin which is directly connected to the airport via the 71 freeway. This freeway is continually being extended and will eventually take people swiftly from the airport to Dripping Springs. So that's an area you could check out, but then you have to make sure you've got a reliable water source if you're not on city water or utility district that has rights to river/lake water. The groundwater is unreliable in much of the hill country during droughts.

[puddlejumper101]

this is all very good info...thanks a million folks

[TanikaW]

Round rock is not at all hilly in my opinion. If you want hills lakeway, Steiner Ranch, Alta Vista...lake travis in general, or marble falls area....

[deeptrance]

Depends, Tanika, on if you want rolling hills or the more rugged limestone hills of the actual hill country. I personally like the rolling hills east of Austin just as much, but in a different way. Each has its own type of beauty. As a gardener and tree fanatic, I find the Hill Country to be a bit too barren and rocky for my tastes, though it's lovely to drive through and has a much nicer climate than east of Austin.

[TanikaW]

Originally Posted by deeptrance

Depends, Tanika, on if you want rolling hills or the more rugged limestone hills of the actual hill country. I personally like the rolling hills east of Austin just as much, but in a different way. Each has its own type of beauty. As a gardener and tree fanatic, I find the Hill Country to be a bit too barren and rocky for my tastes, though it's lovely to drive through and has a much nicer climate than east of Austin.

Good point. I love the rugged limestone...but my mom who visited recently hated it. I was SHOCKED! How can limestone not be pretty???

[deeptrance]

Originally Posted by TanikaW

I love the rugged limestone...but my mom who visited recently hated it.

Where is she from? I hated it when I first moved here because I only knew the sandstone boulders of coastal So Cal and the granite of the Sierras. The limestone looked like glorified concrete to me. Now I'm hooked on it, I see so much complexity and rich subtle beauty in it! My brother visited me and he was totally turned off by it.

Same thing for me with winter here. There's a thread about Georgetown where someone asked why it was so brown. I used to hate that about winter. Now I love it --- instead of looking for brilliant rainbow colors, I see all kinds of details that I wasn't seeing before. I've fallen madly in love with the way it looks here in winter, the shades of brown and gray and the drab green of the evergreens. It allows you to focus more on form and structure instead of color.

All in the eye of the beholder, eh?