February visit - Help with Circle C or other areas (Austin: appointed, Valentine's day)

[SCM2002]

Hello Everyone,

After many years of researching different states, my husband and I have decided to move our family to Austin TX. We fly out February 11 - 15th to research the area in person. After lurking on this board for many months we have narrowed our search to Circle C Ranch and possibly Bee Cave. We should be moving to Austin by this summer. I have a few questions that I was hoping you all could help with.

My husband works from home but may be renting a space on San Jacinto Boulevard in Austin. Am I correct in thinking the commute to this location is reasonable from Circle C (reasonable = 15 to 20 minutes)?

I have three boys 8 yrs, 4 yrs and 9 months. I have narrowed down the Kiker, Gorzycki, Bowie school district. I would be curious to hear thoughts on these schools. Also my 4 year old will be in pre k next year. Please reccomend any schools in that area. I am looking for a good school that is 4 - 5 days per week (prefer 5).

When we travel this February we will be with our kids and my mother is coming to help with the boys. Any suggestions on fun family activities. Also a suggestion on a family friendly restaurant for Valentine's Day. Or must try places to eat in the area while we visit. This is our first visit.

Lastly, we have entertained the idea of living further out to save on taxes and get more house for our money. We have looked at Bee Cave and surrounding areas online. I would like to keep any travel time to under 30 minutes. My husband may only be in an office a couple days a week. But I am also concerned about family activities. Am I missing any areas? Any suggestions? Our budget for a 4 bed, 2 1/2 bath house is about $450,000.


Thank you for taking the time to read this message and respond. I know you get a ton of messages like this on this board. We look forward to making Austin our home

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by SCM2002

My husband works from home but may be renting a space on San Jacinto Boulevard in Austin. Am I correct in thinking the commute to this location is reasonable from Circle C (reasonable = 15 to 20 minutes)?

I think you'll be disappointed if that's your definition of reasonable.

It's 13 miles, so to do it in 15 minutes would basically require 60 mph flat out the whole way. During normal commuting times, it'll probably be 30-40 or so.


Now, I don't think it will be particularly bad, especially in comparison to some on Austin (and you'll at least have a couple route options), but 15 minutes is a dream.

[Trainwreck20]

Here is a snip from Google Maps, showing a 7:20 am departure from the 'middle' of CC to the 'middle' of San Jacinto. It can be as low as 20 minutes, I suppose, but not during any kind of traffic. And note the range in travel times.

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by SCM2002

I have three boys 8 yrs, 4 yrs and 9 months. I have narrowed down the Kiker, Gorzycki, Bowie school district. I would be curious to hear thoughts on these schools. Also my 4 year old will be in pre k next year. Please reccomend any schools in that area. I am looking for a good school that is 4 - 5 days per week (prefer 5).

Kiker and Clayton elementary are basically interchangeable, I would not worry about which of those you end up in. Any difference you see on paper (or internet) is an artifact of some system, not a real difference. Mills elementary is very similar, as well, and some areas of CC might feed into it? Again, I would not make ANY decision based solely on which of those elementary schools you end up in.

I am out of date on my pre-school info, but Primrose was very good and Country Home was our least preferred in the area. Primrose appears to have a good 'private' kindergarten option. Public school pre-k is not automatic and does cost some extra money.

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by SCM2002

Lastly, we have entertained the idea of living further out to save on taxes and get more house for our money. We have looked at Bee Cave and surrounding areas online. I would like to keep any travel time to under 30 minutes. My husband may only be in an office a couple days a week. But I am also concerned about family activities. Am I missing any areas? Any suggestions? Our budget for a 4 bed, 2 1/2 bath house is about $450,000.

Be careful to look at tax rates - sometimes an area with less expensive housing may have slightly higher tax rates. And that extra distance can add actual costs (as well as time costs) and you may not save anything. That said, there are some nice area out there and lots of family-centric neighborhoods. You are not likely going to find anything as quick to downtown as CC, which will be 30 minutes or more anyway. A comparable snip (same time as before) for Bee Cave:

[SCM2002]

Thank you, this is all good information! I suppose my definition of reasonable is a bit off. We are just so used to not having to commute anywhere. We lived in the D.C. Metro for a few years and we quickly realized how important it is to live near work/activities.

Do you think given our circumstance we are looking in the right area? I know this is mostly personal opinion but I'm curious to hear suggestions. We are looking for the same as most people... family friendly neighborhood, good schools and reasonable commute to activities (haha).

I'm not too concerned about my husband's commute. I would like to keep it as short as possible. But he most likely will be working from home most days. Also he could travel before/after rush hour traffic.

[Trainwreck20]

I can't answer on Bee Caves, as I have never lived out there.

I live 'just north' of CC in the Villages of Western Oaks (VOWO). The houses in VOWO are a bit smaller/not quite as nice finish-out, but very similar distance to 'wherever' as CC. We have two kids (in elementary now) and have lived here for about 15 years. Previously, I lived up in N. Austin near Duval/MoPac (Angus Valley Neighborhood). I have found that the drive into DT is about as easy as you can get without being closer; note that that does not make it 'easy', just not as bad as it could be, and generally better than equivalent commute times in NW Austin for the price/size/quality of home. There are some nice homes in NW Hills, but I think they get pricey quickly.

CC has nice pools and is very much the stereotypical 'family friendly' neighborhood. I don't think you can really go wrong there a much as there might be a place that fits your specific needs better. I personally really like living north of Slaughter Lane, since it gets you closer to quite a bit more commercial establishments (grocery, restaurants, etc) and you do not have to cross Slaughter to get to the middle school. There are some areas north of Slaughter that are still CC and have similar houses (VOWO tends to be smaller house, 2,700 and below). They are further from the CC pools, though, and I am not even sure they are the same HOA? There very well might be, I just don't know.

[AMJ27]

It's 15-20 minutes downtown about side of rush hour. During rush hour, I'd allocate 30-40.

As previously mentioned, Kiker and Clayton have virtually identical reputations. Some people might prefer one slightly over the other, but they both are about the same. Definitely consider Mills and Baldwin as well. The former assistant principal of Clayton is now the principal of Mills and she is great. Pricewise, the area that feeds into Mills might be a better fit. It will be difficult to get, but not impossible, to get into Circle C for $450K.

The Circle C Child Development Center is a very popular preschool, but can be hard to get into. I know a few people who have sent their kids to Xplor (right next door to Circle CDC) for private kindergarten and they have been happy.

[SCM2002]

Originally Posted by AMJ27

It's 15-20 minutes downtown about side of rush hour. During rush hour, I'd allocate 30-40.

As previously mentioned, Kiker and Clayton have virtually identical reputations. Some people might prefer one slightly over the other, but they both are about the same. Definitely consider Mills and Baldwin as well. The former assistant principal of Clayton is now the principal of Mills and she is great. Pricewise, the area that feeds into Mills might be a better fit. It will be difficult to get, but not impossible, to get into Circle C for $450K.

The Circle C Child Development Center is a very popular preschool, but can be hard to get into. I know a few people who have sent their kids to Xplor (right next door to Circle CDC) for private kindergarten and they have been happy.

That's funny, I have found plenty of inventory this fall that fell within our requirements. Not much on the market at this time, which is normal for this time of year. I have been searching for months and I have seen plenty that would work for us. Well if it comes down to it we can afford more. We are just trying to very conservative with our home purchase.

Thank you for the pre school referral. If we find a school we like we may sign up during our visit.

Any suggestions for things to do/places to eat?

[Trainwreck20]

You will be able to get into CC at that price, no problem, but it will be on the smaller end of the options; however, even the smaller end generally has some pretty good size in CC. Over the last few years, the price differential between CC and VOWO seems to have shrunk noticeably. The HOA fees in CC are higher, although I don't believe they are crazy or anything.

Things to do? Oh, my, that is another post in of itself .

Close to that area and 'kid friendly' (i.e. noisy) are Waterloo (meh food but a large play area for kids), Santa Rita, and Flores. Our kids love Galaxy Cafe. A bit further in toward town, Doc's Backyard is adjacent to a city park and has an outdoor fire pit (fascinating for kids). There are a ton of other places, but really hard to recommend to someone you don't know their likes/dislikes/minimum requirements/etc.