Comparison between Barton Hills and West Lake

[jimmyjack]

One thing about Westlake, there's a lot of folks there who's faces don't move when they laugh. That's just downright creepy. On the good side: Fight Club.

[lifelong texan]

Hi,
I live in Westlake with my husband and 3 children. They all attend Eanes schools. We moved here 2 years ago. My kids were in "elite" private schools in the city we moved from and when we moved here we discovered they were behind in school compared to the other kids in Eanes. Real eye opener! We LOVE Westlake. It is beautiful and quiet but 5 minutes to Congress. If I were you I would look in the neighborhood around Cedar Creek Elementary. Alot of the teachers that teach in Eanes have their kids at that school so it must be good. Good Luck!

[new in town]

Now, i need to see Fight Club to fully appreciate your comment

[new in town]

Lifelong Texan: Thank you very much for your reply. My understanding from your post that this school also belongs to Eanes school district.
We have friends who live in Austin school district. We visited them back in November for 4 days (our first time in Austin). They have their kids in Hills elementary. Now, they say why would we pay premium for Westlake when magnet schools in Austin ISD are on the same level. What do you think about that? Thank you.

Also, when you searched for a house did you consider other neighborhoods besides Westlake?

[austin-steve]

Now, they say why would we pay premium for Westlake when magnet schools in Austin ISD are on the same level. What do you think about that?

I'd say go visit the schools and decide for yourself. Which Magnet schools in Austin are better than Eanes according to your friends? I'm skeptical.
Steve

[lifelong texan]

We did consider Barton Hills and Lost Creek. I don't know very much about Austin ISD. I only know what people tell me. I have a friend that has her son in an AISD magnet school and has had him on the wait list for Westlake as a transfer-in. He is in high school though. You can still get into the Westlake area for 500K and the resale value will always be excellent. Westlake/Eanes is tops in everything as far as schools go. Excellent sports, band, academics. They just added some more foreign languages to the HS. But I don't think Russian was one of them. Austin HS in AISD is supposed to be a good HS. So if you buy out of Westlake I would get a neighborhood that has Austin HS as its school.

[Legallyblondemel]

Let me know if it would be helpful to hear from someone who was just in these two markets in your price range, but hasn't yet lived in either. Based on our experience, you can find certainly something in each neighborhood within your price range - although $500K or less may not get you much (probably a fixer upper, from what we saw) in Westlake Hills or Rollingwood proper. In the Eanes district, Lost Creek and Bee Cave Woods seem to have a lot more $500K & less options.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

[lifelong texan]

Yes, Bee Cave Woods is the neighborhood around Cedar Creek Elementary. There are also a few blocks around and including Barn Swallow St. that you might want to look at.