Looking for a house in the Austin Area... anyone know about Brushy Creek?

[MOVEME]

JKSheets,

You said you moved from the LA area. It's nice to see I'm not the only one leaving this state. What were your initial likes and dislikes about Texas vs. California? We would be leaving all family and friends. Which is hard but it is harder to stay in a 1300 sq ft home with 3 kids too, an ugly desert riddled with graffiti, gangs and etc.....

I like the Austin area from what I've heard, Temple will be too far away though.

Good Luck!

Moveme

[lattelizard]

Originally Posted by MOVEME

HI,

WHAT DOES HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION MEAN?

As soon as you purchase your home you will need to file a homestead exemption with your local County Appraisal office. What a homestead is in a nutshell, tax break for homeowners. You may apply for homestead exemptions on your principal residence. Homestead exemptions remove part of your home's value from taxation, so thusly your taxes are lower. For example, your home is appraised at $50,000, and you qualify for a $15,000 exemption, you will pay taxes on the home as if it was worth only $35,000. To file request for an Application for Residential Homestead Exemption with the county appraisal district.

[denisez]

Originally Posted by jksheets

Hi there! My husband and I are looking for a new home in the Austin area and have found a floorplan by Kimball Homes that we really like. It's available in Round Rock for $163, or in Brushy Creek for $147... Is Round Rock really *that* more desirable than Brushy? Or, is Brushy Creek really that *undesirable*?

Any insight would be appreciated!!

Depends on what kind of lifestyle you are looking for. Originally from California, we were looking to escape the race race and find room to breathe. We bought an Armadillo home in the Enclave at Brush Creek in Hutto a year ago and just love it here. It's a good, quite neighborhood with lots of friendly people. Much less traffic in Hutto than in Round Rock - 10,000 vs. 90,000 people. Rarely hear a siren and the big crimes seem to involve unregistered vehicles or unlicened drivers. Less than 10 minutes to Round Rock too. Hope this helps.

[MarknEurope]

Originally Posted by denisez

We bought an Armadillo home in the Enclave at Brush Creek in Hutto a year ago and just love it here. It's a good, quite neighborhood with lots of friendly people. Much less traffic in Hutto than in Round Rock - 10,000 vs. 90,000 people. Rarely hear a siren and the big crimes seem to involve unregistered vehicles or unlicened drivers. Less than 10 minutes to Round Rock too. Hope this helps.

Denisez, or others...

My wife and I are considering moving back to the US and have been considering Brushy Creek. Do you have reference to a website for these communities?

What are average taxes and how good are the local schools? We have two young boys.

Regards.

[austin-steve]

Unless you plan on staying in the home for 5+ years, I'd be very careful purchasing in newer areas that have many years of growth ahead. Especially in the starter home neighrhoods priced in the mid $100Ks.

You may find that you can't sell the home in 3 to 5 years for much more than you paid since people are generally always going to be willing to drive a bit further and pay a bit more for the new home up the road in favor of your resale home.

Personally, I wouln't buy in Hutto for this reason unless, like I said, there are other factors that, for you, over-ride the resale value issues.

I did a write-up on Hutto recently if you're interested in more thoughts on the subject of what makes an area a good buy or not.
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Steve

[ThomasG]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

Unless you plan on staying in the home for 5+ years, I'd be very careful purchasing in newer areas that have many years of growth ahead. Especially in the starter home neighrhoods priced in the mid $100Ks.

You may find that you can't sell the home in 3 to 5 years for much more than you paid since people are generally always going to be willing to drive a bit further and pay a bit more for the new home up the road in favor of your resale home.

Personally, I wouln't buy in Hutto for this reason unless, like I said, there are other factors that, for you, over-ride the resale value issues.

I did a write-up on Hutto recently if you're interested in more thoughts on the subject of what makes an area a good buy or not.
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Steve

As a professional in the local real estate market this all rings true. Buying a house in some of subdivisions where the builder is still active is like buying a car right now. You couldn't sell it for what you just paid for it. Look at the foreclosures in subs built by MS, Kx or other entry level housing builders.

If you're moving into some of the entry level subs. in Hutto, Round Rock, Pflugerville, etc. get a real estate agent and look specifically for the REOs...you'll have no trouble finding one and you'll be saving yourself some of the depreciation that's likely to keep coming. Buy as low as you can if there's any chance you'll be needing to sell in 5 years or less. If you buy new in some of these areas then for goodness sake don't go crazy with the builder upgrades as you're just digging a bigger hole in many cases.

There are some underlying trouble spots in the local real estate market that you won't find being discussed or examined in the AAS or other local media...outright loan and appraisal fraud, some large scale...the potential debacle facing out of state investors who have greatly overpaid for property they were betting would skyrocket in value the way is did in CA, AZ or Oregon.