Houses in Eanes School district, Austin (Round Rock, Lakehills: apartments, renting, HOA)

[NS1968]

We are planning to move to Austin and are looking for Houses in Eanes school district. Our budget is between $200-300k for 3 bedroom house. Any options.

[MJinAustin]

Go to austinhomesearch.com - put in your parameters. One of them allows you to choose school district. I did that and it showed 14 homes in residential areas called Westridge Estates and Austin Lake Estates among others. Some of the realtors on the list might be able to speak to these neighborhoods. I live NW Austin so I am not familiar with the neighborhoods down south, but generally it looks like the houses are going to be somewhat smaller and older in your price range.

In what part of town will you be working?

[Moonlady]

Finding a house in Eanes under $300K will be challenging. Austin Lake Estates and its adjoining neighbor, Lakehills are older communities that will have a few listings in that price range. Expect a smallish home built in the 70's or early 80's. On the plus side, the lots are big and the HOA is optional at $300 a year but features a great park, pool and clubhouse on the lake.

[centralaustinite]

You might want to consider renting in the Eanes district. There are lovely apartments available many with views and some with three bedrooms. You will have to look hard and get lucky to find anything in Eanes for under $300K. Expect an older house that needs updating and is not energy efficient.

good luck!
s

[MJinAustin]

Also, are you totally stuck on Eanes? Round Rock ISD is a great school district too. In fact, Westwood HS often rivals Westlake HS in rankings/test scores, etc. People from out of town often get the info that Eanes is "the best" and therefore they automatically focus on Eanes to the exclusion of every other school in town. (Some close friends of mine did this!)

If you're going to be working South or Southwest or Downtown, then, yes, I'd consider that area to live, however, if you're going to be working North or Central Austin, then I'd look in the Round Rock ISD (which there ARE parts of Austin in RRISD).

Westlake HS strikes me as a place where "keeping up with the Joneses" can be an issue...kids will want iPods and $30 Hollister t-shirts, etc. because that's what a lot of the kids in that area can afford, as there are many million-dollar and multi-million dollar homes there. I went to a high school like this and was definitely in the "have-not" category (though my father was a physician) and while I think I got a great education, it was hard socially sometimes. I may have been better off in an academically challenging environment with more kids like me (upper middle class/middle class where you still have to live/work in the real world)...I don't know. I did well, but it was intimidating and demeaning sometimes. If you're searching for home prices in the lower end of that area, I can only assume that your kids might fall into this category? You'll just have to determine whether or not your kids would be affected by this.

And if I've been barking up the wrong tree and making assumptions based on what I am reading between the lines from your original post, then...forget everything that I said! I just thought I'd throw it out there.

[gigi927]

Originally Posted by MJinAustin

Also, are you totally stuck on Eanes? Round Rock ISD is a great school district too. In fact, Westwood HS often rivals Westlake HS in rankings/test scores, etc. People from out of town often get the info that Eanes is "the best" and therefore they automatically focus on Eanes to the exclusion of every other school in town. (Some close friends of mine did this!)

If you're going to be working South or Southwest or Downtown, then, yes, I'd consider that area to live, however, if you're going to be working North or Central Austin, then I'd look in the Round Rock ISD (which there ARE parts of Austin in RRISD).

Westlake HS strikes me as a place where "keeping up with the Joneses" can be an issue...kids will want iPods and $30 Hollister t-shirts, etc. because that's what a lot of the kids in that area can afford, as there are many million-dollar and multi-million dollar homes there. I went to a high school like this and was definitely in the "have-not" category (though my father was a physician) and while I think I got a great education, it was hard socially sometimes. I may have been better off in an academically challenging environment with more kids like me (upper middle class/middle class where you still have to live/work in the real world)...I don't know. I did well, but it was intimidating and demeaning sometimes. If you're searching for home prices in the lower end of that area, I can only assume that your kids might fall into this category? You'll just have to determine whether or not your kids would be affected by this.

And if I've been barking up the wrong tree and making assumptions based on what I am reading between the lines from your original post, then...forget everything that I said! I just thought I'd throw it out there.

Well said! On a note regarding Westwood HS, I have a friend who is actually moving out of RRISD so that her kids don't have to attend Westwood anymore. She said that it is so incredibly competitive that her son comes home and passes out in the chair the minute he gets home from school. She said he has no time to be a normal teenager so she's moving him to CPHS. I thought it was an interesting (but probably an isolated) perspective.

[billaustin]

Have you already made up your mind on Eanes? If not I'd propose the question, Why do you want to be in Eanes? I think the answer to that question may give you some options that may have not be apparent earlier.

For an example, there are many reasons why people want to live in Eanes: heard the schools were great, kids friends are there, job location, resale value etc.

Just a thought,
Bill