Input on Milwood, Hunters Chase, Lakeline Oaks, Forest Oaks, Woods of Brushy Creek, Cat Hollow pretty please :) :) :) (Austin: rentals)

[Indigoblue]

We are in the midst of house hunting and our short list is down to houses in the below neighborhoods associated with the below elementaries. We will likely be writing up an offer on Saturday so I am hoping for more fine tuned details for those in the know - especially with regards to neighborhood amenities/events/classes, and schools/special education/ISDs.

All are very close to work so commute is not an issue.

Quality special education services are VERY important. We'll have a 2nd grader with a CARE writeup for severe social anxiety. Our other three will be getting speech therapy - a kindergartener with an IED, a 4yo in daily public preschool, and a toddler in Early Intervention Services. Any advantage of being attached to any particular below school or being in LISD versus RRISD?

Do any of the below elementaries do half day kindergarten?

How many hours will public preschool last each day in 08/09?

I'd also love to know details about neighborhood amenities, especially related to children. Separate baby or children's pool? Children's sprinklers? Kept up playscapes? Long pretty trails far from traffic?? Or proximity to a city park with above amenities at an affordable price for a family of six?

And lastly neighborhood events or classes. Does the community get together through the year for family events - July 4th, Halloween, etc etc. Are there organized social activities? Classes - art, swim, etc?

Anything you or someone you know loves or hates about any of these neighborhoods.

A MILLION THANK YOUs!!!!!!!

1/ Milwood
2/ Hunters Chase
Pond Springs Elementary RRISD

3/ Lakeline Oaks
Pauline Naumann Elementary LISD

4/ Forest Oaks (can't hear or see 183A from house)
Charlotte Cox Elementary LISD

5/ Woods of Brushy Creek
Great Oaks Elementary RRISD

6/ Cat Hollow
Brushy Creek Elementary RRISD

[texastea]

Personally, I like Lakeline Oaks the best. The houses are nice (is it a Scott Felder?); Naumann, Cedar Park Middle and Cedar Park High School are excellent; and I like the convenience of the area.

[MJinAustin]

You may find a higher number of rentals in Milwood/Hunter's Chase - thus a somewhat transient population and also I don't think the homes are kept up as much as other neighborhoods. I always feel like those houses over there need a coat of paint! Milwood was built by Milburn Homes - a no-frills builder and I think that shows. I personally wouldn't choose Milwood simply based on the quality of the houses, but they do have a nice park and there seem to be a lot of kids in the area and it's in a convenient location - closer to Austin than the other areas you mentioned.

Lakeline Oaks is nice, but I much prefer Forest Oaks. I think Forest Oaks is the most upscale of the neighborhoods you've listed. Cat Hollow has lots and lots of families/kids, etc. but they've been building in that area for 20+ years, so there is a huge variety of age/look/size/quality of home. If you want a more homogenous look/feel, you'd like Lakeline Oaks or Forest Oaks better.

All of the areas you speak of have good schools. My daughter is in RRISD PPCD and I feel that their special needs preschool is very well run. The assessments are done at Brushy Creek Elem. I don't know anything about Leander ISD special ed.

I did look up some info for you regarding the schools you mentioned though.

(First number is # of students, second is student-to-teacher ratio, third is TAKS score out of 200)
POND SPRINGS: 773, 13.8, 191.0
NAUMANN: 875, 14.3, 189.0
COX: 731, 14.6, 189.3
GREAT OAKS: 1028, 16.8, 197.3 (wow...big school..that's a lot of kids!)
BRUSHY CREEK: 769, 14.4, 193.3

The numbers of kids at Naumann and Great Oaks seem like a lot, but you probably can't go wrong with any of these schools.

PPCD is 4 hours - starts at either 745a or 945a - you'll be assigned to one of those.

From the RRISD website regarding kindergarten:
(Round Rock Independent School District - Elementary Education)
"Any child who will be 5 years old on or before September 1 and who lives in the Round Rock ISD is eligible to attend the district's full-day kindergarten. ..............A half-day prekindergarten program is also available for children who will be 4 years old on or before September 1 and who live in the district and have a limited ability to speak and/or comprehend the English language, are homeless, or whose family income allows the child to qualify for free and reduced lunch."

So...kindergarten is full day, and the district is very strict on not allowing any child who is not 5 on Sept 1 to go to kindergarten. If your birthday is Sept 2...you're gonna have to wait!

I think that's all I know!

[Indigoblue]

The Milwood house is in the newer area of Milwood built in the 90s and all the properties appear to be kept up very nicely It's definitely not a no frills house. In fact it has the best curb appeal of all the houses we've seen. I agree the older Milburn section has several houses that need paint

I'll have to look at the Hunters Chase neighborhood more carefully but my overall impression was of pride of ownership and lots of beautiful big trees

The Lakeline Oaks house is a Ryland. It has the most eye candy as far as architectural details

The Cat Hollow home is a Wilshire and is the biggest and newest of our short list

The Forest Oaks house is one of my favorites but the neighborhood feels a bit isolated to me from the rest of suburbia. It's a pretty fast shot to get on 183 or 183 A though.

I'd love to hear more thoughts on any of these neighborhoods Thank you all

MJ, thank you for all that info on schools, etc! That was all great My poor kindergartener is pretty ancient already having missed the cutoff last year by about a week so sounds like it'll be full day for him.

[texastea]

I'll add some more random thoughts...just bits of info from having friends in those neighborhoods, living in Milwood in the past, and previous house hunting:

I have 2 friends that have/had kids at Great Oaks. The school has a great reputation and they LOVE the school. BUT the middle and high school caused one friend to move when her oldest got into middle and the other plans to send her son to the IB schools in RRISD to avoid the ones they're zoned for. (The other homes you mentioned have good middle and high schools....I don't know anything about Brushy Creek Elem. and what schools it feeds into)

The Brushy Creek (Cat Hallow) area has nice parks, paths and outdoor areas. But Forest Oaks is not too far from the water playscape (free) and small lake and trails.

Milwood used to have higher MUD taxes than Hunters Chase...I knew people that chose one street over out of Milwood into Hunters Chase.just to lower their taxes. The new homes were built by DR Horton which was previously Milburn.

Lakeline Oaks is close to Elizabeth Milburn Park and all the events that Cedar Park has there. The pool is nice and doesn't cost much. CP Parks and Recreation has low cost summer camps, swim lessons, etc

Both LISD and RRISD have summer camps but RRISD offers a LOT more choices.

At this point, I'd pick the best house, yard, feel of the neihgborhood...you've narrowed it down to some great areas!

[Indigoblue]

TexasTea thank you so much for all that extra info!! It's all very helpful It does sound like all the neighborhoods are very close to neat parks and waterscapes

We've eliminated the Woods at Brushy Creek house so far. We'll go back to re view our top five tomorrow, three of which my hubby hasn't seen yet.

I love having a bit of a better idea of what is going on in the different areas Thank you all and please keep the info coming. I know it will be useful no matter which house we pick. I've already been saving all the family friendly ideas and places in a word doc for months that have been mentioned on the forum.

Two questions

1/ What is a MUD? I keep seeing that everywhere.

2/ What is an IB school? Does RRISD have some type of lottery system to get into specialized schools? Does LISD?

Thank you!

[Trainwreck20]

MUD is a Municipal Utility District. They are a mini-taxing and utility authority, and the taxes can be quite high (especiallly in new or not fully developed areas).

IB is an International Baccalureate (probably misspelled ) program.

[zhezhe]

To me, the preference would go to Woods of Brushy creek or Cat Hollow, the community center is great over there with multiple swimming pools. Brushy creek elementary is much older than Great oaks though. I feel Great oaks is the best on the list even it's big, the teachers are great, better than some other "higher" ranking elementaries in RRISD. Cedar Valley middle school has lower ranking than Canyon Vista, but I heard overall the school is nice and they got lower ranking mainly because of high teacher student ratio in past years.