78745,78748 or 78749? (Austin, Spring, Sweetwater: crime, houses, neighborhoods)

[oYo]

78745,78748 or 78749?

I moved to Austin some months ago, and I am planning to purchase a home in one of these zip codes.

I'm planning to spend as much as 200k. I live with 1 person, and we have no children yet.

I work at the intersection of I 35 and Ben White, I am definitely looking for something close.

Please help!!

[verybadgnome]

This newspaper/website is the best resource when it comes to scoping out an area of Austin:

Austin News (Southwest) - Community Impact Newspaper (http://www.impactnews.com/southwest-austin - broken link)

You are lucky though in that you can find something very close the where you work that is in your price range. Case in point is the battle bend springs neighborhood (http://www.ancweb.org/maps/neigh009.pdf). Good Luck!

[austin-steve]

78745,78748 or 78749?

What sort of help are you asking for? What are the specifics of what you want to find?

[Kwicko]

I work in '45, and it *used* to be a pretty quiet area, but there's getting to be a lot more "gang tagging", vehicle break-ins, and vagrants in the area. I used to like the little neighborhood between South First and South Congress, north of Stassney and south of Ben White. Now I'm not so sure I'd want to live there.

But I will say it's better than the Dove Springs/Franklin Park area, by a long ways. 78744 is NOT somewhere you want to be if you can help it. I live here because it's cheap, not because it's quiet or safe!

Mike

[Raskolnikov]

you can get some homes in the low 200s in the older part of Circle C. And the school, Kiker, is great. I'd look there.

[jco]

If you plan to spend UP TO 200k, then you'll probably go with 45 or 48. You didn't say the square footage of the house you need, though. I'd prefer 49 over the three, but it's pricier. We did see a few dumps (and I mean dumps) in the older parts of some neighbhorhoods, but nothing I'd want to move into. Then again, the houses in this price range in 45 weren't too hot, either. The location was the only plus of this zip code, IMO. There are some houses south of Slaughter, north of 1626 off Manchaca that are in your price range (78748). The neighborhoods are quiet and nice, but the schools aren't the greatest in some (the district lines cut right through, I guess). I think they are Hillcrest, Olympic Heights, Canterbury Trails, and Sweetwater. I'm sure there are more I'm forgetting.

[austin-steve]

The neighborhoods are quiet and nice, but the schools aren't the greatest in some (the district lines cut right through, I guess). I think they are Hillcrest, Olympic Heights, Canterbury Trails, and Sweetwater. I'm sure there are more I'm forgetting.

Olympic Heights now attend Exemplaray rated Baranoff Elementary.

[lisy]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

Olympic Heights now attend Exemplaray rated Baranoff Elementary.

Yes, and there are a lot of houses available. I live in OH. The only thing I do not like it is too many people park alone the street and no playground. But we do have a nice dog park and close to green belt(about 1 mile north of us). So I can not say it is bad with less than 200k.

[CaseyRyan]

Olympic Heights is a nice neighborhood. I live there! It is very close to 35.

[car957]

Try 78748. We have Mary Moore Seabright Park and we are what I would call a very dog-centric neighborhood. I got one because it's the norm and it's what I wanted. I live near Manchaca/Slaughter and everyone works hard on keeping the neighborhood safe. We don't like crime and APD listens to us. It really is a nice place to live and all the services I need are within 10 minutes and 5 miles of home.

Our homes are a little older so their are maintenance issues. But we have a lot of 10-20-30 year residents. It is very stable and close to downtown. I like it in that I can go downtown or to SOCO and never get on Mopac or IH-35. It's a sweet deal.

Welcome to Austin.

20 year 78748 guy.