Relocating to Round Rock, Texas (Austin, Henderson: houses, safe neighborhoods, buying)

[newrrmom]

I used to live in Vegas also and RR is much more family friendly, people smile here, which is a nice change for sure from LV.

[Austintatious]

I grew up in Round Rock and unfortunately have been stuck in College Station since I graduated. Anywho, as a person who actually GREW UP in Round Rock, and still has 2 siblings in Elementary school there I can vouch for it's validity as a family family area. Austin/Round Rock in general has, like one person said, an unlimited amount of family friendly activities to do. I'm 20 and I still haven't been able to do half of what is available!
You asked for specific information on neighborhoods, areas, etc in Round Rock here they are:
- Stay on the WEST side of IH-35 in round rock. There is the "golden square" where you will want to live, located within the square made up by the roads (in order of NESW) 1431, IH-35, RR620, and Parmer lane/734). That is where you want to live, hands down. The neighborhoods and schools I will mention are here.

-Any of the following neighborhoods are really, really great and all have community pools, playgrounds, clubs, etc.
1.) Cat Hollow (located in the Brushy Creek MUD)- I list it there first because this is where I'm from and it is also going to be in the middle as far as price. However, you will not sacrifice in the way of community perks. The playgrounds are great, not to mention there is a BEAUTIFUL hike and bike trail (you are literally walking in the woods in the middle of the community, deer everywhere, and even a sight deck to stop and watch the bats come out at dusk.), frisbee golf course, and sidewalks EVERYWHERE. My little sister (10) and brother (6) attend Great Oaks Elementary and I know that they love it, all three of us have had the same elementary teacher so they obviously know how to keep good teachers around, and my mother has always been impressed with the school. I am a bit partial to Great Oaks Elem but I spent 15 hours a week at different elementaries and middle schools in the RRISD as an officer of a club that spent many an hour in classrooms with the kids and after hours tutoring them. Brushy Creek elementary is also a good school and Cedar Valley Middle School is known to be a great junior high. My mother has been invited by other mothers to partake in all kinds of activities and clubs, from innocent scrapbooking to (I kid you not) a gin and baccarat. There is a grocery store IN the neighborhood as well as a few churches, rec center, dry cleaners, family hair salons, veterinary clinic/boarding, subway, and convenience stores.
Cat Hollow at Brushy Creek Owner's Association
http://www.roundrockisd.org/
Great Oaks Elementary
Welcome to Brushy Creek Elementary
Cedar Valley Middle School

-Oak Brook: Another nice neighborhood with similar amenities, located on greenbelt and nicer houses. Also exceedingly family friendly.
OakBrook is an established community located in Austin, TX.

-Avery Ranch: very nice. Not too nice, like snobby people in every house, but it is located on/around Avery Ranch Golf Course. There is a preschool located there along with a couple of restaurants, sand volleyball pits, tennis courts, hike and bike trails, playgrounds, and even an ampitheater.
Austin's Best Selling Master Planned Golf Community

-Tonkawa Springs: kind of removed from the rest and has older homes, but the lots are nicely sized so the homes are spaced apart very well, but there may not be as many families with children the same age as yours. I like that area because you feel almost as if you're in the country even though you're in the big city suburbs.

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So there you go, the top three as far as I'm concerned. Anyone can jump in and correct me or add more if they see fit. Please feel free to ask me any questions, but I can honestly vie for these neighborhoods being safe, extra-friendly, and overall beneficial for your kids, especially Cat Hollow haha but maybe i'm a bit partial

I hope, from the bottom of my heart, that you find a place in Round Rock that you want to live because I know that if you do it will grow on you and your family... I have traveled alot for someone my age ("i've been everywhere, man!"), especially in Texas and there are only one or two places I could consider settling down and having a family rather than in RR. Not to mention, you are within 20 minutes or less of everything you could ever want or need with Austin right next door, and there is so much culture, class, and history in this town I hope you can love and and appreciate it as I do.

Man... I need to move back

ps: I have been to OKC, my uncle lives there, and I was surprised how much I liked it although it seems really spread out (but MUCH better traffic). Unlike what I saw there (in Moore I think), the neighborhoods here are all right next to eachother, so your street could be one neighborhood but the next is another.

[lollibay]

I absolutely agree with Austintatious. Have lived in Round Rock (Oak Creek/Oaklands) for 15 years since husband's job transferred him down 15 years ago from NY. I love living here. Sad to say that we are moving back east but only because he is now retired and we want to be closer to family as we get older (both sons are settling back east). I will truly miss living here. You can't go wrong with anything you choose on the west side of I-35. Technically though, very few of the places mentioned are in the City of Round Rock like Oak Creek/Oaklands and RR West are but are in what they call extra-territorial jurisdictions. They have RR address and attend RR schools but have Muds rather than City water and sewer. Son graduated from RRHS and we were very pleased with it. As I said, sad to be leaving the area. Good luck in your search.

[TexasHorseLady]

There are some lovely (truly lovely) Round Rock neighborhoods east of IH35, as well.

[statefan]

And the debate rolls on...

We have been in EAST Round Rock for more than a year and a half now and couldn't be happier! We moved here from Hendersonville, TN where we lived for more than 10 years. I feel more at home here than I ever did in TN (originally from NC). The kids have more friends and go to a great school! We are close to 2 brand new hospitals and all the shopping you could ever want (there is always more not too far away). Need to go to the airport? Hop on the toll road to get there with WAY less traffic than I35 and a lot faster too!

Find a place that makes you happy! That place is different for everyone.

[springbean]

I know we have "spoken" over email about your move and my preferences when it comes to neighborhoods, but I can't help but interject my thoughts once again. Like Texashorseladysaid, RRE has a lot of nice neighborhoods. The East/West debate refers more to Austin and its direct suburbs. Many of the neighborhoods mentioned by Austintatious are much older, which is great if that's what your looking for, but the problem with older is UPDATES. We have been looking at homes and so many of the homes in the neighborhoods listed are extremely putdated. Low ceilings, outdated appliances etc.

Just my personal thoughts...

[gb0610]

Tell me a bit more about why folks continue to tell others to look West of I35. We are going to be out in Austin tomorrow to look at homes. We will be putting down an offer by Monday and have quite a few neighborhoods between I35 and Cedar Park we are looking at. We were told not to venture east, and we listened.

Its to late to change our minds, but for funs sake, why is it that so many folks told us to not look east? What was their reasoning?

[TexasHorseLady]

I think it's that some people need to feel that there's a "right" and "wrong" side of the "tracks" (odd in this day and age, but there it is) and that the side they chose is the "right" side, and IH35 acts in lieu of that missing railroad track.

Plus, east of Austin has always been seen as a bit "rural" (because, well, there's great farmland out there), and there's a certain prejudice that goes with that. Whereas I, living in the country, have come to know just how educated and intelligent someone has to be to farm successfully.

[robino2001]

Originally Posted by gb0610

Tell me a bit more about why folks continue to tell others to look West of I35. We are going to be out in Austin tomorrow to look at homes. We will be putting down an offer by Monday and have quite a few neighborhoods between I35 and Cedar Park we are looking at. We were told not to venture east, and we listened.

Its to late to change our minds, but for funs sake, why is it that so many folks told us to not look east? What was their reasoning?

In actual Austin, east Austin is simply the poorer part of Austin... gang activity, etc.

In Round Rock, I think it's a status thing. Old, historic Round Rock is east of 35. It is much older, somewhat more run down... there are a few parts I wouldn't live in. Because of that, there is a stereotype that EVERYTHING east is not desirable. Before I get too far from my first statement - let me point out my in-laws are a multiple generation RR family... like worked the cotton fields in the 1910's, 20's type... and most of them still have their houses built in the 30's and 40's in what I refer to as downtown RR. Many of them were teachers at Fulkes when it WAS Round Rock High, etc... so I have direct ties to that little area. That said, it still isn't my type of area to live in - but it gets knocked on generally.

Everything East of 35 feeds in to Stony Point which is routinely slammed on here - it's not the greatest HS in the world, but is still better than 99% of the high schools I grew up around in San Antonio and I'd have absolutely no problem sending my kids there. Sure there have been problems there, but no one can tell me RRHS, McNeil, etc have not had similar problems.

Outside of Teravista and the new one.... Paloma Lake?... a majority of the neighborhoods on the eastside are relatively plain middle class. To me, a majority of west RR is upper middle class (not all - majority). I'm totally guessing but I'd say the typical house east of 35 is ~160-180k where the typical house west is ~200-220k or even more. I shopped for houses in pretty much all of Round Rock in December 06. I ended up buying in Chandler Creek in east Round Rock. For me, it was the nicest neighborhood I could afford to get into at the time (albeit 23 years old). Do I have anything against western RR? Not at all - there are bunches of neighborhoods I would have moved into over there if I could have afforded it. The only neighborhood I thought we could reasonably afford was RR West and I didn't want an older house.

All of that is relatively quick - top of the head - no time to sit down and write a thorough 100% cautious thought out answer... but to put it bluntly is west RR stereotypically looks down upon east RR because, as a whole, it's a more expensive place to live... there really isn't anything else the west has over the east. Schools really aren't better... traffic is much worse in my opinion...

[Rose Red]

Originally Posted by gb0610

Tell me a bit more about why folks continue to tell others to look West of I35. We are going to be out in Austin tomorrow to look at homes. We will be putting down an offer by Monday and have quite a few neighborhoods between I35 and Cedar Park we are looking at. We were told not to venture east, and we listened.

Its to late to change our minds, but for funs sake, why is it that so many folks told us to not look east? What was their reasoning?

East, West. There are quite a few threads about that on this forum and they never go anywhere. Just do a search.