I want to live in the woods, but I want to be around people! (Houston: real estate, foreclosure)

[Minier]

Ok, our trip is set for mid-February. So we have to get serious about what we want ... we want so many things and they contradict each other, so we keep going back and forth (as probably has been obvious by my posts in the last year ).

We're stranded on a mountain in the woods. We LOVE the feel (woodsy, airy, etc), privacy and lots of elbow room. But we're stranded ... going for a nature walk is all we can do (and is nice but we need more). It's so steep, only a sportsman can ride a bike around here (and would still have a hard time) and anything we need to buy requires a 15-30 minute drive one way. We don't have any community things (pool, clubhouse, playground). And the city (NYC) is a whole hour away, which to parents of small children is like another country.

So we thought when we move to Austin, we'd go for some of those family friendly subdivisions with the community pool, playgrounds, lots of kids, etc. But, everytime I see one, they are so barren ... the trees, where are the trees? They are a quarter acre at most so we would have people RIGHT THERE (claustrophobia kicks in for me! LOL) and I'd rather no neighbors than bad, nosey neighbors. And yet, we want our kids to be able to run around a neighborhood with other kids and to know the people and know they are safe. We want the neighborhood BBQ's and "block parties". And we are still holding out hope that someday, sometime we will be able to go to the "city" to act like grown-ups (and would love for it to be close enough, 30 minutes?)

How to reconcile? Must we choose? Can we have both?

FYI: other details ... looking for 4-5 bdrm, 2500-3000sq ft, $300k-$450 price range. Work from home so commute doesn't matter. Schools do matter.

Oh, and we've considered the Barton Hills/ Zilker park area, but I can't seem to find anything within our price rance and acreage requirement.

[centralaustinite]

Try Highland Hills, NW Hills and Westover Hills, Jester too!

You should be able to find homes at your price point, the schools are good, and if you are lucky you can back up to a greenbelt so you don't feel so "trapped" and have a great woodsy view but you'd be an easy 15-20 minutes to downtown, or even less.

[texastea]

Austin doesn't have woods as in "forest," if that's what you mean. We moved from forested northeast Houston and it took some getting used to. We love the rolling hills and old oaks of central Texas, but its definately different.

[BJB817]

It sounds like you're committed to Austin, but if not, you might want to check out The Woodlands, just north of Houston. Not my cup of tea, but I think if my wife had her way we'd probably be living there amongst the tall pines.

If you're looking for hills you won't find them there though....

[TexasHorseLady]

If you're willing to be a bit outside of Austin, Georgetown or Dripping Springs might suit. Goldenwood is a possibility. Or you could try Circle C or another one of the somewhat "older" subdivisions that have the amenities and neighbors but the trees have had time to grow. Lots will still generally be smaller but the privacy factor might be a bit better.

Cedar Park has some areas that might work, as well.

Or, you could look in the Lakeway area.

Looking at your criteria, having all or most of them really is doable with a little bit of searching.

[iceshots]

Originally Posted by Minier

So we thought when we move to Austin, we'd go for some of those family friendly subdivisions with the community pool, playgrounds, lots of kids, etc. But, everytime I see one, they are so barren ... the trees, where are the trees? They are a quarter acre at most so we would have people RIGHT THERE (claustrophobia kicks in for me! LOL) and I'd rather no neighbors than bad, nosey neighbors. And yet, we want our kids to be able to run around a neighborhood with other kids and to know the people and know they are safe. We want the neighborhood BBQ's and "block parties". And we are still holding out hope that someday, sometime we will be able to go to the "city" to act like grown-ups (and would love for it to be close enough, 30 minutes?)

How to reconcile? Must we choose? Can we have both?

FYI: other details ... looking for 4-5 bdrm, 2500-3000sq ft, $300k-$450 price range. Work from home so commute doesn't matter. Schools do matter.

Oh, and we've considered the Barton Hills/ Zilker park area, but I can't seem to find anything within our price rance and acreage requirement.

I really think you should check out Dripping Springs. What you are describing is very much like a neighborhood called Sawyer Ranch. It is built around a couple of small canyons, so many of the houses have "hill views". You have neighbors on the side and across the street, but your back yard rolls into a ravine and you are up to 1/2 mile from the house across the ravine. It also has a pool and a clubhouse. We have looked at a few houses there and the people we talked to described it as very family friendly. The houses would be near the top of your price range.

There are other older developments in the area with similar features.

Belterra and HighPointe are master planned communities with all the features you are looking for, but smaller lots and houses closer together.

Check it out. Good luck.

[auntlollie]

I'm a relatively recent TX transplant, and I know what you mean about "where are the trees?" I hear what they're saying about Dripping Springs, but if you're from NY you'll still feel like you're in the desert there. I'd try east of Austin, in the area of Bastrop or Cedar Creek. Austin is almost on the eastern edge of the Hill Country. Pretty, but dry and brown a lot of the time. East of Austin, in Bastrop County, there's actually an area called "Lost Pines" -- a lush, dense pine forest "island" far from other pine regions. (A bonus: the rest of the Austin area has very alkaline soil; the piney woods are acidic. That means you can probably grow a lot more familiar plants, if you're a gardener.) That's east of the Colorado River, on the east side of Bastrop. A couple of great state parks and Lake Bastrop are very close, and there's good (but calm) kayaking on the river; several of my neighbors go almost weekly. A bit west and south of Bastrop, near the new Hyatt Resort, closer to Austin, the community of Cedar Creek has gently rolling land that's pasture interspersed with fairly thick Post Oak, Red Cedar, and Yaupon forest. My parents have 135 acres on Hwy 535, and it's beautiful. Much smaller properties are readily available. East of Austin is less built up, lower property costs and taxes, and convenient commute when necessary on Hwy. 71. I live in Bastrop itself, and I can get to the Austin airport (which is east of Austin) in 15-20 minutes or the kids' school on the west side of Austin in 35 miles/45 minutes. And that leads to the one drawback: the schools here could be better. But there are some great private school options, and I suspect you'd pay far less here than in NY. BTW, my kids' school is truly exceptional, if you're interested in hearing about it.

You might try The Colony, which is a multi-acre "subdivision" a few miles west of Bastrop. Pool, playground, lots of kids. Or if you really want lusher trees, Colo Vista is gorgeous, w/ country club and golf course, but with (I think) a higher price point; you'd have to check online. The big home price bust hasn't hit here much, but I'm seeing a lot more houses on the market lately so it's a good time to buy. And Bastrop is building up -- a Best Buy will be opening soon, and Target is reportedly negotiating to build here. Good local coffee shops and a couple of good bakeries, plus (believe it or not) a premium European chocolate maker. Pretty, historic downtown area w/ thriving shops and some really good restaurants, too. And some of the restaurants bring in live music pretty regularly. Also a neat little historic opera house that has performances often. I've been very surprised by the rich cultural life and how happy we are here.

If you decide to look in Bastrop, you might try Sandy Menley as a real estate agent to show you around. She really knows the county and is great with acreage and land. IMO, Frank Rainosek, the other top realtor here, is so busy that his responsiveness and availability sometimes suffer. Plus he does more in-town property. But there are many good realtor choices, and essentially everything is internet-searchable anyway.

IMO, don't try Del Valle, which is nearer to Austin. More crime.

And no, I don't work for the Bastrop Chamber of Commerce! I just like it here.

[IC_deLight]

Be very wary about moving into any of these HOA neighborhoods. These are run by private organizations that are accountable to no one. Your home will have perpetual liens for assessments charged by the HOA. You are used to a lot of personal privacy and you will not have any in these environments. Often you will be forced to buy various utilities from private vendors with no say as to who they are - particularly in HOA and master-planned community type environments. There are also "professional" management companies that are compensated for citing "violations" (as they interpret them) of restrictive covenants. You can be privately fined and challenging such things might prove very expensive. In many of these places, the management companies entangle your mandatory assessment payments with payment for fines, attorney fees, handling fees, etc. so that you are threatened with foreclosure on your home unless you pay whatever the management company demands. The problem is quite ugly and there are already bills filed this legislative session to put an end to this unscrupulous practice.

Ask a lot more questions and study this long and hard before even thinking about moving into any of those "master planned communities", "HOA communities", etc. "Privacy" is often promised in many of these places but the privacy obtained really means that you have no right to open records, open meetings, open elections, or even a vote and that your property will be under constant scrutiny from private mangement companies incentivized to allege that you are engaging in some conduct that is disproved of by an unaccountable HOA board. Don't let anyone tell you that a property is "unrestricted" or has no HOA. Oftentimes this is sprung open the buyer at closing when you already have too much emotion and time invested to feasibly turn back. Get the restrictions on any property EARLY in the process and even before you make any offers, if possible.

If you are looking for larger properties, I think some of the earlier posters had good suggestions.

[BJB817]

I agree, Bastrop is a good compromise, depending on where you have to commute to. Certainly more of an east TX/Piney Woods feel.

I would take the last poster's comments about HOA's with a grain of salt. It seems like every one of their posts is just HOA bashing. Obviously they had some kind of very negative experience with their HOA...

That said, I strongly feel the opposite, that in general HOA's are a good thing in that they keep the trashiness under control. Obviously, every HOA is different in their covenants and methods of enforcement too. In VP of our HOA and if anything, we're probably TOO laid back.

That said, I would strongly advise that if considering HOA communities you read the covenants before buying just to make sure there's not some restrictions that may cause you grief later.

[love roses]

I'm going to 3rd Auntlollie. She's pretty spot on about everything. I'm also going to say that Bastrop is "woodsier" than Dripping Springs. Dripping does have trees, but it's not quite the same. Even going towards Houston, if you aren't committed to Austin, you're going to find more forested areas. The Woodlands is only one of them.