Job relocation from Houston to Austin (Round Rock, Cedar Park: real estate, lease, house)

[meangreenxp]

I need to relocate my family from Houston to Austin in the next few months due to a job transfer with Hewlett Packard. We moved to Houston from Oregon about two years ago due another job transfer within HP.

Here is what we are looking for:

1) Nice neighborhood with good schools (we have 1 child in elementary, 1 in middle school, and two foster children in high school)
2) Some ethnic diversity (our family is a melting pot of white, black, and Hispanic ethnicities and changes as foster children are not permanent placements).
3) Lower property taxes and preferably no MUD tax.
4) Short (20-30min) commute to HP (14231 Tandem Blvd, Austin, TX 78728)
5) New or new (2007, 2008) 3/4BR home with an office/den in the $150-190k range

We have made a few visits to Austin, and we have mainly been looking in the Pflugerville and Round Rock areas, but others have told us to look into Leander and Cedar Park.

A few questions:

1) Any other suggestions for neighborhoods that fit our critera?
2) If we decide to do new construction, what are some good builders?
3) What are some good websites for Austin real estate? We used www.har.com find our home here in Houston, which was great for finding our house in Houston. We have used the big box sites like realtor.com and zipreality.com, but are they more local based realty sites for Austin?

Thanks.

[TexasHorseLady]

Try Austin Real Estate | AustinHomeSearch | Austin Realtors | Austin TX Real Estate for looking at homes online.

From that location, Round Rock, Pflugerville, and Cedar Park are all good options for you.

[ROY DUBOSE]

you could always consult a realtor -- any of us would be glad to lend a hand with either a buy or a lease