Relocating, best place to live for $400-500K? (Austin, Round Rock: rental, how much)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 1.5 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Our family is relocating to Austin from Seattle over the next couple months. I've only been to Austin once last week for my job interview and really like the area.
We're looking for a home in the $400-500 range. The range is wide because I'm having a hard time swallowing the massive property taxes which I never thought I'd say coming from Washington state - (so far the only bad thing we've encountered looking at this move).
We're looking for great schools (our kids are 6, 3, newborn), a neighborhood community center, local shopping, etc.
We're looking for a home around 4000 sq ft (4+ bedrooms, game room, media room, 3 car garage, outdoor living area, maybe a pool).
I briefly checked out Behrens Ranch, Walsh Ranch, Brushy Creek and TeraVista in RR. Are there any other areas I should look at? Cedar Park maybe? I like the Drees homes I've seen as well as the Fedrick Harris homes.
My office is off Mo-Pac at the 1/ 183 interchange.
For that price range, I recommend looking into the Eanes district (west of Austin). You will be much closer to your office location, and it is an incredibly strong school district for your kids. You will not get nearly as much house for your money, but you can still get a nice house in a gorgeous location with topnotch schools.
Do you want a fairly new home, or are older homes okay (70s and 80s)?
Do you have a strong aversion to commuting? Mild aversion? How long would you consider?
The difference between $100 and $125 / ft can be huge. Are you more willing to trade of price or size?
Some inital comments:
You have a very good set of 'specs' to take to a realtor, but I would think about the questions above...it is very difficult to have it all unless you have a bottomless pocket.
Eanes is the best school district, academically, hands down. You will have a harder time finding a house that meets your size/price requirements, though. The commute will be moderate from the Eanes school district.
If you want to minimize commute and older houses are okay (there are some newer, too) look around Balcones woods and surrounding area off Jollyville/Floral Park/Spicewood Springs/183. This area feeds into some of the better schools in AISD proper, but not 'great' schools.
For a longer commute, Steiner Ranch and Cedar Park (search this forum) will provide better schools and more house for the money.
If you're really set on 4000 sf, you're going to have a tough time finding anything in that price range in most of Eanes. I just searched MLS and the cheapest thing in Eanes over 3000 sf is $569,000.
So....based on what you're already looking at, I would suggest a few other communities...all are in either RR ISD or Leander ISD which have good schools.
Avery Ranch (RRISD)
Steiner (much more of a drive - maybe 30-45 minutes to where you work)
Twin Creeks
Ranch at Brushy Creek (different from the regular Brushy Creek)
Red Oaks
River Place
Jester Estates (in Austin ISD, you'd have to look into the schools there)
Crystal Falls - you could get a pimp daddy house out there for $500K, and with the toll road having opened the commute has improved quite a bit)
In Avery, Steiner, Twin creeks, Ranch at Brushy, Red Oaks and Crystal Falls you can get new to pretty new construction. Jester and River Place you're getting an older home that may require some updating depending upon your tastes as far as finish out.
Last edited by gigi927; 03-22-2007 at 01:47 PM..
Reason: omission
You have a very good set of 'specs' to take to a realtor, but I would think about the questions above...it is very difficult to have it all unless you have a bottomless pocket.
Trainwreck makes an EXCELLENT point that we should all repeat to everyone relocating here! You will almost always have to make at tradeoff no matter what price point you are at. Example: my husband was out with buyers in Westlake last weekend - they came in initially with a $900K budget and wanted only Eanes. They thought they would easily find something that met all their needs. Couldn't find what they were looking for. They kept raising their budget, raising their budget, all the way up to $1.5MM and STILL couldn't have it all. Now they are trying to figure out what they are willing to give up (square footage, style of house, school district, lot, etc.).
Even in places like Austin, where the housing market is perceived to be a deal compared to other areas of the U.S....there's no such thing as the perfect house! Dang it!
Great questions. Wow, this forum is great, thanks for all the help.
You asked
A few questions:
Great schools, or will good schools do?
Good to great schools. Cactus Ranch elementary stuck out as a great school during our initial research
Do you want a fairly new home, or are older homes okay (70s and 80s)?
Want fairly new or new.
Do you have a strong aversion to commuting? Mild aversion? How long would you consider?
30 Min commute or less if possible.
The difference between $100 and $125 / ft can be huge. Are you more willing to trade of price or size?
Tough to answer without looking at two specific properties -If the property taxes were like WA I'd go up to $600K. I'm just going to have to get over the tax issue in my head. We know we'll be making compromises but coming from Seattle market to Austin, we're excited to see how much more house we can get in Austin.
Our family is relocating to Austin from Seattle over the next couple months. I've only been to Austin once last week for my job interview and really like the area.
We're looking for a home in the $400-500 range. The range is wide because I'm having a hard time swallowing the massive property taxes which I never thought I'd say coming from Washington state - (so far the only bad thing we've encountered looking at this move).
We're looking for great schools (our kids are 6, 3, newborn), a neighborhood community center, local shopping, etc.
We're looking for a home around 4000 sq ft (4+ bedrooms, game room, media room, 3 car garage, outdoor living area, maybe a pool).
I briefly checked out Behrens Ranch, Walsh Ranch, Brushy Creek and TeraVista in RR. Are there any other areas I should look at? Cedar Park maybe? I like the Drees homes I've seen as well as the Fedrick Harris homes.
My office is off Mo-Pac at the 1/ 183 interchange.
Can't wait to get to the sunshine!
The great hills area 78759 is partially in the round rock school district. It is extremely close to your current work location (think 5 minute commute). You can find houses here in your price range. Look for dominion at great hills around yaupon and fireoak. Keep in mind that parts of yaupon are not in RRISD.
If you live so far north it makes it much harder to switch jobs as it will be difficult to drive to jobs that are more centrally located.
This area is 15 minutes to downtown austin and 25 minutes to the airport without traffic (i.e. centrally located). Many of the houses back up to the green belt.
I'll offer my neighborhood for consideration. It borders the Eanes school district on the West. There is exclusive access to a preserve and to a day-dock to Lake Austin. It is a very diverse neighborhood. Nice Hill Country views with prices from the low 200's (2200 sq ft) to 2.6 Million (7921 sq ft)! It includes a gated community with some views of Lake Austin. Lake Pointe is the most affordable planned community in this otherwise high end area. Lake Travis ISD is considered one of the best in the area not far behind Eanes. Your commute to Mopac/183 would be about 30 minutes. Normally you are about 20 minutes from shopping but a new shopping area opened up the past year blocks away, with an outdoor mall (Galleria Mall) due to open late this year, walking distance! Does everyone here use Zillow? You can zoom in and view maps of homes and a get a "Zestimate" of what Zillow things homes are worth. Here is the web address of my street whose homes are right in the middle of your price range: http://www.zillow.com/search/Search....statezip=78738
I agree with Austin'97. We have just relocated to Great Hills 78759, from the UK (we're renting rather than buying). We did initially look further north at Round Rock, Cedar Park etc. But we chose Great Hills for the more central location, more established neighbourhood, great access to Green Belt, within walking distance of the local RRISD elementary school and the availabililty of rental properties >3500 sq feet.
Good luck with your home search!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $53,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 1.5 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Great Hills 78759
