Circle C or Steiner Ranch? (West: HOA, house, neighborhood)

[austin-steve]

Frog design is downtown and for most, the commute from Steiner would be undesirable. If you work at Dell, you probably are 10 miles less on the drive (15 vs. 25 miles I'd guess).

Both neighborhoods are strong, quality communities. The property taxes in Steiner are about 2.6% and in CCR 2.2%. The HOA fees are about $650/yr in Steiner and about $415/yr. in CCR.

The schools are all good in both areas, not enough difference to quibble about, though in Steiner it is nice that you can walk to school through middle school, whereas in Circle C, even the new middle school will be a drive and drop.

I'd find the job before buying unless you know you can live with a long commute. People often come from long commute situations and say "anything under an hour is fine with me), but you acclimate and adjust once you're hear, and 1 hour commutes are really long in Austin, if that makes sense.

Steve

[Jennibc]

Originally Posted by mm57553

I have to respectfully disagree with the assertion that there are no restaurants close to Steiner. There are several IN Steiner itself that we can walk to. That doesn't include all of the ones towards Lakeway - none of which are chains BTW.

Also, ALL of Steiner schools are exemplary. I don't think that's the case with Circle C, but I could be wrong. However, we do pay for that - our taxes are higher than Circle C.

If you go back and reread my post you will see that I didn't write there are NO restaurants close to Steiner, what I wrote is that dining options are limited... and they are compared to living within 10 minutes from downtown Austin. There is a steiner blog out there on the internet Steiner Ranch Information Blog — Your one stop for all things Steiner Ranch and I read it pretty regularly through last summer when we were planning our move. One of the biggest things people kept writing about was the dearth of close by dining options. We have friends that have lived there over a decade, absolutely love it, wouldn't live anywhere else, but will tell you, there aren't a lot of restaurants close by. I don't disagree that you can find dining in lakeway, but how long does it take you to get out of Steiner and then drive to Lakeway? Once something is over a 10 minute drive for me, I am less likely to undertake the trip.

[woodinvilleguy]

Welcome from another ex-Seattlite!

For Dell, it depends on what campus you'd be at. You may also want to check out the Avery Ranch, Cedar Park area. You should have a lot of choices. I personnally found Steiner overpriced, but the commute out of Steiner was the killer for me. but everyone has their own criteria.

In general, you will find good schools in many areas. I don't think there is much real difference between the top schools in Steiner vs other great places in LISD. There are older schools in the north part of LISD that aren't super. And.... people are generally more friendly here. I think it is the fact that we get to see the sun all year long rather than the 3 months you're used to.

[txlonghorn]

You may want to look at River Place. It is a little pricier than Steiner but the commute to downtown or Dell is about 15 minutes shorter. Same school district as Steiner so I think the taxes are the same. Low HOA fee of 250 per yr.

[Jennibc]

Originally Posted by txlonghorn

You may want to look at River Place. It is a little pricier than Steiner but the commute to downtown or Dell is about 15 minutes shorter. Same school district as Steiner so I think the taxes are the same. Low HOA fee of 250 per yr.

BUT River Place doesn't have a pool. You can get a social membership to the club there (which has a pool) but that is 1200 a year. So you might as well be paying 1450 annually in HOA fees to get the ammenities there that you would be getting in either Steiner or Circle C and there are very few properties under 350K there.

[llkltk]

Plenty of resales in River Place have pools. A community pool isn't too much of an issue if you have your own pool. Not sure what the house prices are.

[mm57553]

Originally Posted by llkltk

Plenty of resales in River Place have pools. A community pool isn't too much of an issue if you have your own pool. Not sure what the house prices are.

True, but your insurance will be high, not to mention the general expense of maintaining a pool. And the lots in River Place aren't huge, so a pool will eat up a huge chunk of yard.

We looked at River Place too, and ultimately eliminated it because of the pool issue. It just generally didn't have the friendly feel that Steiner does (and Circle C, for that matter). And the HOA is insane. I mean Steiner's is fairly strict, but RP is off the charts. You know that whole parking in the driveway arguement? Well, RP HOA doesn't allow you to park in the driveway over night at all. All cars have to be in the garage. That was the deal breaker for us. We wanted to be in this house forever. And I didn't want to have to pay fines every time my kids came home from college for the summer because I didn't have a 4-car garage.

[txlonghorn]

I think this was covered in another post but if you get a sticker from the RP HOA you can park your car outside. Several of my neighbors do it.

[Jennibc]

Originally Posted by llkltk

Plenty of resales in River Place have pools. A community pool isn't too much of an issue if you have your own pool. Not sure what the house prices are.

I've only seen one resale under 350 with a pool in the past six months and the house was on the smaller side. We considered River Place but didn't want to be mortgage poor (and we were concerned about the strict rules there).

[mm57553]

Originally Posted by txlonghorn

I think this was covered in another post but if you get a sticker from the RP HOA you can park your car outside. Several of my neighbors do it.

Much easier to not have to deal with the hassle. And I just don't think it's right that I need a permit to park MY car in MY driveway.