Where to buy a home, Schools, Commutes, Weather, Taxes & Spiders! (houses, dorms)

[hoffdano]

For the OP - keep in mind that you cannot generalize "Texas" schools. In the Austin area - the schools vary by district, and within district. Austin ISD probably has the biggest variance - it has some very good schools and some very poor schools. The biggest difference in them I suppose is the surrounding demographic.

Tolerance for tardiness is probably a district policy issue and I have no idea which school districts are more forgiving (or not). I will express an opinion though - I don't understand why a parent would complain per se about a policy that is enforced consistently by a school. If a child is often a few minutes late then the family schedule should be moved up enough to make it on time.

My kids have attended Lake Travis schools for 12+ years now and we are very pleased overall. We know people in Dripping Springs and they are very happy. Lake Travis might be an area to consider since the SH71-to-Southwest Parkway route works well to get to South Austin.

[texastrigirl]

There are terrific South/Southwest Austin areas that would be a good commute to Ben White. Cedar Park is very, very far from there and while it is a good Austin area suburb, there are many comparable areas. You do not want to do that commute. Neighborhoods I would recommend with great schools are Circle C Ranch and the surrounding (Meridian, Villages of Western Oaks, Shady Hollow, Oak Parke, Travis Country). Dripping Springs would be a bit further out and is nice but I don't know that it is worth the extra drive to get to Ben White versus living in Circle C Ranch. Circle C is where I lived and I personally think it is one of the finest areas of Austin to raise a family. You will definitely want to include it in your search as it is a in your commute range and has excellent schools, amenities, etc. and it is a only 12 miles from downtown Austin. You can find a nice house for the high 200's in the older section to the mid 300's in the newer sections that would likely work for you. On another note, I left Denver for Austin in 1996 and did not regret the move. I grew up in the Midwest though so I did not mind the heat in TX for the 12 years I lived there. It does get hot, and that can be a bummer but I think most people figure out ways to adjust because the winters are mild. No fall to speak of compared to Colorado and it's gorgeous Aspen change. Austin does not have the 4 seasons in my opinion but that did not bother me. You can get good pest control (about $400 per year) to handle critters and you simply need to watch for fire ants even if you got treated for them because if your neighbors aren't treating for them, they can be right back in your yard in no time. Good luck.

[jobert]

I second the Circle C recommendation.
here is a usefull tool:

http://schoolperformancemaps.com/tx/

[iceshots]

If schools are one of your biggest concerns, if you are able to, I would suggest the following approach.

1) Do the online reseach the find potential areas where you may want to live. This would include researching the housing available, general school strengths and weaknesses, local amenities, and the flavor and character of the neighborhood. Make sure you also look into the local property tax rate at this time as well. I find that the best way to segregate the areas is by ISD and then by the schools that service that particular area. When we started our research we were told, "pick the school, then find the house".

2) Link up with a local real estate agent who is able to work with out of towners. A good one will work with you to understand what you are looking for and provide feedback about things. I believe that Texas Real Estate laws prevent them from recommending specific neighborhoods or things like that. Some of the real estate agents on line may be able to explain that further. The agent should be willing to pre-screen houses for you since there is only so much you can find out on line.

3) Arrange a familiarization trip to Austin. If you can do that in the hot months it will be better. You really need to experience the heat for yourself before you can determine if you can deal with it. I am from Canada so the heat is a BIG change for us. However, we are enjoying it because Ontario is not getting much of a summer so far. A good time for the trip would be September. It will still be hot and school will be in session. Pick your candidate schools and arrange a visit for you and your kids. If possible, see if they can spend the day at the school. My daughter did this and it was very beneficial. It completely sold her on the school and the move. She was looking forward to the move instead of dreading it, even though she was leaving all her friends behind. Allow your kids to have input into what area you will be living in. To be honest, there are so many great places to live in and around Austin, that having your kids feel comfortable with their school is probably the number one item to select an area.

4) During the trip work with the real estate agent to find a house (if this is your only trip and you need a house as soon as you arrive), or, to find the TYPE of house you are interested in, and then find the right one at a later date. Houses in Texas are laid out very differently that houses in Canada, so it took our real estate agent a few trips with myself and my wife (we were both travelling to Austin frequently for work but seperately) to get a good idea of what we wanted. After that we would locate potential properties on the web, and she would check them out physically to determine if they were worth looking at during the next trip. When we finally found our house (2 months after moving here) she had already walked through it and told US that it was the house we were going to buy.

5) Make your final choice after taking into account all your needs and all that you have learned.

6) Start the headache of moving, closing a house, registering for school and everything else that will be SOOOOO much fun!

If you want to private message me, I can give you the contact info for the agent we used. She was great and very patient with all of our searching.

Good Luck.

[HappyinAustin]

Hi again,

Circle C--good advice! Pick the schools first--good advice! Familiarization trip--good advice! Lots of nice people here.

I want to remind you to PLEASE spend some time thinking about this in terms of commute: Google maps says a drive from Cedar Park to Ben White/I35 Intersection is about 30 minutes, or about an hour with traffic.

There will be traffic.

So the math is, if your husband works five days a week, fifty weeks a year...500 hours a year in the car, in really stressful traffic! Better he's with you and the kids, right?

I'd say get a map and start ruling in good school districts and neighborhoods within a better commute time. There really are a lot of nice areas in Austin--you'll find your new home!

[sassyandi]

We would be looking in the $325,000.00 to $370,000.00 range depending on the sale of our current home. Need 5- BR and 3.5-4 baths. Hoping for a 3-car garage too. Everything I have seen close-in has been kind of pricey so far compared to up North, and I think we would have to go for less of a home. Looking for a very nice neighborhood and school district with great schools too.

[texastrigirl]

With that price range you can afford Circle C then. Still pretty close in to Austin (you can shoot downtown fast in non-rush hour) but also close to Hill Country, the airport, Barton Creek Square, the veloway. Schools are Kiker, Clayton, Mills for elementary (all fantastic), a new middle school opening this year, which should be great and Bowie HS, while although not the best in Austin, still a very good HS. Circle C also has a really nice shopping area with a great grocery store, local restaurants, etc. walkable within 2 miles of many of the homes. Easy bike ride for sure. Any surrounding neighborhoods I mentioned above would be fine as well. Cross streets for Circle C are Mopac and Slaughter so you can reference you husband's work place relative to the subdivision.

[TexasHorseLady]

Running an MLS search on your rough requirements (price, size, location, 3 car garage which is the tricky part), there's three in 78739 and one in 78748 that fit all the specs given. There's a handful in Dripping Springs (Sawyer Ranch) that do, as well - while it's further out, it's South and thus a better drive to Ben White/I35.

You're right that the greatest number meeting those specs are north, but if I were going north in your situation, I'd be more likely to look Northeast (Round Rock, Pflugerville, Hutto) than Northwest, and take 130 down.

That being said, iceshots gave excellent advice all around.

[jobert]

Originally Posted by HappyinAustin

Google maps says a drive from Cedar Park to Ben White/I35 Intersection is about 30 minutes, or about an hour with traffic.

30 minutes...yeah, right. That would be the worst commute possible. going from north to south and west to east. I would say hour minimum during rush hour on a good day, maybe 90 minutes on a bad day. A simple rule for living in Austin: if you work north of town, then live north/nw/ne of town. If you work downtown, then live south/sw/se. The highways here are jammed at rush hour, so live as close to work as you can.

[iceshots]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Running an MLS search on your rough requirements (price, size, location, 3 car garage which is the tricky part), there's three in 78739 and one in 78748 that fit all the specs given. There's a handful in Dripping Springs (Sawyer Ranch) that do, as well - while it's further out, it's South and thus a better drive to Ben White/I35.

A 5 BR in Sawyer Ranch for under $400 would be a great buy. Those are the same specs we had back in September last year and we were usually looking in the $425 - $500 range.

One word of warning. Also pay attention to the square footage. We did see some 5 BR houses that were around 3,100 sq ft. Yes they had 5 BR, but in most cases the secondary bedrooms were very small. Suitable for a nursery or a single bed and one other piece of furniture. I would judge them way too small for a teenager.

Based on my experience gained house hunting last year, to get decent sized bedrooms, you have to look for at least 3,500 sq ft. I found that many houses down here dedicated a lot of space to family/great room, the master bedroom suite, kitchens, game rooms, and were pretty stingy on the secondary bedrooms. If this fits your priorities, you can get by with a smaller square footage house.

Sawyer Ranch is a great location. We almost ended up buying there. It is what I would call an acreage sized master planned community. All lots are about an acre or greater, it has a pool and community center, the houses are spaced apart but you are still close enough to your neighbor to see them every day. The people we talked to in Sawyer Ranch with teenage kids loved the area and the kids did not want to leave. If we had bought in Sawyer Ranch, my daughter would have had three people she knew from school living on the same street. Of course, we found that out after we passed up on the house.