Where to buy a house with hill, canyon views in Austin? (Spring: short sales, foreclosures)

[texasboi]

We have been searching for a home in Austin and as far as Lakeway and everything in between preferred first then Cedar Park/ Leander anywhere where we can have a private backyard and build a pool in it with a little room left for the pooch and patio.
The home must have gorgeous hills or canyon views like those of crystal falls area, barton creek, etc etc too many too list.
What is hard to find is this in a new home builder or existing home for $350k and less.
We found a builder in Crystal Falls that offers an amazing view but the house was too small. We've been looking by Zilker Park and the homes are in the millions.
Looking for a private backyard with gorgeous views of hills or canyons.
Home is either new or existing. If existing must be updated and room for a pool in both and about 3000 square feet more or less.
Can anyone help? Suggestions of areas? We don't know all the towns in between from Austin to Lakeway and would love someone to help out.
A realtor is an option but hoping for people to help out first as the two I spoke with already have just been sending generic emails out.
Been also looking on Realtor.com and other sites and visiting all of the new home builders around.

[AustinGuy]

350k seems like too small a budget for buying such a house near Austin. If you could bump it up closer to 500k, I'd say you might have luck in Lost Creek or Cat Mountain, but at 350k, it is probably best to stick to the outskirts like Leander or further out.

[atxcio]

Yeah, 3000 square feet for $350K is only $116/sq ft. I'm not sure you'll really find anything with great views for that price. Maybe the Northwest Balcones area, off Spicewood Springs Rd & Scotland Well or Talleyran. Other than that, you'd be looking much farther out.. if the space and lot size being huge is important, maybe out to Lago Vista or Spicewood.

Otherwise, you'll need to either up your price or reduce the sq footage requirement.

[tickledpink]

I agree with the other posters. We live in Twin Creeks, which is in Cedar Park, and our house has a canyon/hill view. It is 3700 square feet and we built it for 525k. I don't think you're going to find what you're looking for for less than 500k. You can have the house without the view, but can't get the view in there for that price.

[shankaupas]

Have you looked in Steiner Ranch, River Place, and the Hills of Lakeway?

[shankaupas]

You might also look south of Austin near Dripping Springs at Belterra and Highpointe or north near Georgetown at Gabriel's Overlook

[FueledByBlueBell]

You might find something in Spicewood for that price but I doubt it. It typically takes at least $500k for a view like you are describing in the Austin area.

[hoffdano]

The home must have gorgeous hills or canyon views

And you think this should exist for $350K?

"Gorgeous" views cost money, sometimes lots of money. I think your expectations are not reasonable.

[TexasHorseLady]

Okay, this is a challenge. The trick is going to be the pool and the price range, because a pool in the kind of soil that is likely to have the kinds of views you appear to be talking about is going to be expensive to build and, of course, is going to add on to the price of the house.

Another question is where are you commuting to? Off the top of my head I'm thinking Spicewood/Dripping Springs, but they're in the other direction from Lakeway and might be too long a commute.

A quick look at the MLS shows that your best bets are likely Lakeway and environs, Dripping Springs, Driftwood, Lago Vista (but that's pretty far out, not as the crow flies, but as you can drive it), Volente, some parts of Cedar Park and Leander and Liberty Hill. However, I had to go up to $375,000 in the search to get some of them - perhaps they could be talked down to $350,000, perhaps not - and some of those were short sales or foreclosures to get it that low. That's if you want canyon Hill Country views.

So, it's maybe possible, but it's going to take some squeezing and some serious searching, not just an automatic MLS search (though that's the start, of course). And a really good handle on the market and what's reasonable and what's not, in case you need to go the route of asking someone who doesn't have their house on the market if they're interested in selling.

[austin_mommy]

You might find something in Grandview Hills. Prices are down now so you might find something with a large yard and a canyon view for your budget or slightly higher than that. It is a small closely-knit community near 620/2222. Not sure if houses that match your description are on sale but you could probably drive by to check.