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Old 12-17-2009, 09:35 AM
 
809 posts, read 1,856,245 times
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Ok, I've always liked these two neighrborhoods for various reasons to each. My plan is to sell my home in the next 10 years and get the home I plan to live out the rest of my days and croak in so I chose these two beautiful neighborhoods. Now I really love Lake Pointe and Lost Creek but financially I'm not that powerful...yet.. so Sienna Hills and Falconhead are the more realistic goal given the economy and affordability.

Which neighborhood do you think would be a nice spot to snuggle into for the long haul?
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Old 12-17-2009, 10:40 AM
 
Location: Austin
7,244 posts, read 21,714,559 times
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Do you mean Senna Hills? I'm not sure where Sienna Hills is...

Both are great communities. 10 years is a LONG way away and things can change. I live in Falconhead West, and there is so much construction and new streets still being put in, I have no idea what the final Falconhead is going to even look like... plus, the resort is supposed to be put in at the golf course and that might cause nasty traffic to where it's not a great, quiet place in 10 years...

I think you're definitely dreaming too far out if you want this to be your final final home. Wait until you're about 2-3 years out because making those final plans. In 10 years, there could be some awesome new communities in the area that you fall in love with.
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Old 12-17-2009, 10:53 AM
 
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The tradeoffs between senna hills and falconhead as i see them are:

1. proximity to city -- senna hills wins here
2. proximity to amenities -- falconhead... slightly better access to shopping, restaurants, golf, etc.
3. proximity to lake (if you care) -- falconhead
4. proximity to airport (if you travel) -- senna hills
4. newness of neighborhood -- falconhead
5. property taxes -- tie (both lake travis ISD i believe, so roughly ~1.9% of assessed value)

personally if i were retired (not commuting) and didn't need to go downtown frequently i'd probably rather be in falconhead or the lakeway area over there than in senna hills.

but as the previous poster said 10 years is a very long time. new neighborhoods may appear, older ones may be rehabilitated, your budget may go up (or down) and prices may go up (or down) in the meantime!
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Old 12-17-2009, 11:10 AM
gdu
 
Location: Austin, Texas
256 posts, read 696,576 times
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way too early to be planning where to buy a house in 10 years. Heck, those communities didn't hardly exist 10 years ago.
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Old 12-17-2009, 11:10 AM
 
809 posts, read 1,856,245 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FalconheadWest View Post
Do you mean Senna Hills? I'm not sure where Sienna Hills is...
lol..my bad, I thought it was an "i" in that sign when I pass by.

Quote:
Both are great communities. 10 years is a LONG way away and things can change. I live in Falconhead West, and there is so much construction and new streets still being put in, I have no idea what the final Falconhead is going to even look like... plus, the resort is supposed to be put in at the golf course and that might cause nasty traffic to where it's not a great, quiet place in 10 years...

I think you're definitely dreaming too far out if you want this to be your final final home. Wait until you're about 2-3 years out because making those final plans. In 10 years, there could be some awesome new communities in the area that you fall in love with.
I know it's a long way out "technically" but you and I both know, it's better to look and plan well in advance in Austin and be ready when the 2-3 year window is approaching. I did this same timeframe for my current house and we love it. no regrets.

And I didn't know about the construction, see, this is why I have such a long time range, for things like this. thanks for telling me now so I can put this bit of info into my plan.

And you're right about newer communitites that might pop up, this is the very reason I put my goals waaaay out there. for changes in the market. if another awesome neighborhood springs up, then Senna Hills and Falconhead will have some competition...lol

So do you like Falconhead West. who was your home built by?
personally I'm partial to Drees and Wilshire.
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Old 12-17-2009, 11:36 AM
 
Location: Central Texas
13,715 posts, read 31,026,329 times
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I think most homes in Lakepointe are less expensive than the homes in Senna Hills. Not all, but most.

Senna Hills is in the Eanes ISD, not Lake Travis ISD. Senna Hills property taxes are higher because of a 0.54 tax rate on the Senna Hills MUD. LTISD taxes are about 0.10 higher than Eanes. The difference altogether is non-trivial (2.3% vs. 1.9%). I think it is interesting Senna doesn't pay Austin property taxes.

The shopping distance for Senna vs. Falconhead isn't materially different if Bee Cave is the shopping destination. Both are about 10 mins away.
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Old 12-17-2009, 11:55 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hoffdano View Post
I think most homes in Lakepointe are less expensive than the homes in Senna Hills. Not all, but most.

Senna Hills is in the Eanes ISD, not Lake Travis ISD. Senna Hills property taxes are higher because of a 0.54 tax rate on the Senna Hills MUD. LTISD taxes are about 0.10 higher than Eanes. The difference altogether is non-trivial (2.3% vs. 1.9%). I think it is interesting Senna doesn't pay Austin property taxes.

The shopping distance for Senna vs. Falconhead isn't materially different if Bee Cave is the shopping destination. Both are about 10 mins away.
My mistake... senna hills is eanes so 2.3% it is... i was just looking at traviscad.org records on a property there the other day yet somehow got it wrong.
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Old 12-17-2009, 12:08 PM
 
809 posts, read 1,856,245 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hoffdano View Post
I think most homes in Lakepointe are less expensive than the homes in Senna Hills. Not all, but most.
.
are you sure? the last time I cruised that way it was gated. and even the un-gated part was $1.5 million and up.
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Old 12-17-2009, 12:52 PM
 
Location: Austin
7,244 posts, read 21,714,559 times
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The Gated section of Lake Pointe starts about $700k. The ungated section starts in the $250k range. Senna Hills, on average, is considerably more expensive than Lake Pointe.
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Old 12-17-2009, 01:04 PM
 
Location: Back home in California
589 posts, read 1,806,933 times
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One thing that I think would be a potential drawback for Senna Hills is that it is riddled with 2 story homes due to the lay of the land. I always envision my final home as being single story because presumably I will not want to climb a lot of stairs on my old bones. Heck, at my current age I hate the stairs.
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