need help with choosing an area to live near Austin (Round Rock: for sale, HOA)

[steph410]

hello- we are in initial stages of looking for a new place to live, and hopefully stay for the long haul as our children grow up. i've been researching some of the areas around Austin, but it's hard to get a sense of where would be right for us. here are some of our criteria

1. great schools! (we have 3 young children)
2. close, not horribly congested drive to downtown Austin
3. home in the range of $275-325K, give or take
4. 4 bedrooms, 2 bath +
5. pretty close to lake, shopping, restaurants, etc.

thank you for any insight

(husband will be working out of our home)....oh, and i would prefer proximity to places to run, bike, take walks with the kids,etc. and i'm not a huge fan of cookie-cutter new developments...would love lots of things to do with the kids like museums, nice libraries, pools, etc

[Trainwreck20]

Well, it is kind of a fact of life that you can't have everything . Given that:
1) Great schools - well, how about good schools? Great is a bit subjective, and it you are going with completely objective metrics and only the top schools, you pretty much eliminate most of the areas in your price range. Greatschools.net has a standard rating system that, whether you agree with it or not, is somewhat indiciative. Anyway, Round Rock, Leander, Lake Travis, Dripping Springs, and good portions of Austin school districts are very good, but will vary by location within the district as well (esp. Austin).

2) Drive to downtown - Well, if neither of you are working downtown with an 8-5 job, that opens up a lot more area than if you are worried about rush hour commute. In my experience, the commute along I-35 (either north or south) during rush hour is pretty miserable. From SW Austin, the commute is annoying during rush hour, but not miserable. I have not commuted in from NW Austin since the toll roads but it USED to be pretty ugly.

3) Homes (4/2, $275-$325k). Well, not sure what sq footage you are looking for, so that will play a part, but this is pretty easy in most all the suburban areas and some of the outlying city areas (south, southwest, northwest close in, etc). SW Austin has a close drive to downtown and lots of houses in this range, but pretty much mass development, although places like Travis Country and/or Western Oaks might be your thing. They tend to be older houses in those areas, and might be more your idea of what you want.

[mark311]

It sounds like you need to investigate Circle C and Steiner Ranch. It would also be worthwhile to investigate some parts of Cedar Park and Round Rock in comparison. Of course all of the areas above will have their pluses and minuses.

You'll probably have to accept the cookie-cutter thing in your price range. A lot of the neighborhoods in that price range do a good job of making the cookie-cutter neighborhoods look as non-cookie-cutter as possible if that makes sense.

I agree with Trainwreck's post above. I just posted the safest bets that will tend to meet most of your most important wants. I assumed that good/great schools trumped everything else. The "not horribly congested drive to downtown" is a tough one unless you live in central Austin.

[shankaupas]

Cedar Park (Leander ISD) and Round Rock (Round Rock ISD) both have good to very good schools with lots of young families in new large master planned communities like Red Oaks, Steiner Ranch, River Place, Avery Ranch, Ranch at Brushy Creek, Walsh Ranch, Mayfield Ranch, Behrens Ranch, and Teravista. The drive to downtown Austin during rush hour is not fun but doable in under an hour. Round Rock and Cedar Park tend to be a little cheaper than comparable houses in Southwest Austin. Southwest Austin tends to be more scenic and is closer to downtown. The commute to downtown is much easier coming from the South from neighborhoods like Circle C or Western Oaks. Lakeway (Lake Travis ISD) is West of Austin and has very good schools. Newer homes will be more expensive because this area is right next to Lake Travis.

[shankaupas]

I just read that you want to be close to the Lake. I'm guessing you mean Lake Travis. Steiner Ranch sits between Lake Austin and Lake Travis and has a Lake Club with access to Lake Austin. Steiner Ranch is in the Leander ISD. There are currently 23 homes for sale in Steiner Ranch under $325K with 4 bedrooms and 2+ baths.

[hoffdano]

Perhaps you can get into Lakepointe for that range. LTISD schools, Bee Caves Rd. access, close to Lake Travis, etc.

[shankaupas]

Originally Posted by hoffdano

Perhaps you can get into Lakepointe for that range. LTISD schools, Bee Caves Rd. access, close to Lake Travis, etc.

There are currently 3 homes for sale in Lake Point under $325K with 4 bedrooms. To the OP, one thing you need to consider when looking at various communities is that the tax rate and HOA dues (if you live in an HOA neighborhood) will be different all around the Austin metro area. For instance in Steiner Ranch the tax rate is 2.7% and the HOA dues are $630 / year while in Lake Pointe the tax rate is 2.2% and the HOA dues are $400 / year.

[steph410]

thank you so much. this does help, i am thinking SW Austin suburbs may suit us.