Safe (or relatively safe) areas for single female? (Houston, San Antonio: section 8, renter)

[Talia62]

I plan to move sometime the middle of 2008. San Antonio is one of the places that I am considering for my move. When I arrive I'll want to immediately look for a house to purchase.

As a single female, what general areas of the city will I want to avoid? As far as renting and deciding what areas of the city I like before buying -- the first house I buy there would be converted over to a rental within about a year anyway, and I'll purchase a second home if I like another area of the city better. My basic criteria for buying the first house would be: safe or relatively so for a single female; a 2br or 3br house in the $125k range (does not have to be new); within say, ten minutes of decent grocery shopping.

Racial distribution of the neighborhood is not an issue. Buying a fixer house is not a problem (already renovated two by myself so fixers don't scare me off). Basically I want someplace where I don't have to concealed carry in order to walk my dog, and where I won't need to have bars on the windows to sleep at night.

Looking at a map of the city, I see the 410 makes a big loop. Do I want to be outside of that loop, and if so, do I need to avoid any side of it (N,S,E,or W) in particular? I don't want to spend more than about $125k on a first house there since it will eventually be a rental...

[martinez4]

It really depends more on where you will be working. The commute from one end to the other would be highly undesirable for most people. That info would help a lot:-)

[Talia62]

I don't know that yet, as I won't be looking for a job until I decide where I want to move. Currently I'm looking at about ten different cities right now before I decide. Right now I'm just fishing for general information to see if I want to consider SA.

[firstclassflyer]

You will probably get "less than the normal" amount of help on this, since you said you wanted to convert it to a rental. Not a lot of us enjoy rentals near our homes. Sorry.

[PopsGuysRule]

Originally Posted by Talia62

I plan to move sometime the middle of 2008. San Antonio is one of the places that I am considering for my move. When I arrive I'll want to immediately look for a house to purchase.

As a single female, what general areas of the city will I want to avoid? As far as renting and deciding what areas of the city I like before buying -- the first house I buy there would be converted over to a rental within about a year anyway, and I'll purchase a second home if I like another area of the city better. My basic criteria for buying the first house would be: safe or relatively so for a single female; a 2br or 3br house in the $125k range (does not have to be new); within say, ten minutes of decent grocery shopping.

Racial distribution of the neighborhood is not an issue. Buying a fixer house is not a problem (already renovated two by myself so fixers don't scare me off). Basically I want someplace where I don't have to concealed carry in order to walk my dog, and where I won't need to have bars on the windows to sleep at night.

Looking at a map of the city, I see the 410 makes a big loop. Do I want to be outside of that loop, and if so, do I need to avoid any side of it (N,S,E,or W) in particular? I don't want to spend more than about $125k on a first house there since it will eventually be a rental...

yes, you want to definitely be outside Loop 410, avoid southwest, central, so central, southeast and much of east....
northwest, north central, northeast and some of east, some of west is okay, for the most part, but you still need to scope it out, some areas are better than others.....
North of 1604 can be very nice, but some of it pricier......
good luck....

oh and yes, as someone said, the nicer residential areas really don't want to have renters in their midst.... I think that's true in most locales.......

you didn't say where you are coming from..... ???? just curious ????

[Talia62]

Originally Posted by firstclassflyer

You will probably get "less than the normal" amount of help on this, since you said you wanted to convert it to a rental. Not a lot of us enjoy rentals near our homes. Sorry.

Not that it's anyone's business, but it would be rented to my daughter and her new husband, as a rent-to-own. So it's not like the neighborhood would be getting a section 8 renter coming in. But, if you don't feel like imparting info on your city, that's fine because that reaction also gives me some insight into how friendly people are/are not in that area.

Also PopsGuysRule: I'm currently living in Kansas City (shudder) but was born and raised in California.

[firstclassflyer]

I think that you will find the same types of answers in most locales (unless they don't realize, or don't care, what renters typically do to the neighborhood). Not all, but most. Renters are a sore spot for a lot of us in the nicer neighborhoods, especially when there are more and more of them. We shudder.
When you wrote that "you renovated 2 by yourself already" and "it will be converted over to a rental within about a year"... what were we supposed to think?
You'll find that most of us are extremely helpful and friendly. Had you added some more detail, I would've been the same. Sorry for that.

[CelesteDF]

I would beg to differ with previous posters who said that you must live outside 410. I am a single mid-30s woman, moved to SA from DC and love the central SA area (Alamo Heights, Monte Vista, Alta Vista, Olmos Park, Mahncke Park and the emerging River North/Pearl District). I am renting a house in Mahncke Park and when I buy it will probably be in Monte Vista or Alamo Heights. All these areas are very safe (well, River North is still "transitional"), neighbors know each other and talk to each other, people walk their strollers and dogs all the time.

When I lived in DC, I specifically chose to live in Georgetown to avoid traffic and be able to take public transit or walk to work. Here in SA, traffic is not quite as bad but I still appreciate the fact that living in Central SA means I have a max. 15 minute commute to just about any part of town. Ask those Stone Oakers how they like their traffic.

The neighborhoods I mentioned above are mainly older ones with homes built between the 1900s-1950s, most of which have already been renovated. Prices can be steep, and if your budget is around $125K then you'd probably be looking at a fixer-upper bungalow in Alta Vista or Mahncke Park and not a renovated mansion in Alamo Heights or Olmos Park. You can also look at newer townhomes and condos in the Quarry area that would be in your price range.

I like living in this part of town because there are real neighborhoods with sidewalks and people walking around, I'm really close to arts and cultural activities/facilities (Trinity and UIW have tons of great programs open to the public), great parks (Brackenridge is amazing, Botanical Center is nearby), close enough to downtown to enjoy it regularly, and people actually talk to their neighbors.

I am single, female, don't own a gun and have not once felt like I needed that kind of protection. Also, no one in these areas will hassle you about buying a house and later turning it into a rental. Granted, many of these neighborhoods are considered more affluent than some parts of town, but there's still a lot of diversity among residents of these areas - own vs. rent, ethnic diversity, income diversity, etc. Hope that gives you another perspective. Welcome to SA!

[hamjeepr]

You could buy a brand new house for that price in the Schertz/Cibolo area north of SA on I-35. All shopping (Walmart, HEB, Kohls, Target, multiple specialty shops...) is within 10 minutes and the property values are only increasing. You can get into approx 1400 to 1600 sq ft in an older house for the $125k range or 1300 sq ft new. I live in a golf course community and I paid $130 for a 4 yo 1700 sq ft house a year ago. Current values have me up $10k. Also, on July 16, 2007 CNNMoney.com rated Schertz:One of the Best Places to Live in Texas and the United States! In Texas, Schertz was ranked #1; Nationwide it came in at #40.

[guerosincero]

I concur with the post by Celeste about north central San Antonio. There has already been a lot of positive change in the six years we have been living in the area (Mahncke Park), and that is only going to accelerate with other things coming online, chief among them the River North expansion. Whether and when the expansion will come as far north as Hildebrand (near the river's headwaters on the Incarnate Word campus) is a matter of funding and time, but with the ultra-lux Broadway condo project being built at the corner of Broadway and Hildebrand, I have a feeling it will spark even more amenities along Broadway and the river section that parallels it.

That being said, the farther south from Broadway/Hildebrand intersection you get, the more sketchy it would seem, though we live smack in the middle of that supposedly sketchy area and love our neighbors and our part of MP.

I think an area that has a lot of potential that may still fit your investment parameters would be Government Hill, which is the area immediately south of Mahncke Park. Like Mahncke Park, it is bounded to the west by Broadway and to the east by Fort Sam Houston. It extends roughly from Mulberry to Grayson. It is somewhat caddy-corner to the Pearl development, which is already generating a lot of positive things in that part of Broadway.

The neat thing about Government Hill is that it is a very limited number of houses in a neighborhood that abuts the fence to Fort Sam, which is itself about to undergo tremendous growth due to Army South moving in. Over the years, folks have been doing a lot of fixing up in Government Hill, and I think that it may appreciate the fastest because it is the closest neighborhood to the funded part of the River extension and there are a very limited number of houses that need to be rehabbed before the entire neighborhood can be said to be completely transformed.

Another plus is that folks in this area don't mind landlords so long as they are responsible, and it sounds like you have every intention of being that kind of landlord.