Just visited san antonio (Mission, Spring: apartment, to rent, lofts)

[lollygagger428]

Originally Posted by dpantle

I live up in Bulverde, and when I drive into San Antonio a couple of times a week, I ask myself: Where are all these people coming from? Have none of these folks who claim that people are moving away from SA ever been on 281 N, I-35 N, I-10 W?

I also ask myself where is all the $$ coming from that we have droves of new $500K + homes? If I had any complaint about SA, it's that it can't keep up with the recent decade of growth.

We wondered the exact same thing, while out house-shopping, because the prices don't match the average salaries around here. We asked the builder's rep in Napa Oaks after considering a home purchase there and she said it's Mexican Nationals coming up with cash, so no mortgage needed.

[BoerneMan]

Originally Posted by lollygagger428

We wondered the exact same thing, while out house-shopping, because the prices don't match the average salaries around here. We asked the builder's rep in Napa Oaks after considering a home purchase there and she said it's Mexican Nationals coming up with cash, so no mortgage needed.

Mexican Nationals are certainly part of it, but that segment of the market is much more prevalent in Stone Oak/Sonterra than in the Boerne/Fair Oaks Ranch area. There are thousands of million dollar plus net worth families that live along the I-10 corridor, and plenty of them bring home household income of $250k to $1mm+ per year (and some much more than that). The vast majority of these are not Mexican Nationals, but a few are.

Most of these households can be characterized as doctors (heavily Medical Center focused), business executives (USAA, Valero, KCI, NuStar, Security Service FCU - all headquarters facilities) and business owners/executives based in other cities but choosing to raise their family in the Texas Hill Country (usually Boerne schools).

I'm seeing new homes around me in the $750k to $2mm range starting construction weekly, and for the most part, I would say that people tend to live well below their means in Boerne/Fair Oaks. Like you, I have always wondered who all these people are that are moving in and can afford to live in homes this expensive. Now that I have been here for some time and have had a chance to get to know a lot of these people, I thought I would share my findings.

[dpantle]

Yeah, I can certainly see "some" of these homes being purchased by Mexican Nationals, but it couldn't possibly account for even 10% of those sales. Otherwise, it would have to be pretty noticeable. I think the influx of Californians must add to the mix as well. We're seeing more and more Californians up here in Bulverde/Spring Branch everyday.

[SweethomeSanAntonio]

Originally Posted by HeyEng

Not much else to cover here...but thanks for backing up some of my observations even though you knew people would be all up on you saying "NO!! NO!! NO!!". I think it is fair to show some of the negatives as well. When we first moved to San Antonio, we were super excited...we had visited a couple of times and had a blast!!! But...things really didn't pan out when we moved there. But, on occassion, we would get a hotel downtown and be "tourists" again and would have a good time.

As an aside, your comment about being cut off in the stores reminded me of an experience at Lowe's. My wife and I were standing in line to return something when a Hispanic woman cut us off...no question asked. When I queried her actions, she mumbled something in Spanish and said "no habla Englais"..well, until she got the register when she then said "I need to get my money back". I don't like making scenes, but I did that day!!!

Originally Posted by scottcc

I posted awhile back looking for recommendations on places to live in SA as i have an opportunity to move there for work.

I wanted to share some of my thoughts on the area and see if you folks that live there can shed some light or correct my impressions.

We stayed in the contessa hotel downtown on the riverwalk. Downtown is very busy as expected. But i was taken aback on the amount of homeless folks in the downtown area. We ate at the whataburger on the corner of commerce i think it was? the first day since it was the first place we spotted when we left the hotel. In the 15 mins we were in there i think we saw three homeless folks come up and clean through the street side garbage can.

Later that day we walked around the area of the riverwalk up to the rivercenter mall etc. In the hour and a half or so we were walking around i think we got approached 3 times asking for money or to buy someone food and at least once by some rather rough looking guy asking us to buy some tacky looking purse i swear he produced from under his shirt.

The next day we took the rental car and drove around some neighborhoods looking at some of the houses the realtor had given us. Most of the morning we were up in the leon valley area. The thing that struck me about this area was that the houses themselves were mostly nice looking but the area itself looked a bit run down. not sure how to explain what i mean by that, just a general impression. In the 3 hours or so that we were around that area i think we saw police have people pulled over doing car searches and the occupants had hands on the hood 2 or 3 times i beleive? We also saw a car pass us that looked like someone had shot the gas tank area with a shotgun.

We worked our way up to the stone oak area. I think i was on evans drive or stone oak parkway? It was a curvy road that went down a hill. This area was very pretty and was pretty much exactly what i was looking for. But of course once we looked at the rent costs..... We stopped at an HEB in the area and ended up chatting up some locals. At which point we asked about crime in this area and they mentioned that someone in their gated community was assaulted a few weeks ago and they had all had their cars broken into in the last year.

Later that night, maybe around 730, i ventured out of the hotel again on foot and within 30 seconds i saw police hauling someone into a paddywagon and maybe 10 mins later i got chatted up by someone who was rather pushy and kept trying to get me to go into this courtyard/alley type area. Thankfully a bike cop came by and i flagged him down 'asking for directions' and the person that was harassing kind of disappeared.

Now I've lived in Minneapolis for a few years and frankly, i saw more police action in 2 days in SA than i saw in 2 years in Minneapolis and frankly it was a little disheartening and really gave a feeling that this city isn't that safe at all. Even the 'nice' areas evidently have issues, and to live in the areas where you would actually feel relatively safe your going to be paying 1800k + rent.

Are my impressions of SA really accurate or did i just have a bad experience?

I grew up in Seneca Estates (homes priced 150k to 450k) in Leon Valley and the neighborhood was quite nice, large custom homes built in the 70's, nothing run down about this neighborhood and actually any neighborhood in Leon valley. The drought has taken a toll on our landscapes making things look a bit rough but I wonder how cities like Minneapolis or charlotte would fair if they experienced the same conditions? It would be no different. (;

[thenewtexan]

The Mexican Nationals and transplants from coastal blue states are what is causing this phenomenon. Recently, an article came out and said that SA was the most socioeconomically segregated city in the country. It makes perfect sense when you see NEISD schools like Reagan and Johnson where the 40% of the graduating class has a 4.0 or better, in the same city where the dropout rates in other parts of the city are over 30 percent.

OP: I think you just had a bad experience. I've lived here seven years and have never been a victim of a crime. I moved to SA from an area where the worst crime was an eight year old kid stealing a pack of gum. LOL... Don't let all the negative nancies on this board scare you away. That usually happens when people aren't happy with other aspects of their lives.

[hillcountrywinefan]

Originally Posted by thenewtexan

Recently, an article came out and said that SA was the most socioeconomically segregated city in the country.

I'd love to read this article, do you have the link?

[lollygagger428]

Originally Posted by BoerneMan

Mexican Nationals are certainly part of it, but that segment of the market is much more prevalent in Stone Oak/Sonterra than in the Boerne/Fair Oaks Ranch area. There are thousands of million dollar plus net worth families that live along the I-10 corridor, and plenty of them bring home household income of $250k to $1mm+ per year (and some much more than that). The vast majority of these are not Mexican Nationals, but a few are.

Most of these households can be characterized as doctors (heavily Medical Center focused), business executives (USAA, Valero, KCI, NuStar, Security Service FCU - all headquarters facilities) and business owners/executives based in other cities but choosing to raise their family in the Texas Hill Country (usually Boerne schools).

I'm seeing new homes around me in the $750k to $2mm range starting construction weekly, and for the most part, I would say that people tend to live well below their means in Boerne/Fair Oaks. Like you, I have always wondered who all these people are that are moving in and can afford to live in homes this expensive. Now that I have been here for some time and have had a chance to get to know a lot of these people, I thought I would share my findings.

I can't speak about the Stone Oak/Sonterra aspect because we only looked up I-10 and that's what we were told at several new subdivisions. My spouse reminded me we told the same thing when asking at Cresta Bella (past the RIM). Really nice houses but way too close together and very expensive...sales rep said Mexicans are buying them.

[thenewtexan]

Originally Posted by hillcountrywinefan

I'd love to read this article, do you have the link?

Income is S.A.'s great divider - San Antonio Express-News

[hillcountrywinefan]

Originally Posted by thenewtexan

Income is S.A.'s great divider - San Antonio Express-News

Thanks!!

[rynetwo]

The company I work for has 2000 people employed in San Antonio and well over 300 are paid well enought to buy a 450k home. I know people think San Antonio is a poor uneducated city but they are wrong. (At least about the poor part)