Please Help new comers! Eagles Bluff by Medallion Homes (San Antonio: wood floors, renting)

[PakBrain]

Recently moved to San Antonio (from MN!) while looking for warm weather

We are now planning to buy a house and a community called "Eagles Bluff" off of Babcock & Hausman Rd. looks attractive. I'll be going to USAA so Babcock, Prue, Fredricksburg Rd seems 10-15 minutes commute, and my kids can attend new Elem. School they are building on Babcock & De-Zavala by DR Horton's Bella Seirra.

All in all I like the area but have some concerns:

1 - I am told by colleagues Medallion Homes has a very good repute. What you guys think? They are local builders and not much information is available.

2 - Eagles Bluff is very small community (100 housing units) and is very expensive as compared to other communities around this area. I noticed 100K+ difference in same-sized housing units around 1 mile radius and don't see any catalysts around. Do you think this place can appreciate well in next 5 years (if housing market is not bad over-all )

3 - UTSA campus is about a mile from here. Would not there be too many students hanging around? Wondering is UTSA good or bad to be so close?

4 - Sounds like a bad time to buy a house but I am sick of renting now. Saw very impressive gains on San Antonio housing market charts last three years but confused if it has the steam to go up for couple more years? I am fine with being steady but going down is going to hurt

5 - CENTX is building much bigger community off of Hausman Rd & I-10. They called me couple of times offering big incentives ($30K off of listed price!) and a colleague of mine has bought house there. But to me, for some odd reason, this place looks like town-homes not single-family homes and streets are way too crowded/congested. But Centex is selling a 2800 Sq Ft house for 160K (w/ incentives) and Medallion is selling the same house for 260K .. what is the catch? and this is when Centex seems to have a better location to me

Thanks for your time.

PakBrain

[Insomniac]

In terms of the Medallion Homes location, I think some catalysts would be the Medical Center in close proximity as well as UTSA and without a doubt the shopping at 1604 and 10 with The Shops at La Cantera, The Rim and the future developments of La Joya and The Landmark.

Here's Medallions website.

Energy efficient home in San Antonio - green building - energy star builders for San Antonio and USA

[neddy]

We used to live down the street in Hart Ranch off De Zavala so we were close to UTSA also but I think only one house had students in it that were loud so not as much as a problem. My friend has a medallion home and they really like it and I have gotten a price list from Centex and they seem to charge you for everything (light on the garage $150 vs the Medallion home had it included in the price) do look at the price list.

[jules07]

I've been thru the Medallion neighborhood, but not the Centex. Personally, I much prefer Medallion as a builder. They seem to build a much better product (alot of Centex neighborhoods are very plain/cheap looking, they tend to strip the lots of trees much more, and I just don't like many of their floorplans, always seems to be a little glitch ). And like Neddy said, much of what is an option with Centex is standard with Medallion. If you add up all the "options" at Centex, the price becomes much more similar. Really compare the energy efficiency features as well. Monthly utility bills can make a big difference. I noticed this summer when I was showing homes that as we walked thru a couple vacant Centex homes, they were much warmer than the vacant Medallions I had been thru. Just food for thought. (I think the Eagle's Bluff neighborhood is really pretty, btw!)

[940]

From looking at the Medallion website, it seems that Eagle's Bluff and Trophy Ridge (off Potranco and 1604) are the only two neighborhoods that have been "Certified as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's Texas Wildscapes Program"....maybe because of this, they feel they're able to charge a premium for the homes and home sites in the community?? As was mentioned....new elementary school coming and new Brandeis High coming next year too for Eagle's Bluff (new middle school planned also).

[firstclassflyer]

Our "Centex" home seems quite efficient. Very happy with the floor plan as well, after looking at many, many homes (and builders) both new and pre-owned. We have the 4 Br 3 Ba model with game room (that can be walled and made into the 5th Br very easily. It was important that we have at least 1 Br downstairs as my wife and I both have elderly parents who have a hard time with steps.
We have the radiant barrier and the solar screens (on the front of our home). Our first 2 bills have been right around $100 (this includes running the jacuzzi motor). We are at 2700 sq ft. 4 years old.
You are correct in that we have no trees in the yard. We actually prefer it that way. No leaves in the gutters, less bugs up high... etc. We intend to plant some small "non bee attracting" things (allergic) in the spring. Will have to go to the local nursery to see what our options will be. Any suggestions?

[ALQNsMommy]

PakBrain!

We moved here from ND in June ... the summers are going to kill you!!! LOL!! It is seriously so humid here that you will think you are melting. My kids were beyond miserable. Only happy one was hubby because he was working in air conditioning all day and not running back and forth with three kids in tow! I've read a couple of other positive comments on other strings about Medallion. Hope all goes well for you with that. We purchased from Meritage Homes and have been in a living hell ever since. A builder like Meritage never would have lasted in ND. Never seen such shoddy workmanship. From what I hear, it's like that all over the city. What a rude awakening. Ahhh, what I wouldn't give for some snow!

[MichelleSG]

The first house we've ever owned was/is a Medallion spec home. We love it and the warranty service is stellar. You get 1 person to work with in the Medallion office (which is very close to the neighborhood you are looking at) so it's not like you get lost in the paper work shuffling or anything. We love our home and it is very nice quality. Ours was a spec home so we didn't get to choose anything but it never bothered us. We have wood floors, crown moulding, and canister lights plus a bunch of other upgrades I probably wouldn't have thought of (42 inch cabinets, I'm 5'1", I've never seen the top level of these cabinets). I was sold on a Medallion Home in Stone Oak but you couldn't pay me enough to move to Stone Oak so we are in Sonoma Ranch. I have yet to find a neighbor that isn't happy with their experience with Medallion. The homes are pretty energy efficient too, we keep ours cold in the summer and hot in the winter. I've never had a CPS bill come close to $200 and we're in a 2 story with one a/c unit. Most 2 stories have 2 a/c units but our house is only 2200sqft so we only needed 1 unit. Good luck and have fun house hunting!

[Cookiemeister]

I would recommend an older home in Castle Hills or Oak Hills or neighborhoods off of N.W. Military or Vance Jackson... all are close to USAA. I am leary of the craftsmanship and flemsy materials they use these days to build homes. Not sure the schools would be what you are looking for in the Oak Hills area.

[940]

The Oak Hills area on the north side of Callaghan Rd is in the Northside ISD/Marshall HS zone..the south side of Callaghan is in the San Antonio ISD/Jefferson HS zone. Either side of the street has terrific larger and older homes with lots of trees and hills.