I'm coming home!! (now where should we live?) (San Antonio, Elm Creek: house, neighborhoods)

[Bo]

Originally Posted by LittleTPot

Thanks. I'll check out Windcrest. If we were to live on the northeast side, how tough would it be for me to get downtown if I got a job at one of the universities such as St. Mary's, OLL, or Incarnate Word? I'm used to Chicago traffic, but the boards make it sound as if San Antonio traffic is the work of Satan. Any feedback is appreciated.

SA traffic is a snap compared to Chicago traffic. Fewer lanes to deal with. Fewer periods of utter gridlock. Fewer places where the average speed is 10+ MPH over the limit. And above all, there are no tollbooths!

If you can cope with Chicago traffic, you'll do fine in San Antonio traffic.

[LittleTPot]

Thanks again for everyone's feedback. We're gathering some good information about neighborhoods and will hopefully travel to San Antonio this spring to look for a house.

I have another neighborhood question. Is anyone familiar with Northwood? I found some nice ranches with hardwood floors that are in the NEISD. It also looked as if I-10 was an easy shot from there, but I have no idea 1) what the neighborhood is like and 2) how bad the traffic would be getting out of San Antonio to Houston.

Thanks again for the great information. My mother basically wants me in her backyard (Fossil Ridge), but for those prices the best we could do is a pup tent in her backyard. Plus, I want to find a neighborhood in San Antonio that would be a good fit for us, culturally, aesthetically, etc.

[smuboy86]

Oh oh I'm from Northwood! It's a great neighborhood. The neighborhood is upper middle class. You'll find every age group, from young families to military retirees. It all revolves around Northwood Elementary School, which is at the center of the neighborhood. To me it's the perfect location, you are close to the airport, Alamo Heights shopping and restaurants, movie theaters. You are on the northeast side so you are close to I35 which takes you to I10 east. Other than that you really don't have to travel far for the things you need, Almost never outside 410 and certainly not outside 1604.

[PopsGuysRule]

Originally Posted by LittleTPot

It's official! After a 17 year absence, I'm moving back to Texas. I still can't believe it's true, but my husband accepted a job this morning that will take us to the city of our choice in Texas.
All feedback is appreciated. While I'm certainly going to miss the seasons, public transportation and food in Chicago, I'm so very excited to get back to my "home country"!

.....snipped for relevance......


You won't miss the seasons after about one New York minute.....

[LittleTPot]

SMUBoy, great info. Thanks so much. It's nice to get a feel for the neighborhoods. Coming from an old house in a lovely community, I'd love to find another home with character, but I know those can be hard to come by.

Popsguy, I'm sure you're right. I bet next week when the Chicago temps fall back down to highs of 20 or so,I'll be pretty thrilled to not have to deal with this next year. I love it when my mom calls to tell me about the "cold snap" in San Antonio with highs of 40. That's balmy by Chicago standards!

[Cookiemeister]

Try checking out the following neigborhoods on mysa.com. Go to real estate to view what is available in your price range on MLS. Mahncke Park, Olmos Park Terrace, Alta Vista, Bel Meade, Devonshire or Devonshire Terrace, Monticello Park, Bel Meade, Oak Hills, Castle Hills. Some of these areas are centrally located, some are close toI-10/downtown and a straight shot to Houston. Have you talked to a realtor? Northwood is nice but I doubt that you could find a home for less than 350K. A friend of mine actually found a nice house in Monte Vista for 350K... he was lucky! Some of these areas are not in the greatest school district but alot of folks send their kids to private schools. Try the following zip codes: 78209, 78201 to view the entire spectrum. I think I am missing some decent areas with older homes so you might want to check again with a realtor. I don't know all the areas around town. There are alot but some are tucked away.

[LouisC9999]

Originally Posted by firstclassflyer

These locals think that the traffic is bad. Anyone coming from major cities such as Chicago (you) San Diego, NYC (me) KNOW that this traffic is child's play.

I moved to the Dallas area (following the job) since 2001 and I'm counting the minutes until I can move back to my beloved San Antonio.

Rush hour traffic on every highway starts at around 3pm and lasts until around 7pm. Throw large travel distances into the mix and you have my least favorite characteristic of this area.

Whenever I visit SA nowadays, regardless of the traffic or my destination, I'm there within 15 minutes.

[marcos17]

Originally Posted by smuboy86

You could always try Windcrest on the Northeast side, home are older. You are still in NEISD, which imho is better than JISD. You have a pretty easy shot to I-10, the airport, and Windcrest just scored a major economic windfall with Rackspace moving there.

Yea. I live in the south side, you can try the South side of downtown where there are many old style houses some built in the 1950s but dont look to far south because that is known to be the gang area also the East and West sides. But as long you are in the North side which is the fast growing part of town so dont be suprised if everything in the next 5years changes like traffic, population growth, new schools which could make your child transfer to a new or different schools and they do mix the kids up to level out the school population. So it depends but north side is mostly good but here where I lived all my 17 years of life its bad due to gangs, floods when a big rain storm comes plus we all know that we are know as flash flood alley, more people die here every year than tornatos, hurricans and oh yea man!! Hurricans!!! They are bad when it comes to San Antonio, the city is like a refugee hub for the people near the coast so yea they flee here. I would really consider, New Braufels or Austin, Texas. Its kinda far but its about 1hr depending how fast you drive. Because I can tell you man, San Antonio in the next 5-10years will be really different!! I know that because I can see changes every day!! Plus yea I really think its going be hard to find an old home here because most of them are near downtown and yea the prices are going to very high! Well a few days ago I was riding my bike through Dever Heights area and there are gorgous old big houes there! Which is also near a huge park and schools are ok too. But I think that is the best I can match for you. If it helps even more go to mysa.com and click the real-estate section. They have things like area code search homes, price range, bedrooms, and ect. They have tons of stuff. You can even see some houses outside the area by near by towns too!. Cuidarte. Manejarme una cantacto para mas. Nos vemos. Y tambien yo esperance te gusta la casa de tuyo.

[victorian4me]

I live in the east side of San Antonio, Denver Heights is my neigborhood. I have lived here for eight years and I like it. Most of the gang members around here are senior citizens. The younger ones have moved to the North Side. Here you will find some beautiful Victorian homes some need repairs but for the most part investors have already fixed them up. This area has a bad reputation, maybe because once upon a time an 80+ year old lady killed an intruder. Since then nobody messes with the seniors of Denver Heights. Take a look at the Victorian I found back in 2000 go to [url=http://photoshow.com/members/victorian]PhotoShow | dora's PhotoShows[/url] click The Elizabeth Bowen Nelson House. Good Day

[Chaka]

Lavaca.
Lavaca.
Lavaca.
Did I say Lavaca?

Seriously. 100+ year old homes, many in excellent condition now. Getting pricey but still less than Alamo Heights.
Walking distance to downtown (I used to work on E. Commerce near Market Sq and walked every day)
Excellent local school - Bonham Elementary, a highly rated charter school. Excellent HS as well - Brackenridge. In SAISD but these schools are well ranked.
Easy shot east on I-10 to Houston. Easy access to all major highways as they converge downtown.
Very easy to OLLU, Trinity, St. Mary's. The longest commute would be UTSA and that's mostly against traffic so not too bad.
Short walk to First Friday or, like tonight, Luminaria, and other arts events.
Easy walk to wonderful independent restaurants, cafes, bars, clubs.
Real community oriented neighborhood. Lots of old timers and lots of new families.
Wonderful view of the NYE Fireworks from the Tower.

We looked all over Bexar County when buying - though were already renting in Lavaca - and after looking a lot of other neighborhoods, we knew we wanted to stay in Lavaca.
I posted some pictures in another thread.

it's not so close to Fossil Ridge, but not so far either.

FYI - Lavaca is the neighborhood bounded by Durango, I-37, S. Presa and ...probably Hwy 90 but I'd stay north of Florida St. I just took some new pics today. I'll try to post them somewhere.