Confused about SA (San Antonio, Austin, New Braunfels: apartments, high crime, houses)

[Newbie2SanAntonio]

I'm a single female w/o any kids from Seattle who originally planned on moving to Austin (hence the old handle). However, last month I flew to TX and roamed around I-35 for 8-days and discovered that Austin is far too busy of a city for me, not to mention way out of my price range of $130-135.

The San Antonio area seems more my style considering I'm an out door type of gal who loves to dive and will soon learn how to ride a motorcycle. I did roam around New Bransfeld for a couple of days and know about the diving around that area. However, I'm a horrible road-rage-queen and would like something convenient for my day-to-day driving and New Bransfeld can be saved for weekend drives.

My plan is to relocate to an apartment until I get a feel for the area. However, I'm having a heck of a time trying to locate a furnished apartment for a reasonable price. Any suggestions? I've been looking online quite a bit and located apartments that advertised as being furnished at a reasonable price ($500 month). But when questioned further, I discovered they weren't but plain, unfurnished apartments. My intent is to return to school at the local community college until I obtain my legal residency and onto UTSA afterwards

I really enjoyed the peaceful feeling while visiting the downtown area; I was amazed how beautiful the River Walk actually was in person. What shocked me the most was the fact that there was virtually no traffic at 5:20 PM on a Tuesday evening! But yet, I was warned about a basketball tournament (Spurs?) which apparently makes traffic intolerable during the month of March. Is that true? If so, does it happen every March?

I loved the feel of the Northern portion of SA and have read many previous posts which state that the North Central area is a pretty decent place to live. Does anybody know specific areas that I ought to look or do you have any advice regarding the northern portion?

Although I loved the style of houses and the quiet, country living of Cibolo (not to mention that the property taxes were a lot lower). But I noticed that there were a lot of housing developments in a centralized location with only a two-lane road (1103?) to get through. Does anybody know whether they're planning on expanding the infrastructure or will it continue to be wall-to-wall traffic coming and going? Come to think of it, I don't recall seeing too many stores located around that area. How long of a drive would it be (average) from either downtown or northern SA (UTSA) to Cibolo during rush hour traffic?

Also, when roaming around the Sea World area, I saw a LOT of gang tags on various street signs. Are gangs prevalent in that area? Other than the Southern portion of SA, are there any other areas that are predominantly high-crime, gang affiliated areas? After just returning from being in Iraq the last 3-years--I really don't want to live in an area that I feel the need to carry around my 9mm when grocery shopping or going jogging.

I know that I'm all over the page when it comes to my questions. But I would appreciate any feedback that anybody is willing to give me.

[firstclassflyer]

You can find the answers to all of these questions if you just do a search in this forum. Most of your questions have been discussed extensively. Heck, there are even small maps that show high crime areas, where/when SAPD has used Taser etc....it's all there. Search and you shall find.

[michelangelosa]

That March tournament you're talking about is the NCAA Mens Final Four. It does happen every year but in different cities. It's like the Sueprbowl, in that it's rotated between a few cities every year. San Antonio last played host in 2004.

[michelangelosa]

As for gangs, there is somewhere in the neighborhood of 8,000 gang members in the metro area. Compared to LA which has over 200,000 gang members.

SA is a very safe city, and the south side isn't a high crime area like your post insinuates. You will not have to walk around with a gun.

[Newbie2SanAntonio]

Originally Posted by firstclassflyer

You can find the answers to all of these questions if you just do a search in this forum. Most of your questions have been discussed extensively. Heck, there are even small maps that show high crime areas, where/when SAPD has used Taser etc....it's all there. Search and you shall find.

Although I searched through quite a few forums, apparently I didn't get far enough. Most forums I read were regarding good schools for kids which isn't applicable to me. But thanks for the quick response.

[rd2007]

My son just finished apartment shopping and I would highly suggest you look at something higher than $500/month, especially if you have kids. He found one in an OK area and is paying $538/month for it and it is only a one bedroom with something like 750 SF of space. $500/month for a multiple bedroom apartment is not going to be in a good area at all, unless someone knows a secret I don't.
As far as road rage, I'm a good candidate for king and it is all a result of driving around these people here.. I've lived in quite a few states and been almost all the way around the world and the only place I've seen with worse drivers is southern florida and it's not by much.. The traffic isn't all that terrible, but the drivers make it much worse than it should be. They love to hog the left lane drive well below the speed limit, come to complete stops at yield signs, and a million other retarded things. I've resorted to working at night to escape them..

[michelangelosa]

Try this site.

[ChrisSA_wxatUIW]

Well, yes places like Cibolo and New Braunfels are nice places to live (I even have family in Cibolo), but if you are a "road-rage-queen", the I-35 corridor can be hell many times (more like all the time unless it's at, say, 2am)(<1604 can be like this too). North Central is nice, as is the Northwest and West sides outside the loop (loop 410). As far as the tagging by Sea World, I doubt there's any real gang activity out there, those are probably just bored hoodlem wannabe trouble makers. The only real bad parts of town are parts of the South side, the East side, and probably the very very inner West side.

As far as Community Colleges, there's quite a few to chose from, so I guess it would just depend on where you live as to which one would be more convienient for you. Northwest Vista is the only one I can think of off the top of my head that isn't in the inner city area, and that's over by Sea World off of TX 151. I have quite a few friends that go to that College and they tell me it's a really nice school. UTSA is also on the NW side, so maybe living on that side of town would be convienient for you. As far as I know, the prices for most living over there are fairly low and reasonable- you should check it out...

Hope I could help!

[michelangelosa]

Northwest Vista is going through major expansion right now. It's amazing all the stuff they're building.

[adtobias]

try boerne better area