Move to SA - Alamo Heights vs. Boerne? (Lackland AFB, Howe: housing, rent)

[anbest2008]

I am a new member though have been reading many posts over the past few months to get up-to-date. I am new to military, my spouse will be most likely working at Lackland AFB, Wilford Hall, in August. We are currently living in Pennsylvania and have an elementary-aged child. We are looking for a great public school, nice community, and tolerable commute for spouse (30 minutes or less).

Some of the recommendations I've received were for the Alamo Heights ISD or Boerne ISD. Looking at mapquest however, they seem like commutes over 30 minutes. Reading other messages, it seems NISD or NEISD are also good districts, but I have heard about overcrowding issues.

We would be renting first, possibly buying in about a year. I appreciate any advice anyone may have about the schools and commute issues.

[dvlpr]

Lackland will be a much, much easier commute from Alamo Heights.

AH (mostly) resembles a traditional urban neighborhood (houses on smaller lots, small-scale street retail, etc.). It's 4 miles from downtown, has great architecture throughout, and really does feel a bit like a small-town (it's an incorporated city, seperate from SA, with its own mayor, police, fire, etc.). Plus, it has (without question) the best grocery store in SA (Central Market) if you guys like food and wine!

Boerne has a charming historic main street, but the majority of the housing stock is bigger homes on acreage lots. I would say that Boerne is much more auto-dependant that AH, and as that generally area continues to develop, I would argue that the traffic is going to go from bad to awful! Still, it is in the Hill Country, which many people really enjoy.

Both are great public schools (they're both 4A - the second largest size high school class in TX) - arguably two of the best in the entire area.

From my perspective, it would really depend on your tolerance for traffic. Personally, I would never spend 45-60 minutes each way making the commute from Boerne to Lackland. I would guess it's more lik 20-30 minutes from AH. But, then again, I don't need to live on a 1+ acre lot, and some people really enjoy that.

Just remember that, when it comes to traffic in SA, this is a growing city that has great prospects for continued growth, and suburban traffic is going to continue to get much, much worse.

Welcome to SA!

[anbest2008]

Thanks for much for the quick reply to my post, your information is immensely helpful. It sounds like Alamo Heights may be exactly what we're looking for. We live in an area right now that has all of those same qualities. We love the older urban neighborhoods with sidewalks, mature trees, and places you can walk to. The market sounds great too, we do love food and wine!

Thanks again for the info.

[smuboy86]

You can also look just outside of Alamo Heights, in Northwood that feeds to NEISD. Much like AH you have an established Elementary School, again close by to Central Market. Tons of mature trees, kids walk to the elementary school. It's quite a bit less than AH, at least it was, property tax will be less.

[Bowie]

Simply put, the difference between those two upscale destinations is as follows: Alamo Heights = old money and high density living near the city; Boerne = new money and low density living away from the city.

[anbest2008]

One of the drawbacks with our current community is that there is virtually no ethnic diversity, however we were happy there was socio-economic diversity. If the affluence of these areas translates into no diversity than we may want to broaden our target areas. Unfortunately, the case is often the better school districts are in areas with little diversity (at least here in Pennsylvania).

[Chakapu]

For what it's worth, the southtown/downtown area has both ethnic and socio-economic diversity, and the local schools are excellent, despite the fact the school district itself is much maligned. The elementary charter school (hopefully to become k-8 soon) and the high school is well regarded.

However, the socio-economic diversity may be changing

[Cookiemeister]

Alamo Heights is really a beautiful old neigborhood with the best school district but it will cost you a whole lot of cash-o-la. Forget Boerne... you don't want a long commute everyday and SA has alot more to offer IMO.