What can you tell me about these 2 locations (West, Shavano Park: low income, 2014)

[Deriggs007]

Hey,

I'm looking at 2 homes in these 2 communities. What can anyone tell me about them, I know they aren't in the most desirable locations, but I'm only going to be here 3 years, and like it for the price of the homes we are looking it.

Westward Pointe and Lakeview. Both of them are off of Marbach, Westward pointe is a little further and has no city taxes, but SE ISD, Lakeview has city taxes and is NE ISD.

Any info you can tell me about, to help sway my decision?

[ashbeeigh]

I think you mean Northside ISD and perhaps Southwest ISD and both are fair to fairly bad areas to be in in the city. There are worse areas but there are definitely better areas. It's no different than the other areas you have asked questions about in previous threads. It sounds like you're going to buy in these areas and leave in a few years and the house will end up the way all the other homes in the area do. You said you were going to do some research with realtors, did you?

[Pancho-Villa]

Hell holes

[TrapperL]

Good grief. You can sure tell who is from the arrogant side of town. The area is no hell hole. Lakeview is a KB Home subdivision and is about 10 years old. I'm not aware of any new construction in the subdivision but then I don't frequent it on any regular basis. The biggest issue I would have with it is the area across the road from it has apartments coming up. The future looks like more apartments and offices. Traffic is already insane in the area. So many "bad" people in the area.
Westward Pointe is still having homes built. It's another KB Homes subdivision. It most likely is in the Southwest ISD but Northside ISD is considered one of the better school districts in the State of Texas. You may find that the kids would go to Southwest Elementary and Northside ISD High School. Some of the subdivisions out there have split school districts. The biggest issue about Westward would be that there are low income apartments to be built sometime in the future next door to the Walmart grocery at Marbach and Ellison, about a mile towards town. But there's no set date for construction and it's not set in concrete that it will actually be built. Depending on where you'll be working, Westward offers more easy access to 1604 or Hunt Lane to Hwy 90 or even to Loop 410. Traffic on Marbach is high from Hunt Lane into town in the am and the same stretch of road is bad in the evening. Otherwise, it's a growing area with tons of improvements going on. With Microsoft, Google, Chevron, Ross, Frost Bank, CPS putting in IT Hubs at Westover Hills, the area will always be in demand. Moreso than some of the other areas of SA where the drug dealers have move into. There's also the new Baptist Hospital on 151 and now there seems to be a doc-in-the-box on every corner.
As long as you understand that KB Homes builds the absolute cheapest homes possible but provides more square feet per dollar spent and you're happy about that, I don't see issues with either place. Kb has improved their build quality from the black eye they got back in the late 90's. They were on the news most every evening with unhappy home owners, owners picketing, etc. They have since fired all of the folks in management and now still build as cheap as possible but it's a decent build. If I had to chose between the two subdivisions it would be Westward. It has far more access and far less traffic today.

[Deriggs007]

I agree with trapper. I have been here for 3 years already in Solana ridge. It's not bad in my opinion. I get that there are more desirable areas, but my pockets aren't deep enough for the same home, the bigger commute and the worse traffic.

I work at lackland, Lakeview is closer than westward and is gated and is considered North isd

@trapper. Just for future reference, Lakeview has one home left (One im looking at) westward point has quit building a while ago and is building in overlook at medio and dove creek.

I like both of those communities for location, it's easier than 1604, and I take call every other week, so the closer the better. They maintain it pretty well, and the homes all look well kept.

Yes, they are kb homes, done tons of research. Honestly, anything in my price point (230k or less) seems to be pretty crappy no matter how you look at it. Most new constructions in the south seem that way. Almost like buying a manufactured home.... oh wait lol

Dr Horton home im in has some settling issues, and already had hvac and water heater issues (yes I keep up with them)

I'm torn between either home because of the prices of taxes. City vs no city and the school district. Are southwest and North that much different? I will have a kindergarten and first grader going

Price difference between the home is negligible and one was built 2014, vs new.

Yes, I'm working with a realtor. But the home choice and location was up to me, they didn't really help with that stuff, so here I am.

[ashbeeigh]

Originally Posted by TrapperL

G It most likely is in the Southwest ISD but Northside ISD is considered one of the better school districts in the State of Texas. You may find that the kids would go to Southwest Elementary and Northside ISD High School. .

There's no way that would happen. It might go block by block by there's no way that a kid would go to one district's elementary and the other's high school. Just for an example, Huebner divides NISD and NEISD. There's no way one kid in Shavano Park would go to Blattman Elementary and then to Churchill high school. No way.

Why did OP ask if he's already decided he wants to buy in this area? I'm so confused about this thread.

[Deriggs007]

I asked about these specific communities, any horror stories etc. Crime rate, the soil and foundation, any major issues and so on. I've settled on the specific area, unless someone convinces me to never look here because of some major xyz issues.

Like if westward was going down in value every year, I wouldn't buy here as an example. Or Lakeview was notorious for foundation issues due to that it's on a lake if that makes sense.

The crime rate and location isn't that much different from somewhere 15 more minutes away, but the congestion turns it into 30 minutes hence why I want to stay close to 410 and marbach.

Again, was more or less debating on that general vicinity

[ashbeeigh]

Originally Posted by Deriggs007

I asked about these specific communities, any horror stories etc. Crime rate, the soil and foundation, any major issues and so on. I've settled on the specific area, unless someone convinces me to never look here because of some major xyz issues.

Like if westward was going down in value every year, I wouldn't buy here as an example. Or Lakeview was notorious for foundation issues due to that it's on a lake if that makes sense.

The crime rate and location isn't that much different from somewhere 15 more minutes away, but the congestion turns it into 30 minutes hence why I want to stay close to 410 and marbach.

Again, was more or less debating on that general vicinity

That general 78228, 78227, 78242 (I think) are all the same. There's really no difference from where you are now. Like I said before, fair to fairly bad areas but you could do worse by going south of 90.

[blizzrd]

Eh. I'd stay between bandera and 1604 and 281 and 1604 and I'm talking just inside 1604 and out.

[Deriggs007]

Maybe I just don't understand it, but it'll never make sense to me about some of these "desirable" areas. I typically just try to stay in a reasonable cost area that's reasonable on my commute and reasonable school district and is safe. My wife's family lives here and their kids being in the 'desirable' area don't do much different than my daughter who's going to a "bad" southwest school.

They still follow state standards, do they not? Yes, seems a bit better of a school, but not 60 to 120k more in price better. What makes an area "desirable" to start off with? Especially when it's worse commute, higher prices and so on, lol.

Anyways, the 2 homes I'm considering are: https://www.zillow.com/homes/10348-G...,-TX-78245_rb/

and this one:

https://www.trulia.com/property/3256...tonio-TX-78245

I'm still torn between those 2 and I was hoping the small difference in the area could justify the cost of one over the other. We like them both nearly equally the same, but want outside opinions on which you may or may not like more, and why.

No, we're not asking someone to pick, but hoping we're missing something that we didn't consider before. What's important to you, such as warranty vs's a house being broken in a few years as an example. Resale chances between those 2 locations and so on. We will probably be moving in 4ish years once my contract is up, but possibly staying longer.

Any advice is appreciated. My realtor hasn't really helped much in regards to which home could be more imporant or 'desirable' than the other. She says both should do fine if you were to sell in 3 to 4 years.

Again, looking for advice and personal opinions.