La Cantera Area (San Antonio, Canyon, Kyle: transplants, real estate, houses)

[Cusefan]

My family and I were thinking of relocating to the San Antonio area and after doing some research I found that the La Cantera area has some very nice communities. Does anyone have any information on this area, especially The Ridge at Sonoma Verde?

Also, is this area family oriented. I am looking for an area with lots of young families so my kids have friends. Thanks

[MichelleSG]

The Ridge on Kyle Seale you mean? The Toll Brothers homes? Yes, it's a nice area. The people in the houses directly next to The Ridge are pissed because they used to have beautiful huge houses with nothing but trees around them and Toll Brothers came in and tore out all the trees. Literally leveled the whole mountain and left nothing living. Very strange since most builders assume people are moving to hill country for the trees but Toll Brothers is also putting in town homes there so they didn't need the trees anyway. The Sonoma Ranch area was made specifically for newcomers to San Antonio, particularly famlies. We moved into Sonoma Ranch 3 months ago and I don't think any of our neighbors are from Texas. I know for sure 3 out of my 5 immediate neighbors are from California (plus us makes 4). The neighbors here are really nice too, very friendly with lots of kids, most of them elementary school age.

[lcw]

I also live in Sonoma Ranch and am surrounded by transplants from New York, California and elsewhere. It is a great community with lots of families and excellent schools (at least that is what I hear as my kids are not in school yet). As far as the Ridge, it is nice, but pretty expensive. You can get a much better value if you go to Sonoma Ranch. If you are looking for more established communities, there is Dominion and CrownRidge. Both are very nice with Crownridge being much more reasonable.

[neddy]

From what I have heard Sonoma is a nice neighborhood. I have two boys and I know the schools are good but I think there is an issue with the elem school, Beard over there being capped off in some grades (two many kids so they cap it off and ship the kids elsewhere) They are building a new high school to open 2008 I think acroos 1604. Right now I think you would go to Oconner which is a good abit big school. Loads of other great neighborhoods in the area. I live at 10/De Zavala and look in the Shavano Park area and you might find something you like also.

[Cusefan]

Thanks for all the good info. I guess I have another question. In those communities you mentioned, what are the lots like. Are the houses right on top of each other? We live in Florida now where the houses are about 10 ft apart. I am looking for a little more land.

I would also like to able to see some hills if that is possible in that part of San Antonio.

I was looking at those Toll Brothers homes on Kyle Seale on the internet. I have a TB home now and I am very happy although if I could get just as nice a home for cheaper I wouldn't be upset.

[MichelleSG]

The houses in Sonoma Ranch are from many different builders so it depends on which mini community you lie in as to how big the lots are and how big the house is. We are more than 10 ft apart from our neighbors (more like 20) and we're in the Village at Sonoma Ranch. The Summit at Sonoma Ranch has larger homes, more in the 5000sq ft range and they have bigger lots than us. I don't know who the builders are though. The Toll Brothers homes have razed the land and changed the shape of the hill country that they sit upon more than most. If you have the money there is a nice new subdivision about 5 minutes further up the road from the new Toll Brothers that is only 16 homes, each with 2-8 acres. It's on Babcock Rd about a mile up from where Kyle Seale ends (about 1/4 mile past the Toll Brother homes). They sit atop a hill and have a spectacular view of the north hill country. Also check out Iron Horse Canyon. It's part of Helotes and they have some nice size lots there.
The easiest way to find what different communities in Helotes look like is to go to www. my san antonio .com (get rid of the spaces) and in the upper left hand corner to the real estate button under the mysa.com red dot. Search for property by zip code in the drop down list and put in Helotes zip of 78023. Check out 78255 and 78256 too, there's some nice communities there and they are in the La Cantera area too.

[210]

Here are some pictures of La Cantera I took.

Pictures are of the La Cantera community including: Westin La Cantera, La Cantera Golf Course, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, The Shops at La Cantera and other miscellaneous things:

La Cantera:

[lcw]

What price range are you looking for?

[Latinocowboy]

210, you are pretty awesome there with your photo essays.