Move to SA - Liberal/educated/affordable? (San Antonio, Anton: crime, home)

[Turtle_Mom]

I think that the Deerfield, Castle Hills areas would be a good place to start looking. All of those schools you mentioned are great ones. I would stay away from the mass suburbia of the Stone Oak or Alamo Ranch areas. I have friends who live in the Hidden Forest school area as well as Castle Hills and they fit your descriptions. Of course, there will be a diversity of people there but you have selected good locations to start looking.

[motown mary]

Originally Posted by banker

Just curious...why throw out the Liberal label? Does that really matter when looking for a specific home? I just don't see the point. As far as San Antonio goes - you will find it to be more conservative than most large cities. If you want to live in a Liberal city...Austin is your Texas choice. San Antonio tends to be religious (Catholic and nondenominational) and very patriotic with all the military bases. And the education. In my last neighborhood there was an even mix of college educated folks and hard working blue collar folks. I never had a problem communicating with my neighbors that didn't have the same education level as me. At the price range you are looking - it will be hard to find a neighborhood with all college level or higher educated folks. $200K and below tends to be working class neighborhoods...which isn't a bad thing. But I think you are going to have to be open to the fact that you can't pick your neighbors. The minute you do...they will move and "the cable guy" will move in next door!

Folks from all walks fo life are welcome in San Antonio

That doesn't sound very welcoming to me! Why are you harassing her for wanting to know about certain demographics in the subs she mentioned? Fair housing patrol?

[sapphire]

Originally Posted by motown mary

That doesn't sound very welcoming to me! Why are you harassing her for wanting to know about certain demographics in the subs she mentioned? Fair housing patrol?

He wasn't harassing her. He tried to help her in his first post, then it looks like as an afterthought he asked the follow-up question. Lighten up!! You have already stated that you are miserable here, and it seems like you're looking for more stuff to tick you off!! We really are friendly and helpful here.

[scuba steve]

Originally Posted by banker

I am not going to touch the gay pride issue. Would not be fruitful here...

*snicker*

I'll second Deerfield if only because there'll be at least one other blue state person that lives there after a few weeks (but if you're expecting your Capitol Hill or Ballard type you'll be disappointed... I'm fairly normal). It'll be the house with the full recycling bin and no trash can on garbage days.

[fierce_flawless]

Originally Posted by banker

Just curious...why throw out the Liberal label? Does that really matter when looking for a specific home? I just don't see the point. As far as San Antonio goes - you will find it to be more conservative than most large cities. If you want to live in a Liberal city...Austin is your Texas choice. San Antonio tends to be religious (Catholic and nondenominational) and very patriotic with all the military bases. And the education. In my last neighborhood there was an even mix of college educated folks and hard working blue collar folks. I never had a problem communicating with my neighbors that didn't have the same education level as me. At the price range you are looking - it will be hard to find a neighborhood with all college level or higher educated folks. $200K and below tends to be working class neighborhoods...which isn't a bad thing. But I think you are going to have to be open to the fact that you can't pick your neighbors. The minute you do...they will move and "the cable guy" will move in next door!

<snip>

Sorry, I realize this thread is a couple weeks old but I just had to respond to this.

This statement is kinda crazy. There should be plenty of neighborhoods available in that price range where one would find "educated folks"! Where do you think teachers live? Most of them cannot afford the 200k and up houses... and every teacher friend I've ever had has been what most would consider "educated folk".

Now maybe if you were looking at under 75k then yeah I'd agree, because I live in a working class neighborhood, and my house was under 73k, and yep, most of my neighbors have only a GED or HS diploma or less (myself included, well I have a year of college but a lot of good that does me job-wise)... but I would hardly consider an area where one spends 130-190k on a house "working class". That's funny, unless you truly have no idea what the working class in SA really is surviving on. It surely isn't enough to afford something anywhere near 200k!

And to add to that point, the cable guy is probably NOT going to be moving into anything in that price range anytime soon either (170k-200k)..

As for education, I have no problem communicating with my neighbors either but I don't "click" with them for the most part, and while we have the same education level on paper at least, I find I am more self-educated, interested in art, learning, culture, diversity, creative thinking, etc. than many of those folks that match up with me "statistically". I am thrilled to meet someone around here that wants to talk about something besides Fiesta, beer, and the Spurs. I can understand why the OP asked these questions. I bought what I could afford and I'm not miserable here by any means but I would have preferred a different "feel" to the neighborhood had finances allowed me to be choosy.

By "around here" I mean my little pocket of SA, which is, like another poster mentioned, politically "blue" but socially pretty conservative.

Not trying to be rude but these statements just struck me as absurd.

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by fierce_flawless

Sorry, I realize this thread is a couple weeks old but I just had to respond to this.

This statement is kinda crazy. There should be plenty of neighborhoods available in that price range where one would find "educated folks"! Where do you think teachers live? Most of them cannot afford the 200k and up houses... and every teacher friend I've ever had has been what most would consider "educated folk".

I missed that point the first time around, but have to throw out a data point. The vast majority of our friends hold PhDs, at the very least masters' degrees. I can't think of anyone who spent $200K or more for a house. I do know people who have, but can easily name 20-30 couples who've spent less than that, yet are arguably educated

[CelesteDF]

Originally Posted by fierce_flawless

There should be plenty of neighborhoods available in that price range where one would find "educated folks"! Where do you think teachers live? Most of them cannot afford the 200k and up houses... and every teacher friend I've ever had has been what most would consider "educated folk". <snip> I would hardly consider an area where one spends 130-190k on a house "working class". That's funny, unless you truly have no idea what the working class in SA really is surviving on. It surely isn't enough to afford something anywhere near 200k!

Originally Posted by Chaka

The vast majority of our friends hold PhDs, at the very least masters' degrees. I can't think of anyone who spent $200K or more for a house. I do know people who have, but can easily name 20-30 couples who've spent less than that, yet are arguably educated

I think many posters on this board have automatic price assumptions in their heads because they think only of new development areas. However, I just bought a house in a neighborhood that is considered "transitional" (Tobin Hill) and is full of artists and educated people living side by side with working-class families who have lived here 30, 40, 50 years and more. In fact, I bought my house from two teachers! The house was definitely under $200K as are most of the homes here (3-5 years ago, you'd be hard pressed to spend more than $100K on any house in this area, now most are between $130-200K, wth the occasional outlier). Most of the people moving into this neighborhood are professional, educated and interested in revitalizing the area by refurbishing their own house and being active members of the neighborhood association. Affordable housing is everywhere if you are open to something other than brand new subdivisions.

[Bo]

Originally Posted by scuba steve

It'll be the house with the full recycling bin and no trash can on garbage days.

Good luck with that quest. The list of items that the city accepts for recycling is not as long as it should be.

[713 to 210]

Originally Posted by Topperone

That is not what he or she said. I've stated in another thread (today) the very poor areas of the city. But again, that is not what the poster Hello said.
George W is a Catholic? Arnold Schwarzenegger is Catholic?

The subtle racism is he/she saying most conservatives are that way because of being Catholic (most Catholics in this city are Hispanic) he/she then implies that most Conservatives are not educated. It's a subtle non-direct racism.

You're creating tension where there is none. There is nothing racist about the comment. The mere fact that you call it out as racist is what causes racial tensions to climb. Leave it alone and don't create an issue where there isn't one.

[irishmom2]

I'm a liberal catholic (oxymoron?) and seem to get along just fine in Boerne-yes, Boerne! Full of republicans-yes! Voting was a scream! There are more and more people moving to San Antonio and Boerne from California which seems to mix things up a bit. San Antonians don't seem to be very judegemental-IMO. Before deciding on Boerne, we had narrowed it down to Hollywood Park and Hidden Forest. Hidden Forest Elementary has been recommended to us repeatedly and Bradley Middle and Churchill have wonderful reputations, too! We're looking in the 250K-300K range and there were plenty of homes in Hollywood Park and Hidden Forest. I personally like the fact that Hollywood Park has their own police department annd Hidden Forest has a security guard that drives the neighborhood. They both have kind of their own funky vibe.