Opportunity might bring us to SA, where to live? (Dallas: renting, homes)

[stargazer]

Hello, my husband could be working downtown SA and would like to know about the schools around and some nice areas to live.

We will have a 7th grader who loves theater and choir. Are there any magnet schools there that fit the bill for her age?

We also have a son who will be in 1st grade. He has speech disfluencies and does stutter. Need to find a school that has a highly rated speech pathology department, possibly having a speech stutter expert employed.

We would like to have our son in a good public school as long as the benefit is there for him to go to a speech pathologist and the classroom sizes aren't too huge. Where we live now, I am not too keen on huge school districts where there is only 1 high school for 3000 kids making it extremely competitve to play varsity sports ect. down the road.

We though are more open for finding a place for our daughter away from the public arena. Any University Model Schools with emphasis in Theater and Choir with a good reputation? What about charter schools, do they have a good reputation? What about the private schools?

We can put her in a public setting, we though want to make sure we can explore all options and see what is out there.

We might consider renting for awhile but aren't sure.
If we do decide to buy, we would be looking price wise up to 400K tops with about 3300- 4000 square feet.

Someone told me that electricity in Bexar county was cheap and had 150 dollar light bills for a month in their 2500 square ft. house. Is this due to a co op in Bexar?

Last, my children and I have had lung issues living near industrial areas where they burned tires, had concrete smoke stack kelms that admitted concrete dust into the enviroment. Once we moved away from the area, my family as a whole has been so much better and are not dependent on inhalers or nebulizers anymore. Are there areas to stay away from that admit huge amounts of pollution in the air?

Thank you all in advance

[stargazer]

One more thing, how is traffic?

[banker]

I am building in The Quarry at Iron Mountain. Large lots (start at 1/4 acre) and the homes are large and spacious with great one and two story floor plans. It is located off Sonterra and Hardy Oak just north of 1604 and west of 281N. While it is in Stone Oak - it avoids the horrible traffic of most Stone Oak communities since you can come and go via either Hardy Oak or Sonterra with direct 1604 or 281 access.

If you value 100% brick communities this is one of the few in the $280-$400K price range in north central SA. Great public schools in Stone Oak with some nice private and university model schools within close driving range of this community.

The drive to down town is OK. Sonterra has direct access to 281 - so getting on and heading south is a direct shot.

Best of luck in your search.

[mclor85]

The HS choir scene in SA is pretty big. Reagan HS would be your best bet for choir, not too sure about theater. They always have the most students who make region, and have many that make All-State. Their choir was always my favorite to listen to at UIL. I don't know which are the Reagan feeder schools. You could probably find it on the NEISD website. North East Independent School District, San Antonio, Texas USA

[smuboy86]

I would avoid Stone Oak like the plauge. Your children will be absolutely lost in the schools. Elementary schools there are huge, with enrollments around 900 to almost 1200 kids. Reagan the high school that serves the area has a current enrollment of 3300 kids on a campus that was built for enrollment of 2500 kids.

I would look inside loop 410, at Alamo Heights,but you can't get what you want for 400K it's our version of the park cities. Instead I would look at Northwood, think Preston Hollow, where an asking price of 415k on a 4297 sq ft. home. Northwood feeds in to the small (418 student enrollment) Northwood Elementary school, that is always either rated recognized or exemplary. The high school is MacArthur, very well respected, and not super huge compared to reagan. You also have the choice to the Northeast school for the Arts, or NESA, a magnet at the Lee High School Campus that focuses on all things arts, theater, voice, canvas. You would also be closer to downtown by a large magnitude.

Northwood is also close to St. Mary's Hall, again another well respected school on the private side. I wish you luck, and use this board to your advantage.

[Bo]

Originally Posted by stargazer

Someone told me that electricity in Bexar county was cheap and had 150 dollar light bills for a month in their 2500 square ft. house. Is this due to a co op in Bexar?

Electricity is cheap in areas served by CPS Energy because that gas and electric utility is owned by the city of San Antonio, which has held the line for years on rate increases. Good thing too, because you'll use plenty of electricity running your air conditioning most months of the year.

[banker]

Originally Posted by smuboy86

I would avoid Stone Oak like the plauge. Your children will be absolutely lost in the schools. Elementary schools there are huge, with enrollments around 900 to almost 1200 kids. Reagan the high school that serves the area has a current enrollment of 3300 kids on a campus that was built for enrollment of 2500 kids.

Please take this with a grain of salt. Yes - most sections of Stone Oak are overly congested and gridlocked, but not all areas are. The perimeter neighborhoods are great in terms of location. Also, there is a new high school - "Lady Bird Johnson" set to open up this fall at Stone Oak and Bulverde that will take some of the pressure off of Reagan.

So many people avoid Stone Oak after hearing generalized comments like this - but there are areas close or on the perimeter that are excellent. Look at all your options.

[CelesteDF]

Originally Posted by banker

So many people avoid Stone Oak after hearing generalized comments like this - but there are areas close or on the perimeter that are excellent. Look at all your options.

I find this comment a bit ironic after all the generalizations that get thrown around on this board about the South side and the West side and the East side, with everyone chiming in "don't live anywhere south of 410 except Alamo Heights". Every side of town has its pockets of good and bad, and you just have to learn where the good pockets are.

To stay on topic, I'll concur with banker that not everywhere in Stone Oak is subject to horrifying traffic, just some parts. I will also concur with SMUboy that Northwood (in NEISD) is a great neighborhood for elementary schools. If you are willing to consider a bit smaller home, you can find plenty under $400K in the AH school district, which has excellent support for speech and learning disabilities.

[banker]

Originally Posted by CelesteDF

I find this comment a bit ironic after all the generalizations that get thrown around on this board about the South side and the West side and the East side, with everyone chiming in "don't live anywhere south of 410 except Alamo Heights". Every side of town has its pockets of good and bad, and you just have to learn where the good pockets are.

To stay on topic, I'll concur with banker that not everywhere in Stone Oak is subject to horrifying traffic, just some parts. I will also concur with SMUboy that Northwood (in NEISD) is a great neighborhood for elementary schools. If you are willing to consider a bit smaller home, you can find plenty under $400K in the AH school district, which has excellent support for speech and learning disabilities.

Funny...15 years ago - Stone Oak was one good "pocket" now it has its good and not so good parts.

[stargazer]

Hey all, thanks so much for all the places to look into, please please keep the suggestions coming. I am glad that I was told about Alamo Heights, it gives me perspective on how to compare Dallas to San Antonio. So SMUboy, what would the outerlying areas be compared to the north rim and burbs of Dallas?

Also what would be some zip codes for Northwood and Stone Oak?

We currently live in Mckinney, Texas which is 30 miles north of downtown Dallas, my husbands commute is TERRIBLE. Living close in could help for better quality time for sure.

Another question, my husband was looking at Helio and was dreaming about having 1 acre. What would commute times be from that area, and other areas such as Boerne, the UTSA area, Ciblo? Am I missing any other areas outside of SA that are pretty scenic with nice schools and not that hard of a drive?

For me as a mom, the most important thing is to find a place where my children can thrive in school and be emotionally ok with a move. We moved to Florida a few years back and had to uproot our oldest from her 1st grade school, it was very dramatic for her and she did horribly emotionally. I don't want to go through that again,of course I didn't have this forum then too.