Olmos Park vs Alamo Heights (San Antonio, Terrell: sales, house, landscaping)

[startupventure8]

Which of these three cities has the highest property appreciation? Highest property taxes? Also what are the pros and cons of each? I'm definitely interested in buying an older house and updating it with modern amenities...but I wonder which city would be most receptive and give me the greatest return.

Olmos Park is smaller, with a much higher median home value. There is a much greater variety of homes in Alamo Heights, which means that the median home value is drastically lower than in Olmos Park. The Alamo Heights tax rate is just a tick or two higher than Olmos Park, so that's a wash.

I think it just depends. Olmos Park has a much higher level of uniformity in the quality, cost and upkeep of the homes. There are a few unkempt homes, but pretty much each block has a level of uniformity in home size and home maintenance. Alamo Heights, on the other hand, is much less uniform. You can have a huge house next to a tiny run-down cottage next to a fourplex.

I think it just depends on where you find something you want to work with - I live in Olmos Park and to me there are all sorts of differences between AH and OP, but I've found that to people who didn't grow up in this area and who aren't familiar with it, all three areas (AH, OP and Terrell Hills) all sort of run together and are viewed as essentially one cohesive grouping. If you live there, not so much.

However, if you've done any looking, you've probably noticed how inflated the property values are in 09 and 12. Unless you plan on looking in some of the outskirts, like Terrell Heights, Bel Meade, the area between McCullough and Shook south of Olmos Drive, it might not be feasible to do a big redo. To recoup the investment and make a profit after paying an inflated price and then paying for a redo, the sales price will have to be very high. There are many high-priced renovations on the market right now that are just sitting. I can think of three within several blocks of my house that were old homes redone with modern amenities, and they've been on the market for months at this point.

[startupventure8]

That's interesting. I'm assuming these redo's were on larger more expensive homes and not the smaller ones. I was actually looking at smaller properties, updated to the max with stainless steel, new floors, knocking down walls, landscaping, lighting.....basically completely modern.

I do not know how well received this would be in the area though. San Antonio does not seem very receptive to ultra modern elegant design. But I still love the area anyway.