Good young family neighborhoods? (living in, military, retire)

[Mamawest]

Thanks for all of the congrats and the neighborhood recommendations, we'll definately be checking all of them out!!

[AirForceDoc]

Originally Posted by NurseDana

AirForceDoc-
I sent her a PM telling her the same things about AR! We missed the opening of the community center but have seen it last week! It's awesome! THe pool area is great! Be there Tuesday for final-final walk-thru and will be home owners on Wednesday! Yeah!

Amen to that. Congrats and enjoy, Alamo Ranch is such a great place to live. I think you'll love it here. Hey, did you hear a rumor that they're going to be letting the Del Webb people bring their grandkids to our amenity center pools but that we aren't allowed to use the Del Webb amenity center (once it's finished, that is) ? Something is amiss.

[NurseDana]

Didn't hear that! But, Del Webb is Pulte family--should be reciprocal!

[Steel Man]

Originally Posted by NurseDana

SteelMan,
Thank you so very much for advising on the homestead exemption! My husband will really appreciate that! Every little bit helps, especially with such a major move. Our home here is not selling and it really is lovely, if I say so myself. We are not letting that bring us down about out move, but it sure would be nice to settle in and not have to travel back and forth so much to watch over this one! Again, many thanks! I learn so much here!

You're welcome. I forgot to mention another big benefit of the Homestead Exemption, is that your house appraised value can not go up more than 10% a year. A co-worker was looking at buying a house off of Culebra (outside Loop 1604) and I looked up the value of the house on BCAD and it did not have the HS exemption and went up $104,000 this year! With the HS it could only go up about $20,000. That equates to more than $2,000 on property taxes that could be kept by the owner.

[TexasTeq]

Hey AirforceDoc surprised they didn't tell you about that. When we bought back in may 06 they mentioned that the Dell Webb residents would be using our pool. They also told us that the Dell Webb residents helped subsidize our pool with their hoa fees, they pay almost double what we do. According to our salesguy w/o the additional money they would not have been able to put in the water slide.

My only complaint is that there isn't any umbrellas to use at the pool. I limit how long my little one can be out, because with out the shade the texas sun can be brutal.

[TexasTeq]

Hey Steelman, I"m in AR and my house went up 30 thousand, we fought it, since the model is only selling for 10 thousand more then what we paid, we won. But my friend has a Lennar in Windgate and his assessment was 20 thousand below what he paid. I can't figure it out. The assessor said that AR is considered an upscale neighorhood like Stone Oak.

[Steel Man]

Originally Posted by TexasTeq

Hey Steelman, I"m in AR and my house went up 30 thousand, we fought it, since the model is only selling for 10 thousand more then what we paid, we won. But my friend has a Lennar in Windgate and his assessment was 20 thousand below what he paid. I can't figure it out. The assessor said that AR is considered an upscale neighborhood like Stone Oak.

TexasTeq,

Good to hear you won your protest. A co-worker did the same and won in RedBird Ranch. Windgate is nice area, but small and I think Lennar has already built out there. On the other hand AR is growing and prices are definitely going up. I heard that Highland homes will be in the 300-400's...definitely upscale, and the County Property Tax Assessor is probably well aware of that. Make sure you file homestead exemption as this is the best way to fight large increases each year (limited to 10%).

[AnaMladen]

Hello Everyone,

We are also young couple expecting baby boy to join our family in January. My company is opening offices in San Antonio and we are considering making a move from Los Angeles to San Antonio, so we can raise our little family in little smaller city that has lower standard of living. We love Los Angeles, but cost of living is really high and we end up working all the time in order to be able to comfortably afford all things we like. We are not able to afford nice family home in this area due to high real estate prices, so moving to San Antonio seems to be an opportunity to buy our first family home.
I have read somewhere that San Antonio has issues with gangs, is that true? I would really regret moving if the city is not safe.
We are very family oriented and it would be great if we can enjoy the city but still be able to focus on great family time.

I would really appreciate your feedback.

[stoneoak]

Originally Posted by AnaMladen

Hello Everyone,

We are also young couple expecting baby boy to join our family in January. My company is opening offices in San Antonio and we are considering making a move from Los Angeles to San Antonio, so we can raise our little family in little smaller city that has lower standard of living. We love Los Angeles, but cost of living is really high and we end up working all the time in order to be able to comfortably afford all things we like. We are not able to afford nice family home in this area due to high real estate prices, so moving to San Antonio seems to be an opportunity to buy our first family home.
I have read somewhere that San Antonio has issues with gangs, is that true? I would really regret moving if the city is not safe.
We are very family oriented and it would be great if we can enjoy the city but still be able to focus on great family time.

I would really appreciate your feedback.

-- is true -- the lower your standards, the more you'll like living in San Antonio

[Montirob]

Originally Posted by stoneoak

-- is true -- the lower your standards, the more you'll like living in San Antonio

(In case I'm not catching sarcasm)... Is far from true! While there may be pockets of gang activity, I would say that it is localized to very small areas. The areas in SA that I am scared of are limited to STREETS vs. whole sections.

Strange that San Antonio was just ranked as the #2 city to live for military retirees. I would not think they would want to live here if they were afraid of gang activity being prevalent.