Family of 6 wants to buy a house in Texas within 3 hrs of Austin - considering Cypress, New Braufels, etc (Houston: living in, price)

[Jimmyp25]

Originally Posted by Danimarie

I have a family of 6. Kids are homeschooled. Husband works from home 80-90% of the time. He has approval to move up to 3 hours away from work if needed. $300k budget. I'm originally from Minnesota and my husband is Romanian.

We live in Leander (outside of Austin.) We finally saved enough money to buy a house and now all the houses cost way too much for us. We will have to shop far out to afford something. My kids are already almost 15, almost 13, 10 and 8. Waiting isn't ideal for us as we want to establish somewhere before the kids are all grown up. And, our rent will be going up $400 or more by the next lease signing anyway. My husband works downtown Austin.

We have lived around Austin for almost 10 years. We have family moving to Tomball, TX at the end of this month from out of state. We are close to them and would love to live closer to them if it works out that way. We could possibly live in Cypress or Tomball (or other communities around there) and that would put the commute around 2.5ish hours for days he'd have to go to the office. Houses in that area are way more affordable than in Austin. But, I've heard mixed things about that region. We do love the gulf. There's a large Romanian community over there as well which would be a nice bonus for us.
Other areas we're considering are New Braunfels, Schertz, San Antonio, or we could try north, but even trying to do that is tough. There's very few houses in range and decent enough size for a big family. I was seeing $300K for 900 sq ft and 1 bathroom...

We'd be looking to buy next month or January or maybe February depending how it works out.

So, basically, I'm hoping for advice on where to possibly live that fits our budget and opinions on different areas. And, also if you have any tips about any of it all.

Thanks!!

i just paid 500k for a 4 bed 90 min north... gonna be hard for 300k , I suggest Kileen, Temple, Lampasas, Kempner, Copperas Cove.

[Danimarie]

Thank you all for your input. The more the merrier. I'm taking notes. My husband's car is in good shape and not that old for the one who commented on that. We probably bought it before the used car boom or whatever is going on.
I am open to little cities or big cities with high speed internet access. I've lived in both. I did see that some of the smaller cities actually have high speed internet, now. More important is finding something we don't mind for what we can afford. We do have a few months to shop, so hopefully that helps with the availability issue.

[ChristieP]

I would avoid the area around Fort Hood (Killeen, Copperas Cove, Harker Heights) due to crime issues and quality of life. Unless you need to be by the Army base, theres no reason to live there. There are much better areas out there.

It’s good that your husbands car is in good shape.

[Ghost Town]

Marble Falls TX: average home price is 320K.
Nice place, scenic area.
But you won't get much for 320K: currently I see only 1400 sf house for this price.
Strange... so far from Houston and more expensive..

[Ghost Town]

Originally Posted by Danimarie

Thank you all for your input. The more the merrier. I'm taking notes. My husband's car is in good shape and not that old for the one who commented on that. We probably bought it before the used car boom or whatever is going on.
I am open to little cities or big cities with high speed internet access. I've lived in both. I did see that some of the smaller cities actually have high speed internet, now. More important is finding something we don't mind for what we can afford. We do have a few months to shop, so hopefully that helps with the availability issue.

Have you looked at Smithville?


Typical home value of homes in Smithville is $294,633. This value is seasonally adjusted and only includes the middle price tier of homes.

I wouldn't buy this house in Houston or Cypress, but everything seems to be smaller in Smithville. At least this house is in a decent shape and fits the budget.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...84368749_zpid/

Wow, it's kind of exciting to search houses for you

[ChristieP]

Originally Posted by Ghost Town

Marble Falls TX: average home price is 320K.
Nice place, scenic area.
But you won't get much for 320K: currently I see only 1400 sf house for this price.
Strange... so far from Houston and more expensive..

Marble Falls is scenic, and full of retirees. That’s why prices are fairly high.

[Tigger84Ag]

Originally Posted by Danimarie

I have a family of 6. Kids are homeschooled. Husband works from home 80-90% of the time. He has approval to move up to 3 hours away from work if needed. $300k budget. I'm originally from Minnesota and my husband is Romanian.

We live in Leander (outside of Austin.) We finally saved enough money to buy a house and now all the houses cost way too much for us. We will have to shop far out to afford something. My kids are already almost 15, almost 13, 10 and 8. Waiting isn't ideal for us as we want to establish somewhere before the kids are all grown up. And, our rent will be going up $400 or more by the next lease signing anyway. My husband works downtown Austin.

We have lived around Austin for almost 10 years. We have family moving to Tomball, TX at the end of this month from out of state. We are close to them and would love to live closer to them if it works out that way. We could possibly live in Cypress or Tomball (or other communities around there) and that would put the commute around 2.5ish hours for days he'd have to go to the office. Houses in that area are way more affordable than in Austin. But, I've heard mixed things about that region. We do love the gulf. There's a large Romanian community over there as well which would be a nice bonus for us.
Other areas we're considering are New Braunfels, Schertz, San Antonio, or we could try north, but even trying to do that is tough. There's very few houses in range and decent enough size for a big family. I was seeing $300K for 900 sq ft and 1 bathroom...

We'd be looking to buy next month or January or maybe February depending how it works out.

So, basically, I'm hoping for advice on where to possibly live that fits our budget and opinions on different areas. And, also if you have any tips about any of it all.

Thanks!!

Have you looked at Jarrell it’s n far from Leander and there are homes less than 300,000

[supfromthesite]

Originally Posted by elnina

So, you are looking for a 4-5 bedroom 2-3 bath house for $300K - maybe somewhere rural? It would be hard to find any in the abovementioned cities, in decent areas. Manufactured home might be a solution. Or maybe wait till the crazy high prices go down.
There probably won't be any Romanian communities nearby, though.

I heard that some 2K of Romanians (most of them Romani) have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in south Texas in recent weeks to seek asylum, but I don't know if they decided to stay in Texas and where they formed communities. Heard about communities in Houston, Ft Worth, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, and El Paso. Not sure how big those communities are. Most have largely assimilated into American society.

You might need to seek help from a Realtor.

Good luck in your search.

Personally I have only met 1 Romanian in my whole life in San Antonio. And I go out to bars and meet a pretty good amount of people.

[supfromthesite]

If you are fine with small town living I would consider Burnett/Lampasas and that whole area. Or a small town outside of San Antonio. Like south or west of town. Hondo, Devine, Pleasanton. However, that may be further from the job. Still not a terrible drive.

[supfromthesite]

Originally Posted by Ghost Town

Marble Falls TX: average home price is 320K.
Nice place, scenic area.
But you won't get much for 320K: currently I see only 1400 sf house for this price.
Strange... so far from Houston and more expensive..

The towns around it are nice too... and cheaper.