Moving to Kerrville (Houston, Dallas, San Antonio: transplants, crime, new house)

[hillcountry]

We are moving to Kerrville. We will be building this year. Any concerns or thoughts we need to know about?

[KewGee]

Someone is bound to answer your questions soon. I don't know much about Kerrville as I've only driven through it and think it's a lovely area.

[AustinTraveler]

While you're waiting for replies, be sure and use the Search function on the forum. Lots of good information already here about Kerrville.

[neddy]

Where are you building in Kerrville? One set of parents retired there about 10 years ago and since we live in SA we are up there pretty often. Seems like in our neighborhood a lot of folks have bought there and the grandkids live in the neighborhood cause we are about 45 mins from them! Are you building in a golf course neighborhood or did you by some land?

[WA Transplant]

We recently relocated to the Hill Country (summer 2006). We live just outside Kerrville (if you live outside the city limits you don't pay the city taxes). We bought property about 3 years ago and just finished our new house. My husband has retired early but I teach high school.

Our experience so far has been far above expectations. We find pretty much everything we need here (he's Mr. Fixit) including way more organic foods than we ever thought. The people are friendly. There is an active, albeit folksy, arts community. Crime is low. Cost of living, except property taxes, is way less than our prior home.

Be aware that Kerrville has different weather than San Antonio (to us a PLUS). It is 3-5° cooler in the summer but also colder in winter. We had one night in January get down to 19°. Maybe a dozen or two days below freezing. But hey, today is 2/24 and its 76 outside with a strong breeze. So if you want Dallas or Houston hot it won't get that hot here. Prepare for humidity though. In the summer mornings it in the high 80's but drops to the 30's in the PM.

There are a lot of people who are either moving here or already have from somewhere else. This is a plus for us because we are meeting people from all over the nation who are transplants too. But that is driving up property prices at an unbelievable rate. But you can still find 3-5 acres and if you are from the city like us that amount of space is heaven.

San Antonio airport is 68 minutes away (how well we know from all of our friends visiting) and "big city" shopping is 45 minutes. It will take a long time for SA growth to get this far. BUT, 6 years ago Boerne (about 30 miles NW of SA on I-10) was tiny and today is building its second high school. Thousands of homes are going up around it. But NW of Boerne everthing thins out and you are in the country.

Kerrville is growing but there are less than 50,000 people in the whole of Kerr Country. We live 8 miles W of Kerrville and to get from here to the very E end, near the high school take 20 minutes. If you are from a city you will laugh at what they complain is bad traffic.

Two friends who have visited twice since we moved here just closed on 3.3 acres last week and are coming in 2008. We suspect more will follow if they come for Thanksgiving again and its 78° like the last one.

[MotleyCrew]

We are starting our search for a retirement spot soon. We live in AZ right now and would like a little more rural place to live in the near future. Could you tell me what size home you built and what your property taxes are? I know they are higher in TX than in AZ, but you do not (I believe) have an income tax and some of the other taxes here offset the higher rates there. We own a 2,100 square foot home here and pay $2,200 a year. Our electric bill is around $250 to $400 a month during the summer. Winters here are a dream and that is about all I will miss.
Also, we would be doing alot of the building/finish work as my husband is an architect/builder, but would need to have someone do the framing. Did you have a contractor? Thanks

[WA Transplant]

Jill,

We just finished our home in July, 2006. Because property taxes are based on what is in place on Jan 1 of any year this will be our first fully taxed year (we have owned the land for 3 years but it was raw) and I will know the answer in about 4-6 weeks. Where we live the tax rate is about $1.65 per 100 of valuation. But do some research on valuations (you can find them online - google TX appraisal) because houses are often valued far less than full value. We moved from WA (no income tax) and paid about $2,600 on a 2000 sf house. We built about 2,300 sf here (just the two of us plus a dog and two cats) with just two bedrooms and two baths. I am guessing our property taxes are going to be around $3,500 and that is what I expected.

We are 100% electric and my biggest bill so far was January ($185) because it was so cold. Last August was $145 and it was in the 90's every day and cooled to 70 at night. My lowest was October at $88. So I am guessing if rates were to stay constant my bills will average about $130 a month.

Find a reputable contractor. I did three months research and even after I had one picked I called the owners of the last four homes he built and all his subs for references. I got nothing but high marks from them all and now that the house is done I would gladly be a reference for him. You can't do enough research, particularly if you are building "from afar".

[WA Transplant]

Jill,

I forgot to mention that 1/2 mile up the road our newest neighbor in the subdivision is building a home and he is relocating from Peoria, AZ. Interesting coincidence. He and his wife want mild winters (Jan and Feb are the coldest but normal highs are in the high 40s and 50s with much colder nights), some relief in the summer (here we never got higher than 94° last summer), and lots of elbow room (they bought 20 acres).

[MotleyCrew]

What a small world. It does get awful hot here and does not cool down at all in the evening in the summer.
Thank you so much for the valuable information. My husband used to play in cardboard boxes when he was a kid, so I suspect our very last house will be smaller than the one I have now. Taxes are not that horrible and your energy bills are not bad at all.

Thanks again!

[cdelena]

Originally Posted by WA Transplant

Jill,
...
But do some research on valuations (you can find them online - google TX appraisal) because houses are often valued far less than full value.
...

The law in Texas says property should be valued at 100% of fair market but I noticed discrepancies in the Kerrville area. Seemed like many of the moderate sized homes were valued less than 90% where the higher priced homes were often valued based upon the highest comparables, only to be 20% higher than fair market.

We looked at a very nice home and considered making a reasonable offer of about 400K but found the tax appraisal at 495K and the taxes over $13,000 annually. We wound up buying in Washington State.