The Hillside Condominiums on Ranch Road in Austin questions? (Howe: for sale, hotel)

[jiminaz]

I am interested in this development. It appears to be between Austin and Lake Travis from their website. Is this development still under construction or has it been built out? I just wanted to see if there was new constructions or just resales.

Also, how far is this area from Austin? Any info. will be appreciated.


Thanks.....

[CptnRn]

I'm not familiar with it but the website looked interesting. Nice looking condos, great location. Google street view shows a couple of building groups built out.

If you click on their interactive map The Hillside Condominiums :: Site Plan it shows that a lot of the units are for sale.

I will try to drive by there when I'm in that part of town in the next week or two to take a look.

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by jiminaz

The Hillside Condominiums on Ranch Road in Austin questions?

I agree with CaptRn, those condos look really nice. I like the style, it's a modern Hill Country look that will probably be desirable for some time to come. It's about 15 minutes from DT Austin in non-rush hour traffic, maybe double that during rush hour. It's near some very good neighborhoods like Cat Mountain and Northwest Hills.

BTW, "Ranch Road" is a designation and not a name of a road. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of Ranch Roads in Texas, designated by RR then a number (in this case, 2222). There are also Farm-to-Market and Ranch-to-Market designations (FM and RM, respectively). However, these designations don't necessarily mean they are rural or outside the city limits anymore -- roads like RR 2222 are pretty close-in.

[CATXTransplant]

The Hillside Condos are on 2222. When they were originally built, they were overpriced (in the 300's), but they've since been reduced to the mid 200's which is more realistic. The finish out is nice - wide plank, hand scraped floors, dark cabinets and nice floorplans. SOme are new, some are resales.

[jiminaz]

Thanks everyone for replying. Good info., especially on the road info. in Texas.

They do look like very nice condos.

Thanks.....

[DenverBrian]

I considered Hillside but they're still about $50K above what I want to pay, so I'm going to Steiner Ranch (more of a straight shot commute to work).

Currently they only have a couple of units available, but they are staggeringly beautiful. Finish levels are 5-star hotel quality. Master bathrooms are a religious experience. Almost everything you see in the unit is a standard finish, and it's all high end. Nice views of hill country and the tops of the Austin skyline. Unfortunately, some power line views as well.

The community pool has stunning views and seems very private. No brats running around. The community is definitely built for singles, DINKs and empty nesters.

Unit 50 is gorgeous but has been unsold since 2008, and they're not budging much on price. Oh well. They are planning a second batch of homes to come online about six months from now; one idea for me is to live in Steiner for a while, then see if Hillside has come to their senses on price and move over when timing is right.

[orbius]

Get an engineer to look at the construction before you buy. Austin is notorious for condos that look like a million dollars but dont meet anyones basic standards of construction. Thats because there is no building code in Austin that forces builders to meet basic standards in terms of noise transmission.
So things like single drywall adjoining walls are common even in 'high end' condos.