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Old 09-25-2012, 06:32 AM
 
Location: The Lone Star State
8,030 posts, read 9,009,172 times
Reputation: 5050

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Quote:
Originally Posted by riaelise View Post
You can live in Hyde Park at 350K, but you will be in a very small home on a very small lot.
Yes, and this is the limitation with this budget.... the closer in, "hip" neighborhoods will be small homes that probably need work. But maybe OP is fine with this. Otherwise, will have to go out a bit further.

As far as schools, I agree many of the "hip" neighborhoods don't have good schools. Some do. Different parents have different levels of comfort with this, so it all depends.... children are different too, some do well anywhere and others need more guidance.
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Old 09-25-2012, 08:23 AM
 
Location: Central Texas
20,958 posts, read 45,189,088 times
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And some don't do well at all in some schools that are highly rated, because the fit between the child and the school is so far off. I can remember, way back in the 1960's, going from a small East Texas town public school where love of learning was encouraged, to a school in Highland Park in Dallas that was rated in the top ten in the nation. That "great" school just about stomped out my love of learning, because they were so focused on that top ten rating and keeping it that they expected the students to memorize what they were taught and regurgitate it accurately on the tests so that the almighty rating wouldn't be endangered and, for the love of God, don't THINK about what they were being taught. Not a good fit for me at all. The private school that was a great fit for our son would have been disastrous for our daughter, and vice versa. Both love learning and are very bright, but their minds work differently - they're not mental clones of each other and never were, so why should that be expected to be the same for kids from very different families?
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Old 09-25-2012, 09:14 AM
 
Location: central Austin
7,228 posts, read 16,021,625 times
Reputation: 3914
Allandale feeds into Gullet Elementary which meets and surpasses any definition of good school. Same for Lee Elementary!

French Place etc goes to Maplewood -- generally highly regarded, diverse school, (your mileage may vary). Any many "hip" central families send their kids to Kealing and LASA. LASA is one of the most highly regarded HS in the nation!

Anyone read that cri de coeur from a Westlake family with an introverted daughter? "Best" and "exemplary" does not always means "best for my kid" what it really means in Eanes and LT is school district is a place where most people live in $350K houses!

There are many stellar elementary schools in AISD and living in AISD gives families access to Kealing and Fulmore MS (as well as Murchinson and O'Henry) and LASA, McCallum Fine Arts Academy, and IB at Anderson.
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Old 09-25-2012, 10:17 AM
 
7,742 posts, read 15,040,093 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sxrckr View Post
Yes, and this is the limitation with this budget.... the closer in, "hip" neighborhoods will be small homes that probably need work. But maybe OP is fine with this. Otherwise, will have to go out a bit further.

As far as schools, I agree many of the "hip" neighborhoods don't have good schools. Some do. Different parents have different levels of comfort with this, so it all depends.... children are different too, some do well anywhere and others need more guidance.
I think teachers are relatively ok across the board, in addition I dont believe money past a certain point makes much difference. The big difference between schools is the motivation and expectation of the families/parents. Kids are really the same everywhere, so the primary difference then is the families they grow up in.

So to me a good school is one (for example) where all the kids are reading fluently after kindergarten (In our school about 75% of the kids are reading entering kindergarten). This shows that the parents are involved in their education. At the high school level good school is defined as one where a vast majority (95%) of the kids go on to a university. This has less to do with the school and more to do with the parents.

I want to maximize the chance that my kids (who are heavily influenced by peers) will have friends who put education as their top priority.
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Old 09-25-2012, 10:30 AM
 
7,742 posts, read 15,040,093 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by centralaustinite View Post
Allandale feeds into Gullet Elementary which meets and surpasses any definition of good school. Same for Lee Elementary!

French Place etc goes to Maplewood -- generally highly regarded, diverse school, (your mileage may vary). Any many "hip" central families send their kids to Kealing and LASA. LASA is one of the most highly regarded HS in the nation!

Anyone read that cri de coeur from a Westlake family with an introverted daughter? "Best" and "exemplary" does not always means "best for my kid" what it really means in Eanes and LT is school district is a place where most people live in $350K houses!

There are many stellar elementary schools in AISD and living in AISD gives families access to Kealing and Fulmore MS (as well as Murchinson and O'Henry) and LASA, McCallum Fine Arts Academy, and IB at Anderson.
I think naming specific schools like Gullett and Lee is helpful to the OP because they can then figure out the boundaries of those schools and see if they can find housing in that area.

To the OP, if you believe that the quality of the school is determined by the quality of your childrens peers, it is helpful to look at great schools to see how the kids are passing the taks. Gullett is running at the 95ish range for most areas which seems pretty good. Lee is more like 98-100%. The elementary that my kids feed into is laurel mountain (RRISD) which is 99/100% in most areas. It seems like Gullett or Lee might be good enough. Make sure you look at the entire school chain too because once you get to middle and high school you start drawing from a large enough area that you start getting whole groups of kids that are not interested in education rather than just 1 or 2.
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Old 09-25-2012, 10:35 AM
 
Location: central Austin
7,228 posts, read 16,021,625 times
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Huge chunks of Gullet and Lee go to Kealing magnet program and then onto LASA.
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Old 09-25-2012, 10:58 AM
 
47 posts, read 73,606 times
Reputation: 26
I think that Crestview or Brentwood would be perfect for you, especially if you're in walking distance to the little town center of Crestview or Burnet road (Brentwood). Honestly, you could probably find something in one of the other neighborhoods that you've mentioned if you just make some sacrifices or exercise a little patience.
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Old 09-25-2012, 11:13 AM
 
Location: Round Rock, Texas
13,437 posts, read 15,347,491 times
Reputation: 18959
Also, "cool" and "hip" are what you make of it. Living in suburbia isn't akin to driving minivans and being square.
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Old 09-25-2012, 11:15 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX
2,101 posts, read 4,513,003 times
Reputation: 2738
If you're on a budget of $350k, you could afford a decent house in Cherrywood, Allendale, Skyview, or French Place/Cherrywood. All are good neighborhoods.
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Old 09-25-2012, 12:27 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX
16,787 posts, read 48,839,394 times
Reputation: 9477
East Austin made Forbes list of top ten hipster neighborhoods. 7. East Austin, Austin, TX - Morgan Brennan - Forbes
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