Belterra Questions... (Austin, Spring, Barton Creek: transplants, to rent, appliances)

[eichlerfan]

We are looking at the Belterra development, in particular the Newmark homes, and the Streetman Homes. Can anyone tell me about the neighborhood, the people that live there, the builder, etc.. What about shopping in that area, and how close is it to downtown Austin? My husband will be working out of the house, so the commute isn't that important. Just basically anything you can tell us would be helpful.

Thanks in advance.

Dana

[IC_deLight]

Watch out for the central propane scam. Propane is economically unregulated in Texas so the propane vendor can charge whatever it wants and you have little choice but to pay. Belterra is still under declarant control, not homeowner control.

[iceshots]

Belterra is a very nice area but like everything, it has good and bad points. I researched Belterra extensively when house hunting, but we ended up buying just down the road. Our main deciding factor was that we wanted a little more room in the country.

I did not check out any Newmark homes, but did see a few Streetman homes. They had good layouts and the salesman went on about the higher quality of their homes, specifically the insulation and way the roof is built.

The neighborhood is very nice with lots of trails, parks and open spaces. They have a large community center with a couple of pools. People I have met are friendly and it seems to be a good place for kids. There is a wide range of homes available from under 2,000 sq ft to over 4,000 sq ft.

Rooster Spring elementary school is in the neighborhood and is brand new.

Schools are in the Dripping Springs ISD. It is well ranked with a number of recognized and exemplary. My daughter is in the high school and finds it challenging, rewarding and enjoyable.

Dripping Springs is a nice small town with good community spirit. There are always banners strung across 290 advertising upcoming events.

There are no nearby stores, but there is an HEB in Oak Hills 10 minute away, and Barton Creek Mall and the Galleria are 15 minutes away.

All in all, a good place to live.

Some negatives.

The houses can be pretty close together. Good for meeting your neighbors, bad if you want privacy.
Taxes in Belterra are higher than most of Dripping Springs. They are a MUD so you are paying for private water and sewage. This adds almost a full 1% to your taxes.
There have been some negative comments posted on this forum concerning the price of propane in Belterra. The houses use gas furnaces and appliances with the area being on a private propane distribution system. This means you have no choice in who you are buying propane from. There is speculation that propane costs may be double the market price. I suggest you do some research.

All in all, the people I have talked to who live in Belterra love it. Sounds like the pro's outweigh the cons.

Good Luck with your decision.

[Raskolnikov]

Do you have kids? If you do, Belterra is a great place to live. We have friends down there. Apparently Halloween there is amazing, the streets are so full of trick or treaters. I would say it's geared towards being a really family oriented place. We also hear good things about High Pointe, close by. I don't know much about the propane scam but a lot of others have written about it here. We didn't buy there because we couldn't stomach the commute to Austin.

[iceshots]

Belterra to downtown is about 35 minutes in non-rush hour. Easy access for evening or weekend trips to Austin. Not sure if I would want to do it as a daily commute. I suspect you would be looking at a much longer drive in rush hour. I do not head that far in during the week so I cannot advise on the rush hour drive time.

[eichlerfan]

Thanks so much for every one's replies. We are traveling to Austin in a couple of weeks to check out the entire area. We just found some homes we really like in Belterra, so was curious about the area. We still have one child at home (the other will be away at school by the time we move there), so of course an area with lots of kids is important to us. We do plan to rent for a couple of months in Austin once we sell our home here in CA. I think we will need those few months to become more familiar with the Austin area before we commit to buying a home in a particular area.

Also to be honest I have to wonder how terrible the traffic really is in Austin. We live in the Bay Area in Northern CA, and other than the L.A. area I just can't imagine traffic worse than here. Is it perhaps all relative?

Thanks again for all your feedback on Belterra. I'm really looking forward to our visit in a couple of weeks.

[iceshots]

Originally Posted by eichlerfan

Thanks so much for every one's replies. We are traveling to Austin in a couple of weeks to check out the entire area. We just found some homes we really like in Belterra, so was curious about the area. We still have one child at home (the other will be away at school by the time we move there), so of course an area with lots of kids is important to us. We do plan to rent for a couple of months in Austin once we sell our home here in CA. I think we will need those few months to become more familiar with the Austin area before we commit to buying a home in a particular area.

Also to be honest I have to wonder how terrible the traffic really is in Austin. We live in the Bay Area in Northern CA, and other than the L.A. area I just can't imagine traffic worse than here. Is it perhaps all relative?

Thanks again for all your feedback on Belterra. I'm really looking forward to our visit in a couple of weeks.

Traffic is relative. You will probably find it quite manageable. Most people coming in from a congested area are pleasantly surprised with the traffic volume. There are some areas that get congested. Road design could be better around Austin.

[austin-steve]

Also to be honest I have to wonder how terrible the traffic really is in Austin. We live in the Bay Area in Northern CA, and other than the L.A. area I just can't imagine traffic worse than here. Is it perhaps all relative?

Don't take this the wrong way, but it's the high-tolerance mindset of out of state commuters that keep worsening our traffic situation in Austin. Dripping into Austin is getting much worse. For years, the standard in Austin was 10 to 20 minutes commute from work for most home buyers. Now it's more like 20-30 minutes for most, as far as what they'll accept when looking for homes.

Then we have transplants for whom 45 minutes to an hour+ is acceptable, because to them, that's a shorter commute than the 70 minute California commute. This mindset in part enables the sprawl that creates commuter backups through areas like Oak Hill where I live. The "Y" in Oak Hill (Hwy290/71 intersection) is pretty much clogged up all day now, not just at rush hour. And it's mostly traffic from Dripping Springs driving through. We don't have enough locals to cause this mess.

From Belterra, you have to budget 45 to 60 minutes because it's become much less predictable than even a year ago. New traffic lights just went in at Scenic Brook. They are coming for El Rey. This slows the drive considerably. On a normal day, 35-45 minutes to downtown should be about right. Next year?...Hmmm, we have 3 to 5 years before our toll road comes through, and it ain't gonna get better.

I could see 1+ hour bottlenecks coming in from Dripping and back, easy. Then drivers will start peeling off and taking 1826 to 45. Hello Circle C, and waits of three turns at the Mopac/Slaughter traffic light. No overpass there yet either. Don't know when it's coming.

Sorry I'm drifting off into a mini-rant. Bottom line, whatever the traffic is today, double it and ask if you want that every day as your commute, because that's most likely what you'll have in three years.

Steve

[achtungpv]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

Bottom line, whatever the traffic is today, double it and ask if you want that every day as your commute, because that's most likely what you'll have in three years.

Steve

Steve is absolutely right. My commute, when I worked at Mopac/Bee Caves, four years ago was under 30 minutes. When I quit in September it was 45 minutes on a very good day. Probably 50% of the time it was 60-70 minutes.

[iceshots]

Good Points Steve, and I agree completely with your assessment that traffic will get worse before it gets better, but , what is the answer?

Maybe its a good things that out-of-state commuters are accepting of a longer commute because that will keep them calm in the car. One of the worst situation I can think of is someone who relocates to Austin that is used to free flowing traffic all the time and then gets caught up in the slowdowns. It would simply increase their frustration levels and make them a worse driver.

From what I've heard, improvements are on the books but years away. I guess the only thing we can do is to make sure they actually come through and do not get derailed. Other than that, the only other solution is to say "no more new commuters in this area". I know you're the last person to recommend that course of action.

Technically, if someone moves into the area and buys a resell, they are a replacement commuter, not a new one. So once again we have to look at all the new houses being built in the area and ask the question about where the infrastructure is to support this development?

I have been in plenty of places where my drive time has doubled over a 2 - 5 year period. I have also had the odd occasion where the time dropped because of a new road system or expanded lanes. Unfortunately those improvements were short lived as more people simply poured into the new route.