SW Austin and Patton/Small schools (Bowie, West: appointed, for sale, houses) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

madtowner10 · 03-08-2013, 09:06 AM

We are a young family with 2 kids that have just moved to Austin and are currently house hunting. My husband works at UT and we've narrowed in on SW Austin as our top place to live. However, we're finding that houses under $300,000 are incredibly scarce right now. I had hoped to live somewhere that feeds to Gorzycki Middle School, but our best option right now is a house in northern Legend Oaks that goes to Patton/Small/Austin. Can anyone offer any opinions about this track as it currently stands? I've read some opinions, but most seem to have been given before or right after Gorzycki opened. Also, I was looking at school rankings on Childrenatrisk.org and they've dropped Patton Elementary quite a bit in their rankings this year. Does Patton still look to continue as a quality school? I'm not expecting Eanes Elementary here, but I want to be sure there's not a downward trend that could lead to problems at the school. I'm already disappointed to be loosing the walkability factor that I was hoping to have with Mills or Kiker.

Also, I would love to hear opinions about the northern Legend Oaks area (just south of William Cannon) and how it should hold up in the next 4-6 years. This is our first home purchase and we're feeling a bit nervous, due in large part to the lack of options in our targeted area.

Thanks for the help!

Trainwreck20 · 03-08-2013, 09:29 AM

I live south of there just a bit (near the HEB at Slaughter/Escarpment), and you should be able to find houses in the 250 to 275 range around us - but they will likely be <2,000 sf. Not sure on what size house you are looking at, so if you are looking for larger houses in that area (2,400 is pretty much the upper end size), they will run around 300k or so. BUT, you are right, in that there is almost nothing for sale near us right now. There are (were?) a couple on Salcon Cliff the other day. This area feeds to Mills/Gorzycki/Bowie. It is very nice in that you can walk to HEB pretty easily, as well as all the stuff at Escarpment village and I think it is an excellent location long-term. It MIGHT both worth downsizing a little to get withing walking distance to those locations. How old are your kids?

Assuming that you can't find anything in that area that meets your needs, though, I think that that area you are looking at will do very well long-term; it is just so convenient to downtown Austin. I would likely avoid being directly on Beckett, just due to the traffic. The rest of the area south of Wm Cannon has very little through traffic, which is nice. The houses are a bit older, so there will be some updated and some not updated, which will give a greater range of prices.

All our neighbors basically had kids that went to Clint Small MS, and it was a very good middle school and I assume it still is; I don't really think that the separating out of some of the feed area will change the quality of the teachers, and beyond that, your kids will be more important to their success than the ranking of the school.

Patton has never been as highly rated as Mills, at least not that I can recall, but it is no where near a 'struggling' school and it has never been rated poorly (I don't think). Mills happens to have a very good administration, excellent teachers, and an affluent demographic. It results in good ratings. The demographic feeding Patton is slightly less affluent - I don't think that makes it a bad school at all and it is not exactly a poverty center in that part of town. A little less privileged might be a good thing.

CptnRn lives somewhere in that general area, maybe he can weigh-in as well, although I think he moved there post-kids....

tibbar · 03-08-2013, 09:43 AM

I live in Westcreek the subdivision on north side of of Wm Cannon. My kids did well at Patton, Small and Austin and were able to walk to school up until HS. We have a great location here. Map Cypress Grill and see what is around us. Check Zillow White Elm 78749 to see houses.

madtowner10 · 03-08-2013, 09:45 AM

Thanks so much for the feedback. We don't plan to be in this first house forever, but we just want to be sure the elementary school experience will be a great one for our boys and that people will be interested in buying our home when it comes time to sell.

You're right, Trainwreck --Circle C North/VoWO south of Davis has hadn't anything for sale < $300,000 in the past week, which is how long we've been house hunting with the ability to buy. But before that, houses were going often in a day with multiple offers that went well over the asking price. We're wondering how long we should wait on a house in our ideal area when we really like the house we can buy right now (especially when we have little interest in overpaying in order to win a bidding war). And size isn't so big an issue as affordability right now.

Trainwreck20 · 03-08-2013, 10:15 AM

Quote:

We're wondering how long we should wait on a house in our ideal area when we really like the house we can buy right now

I personally wouldn't spend tens of thousands of dollars and/or miss out on a good house to get into Mills instead of Patton. All other things being equal, I really like our location. Things NOT being equal (house price, etc), then I would live in the area you are looking at.