Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've read through tons of the posts on this forum and I think you guys are totally awesome and provide valuable information. I know there's been a ton of "Moving to Austin" posts and everyone believes that their own is unique. So hoping that you guys can help us out with our own "unique" questions
Here's a little about us. My husband (34) and I (32) and our 3 kids (twins will be 4 in Dec) and baby just turned 1. We are originally from Ghana - W. Africa but we both came here at the age of 16 to attend college and between us have lived in quite a few cities across the US from NY/NJ, DC, LA, Boston, Chicago. We've never lived in Texas but have visited Houston, Dallas and Austin several times. We currently have been living in the bay area for the last 3 years and was in London (UK) for 4 years before that. For those familiar with the bay area, we live on the peninsula and its super expensive. The cost of living is just not working for us so we have decided to move and will be moving to Austin in a few months. Luckily enough, we both work for hi-tech companies with offices in Austin and we are able to move to the Austin offices. My job will be in the NW area around the Riata Corporate Park, my husband's job will be downtown. Looking to buy immediately. The questions we have are
1 - Are there areas we should avoid as black people?
2 - Where can we find newer house with least 4BR (not too big.. 2500 - 3000 sq ft) with enclosed back yard, great schools, family friendly neighborhood with lots of small kids and amenities. Budget is ~$400K.. happier if closer to $350K. We want to keep mortgage payment + taxes under $2,500 /month with 20% down
3 - Commute is important to us - so thinking of living close to one job probably mine.. and my husband will commute to downtown.. does this make sense? Do people commute to work daily with the metro rail? He currently uses the BART to commute to downtown SF
4 - We want to still feel like we are in Austin or at least an Austin address.. we dont need to be super close to downtown.. we wont have much time to do much
5 - One of my twins was diagnosed with a moderate - significant language delay. We've been in speech for a while now - initially through early intervention and now through the school district and she has made tremendous progress such that her speech delay is now classed as moderate but still needs work. She has closed the receptive language gap. she and her twin both go to a great preschool and she has speech sessions at a nearby elementary school through her IEP. is there a better ISD that we should be targeting for services? She has 3 *30 minute sessions a week and then goes to her regular school. Can we still do this in Austin or does she have to go to a PPCD?? I think we only have that here in CA for children with very severe disabilities.
Anyway, if you are still reading,., thanks and I will stop with the novel Hoping to get your insights
Appreciate your time...
I've read through tons of the posts on this forum and I think you guys are totally awesome and provide valuable information. I know there's been a ton of "Moving to Austin" posts and everyone believes that their own is unique. So hoping that you guys can help us out with our own "unique" questions
Here's a little about us. My husband (34) and I (32) and our 3 kids (twins will be 4 in Dec) and baby just turned 1. We are originally from Ghana - W. Africa but we both came here at the age of 16 to attend college and between us have lived in quite a few cities across the US from NY/NJ, DC, LA, Boston, Chicago. We've never lived in Texas but have visited Houston, Dallas and Austin several times. We currently have been living in the bay area for the last 3 years and was in London (UK) for 4 years before that. For those familiar with the bay area, we live on the peninsula and its super expensive. The cost of living is just not working for us so we have decided to move and will be moving to Austin in a few months. Luckily enough, we both work for hi-tech companies with offices in Austin and we are able to move to the Austin offices. My job will be in the NW area around the Riata Corporate Park, my husband's job will be downtown. Looking to buy immediately.
Given where you have lived, you will find Austin a laid back relaxing and low crime place to live. Given where you and your husband work finding a house someplace in between would be a good choice, but more expensive. Finding a house that would allow your husband to take light rail into downtown would be a great solution if he actually works within walking distance of the rail station downtown. Hi summer heat and humidity can make that an unbearable walk those times of the year.
For a newer house you may have to look out farther out NW of Riata. Most of the newer housing is in subdivisions around Austin's edges. In general most the public schools tend to be better on the West, North West and South West sides of town.
The questions we have are
1 - Are there areas we should avoid as black people? I think you will find most of Austin tolerant and accomodating. If by that question you mean high crime, then you should avoid Rundburg Lane, East River Side Drive (east of IH35) and Dove Springs area. In general the East side of Austin has the most minorities and lower property values, more unemployment and poverty.
2 - Where can we find newer house with least 4BR (not too big.. 2500 - 3000 sq ft) with enclosed back yard, great schools, family friendly neighborhood with lots of small kids and amenities. Budget is ~$400K.. happier if closer to $350K. We want to keep mortgage payment + taxes under $2,500 /month with 20% down
Out around Riata and Cedar Park are good bets. Property taxes are higher in Texas but there is no state income tax.
3 - Commute is important to us - so thinking of living close to one job probably mine.. and my husband will commute to downtown.. does this make sense? Do people commute to work daily with the metro rail? He currently uses the BART to commute to downtown SF Many people do commute into downtown on the Metro Rail, see my comments above.
4 - We want to still feel like we are in Austin or at least an Austin address.. we dont need to be super close to downtown.. we wont have much time to do much
5 - One of my twins was diagnosed with a moderate - significant language delay. We've been in speech for a while now - initially through early intervention and now through the school district and she has made tremendous progress such that her speech delay is now classed as moderate but still needs work. She has closed the receptive language gap. she and her twin both go to a great preschool and she has speech sessions at a nearby elementary school through her IEP. is there a better ISD that we should be targeting for services? She has 3 *30 minute sessions a week and then goes to her regular school. Can we still do this in Austin or does she have to go to a PPCD?? I think we only have that here in CA for children with very severe disabilities.
Sorry I do not know much about those kinds of programs. In general Texas is a low tax and low public service state, it would not surprise me to learn that you will have to seek out private programs for some of the services you have recieved in CA. Maybe someone else can provide you with better answers or you might want to start a seperate thread about that specifically.
Anyway, if you are still reading,., thanks and I will stop with the novel Hoping to get your insights
Appreciate your time...
Price of Housing in austin like most places, is more expensive the closer you get to downtown. In your position I would look in the area just north of great hills. The houses are smaller and older but you can find a 2500-3000 sq ft house for under 400k. The houses are older, built in the 70s
The schools in this area are actually round rock isd schools even though you will live in austin. The particular chain I think is cathy caraway - canyon vista - westwood, one of the best chains in the entire city.
This has about a 30 minute commute to downtown during rush hour, about 15-20 minutes not in rush hour and about a 5 minute commute to riata.
If your husband can do a longer commute, the area north of mcneil (spicewood estates etc) feeds into the laurel mountain - canyon vista -westwood chain, the houses are bigger, newer and under 400K
Austin is heavily white, but most people are from elsewhere and are very tolerant.
Thanks CptnRn for the warm welcome and the insights. When you suggest somewhere in between both of our jobs, do you mind sharing any examples.
To clarify, we've mostly lived in very old houses so we don't necessarily need to have a brand spanking new house ( be nice to have that experience, though ) but if older house, needs to be updated as DIY is most definitely not one of my husband's key strengths
Also what specific areas are you referring to as NW of Riata. There seems to be so many on the map. My husband's office seem pretty close to the metro rail station. It's around 6th and Brazos. Will that be a really tough walk in the hot Austin summer or pretty doable?
If metro rail walk to his office is feasible, any thoughts on Avery ranch, ranch @ brushy creek ...they seem close to the metro station. We liked the look of canyon creek area and the schools but it seems there's only 620 to get out of the area. Feels like it could be a traffic bottleneck? Steiner ranch seems too far in for both downtown and where I need to be, is this correct?
Price of Housing in austin like most places, is more expensive the closer you get to downtown. In your position I would look in the area just north of great hills. The houses are smaller and older but you can find a 2500-3000 sq ft house for under 400k. The houses are older, built in the 70s
The schools in this area are actually round rock isd schools even though you will live in austin. The particular chain I think is cathy caraway - canyon vista - westwood, one of the best chains in the entire city.
This has about a 30 minute commute to downtown during rush hour, about 15-20 minutes not in rush hour and about a 5 minute commute to riata.
If your husband can do a longer commute, the area north of mcneil (spicewood estates etc) feeds into the laurel mountain - canyon vista -westwood chain, the houses are bigger, newer and under 400K
Austin is heavily white, but most people are from elsewhere and are very tolerant.
Use redfin.com to do a map based search
Thanks.. Any specific neighborhoods or just any that tracks to these 2 school? from reading this forum, i didn't know you could get downtown from northwest area apart from NW hills in 30 minutes during rush hour. That's awesome. It always seemed that it would take much longer. How long would it take from the laurel mountain elem. area? What about the canyon creek area, is it even further to downtown? And finally is the train an option from any of these places
I just mentioned those areas because they fit your criteria and track to those schools. I would think canyon creek would take about an 45minutes-hour to get downtown. Steiner is probably too far out too. 620,anderson mill and 360 have a lot of lights so traffic is really slow.
From the laurel mountain elementary area (yaupon/blue lily) it will take about 15-20 not in rush hour and maybe 30-35 in rush hour. I live about 2 miles south and it is pretty consistent.
If you want to live near the train I would say live closer to the howard lane station. One of the challenges is that many of the stations dont have any parking. Howard lane has 200 spots.
I like The area between 183 and parmer and think it is one of the better deals in town (eg milwood). It doesnt seem to appreciate much though. However that area will be a very short commute to riata and to the train station, and really to downtown too (maybe 20-30 minute commute to downtown). Apple and other high tech companies are locating near there so the area could become hot, but it hasnt yet.
Avery ranch is nice, but it seems like it would be too far north.
On city data you can lookup neighborhoods and see avg income, racial breakdown etc.
I just mentioned those areas because they fit your criteria and track to those schools. I would think canyon creek would take about an 45minutes-hour to get downtown. Steiner is probably too far out too. 620,anderson mill and 360 have a lot of lights so traffic is really slow.
From the laurel mountain elementary area (yaupon/blue lily) it will take about 15-20 not in rush hour and maybe 30-35 in rush hour. I live about 2 miles south and it is pretty consistent.
If you want to live near the train I would say live closer to the howard lane station. One of the challenges is that many of the stations dont have any parking. Howard lane has 200 spots.
I like The area between 183 and parmer and think it is one of the better deals in town (eg milwood). It doesnt seem to appreciate much though. However that area will be a very short commute to riata and to the train station, and really to downtown too (maybe 20-30 minute commute to downtown). Apple and other high tech companies are locating near there so the area could become hot, but it hasnt yet.
Avery ranch is nice, but it seems like it would be too far north.
On city data you can lookup neighborhoods and see avg income, racial breakdown etc.
Hi - wondering if anyone can shed some light on better ISDs for my daughter to receive speech services. Since we will be buying immediately, and will prefer, all things being equal, to stay in the house for at least 5 years or more before needing to upgrade or move.
I've read through some posts about special ed. services (in particular speech) in different ISDs and looking for thoughts / opinions on them especially from parents who have had kids receive services or know some one whose kid received services in specific ISDs.
We have a child in Austin ISD that is in the special education program for several learning issues and is receiving (among other assistance) speech therapy from the school district as part of the program. It has proven to be very beneficial; however, you will need to qualify under the special education program to get the benefits, so the language/speech issues will have to be shown to cause a learning disability/barrier. We are relatively new to the program, but while you do need to spend a lot of effort/time working with the system, it is a very good system once you are in it.
I can't remember the exact schedule right now, but I believe she has 2x 45 minute sessions a week currently in a 1 on 1 setting. The schedule is a little odd, because they have switched to a 3 weeks with the therapist, 1 week with the teacher/family program.
Thanks CptnRn for the warm welcome and the insights. When you suggest somewhere in between both of our jobs, do you mind sharing any examples.
To clarify, we've mostly lived in very old houses so we don't necessarily need to have a brand spanking new house ( be nice to have that experience, though ) but if older house, needs to be updated as DIY is most definitely not one of my husband's key strengths
Also what specific areas are you referring to as NW of Riata. There seems to be so many on the map. My husband's office seem pretty close to the metro rail station. It's around 6th and Brazos. Will that be a really tough walk in the hot Austin summer or pretty doable?
If metro rail walk to his office is feasible, any thoughts on Avery ranch, ranch @ brushy creek ...they seem close to the metro station. We liked the look of canyon creek area and the schools but it seems there's only 620 to get out of the area. Feels like it could be a traffic bottleneck? Steiner ranch seems too far in for both downtown and where I need to be, is this correct?
I believe the neighborhoods you mentioned are very good ones, but I live in SW Austin so will let others who are more familiar with them respond to your questions about neighborhoods in NW Austin. However given the distance and traffic I would not pick Steiner Ranch. Avery Ranch and Brushy Creek are good neighborhoods and much better areas for access to Metro Rail.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
