Crestview City by DR Horton (Austin, Round Rock: fit in, apartment complex, condo)

[A-Tex]

Originally Posted by Austin97

thats a great anecdote. But it flies in the face of reality for a majority of older people. You dont see very many "middle age folks homes."

Im not sure why you would take it personally, we are all going to get old, slow down and die.

You have a very outdated idea of aging. You are also out of touch with the current demographic makeup of Crestview/Brentwood.

[orngkat]

I guess I wasn't imagining an attitude in this city lately against anyone "old" people. Soylent green, anyone?

[atxsnail]

Originally Posted by rdthompson

Atxsnail, did you guys go for the single family or townhome option? Both are possibilities for us, with single family obviously being more appealing, townhome more affordable. Would you mind telling me what kind of upgrades you went for? I want ZERO carpet. Of course.

We went with a single family home. We didn't look at the townhomes, though a glance at the floor plans says they might also have met most of our needs.

The larger upgrades we opted for were:

glass frameless shower in master, with upgraded tile
upgraded engineered hardwood throughout the first floor (standard is wood in living, tile in dining/kitchen, carpet in flex)
larger kitchen vent hood
farmhouse kitchen sink
double doors to patio from flex room
upgraded kitchen counters (standard is basic granite)
upgraded cabinetry throughout house, double stacked to ceiling in kitchen (standard is very basic, limited colors)
modern metal stair railing (standard is wood)
upgraded carpet on 2nd floor

Additions like a third floor loft or a garage apartment are obviously expensive. The design center has lots of different options for you which range from reasonably priced to stupidly overpriced. Our approach was to have them do all of the stuff that would be a pain for us to have done later, and leave things like fixtures, appliances, and other details for other vendors.

Depending on your budget, I think you can probably go with wood floors throughout and still keep the price within reason. When we went for our first design visit I was surprised that the "base" level options for most things are pretty decent. The design center staff told us the base levels for that community are generally upgrades over their other offerings, so that may be why.

I forgot to mention - you will have very little control over the outward appearance of your home, so keep that in mind.

[rdthompson]

Thanks so much for the info atxsnail.

I went and quickly walked through a few of the town homes today and one single family. I wasn't really impressed with the town homes as I felt like I was in Cedar Park 100%. They are nice and big, but they just felt blah. Reminded me of my college duplex on the party street. The single family home, though much smaller, was impressive.

They had a weird thing with upgrading or changing finishes. We are looking to buy and move in the next few months, so I was interested in units under construction that were not yet finished out. I was told that even if they are just in the slab pouring or framing stage, the finishes have been picked by the builder, if it hasn't been bought. This is unchangeable. Even after you buy it, you can't change anything. Even if, for example, the flooring or backsplash hasn't been put in or is far off from being done, you can't change it. So we would have to wait for one that is being built from scratch to get the finishes we want. Which, in my opinion, is just lazy and stupid.

That being said, I would tell them to go ahead with the basic stuff, and put in the upgrades myself, which can sometimes be cheaper anyway.

[ScoPro]

Thread kinda amuses me.

My brother bought a 700 sq.ft. 2/1 w/1 car carport on Piedmont in Crestview in 1959 for $6,500. He sold it 10 years later for $9,000, IIRC. It had knotty pine paneling & cabinets in the kitchen, but had a nice size lot.
Hardy Street just a couple doors west was a gravel road, and across his back fence was a working farm complete with cows & chickens.
That area was far North Austin on the very edge of town then. Their main shopping "center" in the neighborhood was anchored by the little minimax grocery store.
North Lamar & 183 was a 4 way stop sign intersection.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by orngkat

I guess I wasn't imagining an attitude in this city lately against anyone "old" people. Soylent green, anyone?

It isnt "against" old people. It is a fact that neighborhoods get built up by singles and young couples initially. They have kids. The kids go to college. The people get old and retire. They move/die and the cycle starts over.

The median age in crestview is 36. The median age in austin is 31. Crestview is significantly older than austin in general. Northwest hills is around 41, great hills is around 39.

These neighborhoods were created expanding out from the center of austin. Now the center is gentrifying as younger couples move in. I deliver meals on wheels in the crestview area and there are lots of quite old people and they are not running marathons. They are moving out and younger families/singles are moving in.

Northwest hills is starting to see it too. Great hills will have it happen in about 10-20 years.

Great hills was mostly settled in the 80s. Northwest hills in the 70s. crestview in the 50's-60's.

[capcat]

Every one of us already understood the life cycle of neighborhoods, Austin97. You didn't need to explain that. It's elementary. We also know when various neighborhoods were developed. Some of us were there. This was about a comment "Crestview needs to turn over its old residents." Any central neighborhood I've lived in values all ages and stages of existence. This implies, no...it states, something else entirely. Something to be rid of so the lives of others, the area, can be "fantastic", as you say. It's ageism. I don't believe you can defend or explain the comment away.

Those elderly residents were charter members of neighborhood churches young families can still put their child in a stroller and walk to. They gave money and time to keep them going. They gave the neighborhood grocery store their business over the years so that it is still there for families. They are responsible for many things that make that neighborhood attractive, beyond central proximity, today.

And, you don't even live there. I hope you mentally revisit your comments in a few decades.

[donnaaries]

Have you thought about expanding your search to Highland or Wooten? I live in Brentwood but I see that most of the value in the houses here are in the land, and the connectivity of the streets (easy pedestrian access, safe streets for kids to walk to Brentwood Park, coffee shops, transit). For these Crestview City homes, you're paying primarily for the structure and interior of the home, the streets aren't connected to anything but Lamar to feel like it's part of a "neighborhood."

[balor123]

Every time I've driven past there I haven't been impressed. But I'd hate to live in Cedar Park or Round Rock. I wish some of that more urban development going into South Austin would come North. Can we expect that at some point after South Austin becomes more developed? It's so hard to find an affordable newer modern building up here

[batwingbrian]

Sorry to resurface an old thread, but I'm actually considering this area as well and I'm curious if anyone's opinions have changed about this planned community since the last post. I could also use some feedback from you all... excuse me... "ya'll"

From what I gather, the prices have increased dramatically. Family homes are now close to $500k and few remain. They must have hit their peak as most have been on the market for some time. They are still building a few, but no longer allow you to customize anything. Most of the homes have limited upgrades (lots of carpet, basic cabinets and counter tops, framed showers, etc). I'm 38 (very young at heart) and my partner and I are thinking of buying a home in Crestview. We currently live in Round Rock near 620 and 45 so we have pretty fast access to the area, but I don't really like the feel of Round Rock. It makes me feel old and most of my neighbors are renters and don't take care of their homes. This hasn't really had any effect on my property values, however. My house is 1850 sqft and VERY upgraded including a jetted, doorless shower, lots of natural stone, jetted tub, and mahogany hardwood throughout. It's a little hard to downgrade. Besides this, there are a couple things that bother me about the Crestview area...

(1) no laundry room - Instead of a traditional laundry room they have stackable units in a closet on the second floor. I hang dry most close so this is kind of annoying.
(2) no jetted tub - This isn't a common thing anymore but I have some neck issues and I soak regularly. (I can see the old man comments coming. )
(3) high price - A house payment of $2650 a month is affordable, but will make me a little house poor (versus Round Rock where I bought in at $145k; now worth $260k) for a little less house.

So I have a few questions for people who have lived in Crestview. Forgive me if these sound silly but I've gotten picky as I've gotten older. Plus, I'd hate to sell my home in Round Rock and regret it.

(1) How have you dealt with not having a traditional laundry room?
(2) Have any of you upgraded the second bath with a jetted tub? After touring one of them, it does not appear to have the room.
(3) How do you like the area? If you had 15 minute access to the same area by car but your house payment were half, would you rethink your decision? Do you regret your purchase?
(4) Do you find yourself going downtown much more than before? We rarely go anymore because of the distance from Round Rock.
(5) What is the shopping like for daily essentials. The HEB's and Target's in the areas look a bit rough to me. I'm a little spoiled by Round Rock in this regard.
(6) How is the traffic getting out of the subdivision? I've found that once I get onto Lamar, heading North in the morning is a breeze. (I tried this one morning.)

Thanks for your help and advice.
Brian