Real estate in Austin Lake Estates (Lakehills, West: HOA, custom home, neighborhoods)

[FriscoToAustin]

We are looking at some home sites in the Austin Lake Estates area. Some of these sites are on unpaved streets. Any idea when these roads will be completed ? How does one find out this info ? We want to buy a home site now and are willing to wait for a year or two to build a house, but want to be sure that the streets will be developed by then.

Also, any idea what the going rate may be for home sites in this area? We are seeing a very wide range in asking prices and don't know what to think.

[Moonlady]

Are you taking about Austin Lake Estates off Cuernavaca? Austin Lake Estates is a small area which primarily consists of the streets that intersect with Mecca Rd. (under the arches). A little further west of Mecca is the Lakehills neighborhood, and there are some pockets which have a few undeveloped areas. I lived there for close to 20 years and the only streets that were paved were by developers who bought a chunk of property and built homes. I don't think the county has any intention of paving roads but I could be wrong. It's not within the Austin city limits, so you might check with Travis County and see what you can find.

Since the area has been mostly built out for some time (with the exception of the few remaining pockets), it would be really hard to provide comps on land prices. I would say in general you could expect to pay $100K - $150K for 1/3 of an acre.

[FriscoToAustin]

@Moonlady, Thank you very much!

[CptnRn]

I know three families that have lived in that area. It is a decent neighborhood and the location provides several advantages. The area has a real mix of housing types, everything from owner built, low budget homes to quality custom homes and developer built homes. All of which explains the wide range of asking prices.

I agree with Moonlady in regard to the street paving issues. I'd be surprised if anyone has any active plan to pave those unpaved roads. I expect that a lot of the people who live there like the rural feel of the area.

[FriscoToAustin]

Thank you all for your response. We are looking at this area mainly because it is in Eanes ISD. Our kids are in elementary right now. We think this area might work well for us by the time our kids are ready to go to middle and high schools in a few years. Also because of Eanes ISD, we thought there may be a good chance of the value of the property going up. Any comments on whether this makes sense ?

[Moonlady]

When we built our house out there is 1994, we never expected to see the kind of growth and appreciation that we did. It's hard to say that it will continue, but as long as Eanes continues to be in the top ranks for schools, property values will at a minimum keep pace with the overall market in Austin. There is already a premium on RE in the Eanes school district so it's hard to say if prices will appreciate beyond the normal market performance if that makes sense.

The area is somewhat eclectic and doesn't appeal to everyone. It has trailer homes and waterfront mansions within a mile of each other, there's no sewer - it's all septic, and there's no HOA to speak of. It's great if you like a little diversity and "character" but it's a lot different than other neighborhoods that feed into the Eanes schools.

If you are comfortable with that, it's a great little neighborhood!

[CptnRn]

I think given its location and school district the property values will keep going up. However one down side I see to the area is access to downtown ( if that is important to you) while looking like it is pretty direct, is on a very congested road. FM 2244 goes through Westlake Hills and Rollingwood which is probably pretty congested during rush hours.