Moving to Austin - where to live? (San Antonio, Highland Park: low income, real estate market)

[madeinmoscow]

Hey, folks:

We are a Northern California family (man, wife, 7yo daughter, Schnauzer puppy) trying to escape an oppression of state taxes and an insane real estate market. We are very likely to move to Austin in the next 3 - 6 months and we are beginning to look for a house. Both of us will be working in and around Downtown Austin, so commute is important.

We LOVE Tarrytown, but it seems like you do not get a whole lot for your money there (smaller lots, smaller houses, good, but not great, schools).

We are looking at Westlake Village (Rollingwood, in particular), with its amazing schools, larger houses, extreme safety, huge lots. However, we were warned about its allegedly snooty/entitled attitude.

Things that are important (in that order): excellent schools; safety; (relative) proximity to Downtown; walkability; larger houses/larger lots.

What other areas should we be looking for? Thank you so much!

[centralaustinite]

If you can afford Rollingwood, then go for it!

You can get a big house on a big lot in Tarrytown but you need serious coin, same for Rollingwood (2 million will do nicely).

Hard to advise further without a better idea of your price range. And what you consider to be "amazing" schools? generally schools with a uniformly high income student body come across as "amazing" but that might not reflect the educational experience of an individual child.

[clarksvillemom]

Tarrytown, Old Enfield, Pemberton - those are some of the oldest, most coveted hoods in the city and have great schools and the proximity to downtown can't be beat. Rollingwood is also really nice and very close to downtown. The homes are newer (60s and 70s with some new build mixed in) than the older ones mentioned above. Another good area to look into that is just north of Tarrytown with a commute to downtown that is not so bad (esp when you learn the back ways) is Highland Hills/ Balcones. Elem schools would be Highland Park, some Casis and some maybe Bryker Woods

[blakely]

As for "snooty" comment, that is a comment you will almost always hear when you are looking at some of the higher income/higher cost housing neighborhoods of a metropolitan area, which both Tarrytown and Rollingwood are. My impression is that while there is always some of that factor in high income areas, I certainly wouldn't characterize Rollingwood as snooty. I think it's an unfair, broad-brush characterization that I don't really think Rollingwood lives up to. (There are always individual exceptions!) And if you're trying to escape any of that, Tarrytown wouldn't really be much different.

Pemberton, which is adjacent to Tarrytown, would be worth looking at as well. Not sure what your price point is and exactly what size lot you are hoping to find. If you want larger lots with good proximity to downtown + good schools, Rollingwood or Westlake seem like a good solution. Tarrytown/Pemberton has some large lots, but they are harder to find, and of course, they are more expensive.

Many of the neighborhoods with close proximity to downtown have smaller lots.

Tell us a little more about the price range you are looking at and we can provide more direction.

[madeinmoscow]

Thank you so much for replying and my apologies for missing the price range, which is a critical consideration. I was hoping not to spend more than $850K (I can go as high as $1M, if I really have to). I would like to get 1/3 of an acre and maybe 2,500+ sq. feet (4 beds, 2 baths). Is that realistic?

Hope this helps and I will check out the places you all have mentioned. Many thanks!

[blakely]

Originally Posted by madeinmoscow

Thank you so much for replying and my apologies for missing the price range, which is a critical consideration. I was hoping not to spend more than $850K (I can go as high as $1M, if I really have to). I would like to get 1/3 of an acre and maybe 2,500+ sq. feet (4 beds, 2 baths). Is that realistic?

You'll be hard pressed to find much in that price range in Rollingwood or Tarrytown, although there are some options with fewer SF. There are tear downs and lots going for more than that in Rollingwood right now. You might want to consider Bee Cave Woods, which is very close to Rollingwood but more affordable. From Rollingwood, it's just across Bee Cave Rd, the streets that feed off of Walsh Tarlton and Pinnacle. It's in Eanes ISD, and what really great about this neighborhood is that many of the kids walk to school (it's walking distance to Cedar Creek Elementary, Hill Country MS, and some of it is walking distance to Westlake HS as well- all fantastic schools.) It's really the only elementary in Eanes that has a lot of students that can walk to school, and there is a really nice community feel because of it. You can also walk to some shops and catch the bus line, and it's just as close to downtown.

Unfortunately, prices there are rising rapidly (it's long been one of the more affordable neighborhoods in Westlake/Eanes), but it would be better priced than Rollingwood or Tarrytown.

Adjacent to Bee Cave Woods is the Treemont neighborhood, which also has great access to downtown, Zilker Park, etc, and it also in Eanes ISD...so it would check the boxes for good schools and good access.

You can't go wrong in any of those neighborhoods, but as you'll quickly find out, there is a real price premium for living close to downtown. But if you can swing it, that proximity is a wonderful benefit- not just for commuting to work, but for access to Zilker Park, central Austin, the hike/bike trail and downtown restaurants--and you may find that it's really worth paying for.

[hound 109]

Originally Posted by madeinmoscow

Hey, folks: We are a Northern California family (man, wife, 7yo daughter, Schnauzer puppy) trying to escape an oppression of state taxes and an insane real estate market. We are very likely to move to Austin in the next 3 - 6 months and we are beginning to look for a house. Both of us will be working in and around Downtown Austin, so commute is important.

We LOVE Tarrytown, but it seems like you do not get a whole lot for your money there (smaller lots, smaller houses, good, but not great, schools).

We are looking at Westlake Village (Rollingwood, in particular), with its amazing schools, larger houses, extreme safety, huge lots. However, we were warned about its allegedly snooty/entitled attitude.

Things that are important (in that order): excellent schools; safety; (relative) proximity to Downtown; walkability; larger houses/larger lots.

What other areas should we be looking for? Thank you so much!

Where are you working downtown? (nearby cross streets)

- NW Hills should be on the list (& Cat Mt?). (Anderson HS)

- Maybe some older, bigger lot neighborhoods or homes that feed into McCallum HS?

- A longer commute to downtown, but the area near Great Hills have homes and neighborhoods that deliver a couple of the best HS feeder tracks in Austin (& in the US).

All three options above have very good to excellent schools. & you might find some larger homes & some larger lots (at your price point). I have no idea how their walkability measures up....but I suspect residents are able to walk there.



BTW, property tax on 800K would be in the 16-20K per year range.
.

[hound 109]

And in Eanes ISD at that price point....what about Lost Creek?

[A-Tex]

Originally Posted by blakely

As for "snooty" comment, that is a comment you will almost always hear when you are looking at some of the higher income/higher cost housing neighborhoods of a metropolitan area, which both Tarrytown and Rollingwood are. My impression is that while there is always some of that factor in high income areas, I certainly wouldn't characterize Rollingwood as snooty. I think it's an unfair, broad-brush characterization that I don't really think Rollingwood lives up to. (There are always individual exceptions!) And if you're trying to escape any of that, Tarrytown wouldn't really be much different.

Pemberton, which is adjacent to Tarrytown, would be worth looking at as well. Not sure what your price point is and exactly what size lot you are hoping to find. If you want larger lots with good proximity to downtown + good schools, Rollingwood or Westlake seem like a good solution. Tarrytown/Pemberton has some large lots, but they are harder to find, and of course, they are more expensive.

Many of the neighborhoods with close proximity to downtown have smaller lots.

Tell us a little more about the price range you are looking at and we can provide more direction.

While I wouldn't necessarily call it "snooty" per se, there is very little economic diversity in the Eanes schools. AISD schools that pull from high net worth areas (eg: Austin High, Anderson) have a much broader economic base and out-of-area transfers. So while there may not be outward "snootiness," there is subtle class stratification that kids become particularly aware of the older they get. Classmates' families take winter break ski trips while you go to visit grandma in San Antonio for the weekend. Mom picks your friends up from school and shuttles them to daily activities while yours has to work and there might be one activity per week because that's all that's in the budget. That sort of thing. It can make kids feel inferior without there ever being overt "snootiness."

We have friends who live in the Westlake Village area who jokingly refer to their neighborhood as the "poor" area of Westlake. They are already experiencing some of this at the middle school level and are dreading the high school years. We also have friends who live in a manufactured home off Cuernavaca who are low income, and the kids are having a pretty horrific time of it at WHS because they feel like outsiders. With the massive influx of out-of-state high net worth individuals squeezing out remotely affordable housing in Eanes, we can look forward to an even bigger gap in the coming years.

So yeah, Westlake and Rollingwood --- while lovely places to live --- would not be my first choice to raise my children if I were looking for economic and racial diversity.

[austinaggie]

Where exactly is the "Westlake Village area"?