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Old 06-26-2016, 11:19 AM
 
29 posts, read 35,553 times
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OP - At the expense of sounding stupid I will go ahead and ask this question.
We are in a similar boat. No kids yet, plan to have a couple, looking for house in North Austin in good school zones.
But - we are first looking at areas which feed into good elementary/middle schools. High School is at least 15 yrs away for us.
So I am curious to understand your thought process of looking at high schools first. Just wanted to understand if we are missing on anything.
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Old 06-26-2016, 07:08 PM
 
6 posts, read 11,212 times
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Austin-HomeGirl, thanks for the recommendations on those subdivisions for Hendrickson. We're aware of many of those communities outside of 130 and 45, but we'd rather try to stay closer inside. They're not completely out of the picture, though. We saw a house listed in the Spring Trails subdivision, but it was recently sold. We'll keep those neighborhoods in mind if we can't find anything where we're looking.

ScoPro, unfortunately, we think that's too far. Those houses look nice, though.

mesmer, I tried searching for houses in that 78727 zip, but we couldn't find too much in that corner. Maybe we're not looking hard enough or they're moving too quick, but I've looked in that zip.

avanika27, my thought process is that I'd rather plan ahead and look down the line in 10 and 20 years. I understand that's looking way far ahead, but that does play into our decision a bit. Plus, having a house in a good school zone helps for resale value in the event that we do move. I understand focusing more in the short term for elementary/middle school, but I think a good high school matters more than a mediocre elementary/middle school.

At this point, the wife has wanted us to circle by the Cottages at Scofield Ridge three times now. She's warming up to the price tag, which we could afford if we fell in love with it, but the lots are on the small side. We'll officially look at the communities and talk to the agents this coming Wednesday.
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Old 06-27-2016, 04:22 PM
 
668 posts, read 776,553 times
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Duncan, definitely take Mrs McDonuts for a drive down Elysian Fields, Magazine Street and the streets named after places near NOLA before you buy there. The Scofield section of Armaga Springs and Rodeo Drive does look nice--but be sure to drive down all the older roads that connect to the new street and which empty onto Parmer. They are not pretty. For the money you'd spend there, I would buy in Highland Horizon or Northwoods of Avery Ranch.
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Old 06-28-2016, 03:14 PM
 
6 posts, read 11,212 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eirenecat View Post
Duncan, definitely take Mrs McDonuts for a drive down Elysian Fields, Magazine Street and the streets named after places near NOLA before you buy there. The Scofield section of Armaga Springs and Rodeo Drive does look nice--but be sure to drive down all the older roads that connect to the new street and which empty onto Parmer. They are not pretty. For the money you'd spend there, I would buy in Highland Horizon or Northwoods of Avery Ranch.
eirenecat, we have taken a drive down those streets like Magazine and Lamplight. While they aren't the prettiest, they're not the projects. They're modest lower middle class houses and didn't look trashy to us, but we also come from Houston so we've seen and lived near much worse. What are the concerns with the area? Because you aren't the first to mention those scenic streets. Maybe we're just naive and ignorant about it as first time buyers.

Another question I have is where to get a loan. At first, we thought we'd go to our bank/credit union where we have an account, but I've researched there can be some bureaucratic hiccups. So we started looking into a mortgage broker and that's where we're leaning at the moment.
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Old 06-28-2016, 06:58 PM
 
658 posts, read 1,999,266 times
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My daughter on Running Bird Lane loved Pillow Elementary School but the Middle School it fed into was the reason she moved. I don't remember the name but it had bad ratings. You might want to check that out if you buy in the Parmer area east of MoPac. It was also quite a drive from home to Pillow.
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Old 06-29-2016, 08:21 AM
dds
 
Location: 78727
24 posts, read 88,511 times
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Although the middle/high school situation is not ideal, as a long time resident of Scofield Farms I feel you cannot beat the price, location, and quality of homes there. Depending on where you choose to buy (especially east of Metric) you can also avoid the issue of being next to some of the more run down homes in Lamplight Village. Very strong HOA with many activities, great pool and playground. The elementary school (Parmer Lane) has also been excellent for our son and class sizes are generally very small due to the lower enrollment there (my son had 16 in his class this year). Homes have appreciated since we moved there 12 years ago, not as much as some other areas, but they are also still more affordable for purchasers now as well. For the upper grades in school, some neighbors do move, but many choose to send their children to nearby charter or private schools. It's also possible to transfer within Pflugerville ISD (depending on space available). PM me if you need more information - I am a former HOA and PTA board member and am very familiar with the area.
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Old 07-12-2016, 01:49 PM
 
6 posts, read 11,212 times
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So we're close to submitting an offer on a Brohn home. I'd love to get people's opinions on a few more things.

Resale value. Would these homes appreciate relatively well within 5-10 years if we decide to sell and relocate? The pros are its location within Austin and convenience to major highways and it's within a great school district. The cons are the surrounding neighborhoods aren't high in value and there are a lot of rental properties nearby. I'm getting mixed feelings on it. It's tough to find a house this size and this new that's zoned to a good school within Austin city limits. But like others have said, the nearby houses aren't the best.

Tax rates. The sales agent said it was 2.3%. That should be it, right? Are there any hidden taxes to be concerned about?

We've been approved from three different lenders: their preferred lender CMG financial, UFCU, and Max Leaman mortgage brokers. CMG Financial and Max Leaman have very similar monthly payments based on 3.5% interested over 30 years and similar enough closing costs, but UFCU offers 3.125% and $,000 more in closing costs but is nearly $100 less in monthly payments. I'm thinking UFCU is better because it saves us the most in the long run, but I'm not exactly sure if it's as simple as that.

dds, I looked into enrolling our future kids into a better high school within Pflugerville ISD. I saw Pflugerville HS is closed enrollment now, and I'm not sure if that'd be the case within 16-20 years when they'd be that age. I'm not too interested in private school, so I'd rather purchase a house with the assumption that the kids would attend the zoned school.
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Old 07-12-2016, 03:56 PM
 
Location: Round Rock, Texas
13,437 posts, read 15,345,361 times
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I don't want to live anywhere where there's a preponderance of rentals, but that's just me. I also don't want to be the highest priced one on the block either. I just wouldn't spend $500k to live there. There's other places within Austin and outside that are superior. If you are close to putting in an offer on the Brohn home, which is supposedly zoned to AISD, then why are you thinking about transferring within PfISD? Are you certain that the Scofield home zones to AISD? Or does it in fact zone to Connally? If it does zone to Connally, it'd be crazy to drive to to Hendrickson (the better of the PfISD high schools at the moment).
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Old 07-12-2016, 04:51 PM
 
6 posts, read 11,212 times
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It's not the highest priced house in that neighborhood, but it is the highest priced neighborhood in the area. What places within Austin under 500k would be better for a well-zoned school, built within this century, and 2500 sq ft or so?

I only looked at transferring within PfISD if we lived at a house zoned to Connally, but these Brohn homes are zoned to Anderson.

As for the tax rates, I found that through the Travis County Appraisal website. Those homes aren't appreciating as much as surrounding areas, but still about average for Austin.
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Old 07-12-2016, 04:59 PM
 
Location: Round Rock, Texas
12,867 posts, read 13,171,717 times
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Anderson is a pretty good school historically, rated better than Connally in the past. I dunno what it is lately.
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