Lake Travis area (Dallas, Austin, Round Rock: to rent, homes, neighborhood)

[hound 109]

Originally Posted by WorldKlas

We don't work; we are retired. We may decide a condo with a water view make the most sense because we would live there about 7 months a year. Budget $350 - $500K. We love to hike, love water views, love being an easy distance to the city core.

We are considering LT because proximity to Lake, near a city, not impossibly far from DFW where we own some rental properties we don't want to sell and family lives in DFW area.
Schools are not important, grandkids only visit.

As others have mentioned....if you take out "easy distance to the city core", you have lots of options.

If it was me (in retirement) & I had 350-450K to spend, (& didn't have to worry about a commute or schools), I would be looking at Marble Falls/Horseshoe Bay or Lago Vista for much better bank for buck, lots of views, close to natural areas (& less suburban gridlock than the 620 or Lakeway areas). But both areas are 60-90 min. from downtown....so not an "easy distance"

Also, lots of condos near World of Tennis in Lakeway, not sure if there's a view of the water. I would assume their are other Condos in the Lakeway area as well.

[merk95]

Lago Vista, the market is slower so you can usually get a great deal on a condo or house in the area.

[LakeTravisAlum]

I'm getting kind of tired hearing about how long it takes to get downtown from Lakeway/Lake Travis from users who clearly have never even been to the Lakeway/Bee Cave area - much less tried the actual drive and timed it.

From someone who makes the trip from Lakeway to Downtown daily (like many others), it's 45 min during rush hour - 30 minutes outside of it. There's no "1+ hour" commutes or anything crazy like that.

Lakeway is the best of both worlds - close enough to Downtown to enjoy it, but also far enough away to get away from it. Hope this helps (from an actual Lakeway resident)!

[centralaustinite]

Really? How is that short commute possible when it takes me 45 minutes just to go from Mopac/Steck to downtown during evening rush?

Are there a lot of condos with water views on Lake Travis?

[LakeTravisAlum]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

Really? How is that short commute possible when it takes me 45 minutes just to go from Mopac/Steck to downtown during evening rush?

Are there a lot of condos with water views on Lake Travis?

Because you don't have to sit in gridlocked traffic on MoPac when coming from Lakeway. All you have to take is 620 to 2244, and that dumps you out right at the Downtown exit on MoPac. I do it every morning - 45 minutes.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by LakeTravisAlum

Because you don't have to sit in gridlocked traffic on MoPac when coming from Lakeway. All you have to take is 620 to 2244, and that dumps you out right at the Downtown exit on MoPac. I do it every morning - 45 minutes.

When in the morning? The devil is in the details.

To arrive by 8 AM at downtown, google is giving historical traffic data of
"typically 40 min - 1 h 10 min"


Arrive by 7 AM drops that to 35-45.

[sojourner77]

Originally Posted by LakeTravisAlum

Because you don't have to sit in gridlocked traffic on MoPac when coming from Lakeway. All you have to take is 620 to 2244, and that dumps you out right at the Downtown exit on MoPac. I do it every morning - 45 minutes.

You're taking some extreme liberties with your interpretation. You are not dumped right into downtown from 2244 and Mopac - you are still 5 miles from downtown when you reach Mopac/ 2244 - and you are on the most gridlocked part of Mopac when that happens. And when you reach 5th/Chavez you don't really exit into downtown from Mopac - Downtown is next to I-35. It's another 1-2 miles after exiting before you reach downtown - you have to pass Lamar first along city streets.


Your interpretation of being "right at downtown" is inaccurate, and still needs another 30 minutes added to it.

[FalconheadWest]

Originally Posted by sojourner77

You're taking some extreme liberties with your interpretation. You are not dumped right into downtown from 2244 and Mopac - you are still 5 miles from downtown when you reach Mopac/ 2244 - and you are on the most gridlocked part of Mopac when that happens. And when you reach 5th/Chavez you don't really exit into downtown from Mopac - Downtown is next to I-35. It's another 1-2 miles after exiting before you reach downtown - you have to pass Lamar first along city streets.


Your interpretation of being "right at downtown" is inaccurate, and still needs another 30 minutes added to it.

Your interpretation is wrong. 2244 and Mopac is about 1 mile from the Ceasar Chavez exit. Southwest Parkway and Mopac is about 5 miles. Look on the map again...

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by Novacek

When in the morning? The devil is in the details.

To arrive by 8 AM at downtown, google is giving historical traffic data of
"typically 40 min - 1 h 10 min"


Arrive by 7 AM drops that to 35-45.

It's still (10:50 AM on a Tuesday) giving an estimate right now of 42 minutes.

Compare that to Steck and Mopac, which right now is estimated at 15 minutes.

[sojourner77]

Originally Posted by FalconheadWest

Your interpretation is wrong. 2244 and Mopac is about 1 mile from the Ceasar Chavez exit. Southwest Parkway and Mopac is about 5 miles. Look on the map again...

I was thinking 2222 on the northside. It's still 30-50 minutes down Bee Caves road (2222). Basically coming into downtown from the west side is pretty horrid no matter the route.