Impression of the Sweetwater Community in Lakeway (Hamilton, West: sales, apartments)

[DCtoTejas]

Originally Posted by billmarland

I am totally stunned by how Austinites view Lakeway as it were a suburb of L.A. and not Austin. When I come to Austin (fly in via Bergstrom), it has never taken me more than 35 minutes to get from the airport to RM620. Of course, I have the luxury of picking the times I want to take that route and schedule my flights accordingly. I guess I am one who would trade off the commute to live in a community without postage stamp lots and more open scenery.

You may want to look around out HW 290 between the Dripping Springs, Blanco and Johnson City areas if you haven't already. You could potentially get true country living vs subdivision, if that's what you are interested in.

[janejanejanejanejane]

A couple thoughts:
It's about 5 minutes from a grocery store. Is that really a hassle? At least you don't have to sit in traffic to get there like people closer into Austin will to go to the store, thus, taking them 5 minutes to get to the store.

It absolutely IS Austin. Zip code and all.

Haters gonna hate apparently.

[Cardiff Giant]

We own a second home in Sweetwater that my in-laws live in who are now retired. It's a nice community, we bought a model and got a pretty good deal. Everything they need is within easy reach. The house is on the smaller side for that sub at about 2600 sq. ft. They like it a lot, the neighbors are great, the pool is very nice (our kids love it) and they always have fun events in the clubhouse. I would say it's a good location if you don't mind the distance from downtown. Though it's far from downtown Austin, it is an Austin zip, not Lakeway. As for weather, we live about 7 mi. closer to town and the house in Sweetwater always gets hit harder when there's bad weather. We've had to replace broken windows, fencing that collapsed and we've already replaced the roof.

There appear to be some retirees but it's definitely a mix. Many young families. Whoever said there is a lot of available stock out there is right. There are always homes for sale. Good luck, come on down!

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by janejanejanejanejane

It absolutely IS Austin. Zip code and all.

zip codes have almost nothing to do with municipal boundaries (obviously, as those were defined years ago and cities have been growing, expanding, and new ones have been founded since then). There are zip codes that contain land actually in the city limits of multiple municipalities.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by janejanejanejanejane

A couple thoughts:
It's about 5 minutes from a grocery store. Is that really a hassle? At least you don't have to sit in traffic to get there like people closer into Austin will to go to the store, thus, taking them 5 minutes to get to the store.

Funnily enough, while googling this, I found:

Sweetwater Lifestyle | Austin TX

"H-E-B, Randall’s, and Whole Foods Market are just down the 71."


Sounds like California more than Austin.


and 5 minutes? The absolute closest are 5 miles away (10 minutes with no traffic). And that's from the welcome center at the front, much less actual houses.

[Cardiff Giant]

Originally Posted by Novacek

Funnily enough, while googling this, I found:

Sweetwater Lifestyle | Austin TX

"H-E-B, Randall’s, and Whole Foods Market are just down the 71."

Sounds like California more than Austin.

Interesting. A quick search reveals that Newland Communities is headquartered in San Diego.

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by Cardiff Giant

Interesting. A quick search reveals that Newland Communities is headquartered in San Diego.

Damn Yankees!!!!!!!

[riaelise]

My mom, a New Yorker, puts "the" in front of the highway number so it's not just a Cali thing (i.e. "the 79" "the 45"). many of the highways are referred to by name in NY rather than number (i.e. Van Wyck, Major Deegan (aka the 87), Cross Bronx Expressway (aka I-95)...

How far is sweetwater to be considered "far out"?

[janejanejanejanejane]

Silly arguments. 10 minutes to HEB is laughable. It is not.
It's still Austin, that's it.

Riaelise- anything past 10 miles from the city center seems to be "too far out" for those who post here.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by janejanejanejanejane

Silly arguments. 10 minutes to HEB is laughable. It is not.

It is.

Unless you're blatantly breaking the law (not just 5 over, but like 20 over the speed limit.)

From the Sweetwater _welcome center_ (at the entrance, so closer than any house) it's 5.9 miles to the HEB on 71.
Or 4.9 miles to the HEB on 620.

Speed limit on 71 is 55 mph. Making it in 5 minutes requires going 60 mph flat out the whole way. No traffic. Catching every single light. No slowing down for turns. Locking the brakes and spinning to a stop in the parking lot. Etc.

It's simple math.

Originally Posted by janejanejanejanejane

It's still Austin, that's it.

It's still "Austin" in that it's in the 5 county region.

It's not in Austin (the city). It's not in the ETJ. Both Lakeway and Bee Cave are _between_ Sweetwater and Austin.

It's "in Austin" like San Marcos and Georgetown are in Austin. Which is fine, if that's what you want.