Leander, Dripping Springs, or Lakeway for large family & greenbelt? (Austin: renting, houses)

[Hopeyn]

Hi, all,

My family is considering a move in the next couple of months from Silicon Valley to Austin. We are a family of 7 (5 children: 3, 6, 9, 11, & 13), and we are desperate for some space, both in house and land. Anything where we currently live is over $1 mill for 4+ bedrooms, so we are hoping for a much better cost of living in Austin. We are looking for either 4 bedrooms w/office or 5 bedrooms and a larger backyard with some trees and privacy. (My husband will be working much from home and will need either a dedicated office or a 5th room to accommodate that). The days he does commute, his office is near 734 and 183, and he would likely be commuting off hours. Our other frequent commute would be where 183, 369, and 1 meet. Right now, we’re used to a 40 min commute to most activities but would like to greatly reduce that.

We homeschool, so schools are not the top priority, though I’d still like to be in a good district in case we change our minds at some point and put our children into public school. However, we do need access to a really great public library nearby. Nearby trails or views or easy driving vicinity to the lake would also be awesome. Our kids are in fencing and ballet and ice skating and tae Kwon do, and easy access to good programs in those activities (within 30 min) would be an extra bonus. Our current community is semi-rural (a mixture of homes with land and horses/cattle/sheep/goats and suburban planned communities). We are not urban people. I love the smaller town feel—where you still have neighbors nearby and are not really in the country, but are not in overly crowded suburban communities either. Planned communities are fine, though, too, if there is some privacy between houses. I love green belts and views and mature trees.

Our max budget would be about 750k, but I’d prefer to save some money if possible and keep it below 600k—ideal would be below 500k, but as I’m looking at sites like trulia, I’m not sure how possible that is. The houses I’ve most been drawn to seem to cluster around either Lakeway, Dripping Springs, or Leander. Does one of these seem a better option than the others for us? Suggestions?

[IC_deLight]

Originally Posted by Hopeyn

Hi, all,

My family is considering a move in the next couple of months from Silicon Valley to Austin. We are a family of 7 (5 children: 3, 6, 9, 11, & 13), and we are desperate for some space, both in house and land. Anything where we currently live is over $1 mill for 4+ bedrooms, so we are hoping for a much better cost of living in Austin. We are looking for either 4 bedrooms w/office or 5 bedrooms and a larger backyard with some trees and privacy. (My husband will be working much from home and will need either a dedicated office or a 5th room to accommodate that). The days he does commute, his office is near 734 and 183, and he would likely be commuting off hours. Our other frequent commute would be where 183, 369, and 1 meet. Right now, we’re used to a 40 min commute to most activities but would like to greatly reduce that.

We homeschool, so schools are not the top priority, though I’d still like to be in a good district in case we change our minds at some point and put our children into public school. However, we do need access to a really great public library nearby. Nearby trails or views or easy driving vicinity to the lake would also be awesome. Our kids are in fencing and ballet and ice skating and tae Kwon do, and easy access to good programs in those activities (within 30 min) would be an extra bonus. Our current community is semi-rural (a mixture of homes with land and horses/cattle/sheep/goats and suburban planned communities). We are not urban people. I love the smaller town feel—where you still have neighbors nearby and are not really in the country, but are not in overly crowded suburban communities either. Planned communities are fine, though, too, if there is some privacy between houses. I love green belts and views and mature trees.

Our max budget would be about 750k, but I’d prefer to save some money if possible and keep it below 600k—ideal would be below 500k, but as I’m looking at sites like trulia, I’m not sure how possible that is. The houses I’ve most been drawn to seem to cluster around either Lakeway, Dripping Springs, or Leander. Does one of these seem a better option than the others for us? Suggestions?

Homeschooling is pretty common. Property taxes are high in Texas so consider the annual property tax liability and whether you are okay with that. It will vary from place to place depending upon county, municipality, groundwater district, school district, MUDs, etc. where you choose. You should probably seriously consider renting for a year while you search. Dripping Springs has gotten out-of-hand cost wise. Lakeway is a rather pretentious place and its location on 620 makes it pretty undesirable if you have to commute. Leander might be most likely to hit all your preferences on that list.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by Hopeyn

Hi, all,

My family is considering a move in the next couple of months from Silicon Valley to Austin. We are a family of 7 (5 children: 3, 6, 9, 11, & 13), and we are desperate for some space, both in house and land. Anything where we currently live is over $1 mill for 4+ bedrooms, so we are hoping for a much better cost of living in Austin. We are looking for either 4 bedrooms w/office or 5 bedrooms and a larger backyard with some trees and privacy. (My husband will be working much from home and will need either a dedicated office or a 5th room to accommodate that). The days he does commute, his office is near 734 and 183, and he would likely be commuting off hours. Our other frequent commute would be where 183, 369, and 1 meet. Right now, we’re used to a 40 min commute to most activities but would like to greatly reduce that.

We homeschool, so schools are not the top priority, though I’d still like to be in a good district in case we change our minds at some point and put our children into public school. However, we do need access to a really great public library nearby. Nearby trails or views or easy driving vicinity to the lake would also be awesome. Our kids are in fencing and ballet and ice skating and tae Kwon do, and easy access to good programs in those activities (within 30 min) would be an extra bonus. Our current community is semi-rural (a mixture of homes with land and horses/cattle/sheep/goats and suburban planned communities). We are not urban people. I love the smaller town feel—where you still have neighbors nearby and are not really in the country, but are not in overly crowded suburban communities either. Planned communities are fine, though, too, if there is some privacy between houses. I love green belts and views and mature trees.

Our max budget would be about 750k, but I’d prefer to save some money if possible and keep it below 600k—ideal would be below 500k, but as I’m looking at sites like trulia, I’m not sure how possible that is. The houses I’ve most been drawn to seem to cluster around either Lakeway, Dripping Springs, or Leander. Does one of these seem a better option than the others for us? Suggestions?

based on your husbands job location I dont think you should be looking in dripping springs or lakeway. 183 and Parmer (734) dont intersect, so Im not exactly sure where he would be working. Im guessing around 183 and spicewood springs rd. Keep in mind he might change jobs so you dont want to be so far north that you can reasonably commute to other tech companies.

Leander is more rural and you can still get acreage, have animals, and not spend too much money. My parents are building a 3700 sq ft house in a planned community for about 550k on 1 acre.

Up north it is better to live south of work, so my personal preference would be to live closer to 183/spicewood springs. There are a lot of homes that border greenbelts in your price range.

There are a ton of trails along the brushy creek main trail. A house that borders that would be great (like avery ranch).

[Hopeyn]

He’ll be working off Parmer, south of 45, west of 1 and east of 183. Sorry for the confusion. I’m not familiar with area yet at all.

Thank you so much for your feedback so far!! I really appreciate it.

[m1a1mg]

I would not even think about Dripping Springs given his work address.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by Hopeyn

He’ll be working off Parmer, south of 45, west of 1 and east of 183. Sorry for the confusion. I’m not familiar with area yet at all.

Thank you so much for your feedback so far!! I really appreciate it.

There are big lot homes in brushy creek, avery ranch etc that would be extremely close. We had friends that sold a great house on brushy creek for around 550K a few years ago. Their part of brushy creek was more like a river and you could kayak quite a distance. The commute to other tech companies would not be too bad.

You can see a huge empty parcel of land along parmer. That is the robinson ranch and the family wants it to be developed into something special, not just another suburban master planned community. My theory is that when that parcel starts to gets developed, everything north of there is going to take a price hit for a long time.

The new apple campus is on robinson ranch.

https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/n...f-central.html

On another note:

Tae Kwon Do unfortunately does a bad job of teaching kids to defend themselves. If you are having them do it because the kicks are cool that is fine. But dont harbor any illusions that your kids will be able to defend themselves. They will get wrecked if they try to use it against a really aggressive puncher or someone that tackles them to the ground. I would recommend brazilian jiu jitsu or MMA instead. There are a lot of good BJJ gyms along 183.

[texasgirl1]

Look at the Crystal Falls subdivision in Leander. Most of the homes are on 1 acre lots and relatively new construction....views of the Hill Country. Everything you need retail wise is now in Cedar Park 10 min away. I believe they are building a new rec center in Cedar Park that will have ice rinks so that would be close. You won't be in "Austin" but can drive into town on the weekend in 30-45 min.

[El Chingaso]

Originally Posted by Austin97

On another note:

Tae Kwon Do unfortunately does a bad job of teaching kids to defend themselves. If you are having them do it because the kicks are cool that is fine. But dont harbor any illusions that your kids will be able to defend themselves. They will get wrecked if they try to use it against a really aggressive puncher or someone that tackles them to the ground. I would recommend brazilian jiu jitsu or MMA instead. There are a lot of good BJJ gyms along 183.

Then you've obviously never seen what a spinning back kick can do.

While TKD isn't the most effective martial art, it does teach discipline and balance. There's also an exceptional school located just down from Lakeline that the OP could use, which would also work with that Brushy Creek suggestion.

For the OP, take a look at the neighborhood next to the HEB on 620/Great Oaks, along with the Brushy Creek area. The good news is a ton of that area has AT&T 1Gig Uverse fiber internet.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by El Chingaso

Then you've obviously never seen what a spinning back kick can do.

While TKD isn't the most effective martial art, it does teach discipline and balance. There's also an exceptional school located just down from Lakeline that the OP could use, which would also work with that Brushy Creek suggestion.

For the OP, take a look at the neighborhood next to the HEB on 620/Great Oaks, along with the Brushy Creek area. The good news is a ton of that area has AT&T 1Gig Uverse fiber internet.

a spinning back kick is almost useless in a real fight. I took TKD for 3 years. Also have 2 years of kung fu (which was marginally, better). Now do MMA which is focused on actually being able to fight and no fancy techniques.

Kicking in general is extremely risky to the kicker in a real fight.

[77030]

Originally Posted by IC_deLight

Lakeway is a rather pretentious place

You clearly haven't met me then!