Where to start looking for homes near job in SE Austin? (San Antonio: apartment complexes, to rent)

[craftyreader]

New to Austin, Most likely taking a job in SE Austin near the airport, prefer not to have an hour or more commute, but okay with half an hour on a good day - what areas would you recommend? Where would I start? I tried to look at some of the previous posts, but most people are searching north of town, and I think the commute is not what we're looking for. Like the idea of being relatively near (10- 20 minutes) to retail like Costco/Sams/Trader Joes. Plan to live in the home longterm. We've moved a few times before, usually knew someone in the area to guide us or based location on school.

[eqshadimar]

Hello! I live in the Addison development which is on 183 at the South end of the airport. What sort of questions do you have? Where is the job located?

[Swizzle Stick]

Renting? Buying?

Price range?

Do you have kids?

Infants? ---> High School age?


If schools are not an immediate issue, there is really nice housing stock in Suburban SE Austin. A $400K house in SE Austin would run you $700K in SW Austin, or over $1M in Westlake.

[craftyreader]

Originally Posted by Swizzle Stick

Renting? Buying?

Price range?

Do you have kids?

Infants? ---> High School age?


If schools are not an immediate issue, there is really nice housing stock in Suburban SE Austin. A $400K house in SE Austin would run you $700K in SW Austin, or over $1M in Westlake.

That"s a big difference! Planning to buy - we have kids in college - so while School District is not as important as prior moves, we will still want to live near relatively good schools to keep resale value. Probably looking at 500k max only because property taxes seem so high compared to what we are used to. Was looking at homes in 78747 just to get an idea of the area and was shocked to see homes listed in the 300's 3 years ago or even a year ago are now listed in the 500's. That's just one area that came up on a general search.
Any advice is appreciate.

[Swizzle Stick]

Originally Posted by craftyreader

That"s a big difference! Planning to buy - we have kids in college - so while School District is not as important as prior moves, we will still want to live near relatively good schools to keep resale value. Probably looking at 500k max only because property taxes seem so high compared to what we are used to. Was looking at homes in 78747 just to get an idea of the area and was shocked to see homes listed in the 300's 3 years ago or even a year ago are now listed in the 500's. That's just one area that came up on a general search.
Any advice is appreciate.

If a house in SE Austin can go from 300K to 500K in 3 years, then it doesn't seem like one would need good schools to keep resale value. The price for "good schools" is already baked in.

This was implied in my first post:

Originally Posted by Swizzle Stick

If schools are not an immediate issue, there is really nice housing stock in Suburban SE Austin. A $400K house in SE Austin would run you $700K in SW Austin, or over $1M in Westlake.

[craftyreader]

Originally Posted by Swizzle Stick

If a house in SE Austin can go from 300K to 500K in 3 years, then it doesn't seem like one would need good schools to keep resale value. The price for "good schools" is already baked in.

This was implied in my first post:

Sorry, didn't catch the implication. Since I'm not familiar with the Austin/history of an area I'm confused what to look for in housing and looking at the pricing history made me wonder if it would just as easily tank, rather than maintain value.

[craftyreader]

Originally Posted by eqshadimar

Hello! I live in the Addison development which is on 183 at the South end of the airport. What sort of questions do you have? Where is the job located?

How do you like the area? Do you have to travel far for grocery shopping, etc? How is noise from the airport? If you have children - are you happy with the schools? We have older kids so school is not immediately important, but found we retained value in our previous homes if we were near good schools.

[ashbeeigh]

Originally Posted by craftyreader

How do you like the area? Do you have to travel far for grocery shopping, etc? How is noise from the airport? If you have children - are you happy with the schools? We have older kids so school is not immediately important, but found we retained value in our previous homes if we were near good schools.

I just moved about 3 miles north of where this poster lives. I am right at Montopolis and 183. The area the poster lives in is generally pretty rural and is more "out" then I am. I will speak for myself, since I live in this area.

The area I am in is slowly gentrifying and I'm guilty of contributing to it. I am looking to stay connected to this community and advocate for its original residents.

With that said, the area I am in is generally lower income and I'm a bit of a ways from grocery stores and shopping that I was close to when I lived in far south Austin in a more affluent suburban area of the city. Is that important to you? I have two grocery stores that are about 3 miles apart nearby, one of Riverside and one on 7th street. However, I'm probably going to be driving about 5 miles out to get to the grocery store that I like in Mueller. I haven't quite decided where my "Crap, I need to get this one thing, " store will be.

Airport noise is present, but I grew up along a flight path in San Antonio so it's not ridiculous noise. I see more planes when I'm on 183 then I do in my apartment.

I think I'm actually in the Del Valle school district, although my apartment looks out to an AISD school. I can speak in detail about AISD schools. The school I back-up to does what they can with what they have. It's not the worst, but it's not up there when Austinites think, "I want my kid to go to that school," same for the middle and high school that the students feed into. I cannot speak to Del Valle schools, and I believe that Addison, where the previous poster lives, is in Del Valle as well. If school achievement is an indicated desire for you, I'd look west of 35 closer to the Slaughter area. You can get to the airport area through 45/1625 to 183 in the mornings if you need to go the back way to avoid traffic.

What is your budget? Do you need to be by "things"?

Originally Posted by craftyreader

That"s a big difference! Planning to buy - we have kids in college - so while School District is not as important as prior moves, we will still want to live near relatively good schools to keep resale value. Probably looking at 500k max only because property taxes seem so high compared to what we are used to. Was looking at homes in 78747 just to get an idea of the area and was shocked to see homes listed in the 300's 3 years ago or even a year ago are now listed in the 500's. That's just one area that came up on a general search.
Any advice is appreciate.

78747 and 78748 would be a good place to start. If you're into "new" homes Easton Park would be good too. You may want to rent for a while before buying, though. I've been here five years and for 4 different apartment complexes and I still can't tell you where I would want to buy if I were in a place to buy a house.

[Daanann]

Easton Park is great if you were looking for a more active and fun neighborhood with nature surrounded by it. I believe it also has nice schools too.

Estancia is a little far away but looks relatively nice and is right by I-35.

Circle C is relatively okay if you were looking to purchase an older home too.

[craftyreader]

Thank you all for your feedback! Starting to come up and look around on the weekends, may have to adjust our budget as we figure out what we really want in a home and area.