Moving to Austin, TX (Round Rock, Spring: apartment complexes, to rent, home builders)

[skitbg]

Need detailed info please. Not sure were to live. Have small kids. Looking for good schools, nice community

[MJinAustin]

Need more info...where working, what do you consider "nice" and "good", what's your home budget, renting or buying...

[TexasHorseLady]

Need detailed info in order to provide detailed info - size of family, what's your spending limit, are you looking to buy or rent, what do you like to do? Do you prefer a new neighborhood or an established one? Where are you likely to be working?

[skitbg]

Originally Posted by MJinAustin

Need more info...where working, what do you consider "nice" and "good", what's your home budget, renting or buying...

We will be renting for now....read a lot about Austin, but never been there. We have 3 kids, and our budget is about $250,000. I really would like to rent first. Don't want to buy right now without knowing the area a little better. As far as schools are concerned; I'm from Dayton, OH our school system has went from educating for life to educating for thug life.

[skitbg]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Need detailed info in order to provide detailed info - size of family, what's your spending limit, are you looking to buy or rent, what do you like to do? Do you prefer a new neighborhood or an established one? Where are you likely to be working?

We love going to the mall, movies, chucky cheese, parks, and for me & my wife we both love the casino.
I just graduated with an accounting degree, my wife will be retiring from the Army Aug 23, 2009. She has a Nursing degree.

[MJinAustin]

Originally Posted by skitbg

We love going to the mall, movies, chucky cheese, parks, and for me & my wife we both love the casino.
I just graduated with an accounting degree, my wife will be retiring from the Army Aug 23, 2009. She has a Nursing degree.

Ok, so you're looking for a nice family-friendly neighborhood with lots of kids, reasonably priced homes and suburban amenities.

On the job front, it may take you some time to find something. Many people come to Austin and need 4-6 months to find a job. There are many temp-to-hire accounting positions though, so you might start there. Your wife, on the other hand will probably have more luck in finding a job and can pick up a few shifts a week - there are many hospitals, large and small and specialty. There's no trauma 1 center here (I think)...I'm pretty sure that Brackenridge is a trauma 2 center. Otherwise, there are lots of city and regional hospitals around.

Some neighborhoods you might like are:

in South Austin - Circle C
(and there are more people on this forum who are more familiar w/south who can add some subdivision names)

in Manor (east of Austin) - Shadow Glen

in Round Rock (north burbs of Austin) - there are so many neighborhoods! Cat Hollow, Vista Oaks, Brushy Creek

in Cedar Park (north burbs of Austin) - again, so many neighborhoods to choose from, maybe parts of Forest Oaks or Carriage Hills or Buttercup Creek

you could look in Pflugerville (small town that is NE of Austin), though it has become a burb...but don't know specific names of neighborhoods.

I just noticed that your moving date is 2009!...not 2008....so you have a lot of time. Just start to do some research with these burbs and see what your initial thoughts are.

On a 250K budget, you probably won't be able to afford a decent sized family home in Central Austin. Another place you might start because it will give you an idea of what homes look like and cost, is to look up new home builders. Here are some names:

Standard Pacific
Capital Pacific
Newmark Homes
Wilshire Homes
Morrison Homes
David Weekley
Ryland

I'd personally stay away from anything built by KB Homes or Centex as they are generally thought to be poorly built and not very good quality.

Hope that helps get you started.

[AskForTeresa]

I would recommend you look into Cedar Park, Leander and Round Rock West. They should fit your budget plus good school systems in all. They are just a little north of Austin but not far.

[springbean]

I would head to Round Rock. Lots of new apartment complexes on 1431 near two brand new hospitals. As far as buying a home, if I were to look in RR I would look in Teravista, Paloma Lakes, Mayfield Ranch, Sendero Springs, Settlers Overlook or Eagles Ridge. You should be able to find new or resale homes in that price range. RR schools are great and RR is very family oriented.

We live in Teravista, tons of family activities are always going on in our neighborhood. We have a new elementary school which will be opening this fall, we're close to I-35, the outlet mall, Ikea and restaurants etc. It's growing like crazy around here.

[Phisch]

If you have time and a budget that will allow it, I would recommend visiting first. We did that two years ago to make sure that what we read about Austin lined up with what it's really like. Obviously, we loved it and so here we are, but there are some who took a few days and "kicked Austin's tires" and decided it wasn't for them.

[ButterflyHugs5]

We're out in Teravista and LOVE it here, especially with the brand new elementary opening this fall. There's tons of growth happening around here!