130K realistic??? (Austin, Round Rock, Cedar Park: apartment complex, houses, neighborhoods)

[cabolissa]

I'm wondering if I can get a home in the Leander, Round Rock or Cedar Creek, or Pflugarville areas from 130-150K with the following: community pool, decent back yard, not too old (10 yrs), and good schools. Is this even possible?

[HappyTexan]

If you go a bit older than 10 years then yes it's possible.

If Pflugerville there is Brookhollow, Park Crest, Saxony neighborhoods.
They feed into Brookhollow Elementary, Park Crest Middle School and then Pflugerville High School. Nice family neighborhoods. Saxony has a community pool or two.
Brookhollow doesn't but those neighborhoods are close to Gilleland Park which has a very nice pool.
And all of these are older neighborhoods with nice size front and back yards.

[tickledpink]

The Cedar Park town center neighborhood has some homes in that price range that fit that criteria.

[robino2001]

I bought in Feb 07... 1700 sq ft, built in 2002, everything you mentioned, 3/2 house in RR, great neighborhood, great school in the neighborhood, etc...absolutely love it - paid $135k at the time... it's now appraised for $160k though, so it could be a reach but it's doable.

[neddy]

So of the neighborhoods out here in Leander are in that price range. Look at Horizon Park, Blockhouse maybe the KB neighborhood,Westview meadows by Centex is in the price range. I know folks that live all over and they like their own neighborhood. Good Luck

[texastea]

Its possible. Especially if, like neddy said, you go a little older. There are Scott Felders (they built nice homes) in Oak Ridge (Leander) in that price range. A great elementary is within walking distance and a new LISD high school and middle school right down the road.

I'd also look in Ridgewood North for newer Lennar built homes. There's a nice little park/playground in the neighborhood and a pool in Ridgwood South for the whole community.

[Mike78613]

Leander - mason creek; Easily.

[mark311]

As the other posters have stated, yes you can get a house in Leander for about $130K. The question is whether or not a $130K home here is realistic for you. It really depends on what your expectations are. Your location is listed as Rancho Santa Margarita, CA. It's quite a bit different than your current location in Orange County. My guess is that you would much prefer the areas where the homes are in the $180K range. My opinion, solely based on where you live now, is that about $160K is the minimum of what you would find realistic.

You could even use the people on this forum as examples. I'm sure there is only a very small percentage of us that live in a home in the Austin area that has a current market value of $150K or less.

[tangerine240]

Our neighborhood fits your description, except it has a park and not a pool. On the other side of the park though, is an apartment complex.. with a pool. I know some kids use it, but I'm not saying that's an OK thing to do.
The neighborhood is called Remington Heights, in Round Rock. It's very low-traffic as there is only one entrance/exit. However, it's also quite small so there's never any real traffic to get in/out except at 5pm on the access road since it's across the street from Dell. The neighborhood even has a sidewalk entrance to the shopping center with the infamous HEB grocery store. Oh, and don't forget Starbucks.
Since I don't get out of work until 6 usually, getting home at 6:30 isn't ever a problem.

It's super easy access to the toll road which will take you to IH35, Mopac, 620, or even further east if you want to head south (what I call the back way) to the airport very quickly.

You could get a smaller one-story for 130k but the larger two-stories go for ~160k and up.

The houses are just around 10 years old, some a bit older some a bit younger.

[texastea]

Originally Posted by mark311

As the other posters have stated, yes you can get a house in Leander for about $130K. The question is whether or not a $130K home here is realistic for you. It really depends on what your expectations are. Your location is listed as Rancho Santa Margarita, CA. It's quite a bit different than your current location in Orange County. My guess is that you would much prefer the areas where the homes are in the $180K range. My opinion, solely based on where you live now, is that about $160K is the minimum of what you would find realistic.

You could even use the people on this forum as examples. I'm sure there is only a very small percentage of us that live in a home in the Austin area that has a current market value of $150K or less.

In the neighborhoods I mentioned (plus Mike's suggestion--especially the part of Mason Creek closest to Crystal Falls), you might squeeze into the smallest home in the neighborhood with $135K. They're good places to live with great schools.