We're here!!! Question (Austin, West, Woodcreek: homes, pool, yard)

[texastrigirl]

Minier, I would really be shocked if you didn't like CCR if you ended up moving there esp. if you thought VAWO was fine. I don't really know what parts you saw either unless your realtor hauled you over to the new expensive stuff and bypassed the older more affordable parts of CCR. Honestly, it is a great neighborhood. Try looking in the older parts right as you drive past the pool on the left and the right. Our home was built in 1995 and we were off of Back Bay east of Escarpment. Best neighborhood I have ever lived in. You can use zip 78739 to get at the heart of CCR in your search.

[Raskolnikov]

We almost bought a house off Ricker Hill street. That street is amazing--- the huge trees in the front yards really made it feel like it was in a canopy of old oaks. It also is so tucked away and quiet. Each house looks different and Kiker and the other schools are exemplary. But we ended up buying in VOWO just to be a little bit closer to where we work. The whole stepford vibe about Circle C, yeah it really depends on which part you're looking around in. Personally I find it funny because in 1965, Barton Hills was a true stepford neighborhood. Before that in 1930s, Hyde Park was stepford. Now those neighborhoods aren't stepford, because they have almost zero young families. It's mostly either renters (in their 20's and 30s), wealthy urban people who never had any kids, or older parents whose kids are long grown up. Compare Halloween and the amount of trick or treaters you'll have in those neighborhoods to Circle C and you'll see what I mean. At my office my co-workers (who chose to pay 200K more than I did to live in a 'cool' area) had zero trick or treaters and lamented it. What they did have was a lot of Halloween parties for the urban hipster set.

Seriously, I know SO MANY people who have had to move out to places like Steiner or CCR because they had a family and realized that the stuff in town is just not inclusive of people with children. There was an article about it once in the Chronicle too-- about flight out to the burbs by the time a kid reaches about 5-6 years old.

[Minier]

This is why I love this forum. So much information. We're driving back out to CC today to get a second feel for it - sounds like we saw the newer areas. Trees make all the difference to us, so it's encouraging that the older areas have them. We'll go see.

[TexasHorseLady]

The trick about Barton Hills and Hyde Park and why they have the non-Stepford personalities that they do now is that neither has mandatory homeowner's associations dictating what can and cannot be done with your house. So the neighborhoods had the air and freedom to grow into something else. Whether or a not a neighborhood that starts out that way changes and lives and breathes depends on how stringent the restrictions are and, to a great extent, who's running the HOA over time (as who is running the HOA will dictate a neighborhood that is the vision of those on the Board rather than the individual homeowners).

Thus, the comparison between Barton Hills and Hyde Park and the newer subdivisions that are given the "Stepford" designation is not an entirely (or, really, even mostly) accurate one. That's a BIG difference.

[centralaustinite]

No, no the central neighborhoods are full of kids, just primarily 0-5! People buy a small house in Hyde Park or Travis Heights and have a baby, it is practically a rule. The city parks are full of these folks, and Halloween can be very busy too! But then they have a second baby and tire of the lack of closets in their house and start to realize that the elementary schools may not be the best, and they end up moving out and another young couple takes their place. These areas are family friendly and attract scores of young families, they just don't keep them when the babies are schoolkids.

That is the stereotype and there is some truth to it. But Lee Elementary in Hyde Park and Barton Hills Elementary and Zilker elementary are seriously great schools. In these areas, many families stay. And younger families in my neighborhood seem to be making a commitment to stay. We will see what happens. Some say the younger generation is different.

It does thin out at the middle school level in the central areas, and where you will find a true gap in these neighborhoods are the teenagers. But places like Allandale, NW Hills, etc. you will find families that stay in the same house for k-12.

There are families in central neighborhoods who stay too but their kids tend to go to private schools or to Kealing-LASA (AISD's academic magnet middle school and high school).

[lodilynn]

Hello,
We live in Lake Travis area. Great schools and huge house and huge yard and huge family population. We can't wait to leave! My husband and I were city dwellers - in areas that were the "burbs" 50 years ago, but still close to universities and more "cultural" environs. With kids under 17, we had to move for the schools. In a few years, when they aren't so much "go play in the yard" age, we might consider "in-town" living again. We may have a problem as they will be so ingrained in their schools. Also, depending on the neighborhood, it might have a great middle school and a worrisome high school. All things to consider.
We try to take advantage of Austin's proximity as often as possible. We take in festivals, take visitors to Zilker park and Barton Springs Pool, and we get babysitters and head in to restaurants every weekend! It's a hike (25 minutes), but a way to enjoy both.

[austin-steve]

Wikipedia has a good review of the Stepford Wifes movies, and how the term "Stepford" is now used in language, such as this thread.

The label "Stepford wife" is usually applied to a woman who seems to conform blindly to an old-fashioned subservient role in relationship to her husband, compared to other, presumably more independent and vivacious women. It can also be used to criticise any person, male or female, who submits meekly to authority and/or abuse; or even to describe someone who lives in a robotic, conformist manner without giving offense to anyone. The word "Stepford" can also be used as an adjective denoting servility or blind conformity, ("He's a real Stepford employee"), or a noun ("My home town is a Stepford").

I think the "blind conformity" probably ends with the HOA rules and certainly doesn't apply to any of the individual people I know in Circle C.

Steve

[readymade]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

Wikipedia has a good review of the Stepford Wifes movies, and how the term "Stepford" is now used in language, such as this thread.
Steve

It's a great movie, actually, but see the original 1970s version. The newer Nicole Kidman one was just AWFUL! They took out all of the creepiness. Maybe next they'll re-make "Rosemary's Baby" w/ Paris Hilton and she can have a perfectly normal healthy baby at the end!

[cabolissa]

Nicole Kidman, with all her recent facial plastic surgery, looks like she took the part just a tad to seriously! She doesn't even look like the same person!

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/nicole-kidman/scansk/kidman/nicole5.jpg (broken link)

[Jennibc]

"The label "Stepford wife" is usually applied to a woman who seems to conform blindly to an old-fashioned subservient role in relationship to her husband, compared to other, presumably more independent and vivacious women. It can also be used to criticise any person, male or female, who submits meekly to authority and/or abuse; or even to describe someone who lives in a robotic, conformist manner without giving offense to anyone. "

Well since I routinely offend people and also live in Circle C, then Circle C cannot be considered to have only Stepford like residents