Possible move to SA - need some advice (San Antonio, Plano: home owners insurance, how much)

[DBF]

We may be moving back to TX. We used to live in Plano (loved it) for years relocated to the Charlotte NC area but actually in SC (love it) and now may be heading back to San Antonio. We currently have a 3 year old 5300 sf home with a finished basement, 3 car garage and lovely wooded creek lot. We really do not need that much space since we are now empty nesters but we have alot of "stuff" My husband would be working downtown ( Broadway is the street I think)

We would probably be looking for nicely finished out home that has at least a large "TX Basement" for storage and a 3 car garage. Would like a relatively new - or newly updated home that has high efficiency HVAC, nice kitchens/baths at least 3 BRs plus study and minimum of 2 living areas and a good size dining room. A main floor master is a definite plus.

An early look seems that far north suburb areas are nice but the taxes are killer! Our current home we only pay $2,000/yr for property tax. Are there other areas to look?

We also love to boat so that is also why we looked north as that seems to be the direction of a decent sized lake.

Any and all help is most appreciated!

[ShaneSA]

Look at the town of New Bruanfels to be close to the lake and lower taxes. anywhere in SA will have a high tax ratio. You need to decide on the commute distance. If your closer to work, it's higher taxes. By the description of your housing wants, I thought of Northwoods or Alamo Heights. But they are not near the lake.

[Penquin927]

Property taxes are pretty much going to be over the $2000 in the area. Also, basements are not really the norm in the area so you may need to take that out of your home search as well. Not to be negative but the homes in SC and San Antonio are very different.

[mamatotex97]

from one planoite/transplant to another...welcome to san antonio.

depends on how much you are willing to commute and if schools are a factor. there are many great areas to choose from.

[DBF]

Thanks all for input...may need to go as far as New Braunfels in search. Do love Schlitterbahn! It seems the houses in Stone Oak area are similar to what we have in SC as far as finishout. Guess we would trade our walkout basement for an upstairs game room that had a "TX basement" (walk in conditioned storage space - usually on the second floor. We had this in Plano and it was great to have) Tax rates in SA are like Plano I guess...maybe more. We pay $2,000 on a $550,000 house here and home owners insurance is only $400/yr. I think we were in the $8,500 range for taxes and $3,000 range for homeowners in Plano. I did look at Alamo Heights but seems costly/sf and very few 3 car garage homes in our price range (<$600,000). I am hoping to get some good research done on housing and Cost of Living so my husband can use in negotiations.

Thanks again and any more info or input is appreciated!

[Opalescent Moon]

Hi
Property taxes are HIGH all over Texas. I was thinking of moving back, but I remember the $3900 a year I was paying. I was in far north SA, right outside the city limit and was still paying 2.2% on the assessed value. Assessed values are high in TX- paid 210K for my house, assessment was fof $190K.

You can't really escape it in Texas as there is no state tax. Gotta get income from somewhere.

[kyle450rider]

What is the time for a typical drive from New Bruanfels to downtown during business hours? I looked at housing last night and I was impressed with what I found in New Bruanfels.

[majormadmax]

Roughly 30-35 miles each way in rush hour traffic. No thanks...

[JosephV55]

Originally Posted by kyle450rider

What is the time for a typical drive from New Bruanfels to downtown during business hours? I looked at housing last night and I was impressed with what I found in New Bruanfels.

In addition to what was previously said about the drive time... over the
last few weeks there have been a few incidents on the I-35 that have
caused the New Braunfel commuters some delays.

This was one of them:

18-wheeler accident shuts down I-35 traffic | kens5.com San Antonio

I'm very happy to have a 5 minute drive to work on side roads out in Schertz.

[Labamigo]

You're just not going to find something that fits your all of your wishes.

For a downtown area worker, your best bet is to look in the neighborhoods inside Loop 410. That won't put you close to a lake, but I'd rather have a longish drive out to a lake once a week or so than a bad drive downtown 5 days a week.

Basements are a rarity here.

Try to get rid of as much as you can before you move. Why pay to pack it and move it unless you use it at least once a year or it has sentimental value.