Another "military PCS to Lackland, where do I live" question (San Antonio: rental market)

[LAJen0712]

We are set to PCS to Lackland in a few weeks. My husband and I have been looking at houses online for several months now, but I think I feel more confused than ever on where we want to be. We want to buy, because we don't foresee another PCS move anytime soon, and my husband would prefer to retire out of there. It's been suggested to rent for awhile until we get a feel for the area, but I have a teenage son who will be entering 10th grade and once we enroll him in school I don't want to move him again. This also means that we will be short on time, we'll only have a month and a half before school starts up and we will need him enrolled.

Our budget is $150,000 or less. We need a yard for the dogs and good sized rooms (kitchen, living, and master bedroom). The areas that have shown up have been Westcreek, Redbird Ranch, Silver Oaks, and a few up in River Mist and The Park at University Hills. I think there were a few in Bridgewood and Spring Vista too, and one in Bella Vista. I know our budget is a little less than what I've seen others posting on here, but we want to be able to live comfortably on just my husband's salary, not knowing how long it may take me to find a job. I've got student loan debt up to my ears that we are paying on, and teenagers aren't cheap! The houses are districted for Brandeis, Brennan, Taft and Stevens high schools.

I've seen lots of posts about different areas, and lots of people have lots of differing opinions on these neighborhoods ranging from I live there it's fine, to you couldn't pay me to live there. Hence my confusion, especially with being new to the area and having a short amount of time. Anyone want to help?

[majormadmax]

Here's my housing recommendation map for Lackland...



Unfortunately, your price range is going to limit your options; but given the current market you stand a better chance of finding a nice home than you would have when we PCS'd here in 2005.

I also recommend a good realtor, if you're interested I know one who has handled numerous military families coming to San Antonio with great success! If you want his contact info, send me a DM (direct message) via this forum.

Lastly, I would also suggest taking a second look at your housing budget. I too was of the mindset that I didn't want to go over a set limit when we returned here from overseas, but after discussions with the aforementioned realtor I realized based on the amount we'd be able to put down on a home that our monthly payments would be less than I thought. Also consider that a newer home will most likely be more energy efficient and less likely to require major repairs or replacing expensive items such as air conditioning/heating components. I was actually quite surprised how much more we were able to afford, and if you are like us and plan to be in your home for a considerable time (I knew I would be retiring from the military here), it's a wise investment to get as much house as you can afford!

Good luck and let me one of the first to welcome you to San Antonio! I hope you love it here as much as we do!

Cheers! M2

[prim8]

I'll second M2's suggestions and add that finding a good Realtor and purchasing outright might be the best bet. Renting might get you slightly familiar with an area but a good Realtor will have far more knowledge than you will be able to get from renting for a year.
Either way I'd suggest a realtor.
If you want a recommendation DM me and I'll pass you the information on the Realtor that just helped me. He went above and beyond for us and we couldn't be happier with him or the house he found for us.

[MsSpiderWeb]

I live on the west side inside the blue area MMM suggested. I'm happy and feel safe where I live.

[LAJen0712]

Well, this is slightly disheartening. Majormadmax - thanks for the map. I'd actually seen it before while I've been lurking around and was using that to search by. And thanks for the rest of the replies as well, I appreciate them. Honestly I've gone over our budget again and again, and the only thing I can see where I may be off is what I've estimated for utilities. And really that's a wild guess as I have no idea where to look for more reliable estimates on utility costs, not to mention we've been in base housing for the last 9 years. But I would rather over budget than not budget enough. Like I said, my student loans take a large portion of our income and that has a huge effect on what we can afford.

Are any of the areas I've mentioned ok? They are all right around the $150K price, and they all seem nice and are built within the past 10 years, but I guess maybe pictures can be deceiving. I tried upping our budget some, but mostly it returned houses in the same areas just more of the extras. We don't need to live in the best area, just don't want to live in the worst. Heck, we've had issues with graffiti, kids going through parked cars, and neighbors who don't care for their yards on base, so it happening occasionally wouldn't cause me to faint from shock, LOL. We are just looking for somewhere we feel safe and having a nice place to go home to.

[mkiss121]

You might want to go to realtor.com its a very helpful website it will give you options to modify what your looking for and search the houses. I live in the ridgestone subdivision minutes from lackland and have been living here since 09. I have to say the neighbors are awesome, we lookout for each other, and I have never had not one complaint, there are also retired/current military families who live in this subdivision.
The homeowner association is strictly enforced in this neighborhood which is a great thing although you will have a few non compliant neighbors but can say when there is a issue it gets addressed immediately and resolved!!

[majormadmax]

Don't be discouraged, things are not as bad as a few may claim. Sure, every area has its "issues" but the descriptions making the Westside sound like a ghetto are far from accurate.

Just be prepared to compromise a little, create a list of desired features you want from your new home and prioritize them; and as long as the more important ones are met, you can consider yourself successful.

When we PCS'd here from Belgium we had 30 days to find a house and move into it, and during that time there were four of us living in a cramped, two-room temporary lodging facility on base. I only had ten days off work to house hunt, after that it was evenings and weekends. Luckily, a very good friend recommended an outstanding realtor, with whom my wife and I had been exchanging emails for several months prior to our arrival. I was skeptical as the last time we moved here we a bad experience with a realtor who for some reason wasn't listening to what we were telling him (we were saved by an accidental encounter with another one at the base housing office who comprehended our needs and desires). Originally I had only wanted to rent a home for the three years we were going to be here, but at that time the rental market was poor and we weren't finding anything suitable. Our new realtor convinced us that buying a home might be a better idea, and took us to a beautiful house that was less than a year old. Well, it turned out to be the best decision we could have made, we had a wonderful home and actually sold it for a small profit when we returned to Europe less than three years later.

As I was saying, the recommended realtor we had when we returned was an excellent, no-nonsense individual. He had a plan of attack where we would waste no time at a house that we had no interest in. In a few cases, that ended up being as soon as we saw it. But late that first morning when we were going down the list he had made for us, we found what we were looking for. It was above my targeted price range but as I mentioned, after crunching the numbers we realized it was more affordable than I had thought. Sure, there were a few features that I had hoped for that I didn't end up getting--such as a three-car garage--but all in all I have to say it satisfied 90-95% of what we wanted and I consider that a 'win.'

Despite putting a deposit on our current house, we still continued to look for several days to ensure we got the best place possible. Once my wife and I were convinced, our realtor walked us through the closing process and was with us every step of the way. I couldn't recommend anyone more, we are still friends to this day and he has helped numerous military friends and acquaintances who have moved to San Antonio since. I recommend him in confidence as it is always a 'win-win' situation, a great realtor gets more business and people are getting the homes they want. You can't beat that!

Moving to a new place and finding somewhere to live is always a daunting task, I've done it enough times during my 25-year military career and it is nice that I no longer have to worry about it now that I am retired. But just remember that millions have done it and survived, and you will too! Just try and keep a positive attitude, and don't let the occasional little pothole in the road ruin your entire journey!

Cheers! M2

[Paka]

Moderator cut: orphaned

Look, SA is like ANY other large city, you can find things to love, things to hate and everything inbetween...but IF you are looking to buy, the NW side with the school districts would PROBABLY be the easiest to sell again IF you are looking to have to sell when it comes time to leave.

IF you are looking to maintain the home, just ensure that you scope out the DRIVE to and from work at the time of day you would be going to and from, then find what suites you best.

We have a DEAR friend that is a FANTASTIC realtor (actually met him on CDF) that has done some AWESOME work for us and would be happy to give you a recommendation to him if you DM me. He will work with what you have, what you want and what you plan to ensure your bases are covered! Welcome to Lackland...both hubby and I work there and are VERY happy!

[Me007gold]

DM Sent