Jumping on the relocating bandwagon (Houston, San Antonio: hotel, homes, school districts)

[mutantsupermodel]

My husband and I just came back from visiting San Antonio and Houston as candidates for relocation from Miami, FL where we were both born and raised. Of the two, we are definitely more interested in San Antonio as Houston is just too much like Miami to give us a feeling things will be better.

I have some questions I am hoping you can help me with. I've been reading your forums for a while and have found EXCELLENT information (my bookmarks folder is quite full) so I'm hoping to get some more info like that. I apologize in advance for having questions that are all over the place and also for such a long long long post.

1) Can you please break down information on the school districts for me? We have two children, one of which will be of school age in 2008 and the other is just an infant. So finding a home with good public schools is really important to us. What I want to know then is should I focus on searching for a home by a district or should I actually narrow it down to looking for homes close to certain schools? Is there a way to find out how children are assigned to specific schools (maps for instance)? I'm not sure what, if any, impact a budget for a home has on schools in San Antonio but just in case it does matter, we are looking for a home in the upper 100's, lower 200's.

2) My husband really loved the Encino area but I am concerned it is just way too far out of Downtown so here is a two-fold question for you. What kind of commute are we talking about from Encino to Downtown San Antonio in rush hour? And also, would you say that the heaviest concentration of corporate jobs is available in Downtown San Antonio or is it scattered in the outlying areas as well? In other words, is an Encino commute an actual concern or just silly? Right now he has a 45 minute commute to work on an average day. On bad days, he can be out there over an hour. On a good day it's about 30 minutes.

3) Speaking of jobs, what's the telecomm industry like in San Antonio? That's my husband's specialty and we're having a hard time getting a real grasp on the industry there.

4) And the last question for you residents. Living in Miami, you hardly ever venture into Downtown Miami or even South Beach. It's just a complete pain to do so. And because of that we actually live about an hour away from those destinations and have everything we need about 20 minutes away tops. Do you locals go into Downtown often and take advantage of what it has to offer or are you pretty much content in the suburbs? Is it a pain to get into Downtown on the weekend for instance? I know that the weather there was a fluke this past weekend so I'm guessing that had a lot to do with things. We stayed at a hotel on the Riverwalk and found it to be pretty deserted even with the Mud Festival supposedly going on. Was that a completely abnormal weekend in Downtown San Antonio or is that pretty much how it is? We're just trying to weigh the pros of moving closer to downtown versus moving out to the suburbs and aren't sure we've gotten a good idea of how it works especially considering the insane weather this weekend.

If you've made it all the way through THANK YOU SO MUCH! And even if you didn't but can answer some of this THANKS TO YOU TOO!

[n0vemberHAWK]

Originally Posted by mutantsupermodel

My husband and I just came back from visiting San Antonio and Houston as candidates for relocation from Miami, FL where we were both born and raised. Of the two, we are definitely more interested in San Antonio as Houston is just too much like Miami to give us a feeling things will be better.

I have some questions I am hoping you can help me with. I've been reading your forums for a while and have found EXCELLENT information (my bookmarks folder is quite full) so I'm hoping to get some more info like that. I apologize in advance for having questions that are all over the place and also for such a long long long post.

1) Can you please break down information on the school districts for me? We have two children, one of which will be of school age in 2008 and the other is just an infant. So finding a home with good public schools is really important to us. What I want to know then is should I focus on searching for a home by a district or should I actually narrow it down to looking for homes close to certain schools? Is there a way to find out how children are assigned to specific schools (maps for instance)? I'm not sure what, if any, impact a budget for a home has on schools in San Antonio but just in case it does matter, we are looking for a home in the upper 100's, lower 200's.

2) My husband really loved the Encino area but I am concerned it is just way too far out of Downtown so here is a two-fold question for you. What kind of commute are we talking about from Encino to Downtown San Antonio in rush hour? And also, would you say that the heaviest concentration of corporate jobs is available in Downtown San Antonio or is it scattered in the outlying areas as well? In other words, is an Encino commute an actual concern or just silly? Right now he has a 45 minute commute to work on an average day. On bad days, he can be out there over an hour. On a good day it's about 30 minutes.

3) Speaking of jobs, what's the telecomm industry like in San Antonio? That's my husband's specialty and we're having a hard time getting a real grasp on the industry there.

4) And the last question for you residents. Living in Miami, you hardly ever venture into Downtown Miami or even South Beach. It's just a complete pain to do so. And because of that we actually live about an hour away from those destinations and have everything we need about 20 minutes away tops. Do you locals go into Downtown often and take advantage of what it has to offer or are you pretty much content in the suburbs? Is it a pain to get into Downtown on the weekend for instance? I know that the weather there was a fluke this past weekend so I'm guessing that had a lot to do with things. We stayed at a hotel on the Riverwalk and found it to be pretty deserted even with the Mud Festival supposedly going on. Was that a completely abnormal weekend in Downtown San Antonio or is that pretty much how it is? We're just trying to weigh the pros of moving closer to downtown versus moving out to the suburbs and aren't sure we've gotten a good idea of how it works especially considering the insane weather this weekend.

If you've made it all the way through THANK YOU SO MUCH! And even if you didn't but can answer some of this THANKS TO YOU TOO!

I will send you a PM with all the information you will need tomorrow when I get some free time but I am downtown partying every weekend. It is very accessible compared to other large cities' downtowns. You will enjoy it here!