Moving to San Antonio (apartment, rent, buying)

[TXGamecock]

Alamo Heights is a very nice area and convenient to downtown.

I would pick a location that is relatively close to where you will be working, San Antonio is very spread out and a rush hour commute from the far northside to downtown is going to be over 30 minutes each way. If you prefer the 'burbs, you can't go wrong with Deerfield, Inwood, and Rogers Ranch. Deerfield and Inwood are not what I would consider "older" homes, but they're typically well kept and very mature neighborhoods. Rogers Ranch is newer homes, but unlike much of the new construction in the area, they managed to keep most of the trees and terrain intact.

[TXMomOfFour]

My family will be relocating to San Antonio from the Houston area in June/July. We are looking to rent for the first year or so in order to save up a larger down payment, and we want to find the right neighborhood to buy our forever home.

I've been scoping out the North - Northeast part of San Antonio, Northside ISD, Northeast ISD, Comal ISD, and Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD. We have elementary age children with one that receives special ed resources for very mild autism, so I need a good school district that will give us the help we need.

Our rental budget will be $2500 max and we would like to rent in a neighborhood that we would eventually buy in. Our purchase budget will be in the $250k area.

My husband will be working in the Alamo Heights area. Commuting isn't a huge deal as we are used to a one hour commute to go 30 miles where we live, so I'm sure it will be better than that.

Any suggestions on neighborhoods we should check out? We will probably drive out for a few weekends to drive around and get the feel for different areas. Any pros/cons for the school districts I've mentioned?


Also, how popular are in-ground pools? I've not had much luck finding many listings on sabor.com with pools. My kids are all very good swimmers and swimming is our main activity during the summer, so we are hoping to find a rental and eventually a home to purchase that has a pool.
Thanks in advance for all input!

[amexicano]

Originally Posted by TXMomOfFour

My family will be relocating to San Antonio from the Houston area in June/July. We are looking to rent for the first year or so in order to save up a larger down payment, and we want to find the right neighborhood to buy our forever home.

I've been scoping out the North - Northeast part of San Antonio, Northside ISD, Northeast ISD, Comal ISD, and Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD. We have elementary age children with one that receives special ed resources for very mild autism, so I need a good school district that will give us the help we need.

Our rental budget will be $2500 max and we would like to rent in a neighborhood that we would eventually buy in. Our purchase budget will be in the $250k area.

My husband will be working in the Alamo Heights area. Commuting isn't a huge deal as we are used to a one hour commute to go 30 miles where we live, so I'm sure it will be better than that.

Any suggestions on neighborhoods we should check out? We will probably drive out for a few weekends to drive around and get the feel for different areas. Any pros/cons for the school districts I've mentioned?


Also, how popular are in-ground pools? I've not had much luck finding many listings on sabor.com with pools. My kids are all very good swimmers and swimming is our main activity during the summer, so we are hoping to find a rental and eventually a home to purchase that has a pool.
Thanks in advance for all input!

Your rental budget is quite generous and you should be able to find many options, but your purchasing budget is more limited. I would recommend NISD and NEISD. Both are larger districts witih more resources and pretty good schools, particularly around 1604 corridor. You may want to check Stone Oak, Rogers Ranch, Presidio, Deerfield, La Cantera area.

Pools are common in some neighborhoods in that area, but because of the hard rock, they are usually very expensive to build. Many neighborhoods in the north side have nice community pools.

[TXsurburbanmom]

I can only tell you about the areas I have experience with and I want to forewarn you there will probably be posts telling you not to live out here. 281/1604 is a mess right now because they are finally putting in the interchange. It whould get better next summer. Still, I've drive in Houston (The Woodlands to Memorial was my daily commute when I lived there) and I would not compare SA traffic to Houston. Houston is much worse.

As to school, my boys are at Stone Oak Elementary and we love it so much that when we tried to move out of state we came back within 8 months and, yes the school was one of the major reasons we returned. My only personal experience with Special Ed was Speech Therapy which was far superior to the private sessions I paid a fortune for. I've observed other children in my son's class and I can see the school works with what the child needs--special incentives, goals, one child got to sit on an exercise ball. These were kids that were completely mainstreamed though. Each grade has an inclusion class. My friend's son (not special needs) was in this class from kinder through 2nd and she was very impressed--again her son was not special unless you count that he's the smartest kid I know I've had some experience this year with the 3rd grade inclusion class because I'm up at the school volunteering alot. I'm so amazed at Ms. Richter and her class is so impressive--every child in that class entered the Reflections (art/literature) program this year. My neighbor is in the class and I just asked him how he liked it--no special needs I just thought I could gauge something about the class from how a 9 year old responded---he said he loves it. I got to drive the teacher for the Papa John's fundraiser and she is just the sweetest lady--she also said she would move to any school our current pricipal (Mrs. Ray) was at, gotta agree with her, Mrs. Ray is amazing!

My kindergartener is not in the inclusion class but there is a special needs student who attends some during the day with his aide. I can't tell you exactly what issues he is dealing with but I'd guess it is more then minor autism. I love his teacher and I like seeing how wonderful she is with him--I work in the library alot and get to observe some of the kids in there. I can't tell you about every teacher or aide but overall it seems like it would be a good place.

My friend's son has Aspergars and they were at Encino Park Elementary. I think he was diagnosed while he was there and she was extremely happy with how the school handled it and the education he was getting. If you are interested in private I have been told St. Thomas is good. This info came from a doctor who specialized in autism and I also had a friend that used to teach there. The same doctor told me NISD actually is better overall then NEISD, but I know things change from school to school within a district so you might find a great school in NEISD and a not so great school in NISD and vice-versa,

I know alot of people with pools but I also hear people having a hard time finding a home with one. Most neighborhoods in the price range you are looking at will have a neighborhood pool. In the rent range you listed you should have no problem finding a nice home it just may not have a pool in the backyard. As far as buying $250K will get you a home easily in Stone Oak/Encino/Canyon Oaks (7858,78259, 78260 and probably some in 78261--Indian Springs) but it may not be gated. Oaks of Sonterra is a nice neighborhood with gates in Stone Oak and homes range from $225K to around $300K. Prices are down this year but realtors are looking for them to rise within the year--I have a friend selling a home with a pool there for $297k but she's heard $267K might be what she can expect. If you don't have to have gates, my neighborhood is more in the $200k range. Lots are fairly small out here but ours is .20 and my neighbor's is slightly smaller with a pool. Oaks of Sonterra lots can be tiny, .15! , up to .20 but I haven't seen many larger then that. The Arrowhead neighborhoods have no pool but there is a pool on Knight's Cross you can join--you'd have to drive to it though. Also, Lifetime Fitness has a great pool and that's where we take the kids. High monthly dues but we get so much out of it for us it's worth it.

I think you might find more pools in slightly older homes where along they way someone has had kids growing up and put one in. The area along Jones Maltsberger between Thousand Oaks and Bitters comes to mind but most of the homes are going to be about 30-40 yrs old. We used to live over there but moved out to Stone Oak because we personally prefer the schools here.

So that's most of my knowledge in this area. I know how important it is for you to find the right place for your children. Hopefully you can get some information from people who have dealt with Special Ed at other schools and find exactly the right school and neighborhood for your family!

[houstmom]

My family and I moved from Houston to San Antonio about 8 months ago. In terms of which city is worse for traffic, I think it totally depends where you live in each city. We lived right in the center of Houston near Memorial Park and we faced less traffic in Houston then we do in San Antonio. We live near Blanco/Bitters here in SA.

We rent a home in a nice, 10 year old subdivision for $2000. Your budget of $2500 is very generous.

[TXsurburbanmom]

Hey come on people...I recommended Stone Oak! Gotta be someone out there with info for this mom on other schools. If you don't help her she's going to end up out here---and hopefully be as happy as I am but still I know there have to be some SO haters out there with some info on their school Don't get me wrong I think this area is a great choice but I don't want her to think we're not a helpful lot here in SA.

[txmusicgal]

78231 is a good area to live in and an easy commute to the Alamo Heights area. Just hop on 410 or 281 you can be there in 15 minutes with no traffic. You're close to the Stone Oak area but not in Stone Oak should you need to go over there. Oak Meadow is in NEISD and a great elementary school. I love living in North Central SA because you can easily get to any side of town using 1 of the 4 major highways.

[Gesp]

Hello All,

I wanted to know if you would kindly give me some of your personal opinions about San Antonio Texas. I am a married women with 4 children, ages 13, 6, 4 and 2, so I would definitely need to be in a location with great schools. I also have a diabetic child so good medical facilities are extremely important. I wanted to live in a safe neighborhood with not too much crime which is affordable. I am a Nurse and my husband is a truck driver (owns his own tractor trailer), so wanted to know if finding jobs would be a problem with our backgrounds. Can you please let me know what would be a good location with our situation that would fit us best. We were planning on renting first before we bought something. so if you know any great areas that I can rent for an affordable rate that would be great and anything else you think I should know about San Antonio.

Thanks so much!

[Me007gold]

Should not be hard to find a job in either field down here. Eagle Ford(oil) is hiring like crazy, I would imagine having your own truck is a huge plus. Lots of hospitals down here as well. I would imagine most neighborhoods not would like like a Semi parked in the street(even if it dose not have a trailer) The only down side is the oil fields are on the far south part of town and most of better schools are in the north part of town.

[Gesp]

Thanks for the info. Do you happen to know what the pay is like for what we do for a living?