Legend/Western Oaks?

T

TheFied

2,500+ Posts
I have some friends and co-workers who live there. What is the difference between them? And I swear I saw a sign that read "Legend at Western Oaks" one time. :)

Anyway, I live in SW Austin already, but a buddy of mine is thinking about moving and is considering Legend/Western Oaks. What are the thoughts of those that live there? His price range is $250-300k.
 
Western Oaks is the older subdivision. Legend Oaks opened up about ten years ago or more. I live in the Village of Western Oaks and it is about 20 years old.
 
Western Oaks - Late 70s early 80s
Villiage of Western Oaks - early-mid 80s. At the time, it was the cheaper of the two subdivisions
Legend Oaks - late 80s Early 90s. I think it was originally more expensive than the other two.

All three of them kind of bump into eachother so it can be hard to tell where one begins and the other ends. LO runs along Escarpment for the most part. WO is the farthest east of the three. I think Beckett separates WO and VWO and Abilene separates VWO and LO. I used to know for sure because the school boundries when I was little ran along the subdivision lines and it always sucked when some kid we knew was going to the other Jr High or High School because he lived on the wrong side of the street.



I think there's a new development or apartment complex off davis lane called "Village AT Western Oaks", just to make it more confusing.
 
mishtx you got it right. What's funny is I live in the VWO and closer to Mills, but my kids go to Patton. I've lived there for 11 years. I absolutely love the neighborhood. Commute to downtown sucks, but I'm close to everything. I'm a cyclist so being able to ride to all my favorite locations (including the veloway) is a big plus.
 
Western Oaks was developed early 70's with fairly good sized lots and homes, the majority built by J W Smith at the time, and is bounded by William Cannon on the north (actually, Wm Cannon was just a planned road at that time, the northern boundary being some little country two lane FM), Brush Country on the east, Beckett on the west, and Convict Hill on the south.

Village at Western Oaks phase one opened in 1978 (we were sixth homeowner in this section in April 1978) on smaller lots and square footage than Western Oaks, also the majority developed and builtby J W Smith. Phase 1 (and phase 2, IIRC) were bounded at that time by Beckett on the east, Convict Hill on the south, Abilene Trail on the west, and William Cannon on the north.

Present day Village at Western Oaks extends from the original sections southward across Convict Hill along Beckett and Abilene Trail for a good ways; not sure of its southern boundary.

Legend Oaks is to the west of Village at Western Oaks and, as mentioned above, runs generally south from William Cannon along both sides of Escarpment.

There are excellent homes, schools, neighborhood amenities in this area. Traffic on 290 is a problem, but there are ways to MoPac which alleviate it, if you're willing to get off early for the commute northward.
 
McCarty Lane, that's it. Except back in the 70's William Cannon did not exist that far west. It ended just a quarter mile or so west of Manchaca Road. The westbound route to Western Oaks and the Village at Western Oaks back in those days was South Lamar/290 West to Joe Tanner by the ball fields, thence east on McCarty Lane to Beckett for entrance to the Village, farther east on McCarty for Western Oaks. Brush Country intersected Convict Hill Road which ran east over to Brodie. That whole area is almost unrecognizable after 30 years.
 
Guys, thanks for the info! Some great stuff. I live at the Meridian which is right by the Golf Club at CC (now called Grey Rock). We moved there over a year ago but have been in SW Austin since 2005. I have been in Austin since 1993 but always either near campus or NW Austin (Far West area and then Mesa). My wife was born in Austin but grew up in NW Austin (Balcones Woods area, her parents still live in the same house).

SW Austin was 100% unfamiliar to us until we moved down here in 2005 and we honestly love it so far.....

So certainly the history lesson on the area is much appreciated. I knew more about CC than WO/LO/VWO.

Although we live in Meridian, we have alot of friends who live in VWO and LO and go to church at St. Catherines but I still didn't know the difference.

This past weekend after running some errands I decided to just drive around in that area on my way home.

I have a friend who has a house near Dick Nichols park which is VWO but it was built in the mid to late 90s. We have some friends who live near Beckett and Convict Hill in what I thought was Western Oaks b/c the house was considerably older than my friend near the park. If my friend with the mid 90s house is VWO, they must be in WO is what I thought (their houses were built early 80s). I was wrong. Both of these older houses are also VWO. Interesting VWO development is over 10+ years.

Another thing I didn't know is how nice the WO houses were. I drove down Western Oaks Blvd (which has no outlet) and I was very impressed. Big houses, big lots. But my guess is that WO is the smallest development by far in terms of # of houses. It also looks like WO is on septic, I thought I saw a septic tank or maybe it was propane.

I also drove around Legend Oaks and it is scattered all over there. North of Convict Hill, east of Escarpment, south of Convict Hill, along Escarpment...

Anyway, I appreciate the feedback. Just for fun, I looked up some local realtors and found several houses in his price range; he was thinking that he had to move to Dripping Springs for a while. I hope he moves around here b/c we hang out quite a bit and it is a serious drive for both of us (he lives almost in Manor). For him it makes sense b/c his commute is about to get insane and they are trying to have kids now and they are in Manor ISD which is not a very good one especially compared to Mills/Bowie.

Of course it is ironic b/c when we put our deposit down he thought we were crazy for moving that far south. :)
 
Correct on Legend Oaks; large houses, rinky dink lots. I lived with my in-laws there for about 9 months when I first go to Austin & they had their house for about 6 years total.

As for the way the houses are built, I'd say "high end look / lower end products" in some ways. One thing about Legend Oaks, if I remember correctly, is that the vast majority of the houses are all brick / stone with limited siding on them.

The design for them has, for the most part, held up fairly well for just about all of the houses I've inspected or looked @.

Don't forget that living in this area makes a trip to The Salt Lick only about 15 to 20 minutes or so...

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I also live in the older section of Village at Western Oaks. My house was built in 1980. 1500 sq ft, and on a fairly small lot, but our neighborhood has good character and I like it a lot. Not a whole lot of duplicate houses on each street. All four sides brick. Tons of big trees.

Western Oaks is the best area around there, in my opinion. The houses are just as old, maybe a bit older. Most have been remodeled by now. They tend to go for $280-$300K lately. I keep tabs on them because I want to upgrade into that neighborhood in a few years.

I like the older sections better than the newer stuff in VWO and Legend Oaks. But if you need more square footage and can't afford Western Oaks, then I think it's still a good option.

Might want to pay attention to school boundaries. Some go to Patton, Small, and Austin High. Some go to Mills, Covington, and Bowie.

Some have complained about the commute, but it's light years better than Pflugerville/RoundRock or Buda/Kyle. And in non-rush hour times I can be at Town Lake in about 10 minutes.
 
the Village at Western Oaks neighborhood west of Mopac along Davis lane consists of homes built in the mid 1990's, not sure where someone got 1980's construction.
 
Yeah, I have some friends with houses in the old VWO and it is 1980s in the record books.

I have a friend in new VWO off of Beckett near Dick Nichols Park and it is 1990s.
 
The old sections of VWO and WO are all on the north side of Convict Hill Rd. The newer section of VWO are south of Convict Hill Rd.

Just for clarification, I think the nicest area out here is the original Western Oaks, bordered by Wm Cannon on the north, Convict Hill on the south, Beckett on the west, and Brush Country on the east. High quality homes on larger lots than all the other neighborhoods nearby.
 
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