The Proverbial Moving Back to Austin Housing Post

W

Whiskeytown

< 25 Posts
Hey guys. I apologize if this has been hashed and rehashed, but I haven't been on the boards in a long while.

But alas, I'm moving back to the Promise Land. So my wife and I are starting to scour the internet for an initial housing situation read.

The obvious question is, closer and smaller or farther and bigger.

We have two dogs and would be looking for something a little bigger than a 2-1. So probably a 3-2 minimum.

Just wanted to get some of your takes on neighborhoods and pros and cons on making a move outside of the inner-Austin we all know and love.

Inside Austin, we'd be considering: Barton Hills to Travis Heights, Brykerwoods up to Alandale all the way to 2222 on that side of Mopac along Shoal Creek. Not too familiar with this stretch of Austin. Would love Tarrytown but it seems to be a little pricey these days.

Outside of the "inner" Austin, we'd be considering: Lost Creek, Westlake Hills, Woods of Westlake (on the south side of 360 - opinions?), Far West and adjoining neighborhoods (Spicewood Springs / Great Hills / Northwest Hills / Cat Mountain), and even down to Circle C. (Would love to hear opinions on that place as well. Does it still feel like Austin down there?)

Price range would be anywhere from 300 to 450 or so.

And that's about it I guess.

Hook'em.
 
I'm in Tarrytown and you can find an older 3/2 for the top end of your range. We like the proximity to downtown and work, and the community feel. We have young kids and wanted to be as close as possible to work, so we can spend less time commuting and more time with them. Of course, you have to balance that against what you get for the price. If you have any specific questions about the Tarrytown/Brykerwoods area, let me know. We also looked at some of the other areas you looked at such as Rollingwood, so I may know a little but about them if you have questions.
 
You can definitely get a decent house in Far West for 450K. I know a realtor, good one, if you want help.
 
I'd love to find something in Tarrytown. No kids yet, but we'd want the extra room for the coming years. As for Far West, how is it living out there? My only frame of reference is from college, when it seemed like a million miles away.

I know Cat Mountain gets thrown around a lot as a hot area, and from looking at a google map, the northern side of that area is Far West. So just wondering if anyone in that area could shed some light on the difference between north of Far West Blvd. vs. South of Far West Blvd. And same with North and south of Spicewood Springs Rd.

All of this will clear up after a trip to Austin but I'd just like to get some initial ammo before I go drive around with an agent.

Hook'em.
 
Given your price range, you may want to look over at Travis Country. Houses do not stay on the market long, but there have been several in that range for sale this summer. Given the neighborhood backs up to the Barton Creek greenbelt, it is hard to beat the location, especially for the dogs. Downtown is a 10-minute drive tops..
 
Far west has a great middle school, or so I am told. It's real clean there, and there's the college crowd. I like that Mesa/Far West area. Close to everything.

How bout just being bold and buying one of the new condos downtown?



where is Travis country? Is it really ten minutes to downtown?
 
300-450K gets you a 1700-2000 square foot, 3/2 with major renovations in Barton Hills where I live. You can get one of the bigger houses closer to 2100-2400 square feet for that amount but probably not with a complete renovation.

You may want to look at austin.housealmanac.com

You can enter an address or neighborhood and it will pop out recent home sales in the area and their sales price if available.
 
We just moved into a house east of Mesa and south of Far West. Prior to that, we lived in Travis Heights. I do miss the ability to walk to local shops & restaurants, but that's balanced by the fact that NW Hills feels much more like a "neighborhood". It's only a short drive to a variety of great restaurants, anyway (Mirabelle, Mesa Ranch, Chez Zee, etc.).

Based on my experience, Cat Mountain is a different animal. We bought a lot there a year ago with the intention of building a house. Well, that never happened, primarily due to the fact that our neighbors were the nosiest busy-bodies I could possibly imagine, and they made it hell on us and the Architectural Control Committee in terms of "allowing" us to build what we wanted to build. (I had designed a detached garage with a studio space, and they flipped, thinking it was a rental apartment.) From what I can tell, Cat Mountain is dominated by a bunch of elderly folks with too much time on their hands.

Be aware that the dividing line for schools zigzags from Ledge Mountain Drive (west of Mesa) to the greenbelt north of Bon Terra Drive (east of Mesa). North of that line, kids feed into Doss EL/Murchison MS/Anderson HS, and south they feed into Highland Park EL/Lamar MS/McCallum HS. Conventional wisdom says Highland Park is a slightly better elementary school than Doss, but the opposite is true for the secondary schools. We are literally on the dividing line, yet AISD will still force us to get a transfer into Doss next year when my younger kids start hitting school age. Food for thought.
 
Travis Country?
pukey.gif


For the top end of your range you could find a small, nice fixer upper in Tarrytown. Probably in the 1200-1500 sqf range. Not a 3/2 though.

You could get a nice house in Far West. I like that area because of the trees, and it's really cozy and neighborhoody.

Allandale is up and coming...some parts are kinda sketchy but others are really nice, like along Shoal Creek.
 
Why the hate for Travis Country? I'm honestly just curious as to your opinion.

We live north (Parmer/Mopac) and are looking at moving central. We're not considering Travis Country at all, but do have friends that live there and like it.
 
Interesting take on Cat Mountain. Hadn't even considered building, but I hear you on the nosey neighbors. Anyone else have building stories? I would think that out Bee Caves towards and maybe even past the Barton Creek turn-off there might be some building opportunites. What about Westlake Hills? Are there still nice opportunities to build up there? My only previous thoughts on building would have been if we decided on the Circle C route.

Speaking of which, just for discussion, could someone tell me if / where the sections of Circle C would be that have older / taller trees? If there even are any. I don't mind cookie cutter neighborhoods as long as they've got older trees and feel like they weren't plunked down in the middle of a field somewhere.

As for Alandale, I definitely plan to check that out, as well as Brykerwoods and all the way up Shoal Creek to 2222. If anyone has opinions on that area please let me know.

I'm heading into town this weekend with the wife. Would love to be armed with as much info as possible.

Plus, I'll be half-comatose from the queso and tacos I'll be cramming into my pie hole.


Hook'em
 
I would agree that if paying $300/sf for a 1500 sf house is important, Travis Country is not going to interest you. But given the choice of being way down in Circle C, Travis Country is probably a better choice. Closer to downtown, on the Barton Creek Greenbelt, and the housing values are shooting up..
 
Do you have kids? My woman and me live in a condo, but eventually we will have to buy a home that is kid friendly. This is my list of schools that we'd be OK with. Find a good MLS lookup that lets you go by schools, and mess around. With google maps you can look up the schools (enter something like: Kiker Elementary Austin, Texas) and figure out if the commute would be doable. Prices vary widely. If you are on a budget, go with Westwood/Grisham MS. Great schools for cheap. If you can swing it, look at the Far West area. Remeber the normal advice: location is everything. Schools matter, even if you don't have kids. Never have the most expensive house on the street, try to have the least expensive house on the street. Kitchen appliances are cheap and easy to replace. Real estate agents are fixated with $/sq ft, but remember a 4 bedroom is better than a 3 bedroom, even if its slightly smaller. If you want to grow old there, heavy preference to single story homes. As for remodeling: Any idiot can put in laminate flooring. Its easy to repaint ugly walls. Bathroom remodels are better left to the experts, as are kitchen cabinets. Kitchen counters are not hard. Landscaping isn't all that hard to look nice, don't over pay for simple fixes.

Akins HS
= Kocurek Elem (Slaughter / Manchaca)
Bowie HS
= Bailey MS
== Baranoff Elem (Shadow Hollows, Slaughter / Manchaca)
== Kiker Elem (Slaughter / MoPac) – Circle C
Austin HS
= O Henry MS
== Zilker Elem (’04)
== Casis Elem (Exposition / 29th-ish)
== Barton Hills Elem (’04)
= Clint Small
== Patton Elem (MoPac / WmCannon)
== Joe Dan Mills (MoPac / Slaughter)
McCallum HS (Hyde Park)
= Kealing JH
= Pearce MS
= Lamar MS
== Lee Elem (Hyde Park)
== Ridgetop ELem (Airport / 51st)
== Gullet (Allendale)
Anderson HS
= Murchison MS (MoPac / Spicewood)
== Davis Elem (Mesa Park, Duval / 183)
== Doss Elem (Far West)
== Hill Elem (MoPac / Spicewood Springs)
= Burnet MS (Burnet / 183)
== Pillow Elem (Steck / 183)
== Highland Park Elem (MoPac / Hancock)
Westwood
= Canyon Vista MS (Spicewood Springs)
== Laurel Mountain Elem (DK Ranch)
== Spicewood Elem (Anderson Mill Rd)
== North Oaks Elem (Oakknoll)
= Noel Grisham MS (Lake Creek)
== Purple Sage Elem
== Anderson Mill Elem
 
We live on Greystone, just north of Far West and East of Mesa. The schools are good, Doss/Murchison/Anderson. Fairly boring, but not very far at all to downtown. I get to work at Cesar Chavez and Congress in 20 minutes max in rush hour . Plus, the Bully is just around the corner and you can drink with Durkee.
 
I also live in NW Hills, not far from JimmyJazz apparently. I like the area because the houses are bigger 2000-3000 sf. and the lots are bigger. We have 1/3 acre. Close to town. We have our own HEB which is HUGE because Randall's sucks. Schools are good even though we're still dinks.

Property values going up at a good clip though. A house on our street just sold for around $170/ft. and needed some remodeling.
eek.gif
 
Hey Whiskey,
My wife and I just did the same thing - moved back to Austin after a 12-year hiatus. We had the same budget as you and were mainly looking in West Austin. At first, we started looking in Allandale, Tarrytown, and Clarksville but we couldn't find anything above 1500 sf. in our price range and we were looking for a home we could grow into with 4 bedrooms. So we expanded our search to Westlake Hills, Lost Creek, Travis Country, Circle C and the Bee Caves corridor. We weren't able to find anything less than 500K in Westlake, but we did find some cute homes in that range in Lost Creek which is in EANES ISD. Both Travis Country and Circle C just seemed really far. We ended up finding a great neigborhood on 2244 called Lake Pointe with houses from 250K-450K. One of the area's best elementary schools (Lake Pointe Elementary is within walking distance and we were able to find a great 3350sf home for less than 400K. We are only 15 minutes from downtown and have 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. It ooesn't hurt that Rosie's and El Arroyo are right around the corner either.

I wish you luck with our search!
 
Hey Whiskey,
My wife and I just did the same thing - moved back to Austin after a 12-year hiatus. We had the same budget as you and were mainly looking in West Austin. At first, we started looking in Allandale, Tarrytown, and Clarksville but we couldn't find anything above 1500 sf. in our price range and we were looking for a home we could grow into with 4 bedrooms. So we expanded our search to Westlake Hills, Lost Creek, Travis Country, Circle C and the Bee Caves corridor. We weren't able to find anything less than 500K in Westlake, but we did find some cute homes in that range in Lost Creek which is in EANES ISD. Both Travis Country and Circle C just seemed really far. We ended up finding a great neigborhood on 2244 called Lake Pointe with houses from 250K-450K. One of the area's best elementary schools (Lake Pointe Elementary is within walking distance and we were able to find a great 3350sf home for less than 400K. We are only 15 minutes from downtown and have 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. It doesn't hurt that Rosie's and El Arroyo are right around the corner either.

I wish you luck with our search!
 
godovino -

that's pretty hilarious since we ended up buying in lake hills off cuernavaca.

Already had an el arroyo meal, since it was close by.

And I remember eating at Rosie's back in the early 90's college days. Had no idea it was still around. Bonus.
 
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