East Austin Neighborhoods (Cameron, Mart, Manor: houses, buying, school district)

[cls88]

A friend of ours is looking for a house in Austin. She wants the house not be too far from on LBJ High School.

She has been in our house in Delwood (the old neighborhood north of Mueller) and like the area. She wants to see some more neighborhoods around the area that are within her budget of $250k.

Could anyone familiar with the east Austin area please give me some ideas as to where I should take her to look around?

Thank you very much for any suggestions.

[ATX Homeboy]

Anywhere close to LBJ is going to put you in places like Loyola & 183, Manor Road & 183, Cameron Rd. & 290. Not the best places to live but there are nice neighborhoods next to Dottie Jordan Park right off Loyola and other neighborhoods by Bartholomew Park. Younger children/students would go to Martin or Pierce MS and older kids might end up at Reagan. Mueller is nice from what I have seen and when I was much younger we lived off of Cameron Rd. and 51st. Some gentrification is going on in that area but not much. Any further east and that puts you in Del Valle and Manor ISD. Hope this helps some.

[cls88]

Thank you very much. That helps a lot.

She has to have the Austin School District, because her daughter will attend the Liberal Arts and Science Academy which shares the LBJ high school campus. I'll take her around the Dottie and Bartholomew park neighborhoods. The Mueller new development is way too expensive, everything is above $300k.

[centralaustinite]

AISD provides bus service for LASA students. It is not necessary to live close to the campus. Kids attend LASA from all parts of the city.

Austin Independent School District : Schools

This is the link to the LASA homepage, click on the transportation link to the left and you can see details about the bus service.

[cls88]

Thank you, Central.

That info certainly will expend her possibilities. I was surprised how few houses are on the market, at least in our neighborhood. One would get the false impression that the housing market was not moving much at all from the national news.

[centralaustinite]

Houses are moving very quickly in the under $250K range. She might want to look in Highland neighborhood, north of Highland Mall, between I-35 and Lamar, south of St. Johns. There should be houses in her price range. It is more iffy in reputation than in reality. I know many people who live there and who love it. You can DM me for more information.

Skyview, Brentwood, and Crestview might all be possibilities too.

[verybadgnome]

I think many East Austin neighborhoods have a lot of character, even to give the Tarrytowns and Crestivews of the world some competition. The buildings are on a more human scale, as in no warehouse retailers, and there are a lot of good cut-throughs so you have many options for getting from Point A to B. Plus their are nice little gems like East Side Pies and Juan-in-a-Million. Did I also mention that there are neighborhood bars and a paucity of overpriced stores?

I bought South eight years ago and am satisfied overall but if I had to do it over again I would do a lot of homework on the east side and probably buy there.

[cls88]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

Houses are moving very quickly in the under $250K range. She might want to look in Highland neighborhood, north of Highland Mall, between I-35 and Lamar, south of St. Johns. There should be houses in her price range. It is more iffy in reputation than in reality. I know many people who live there and who love it. You can DM me for more information.

Skyview, Brentwood, and Crestview might all be possibilities too.

Thank you so much for the info. I'll look at the map and see if I can find the areas. I think it's hard for her to find something west of I35 since she, like most of us at the beginning of our search, has a long list of what she wants, a garage, 4 beds, 1800sp or more, and preferably moving ready.

I'll ask for more of your help if I have trouble finding the areas.

Thanks again.

[cls88]

Originally Posted by verybadgnome

I think many East Austin neighborhoods have a lot of character, even to give the Tarrytowns and Crestivews of the world some competition. The buildings are on a more human scale, as in no warehouse retailers, and there are a lot of good cut-throughs so you have many options for getting from Point A to B. Plus their are nice little gems like East Side Pies and Juan-in-a-Million. Did I also mention that there are neighborhood bars and a paucity of overpriced stores?

I bought South eight years ago and am satisfied overall but if I had to do it over again I would do a lot of homework on the east side and probably buy there.

Doing lots of homework is the key. Most people are buying when they live out of town and not familiar with Austin. When we were looking a couple of years ago, each week our realtor would send me listings of 30-40 houses that were anywhere in Austin within our budget. It was so overwhelming. I didn't know this forum at that time. We drove around some neighborhoods for a few weekends and made decision based on that.

[verybadgnome]

Originally Posted by cls88

Doing lots of homework is the key. Most people are buying when they live out of town and not familiar with Austin. When we were looking a couple of years ago, each week our realtor would send me listings of 30-40 houses that were anywhere in Austin within our budget. It was so overwhelming. I didn't know this forum at that time. We drove around some neighborhoods for a few weekends and made decision based on that.

Same here. I bought after only about 4 weeks of seriously looking.

I actually found a house on W. Oltorf b/t Lamar and S. First that was going for $130k back in 2000. I would've had to ask my family for 15 or 20k but seeing as those homes start at around $300k now that would have been a good move.