Neighborhood suggestions in West Austin (Dallas, Andrews: how much, buying a home, buying)

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by h886

It is close... to the entrance... but once you take into account that most homes are not located right on the entrance, plus the traffic that typically backs up both on Lost Creek Blvd and also on 360 in the mornings and afternoons when school gets out and during rush hour, you could be looking at a pretty long wait.

Don't know what you would call a "pretty long wait", but I haven't had it take longer than 5 minutes, and that's from the center of the neighborhood. It's the very next light on 360 after you exit Lost Creek, and you don't even have to stop at that light (Las Cimas)... just turn right before the light. So traffic isn't really an issue like it is going farther down 360, IMO. In fact, I don't believe there is any subdivision that is closer to that Westlake Village HEB than Lost Creek... maybe Camelot, but they have to go through the 360/2244 intersection to get there. Or drive through Lost Creek. Even most of the homes in West Lake Hills are farther.

[h886]

That hasn't been my experience, but to each their own.

[AustinTexasLover]

It's got alot of the things you are asking for. It's located off 360 up on a hill and is a newer neighborhood that is very family friendly and the houses are not too old. While most lots are smaller, there are some that are 1/2 acre plus.

[TexasHorseLady]

A quick look at what's on the market in the Jester neighborhood shows only 1 built in 2000 or later, and the neighborhood is definitely older (it was a well-established neighborhood when my son attended his high school graduation party there at a fellow student's home, and he's 38 now). Since the OP wants an area that's less than 10 years old, that won't work.

Problem is, all the attributes that the OP wants are found in the older, closer-in neighborhoods.

[Exiled Texan]

Someone said St. Theresa's in downtown. Not true. It is in NW Hills. St. Austin's is popular and across from UT campus.

"You might also consider the Highland Park West/Balcones area, particularly east of Balcones, near Perry Lane."

Some of the streets there have sidewalks close to Higland Park Elementary. The streets west of Balcones up the hill a bit are very kid friendly b/c of lack of traffic. For example, some of my favorite streets include : Western Hills Drive, Ridge Oak Drive, certain portions of Crestway Spanish Oak Trail/Drive/Terrace, Laurel Canyon Drive...also love Timber Trail and Trailridge Drive. All these in 78731. Most of these are no-outlet streets, low traffic, some pretty big lots. I live in the hood and have a half acre, but I did have to do a gut reno. With your budget, you can nicely do this neighborhood. Rollingwood is much like this area. Like it too...very much.

Regarding your affection for "new", I personally would never want to have to travel all of 2222 to get to work everyday. 2222 is geographically constricted due to the Lake and Cat Mountain. With all the development in West Austin, I wouldn't want to buy west of the lake unless I didn't HAVE to go down town every day.

[capcat]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

This is specifically what the OP said they didn't want:



I immediately thought of that area, as well, but if they must have a newer area, not just a new house, it won't work for them.

I know. I didn't miss that. Just thinking of what we said we didn't want when we started our search. Turned out to be nothing like what we set out to find, and yet it was better than what we had envisioned as perfect. Worth a look.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by capcat

I know. I didn't miss that. Just thinking of what we said we didn't want when we started our search. Turned out to be nothing like what we set out to find, and yet it was better than what we had envisioned as perfect. Worth a look.

You'd be surprised (well, maybe not) how often that very thing happens! (I see it a lot - you think you know exactly what you want, and then you see the possibilities you didn't even know existed and it all changes.)

[Texan2b]

Thanks everyone for their input. This really helps in our search. It looks like we need to accept the fact that there are not any new areas in that part of town. We wanted a newer home so that we don't have to deal with repairs that come with an older home. And as far as why we want a newer area, we just like the appearance of a neighborhood in which all the homes were built around the same time. Apparently there is a lot of Westlake that we didn't see. I am anxious to get back down there to look around some more. Rob Roy looks like a perfect location and I like the fact it is gated but it may be a little over our budget ($3-5 million houses? Wow!)We live in the country now and have to drive at least 15 minutes to get anywhere, which is why when we move I want to be close to everything. I guess Texas is much more spread out everywhere, even close to the city.

Also, does anyone have any personal experience with St. Theresa's, St. Gabriel's or Trinity? We visited and were impressed with all of them. But I'd love to hear from parents the good or bad of any of them. And I'm trying to decide if St. Gabriel's & Trinity are worth an extra $10,000 a year.

[curious1111]

We've done a lot of homework on St. Gabriel's, what would you like to know?

[Hoopsmom]

Texan2b,
You might want to look at the Wimberley Dr. area that is right off of Barton Creek (next to St. Gabriel's). There are a lot of families there and the houses are new-- although they might be too close together. The nearest grocery store is not too far and there is a wonderful new little market with a deli and smoothies on Barton Creek Blvd. If you are thinking of St. Gabriel's and then St. Michael's for high school, you couldn't have a better location. (St. Theresa's is a good school and I know a lot of families whose children have gone there, but I think it is pretty hard to get to, especially at rush hour.)