Go north! Austin to Cedar Park vs Round Rock (Brushy Creek: 2013, apartment)

[gr8fl4295]

My first post!
Hello all,
My wife and I with our 2 yr old relocated from Chicago a little over a year ago.
Just had to get away from the winter and rising sales/property tax.
We started out renting in north Austin so we could get a feel for the area.
Now a year later, we are expecting, so it's time to start looking for a house with a nice yard, great schools, friendly community, and other perks.
I work downtown, and my wife works midtown. We would love to live close to our jobs, but that is just not feasible. I can't see myself buying a 500,000+ house in the city. Then paying for private schools.
So we will be on the hunt come March 2013.
We heard a lot of good things about Cedar Park and Round Rock communities and schools.
But which one is for us?
Ideally, we would like a 4-5 bd, 2-3 bath, 2-3 car garage, newer construction (2000-2012), great kitchen, all brick, large trees, big backyard, friendly neighbors, kid friendly community, pool nearby, shopping nearby, and of course great schools.
We would like to spend anywhere from $250,000-$350,000.
More importantly, we don't want a hellish commute. Right now it takes us 30+ min to get downtown at peak times. I expect that to increase a little as we move farther north.
I know this subject has been discussed before, but let's update the info that's out there.
Thank you very much in advance.

[mark311]

Certain areas of Cedar Park and Round Rock will provide what you want. They basically overlap on the West side of I35 to where it's hard to distinguish whether you're in Cedar Park or Round Rock.

Since you don't want to be too far out, I would say that Avery Ranch fits your criteria the closest even though it's technically in North Austin. Ranch at Brushy Creek on the West side along with Forest Creek on the East side fit as well. You might have to give a little on the "all brick" and "large trees" since you're looking at newer construction in that price range. Older neighborhoods up here generally have the really large trees unless the neighborhood built around the trees.

Another plus for the Avery Ranch area is that there are a ton of high quality daycare options for your kids. Of course, they're not the cheapest, but multiple daycare/pre-schools are very good in that area.

[jd411]

We just recently moved up to Cedar Park from SW Austin and are in an apartment until we find a house we will settle into for a long time.

We are at Parmer and Brushy Creek Rd. The area is very pretty with lots of parks and green belts.

I agree with Mark311 on his neighborhood recommendations. We're looking at those as well as Silver Oak and Walsh Trails.

In those neighborhoods, the homes with many/nice trees on their lots tend to cost more (generally speaking), but you should have some options within your price range.