New Home Upgrades and Fixtures (Bowie, Clint: middle school, colleges, area)

[IDtoTX]

My husband looked in Meridian south of Circle C. He's currently living/working in Austin. I'm staying in Dallas with my parents with our kids until our house sells in Idaho.

Anyway, he seemed to think that you you get more house for the money in Belterra but that probably makes sense since the location is closer to downtown. Since we have 3 kids schools are a huge priority for us. How good are the schools for Circle C? I worry more about the middle/high school situation there since that is where I have heard the problems can be.

Thanks.

[llkltk]

Circle C feeds into Bowie High which is one of the best in Austin ISD. Not sure about the middle school. Meridian is closer to the city that is probably why the house prices are more expensive. Belterra is an additional 7 miles to the city than Meridian. We are building in Meridian and love the community. It's close to the Veloway and is really nice. You might want to check it out again. It's a good investment, I don't think Belterra will fair as well in resale down the line.

[Trainwreck20]

Circle C will probably feed into Clint Small, at least for the near future, and it is an excellent middle school. There is another...I think Covington? but our address does not feed into it and I don't know much about it. You would have to check to see if the address(es) that you are looking at feed into a different school.

Belterra goes to Dripping Springs, I believe, and the DS school district is, in general, very well regarded. I know very little about individual schools there, though.

[Chris2000]

Yikes !!!
I think hardwood floors are way harder to keep clean then tile.
Im from Pheonix were most homes are tile.
Then we built a place out in Kansas City were everything is wood.
I hate the wood.
We have 2 small dogs,,,We keep their nails trimmed and they still tear the floor to peices. Just by walking on them. One of the major things we "had to have" when we started building our house in Austin was tile flooring.
And depending on the tile you go with, It is way more expensive then wood.
Chris2000

[Trainwreck20]

I would have to agree, we have both some tile, some wood, and mainly carpet (saves the little one's noggin'). The carpet is the hardest to keep clean, and the wood is probably second, just for the simple reason that we can use a wider variety of cleaning products on the tile if we need to (make sure that the grout is sealed!). Neither is difficult at all to keep clean.

In a couple of years, we are going to remove most of the carpet and put down wood, mainly, just due to the 'softer' surface and the lower impact on the knees/ankles (we seem to be aging ). We have been very casually looking at flooring materials, and the price of wood, even real wood, has come down considerably, maybe due to the competition with engineered wood floors. Anyway, the wood costs more, but the installation is generally cheaper (or that is what we have found so far).

[llkltk]

Originally Posted by Chris2000

Yikes !!!
I think hardwood floors are way harder to keep clean then tile.
Im from Pheonix were most homes are tile.
Then we built a place out in Kansas City were everything is wood.
I hate the wood.
We have 2 small dogs,,,We keep their nails trimmed and they still tear the floor to peices. Just by walking on them. One of the major things we "had to have" when we started building our house in Austin was tile flooring.
And depending on the tile you go with, It is way more expensive then wood.
Chris2000

That's why I will never have a pet. I saw how my brother's beast of a one year old lab tore up his brand new house. Tile and dogs go along better. I'm a neat freak so my floors will stay clean and will be easy to take care of.

[IDtoTX]

I know this is off topic of the original post but has anyone had cork flooring? I've seen it and love it but I wasn't sure how well it holds up. Or, what you clean it with...

[IDtoTX]

I'm going to have to drive through Meridian. I'm driving down to Austin tomorrow to spend the weekend there so I'll have a look.

[Southern Phoenician]

We lived in AZ where what you are describing was becoming the trend. We custom built our home here and went for a semi-rustic look (warm colors, dark tile, oil rubbed bronze hardware and fixtures, iron lighting fixures, copper sinks, slate, etc) and we didn't have any trouble selling our home. I think the overall "warm" tone appeals to some and not others but maybe not enough to warrant that type of design in TX.

My brother & sister in law are a custom home builder and I've only seen them put the oil rubbed fixtures in 1 house and it was a higher end home.

[Rae']

My company has recently veered from the bright white baseboards and window seals and are now doing a kind of taupe or tanish color. I've had several people request the white instead though.