Friendly neighbors in SW? (Austin, Shady Hollow: renters, HOA, houses)

[atlanta hope]

The last time I was in Austin, I drove around a lot looking at the style of houses and to see if I saw kids out running around. I didn't really see much
of people hanging out in their yards. Perhaps it was due to the 99+ degree weather last July... so, my question is for ya'll that live in SW, are your neighbors friendly? Do you hang out with them? Or is it one of those "wave and say hi" kind of relationships?

My hood now is really friendly. When I'm outside gardening, I hardly get much work done cause I'm chatting with the neighbors. Often while I'm chatting with a neighbor, someone I know will drive by and pull over to say hi. I've never lived somewhere where I really like all the people around me -- and it's quite an eclectic group. One neighbor is about 60, she makes jewelry after she comes home from her office job. I have a gay couple across the street that have cocktail parties quite often. There are a few younger (20s-early 30s) couples around mixed in with us older 30-young 40s. We're all from different places. We all do different jobs, although there are many creatives - web designers, programmers, photographers.... that kind of thing. There used to not be any kids here cause it was still "up and coming" but there's been a kid explosion lately and you see loads of mommies pushing strollers up and down the streets.

Where can I find that in the SW?

Circle C seems a bit sterile and too cookie-cutter for us. No offense to anyone that lives there. Just not for us.

VAWO seems like it might work. It's a bit older and not so cookie-cutter looking. Sounds like the HOA isn't as bad as CC.

Shady Hollow is interesting.

Don't know much about Travis County but it's on the list.

Barton Hills, while not being SW, is on the list if we can afford it. I think it's got the most likelihood of being similar to my current neighborhood. I didn't see many kids running around when I drove through there though.

Thanks for any comments! It sure is nice having you folks to field questions... austinhomesearch doesn't tell me EVERYTHING I need to know! LOL

Where's JimmyJack? I'm sure he has a good comment or two for me...

[michaelbyrne]

I think the neighbors are super friendly in the Villages of Western Oaks. Also there are parts of it that don't have any home owners association, which is nice. Everyone takes care of their yards and houses, too. I think it's ideal because, like you said, it doesn't have the sterility or the price tag of Circle C, it's not as far distant from Austin as Shady Hollow, it's got good schools, huge old trees, and interesting houses. I would rate Barton Hills as a close second, but as you said there aren't many kids there. Mostly Barton Hills is a neighborhood of baby boomers without kids, and renters who want to be close into austin to enjoy the nightlife.

[llkltk]

Sterility of Circle C? A home is a home, no matter what. I'm tired of people saying that areas are plain or sterile just because of the way they look. There are lovely homes in Circle C. I've seen plenty of homes in other areas that might have character to some people but are unfurnished and lame on the inside. A home is a home, you can't call neighborhoods sterile. Ahhh, this town!

[michaelbyrne]

llkltk, actually you are right. It's not fair to say that about all of Circle C. Some of the houses are sterile looking but it's a huge neighborhood and there are some gorgeous houses as well. You're also right that one man's 'character' is another man's white trash, with houses painted teal or junk in the yard. Anyway, the entire SW area is great, I am just partial to Villages of Western Oaks.

[AGA]

I live in Sendera and we are very friendly with our neighbors. When the weather is nice we have driveway parties after the kids go to bed and we hang out while the kids are riding bikes etc...
I have hear the same about parts of Circle C.
It is what you make it I think!

[atlanta hope]

Originally Posted by llkltk

Sterility of Circle C? A home is a home, no matter what. I'm tired of people saying that areas are plain or sterile just because of the way they look. There are lovely homes in Circle C. I've seen plenty of homes in other areas that might have character to some people but are unfurnished and lame on the inside. A home is a home, you can't call neighborhoods sterile. Ahhh, this town!

It's all relative. I live in a 1500 sq ft lavendar craftsman bungalow right now with a picket fenced in front garden. That probably explains a lot, eh? So you can see that a 2500 - 3500 sq ft, 2 story, 3 sided brick, house with floorplan A, B, C or D is a lot different for me. Not to mention I'm not loving the HOAs that come along with such houses.

"Mostly Barton Hills is a neighborhood of baby boomers without kids, and renters who want to be close into austin to enjoy the nightlife."

Dang. I was afraid of that. That could be a deal breaker for us. That's what's so attractive about the SW area, that it's so family oriented.

[austin-steve]

are your neighbors friendly?

There is no way to characterize whether or not SW Austin has "friendly neighbors". I'm sure there are plenty of jerks and plenty of nice people.

If you are a friendly neighbor yourself, you'll have friendly neighbors. If you want to keep to yourself, others will probably leave you alone.

One of my favorite sayings is "there is a vitamin you can take to have friends, it's called be one".

Same is true for neighbors. Don't look for good neighbors, be one. In doing so, you create the neighborhood you want instead of hoping it will be what you want.

Steve

[achtungpv]

define friendly. I know I don't want to talk to a neighbor every single time I'm outside. Heck I don't even want to feel obliged to acknowledge them every time. I definitely don't want them to feel they can drop by when ever they want. However, I'll wave, talk to them and not tell them to eff themselves unless they deserve it. that's friendly IMO.

[TexasHorseLady]

"Mostly Barton Hills is a neighborhood of baby boomers without kids, and renters who want to be close into austin to enjoy the nightlife."

Well, it wasn't that way when we were raising our kids there (granted, a while ago). The kids weren't always obviously outside playing, true - they were at a friend's house, or playing in the back yard, or down by the creek in the greenbelt (some houses back up on the greenbelt so, to the kids, it's an extension of their back yard). You did see a lot of them walking to school or home from school together at the right time of day.

As others have said, be friendly and you'll have friends. I used to (well, still do, but our across the road neighbor is half a mile away if you count both driveways) make turkey and andouille gumbo out of leftover turkey the Saturday after Thanksgiving every year when we lived in Barton Hills, and leave the doors and windows open if weather allowed (it usually did), and neighbors would appear at the door with hopeful looks on their faces, dragged in by the aroma (yes, we shared - I made a LOT of gumbo!). Halloween, we'd set up a cauldron of apple cider over the outdoor firepit after decorating to the hilt and pass out candy to the kids and cider to the parents. There was certainly no lack of kids then!

Our son is currently living in that same house - I'll have to ask him if it's changed significantly (he hasn't mentioned), but over the years when we were renting the house out, we rented to people with children.

[Trainwreck20]

It depends a lot on exactly where you live and how outgoing you are. Our stretch of street in VAWO has several VERY outgoing people living within a few houses of us. There was quite the 'block' party on St. Patricks day weekend, and some of the former residents came back for it. My wife is naturally pretty reclusive, but the outgoing nature of the neighbors is even drawing her into the social neighbor scene. I have to admit, though, that the effect is largely driven by a couple neighbors that actively promote the camaraderie. At the other end of the same street, you almost never see people at all, much less out in the yard/street chatting.

I suspect that this is true for most of the neighborhoods you list. It does help that there are lots of kids in our immediate area, which givees everyone a good excuse to stand out in the yard while the kids play.....