Senna Hills vs. West Oak Hill Area (Austin, Spring: sale, houses)

[thecrumbiest]

Hi, All!

Another transplant looking for feedback on a home buying decision. I am relocating from Chicago and spent all weekend looking at houses in Austin. Due to my work location on Southwest parkway, we focused on West and Southwest Austin.

We were fortunate to find two homes that we love. One is in the Senna Hills neighborhood - beautiful home with beautiful views in Eanes ISD (which isn't a requirement for us), but with a sloping backyard and the other is in what I think is the West Oak Hills neighborhood (Shadowridge Crossing) - beautiful home with a huge flat backyard plus a pool. What I love most about the Senna Hills home are the beautiful views of the hills and what I love most about the Shadowridge home is the large, more versatile backyard and pool.

One thing that I don't have a good grasp on is the community feel/vibe of each neighborhood. If you live (or have lived) in either neighborhood - can you share your experience?

We're lucky to have found two home options that we love, but are so torn on what to choose! Any insight is really appreciated!

[Trainwreck20]

Is the house in Shadow Ridge off of Rotan or Hot Springs? Not sure if I am thinking of the right name for that community or not. In any case, that loop defined by those two roads is probably my favorite area in all of SW Austin. I have not lived there, but a couple of my kids friends live there and their families are great people.

[thecrumbiest]

yes! It's on Hot Springs. We loved that house and we like that it's a small neighborhood. Thanks for your input!

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by thecrumbiest

yes! It's on Hot Springs. We loved that house and we like that it's a small neighborhood. Thanks for your input!

From our friends that live out there, we heard the story about that 'loop':

Apparently, when it was originally platted for construction, the CoA could not provide adequate water pressure and limited the number of water hook-ups to 50 (I think there are 48 houses in the section). The developer did not want to wait for some unknown fix, so they expanded the lot sizes and only built those 50 houses or so. Not long after, the water line was upgraded, so no water issues at all.

The houses on that loop sold via word of mouth for years (or so I am told) so that they values did not show up on the MLS and the CoA taxed them at using the same basis for the larger area. I think that 'secret society' has since failed and the tax rates reflect the true values for the homes now, but for years they were taxed much lower than market value. I think many of the homes out there are still original owners.


There is a TON of green space around (and in) that neighborhood. Most of the garages are 'old school' (side facing) instead of 'front-loaders' that face the street. I don't know what you other options are, but we really did consider trying to buy into that area once or twice, but it ain't cheap (nor are the taxes ).

Edit: Is it 6709? The 'estimated taxes' are likely off by many thousands - it includes a HSE cap reducing the taxable value by $150k, and they are asking well over the currently appraised value. The HS value will reset on the sale, but maybe they won't catch wind of the sale price .