neighborhood for round rock and downtown couple (Austin, Jollyville: how much, homes)

[silicate]

HI
My husband and I will be moving to Austin this year and we are having difficulty finding a neighborhood to buy a house. He will start work near downtown/UT area. My job is in NW austin/round rock area, but I will need to drive to the arboretum, cedar park and downtown round rock frequently. I would like to be no more than 30 mins from these 3 locations. Is there a neighborhood that would minimize both of our commutes? We were looking at Anderson Mill/ Balcones Village area, Jollyville, and Wells Branch. We considered Avery Ranch, but we would prefer an older established neighborhood. We would like to spend no more than 300K.
Are there any austin neighborhoods where neighbors know each other?
Are there any non-downtown neighborhoods that are walkable?

Thanks!

[Spookmeister]

The area bounded by Parmer, MoPac, Anderson Mill and 183 would be your best.

[Moonlady]

What's your budget?

[TexasHorseLady]

How much older of a neighborhood do you want? Anderson Mill is predominantly 80's and 90's (with a few earlier or later), Balcones Village is the 1970's.

Have you looked at Ranch at Cypress Creek?

Milwood is also a possibility.

[Moonlady]

Originally Posted by Moonlady

What's your budget?

Nevermind - I just re-read your post. I like the whole NW Austin area for the reason that 183 will feed you into Mopac to get downtown and you can also use 183 to get to the toll roads to get you into Round Rock quickly. There are quite a few nice older neighborhoods. What exactly do you mean by "walkable" neighborhoods though? Most of the areas outside the city core don't have much to offer in the way of walking "to" anything maybe other than a local park.

[silicate]

Thank you for your posts. The information is most helpful!! In terms of neighborhoods, if we didn't have the work constraints, we would like to live in Hyde Park or French Place. We like the feel of the area and the established homes. More important for us though is the sense of community. In our previous neighborhood, our neighbors looked out for each other. We had neighborhood events, block parties, etc.

As for "walkable", I suppose I wanted to know how suburban these neighborhoods are. Prior to this move, my husband and I have lived in downtown Chicago and Boston.

[Moonlady]

Why not Hyde Park? His commute wuld be much easier and you would be going against the flow of traffic into RR or CP. The outskirts of town won't have that same "in town" feel that you'd get from the central part of the city. Even though some folks will tell you that Austin has walkable neighborhoods, they are nothing on par with Chicago (and Boston I assume - I haven't been there). You will however find that Texans are very friendly and community-minded so even if you do choose a spot away from the center of town, I'm sure you will find that same "watching out for each other" mentality.