San Antonio Neighborhood/Suburb Recommendations? (Houston, Austin: real estate, houses, neighborhoods)

[Ann Sullivan]

Hello,

My husband and I may be moving to San Antonio and could use your help with respect to neighborhood/suburb recommendations. We're both 39 y/o and we absolutely love to road bike and mountain bike and run. We both work out of our home and don't need to commute into the city, although we both love San Antonio (and Austin too), so the ability to head into San Antonio once every two weeks or so for dinner would be nice. Our home price range is around $375-$400k. We'd love the typical new construction Texas brick/stone home in a nice enough neighborhood with friendly (not pretentious) neighbors with a community pool, although we'd love not to pay the high San Antonio city taxes.

Based on this information, do you have a particular neighborhood or even subdivision you'd recommend?

We hear good things about all of the following, but our research does not result in information that is helpful in terms of comparing/contrasting them (if there are any meaningful differences that are worth noting): Boerne, New Braunfels, Garden Ridge, and Timber Ridge.

Thanks so much for your help,
Ann

[ShaneSA]

I can't give you any particulars you are looking for. I was thinking Boerne when I was reading your post. I would suggest contacting a realtor to answer the questions about areas. A local realtor will be able to point you to web sites and houses that suit your needs and wants.
(I am not a realtor)

[mrstxcop]

We live in the Boerne area and I cannot speak enough of it... Our family LOVES it and we would not trade our area at all...

Going into to Boerne you will find several new construction neighborhoods in your price range... Napa Oaks is one that comes to mind, but there are others, I cannot think of the names right now... Sable Chase is another nice neighborhood but it's a little lower price range than what you are looking for, but it's gated and is a small neighborhood that will have a community pool...

Several things that we love so much is the small town feel but we are still so close to SA that we do not feel disconnected... No traffic going into Boerne at any time of the day, I can go into Boerne at 5pm, the heart of traffic time, and just breeze right in... It takes me apx 7mins to get from my house to the heart of downtown Boerne... Very little wait times in grocery lines at Walmart and HEB... 5mins in and out at the post office, apx 10mins, if that, at the DMV, hardly any people at the library, Boerne Market Days, Broken Stone Pizza, Kuhl frozen yogurt, the list goes on and on...

Good Luck in your decision and I agree with Shane, check with a local realtor... I have heard great things about one on our board, I don't know if I can name names, for fear of breaking some sort of board rule, but I will DM you his name...

[sshurgot]

I'd put Boerne on the list and Helotes too. Shadow Canyon (just outside Helotes) is very nice and right on the edge of Government Canyon State Natural Area. Los Reyes Canyons is between Helotes and Shadow Canyon; both are beautiful neighborhoods. Helotes isn't a terribly picturesque little town (sorry Helotians); Boerne is nicer (IMO). I do have a special fondness for Shadow Canyon and Los Reyes.

[cinnamon_toast]

If you're willing to go further out from the city, check out Fredericksburg. My DH and I live there, there is a very active cycling community. The road biking here is outstanding and best of all -- it's year round! We can get to the SA airport in 1 hour, door to door. Lots of people here work out of their homes due to the somewhat isolated location.

[Bo]

Originally Posted by mrstxcop

I agree with Shane, check with a local realtor... I have heard great things about one on our board, I don't know if I can name names, for fear of breaking some sort of board rule, but I will DM you his name...

Please do share real estate recommendations by DM only. That rule makes things fairer to the many fine real estate professionals who take time out of their day to post on these boards.

[TexasRedneck]

One VERY important thing, especially in the Boerne/Helotes/Pipe Creek/Bandera areas - check the water!! Both in terms of availability and quality! Many of the areas have high hardness and iron levels - some even have bacterial contamination. You need to know this BEFORE you sign a contract, IMO. All of it is treatable, but at certain levels, it can become quite costly, both in terms of equipment and maintenance.
I can't tell you how many times I've been called in after someone has spent major $$$ on a home, only to discover that the water is bad, and "fixing" it is going to be expensive. One way to tell if a property you're looking at has iron issues is to look at exterior walls, toilet tanks, etc for reddish stains. Low iron levels can be treated pretty economically, but higher levels can be a PITA to remove and maintain the equipment properly.

[Ann Sullivan]

Thank you, all, for the recommendations. Is sounds like there are many great neighborhoods and we're getting really excited. We lived in Houston for 12 years and then recently have been in MN, WI, IA, and southern NV, and we are very, very excited to return to Texas after many years of living in the frozen tundra followed by the scorching Mojave Desert.

Thanks for the water warning too. Is there something you can have a builder put in during construction that can help treat the water? (Our water here in Las Vegas is pretty bad too -- not red, but it leaves a whitish film on everything, like your shampoo bottles and your glasses after they've been dishwashed.)

Last question: It sounds like everyone is suggesting Boerne, Helotes, etc. Does anyone have any comments on New Braunfels? I'm noticing online that the same new construction house plan by the same builder might be about $30k more on the northwestish (not necessarily as far north as Boerne) side of town compared to the New Braunfels side of town. Is that just because New Braunfels is more rural and has access to fewer city amenities than what you would see in the northwest area?

[TexasRedneck]

Originally Posted by Ann Sullivan

Thanks for the water warning too. Is there something you can have a builder put in during construction that can help treat the water? (Our water here in Las Vegas is pretty bad too -- not red, but it leaves a whitish film on everything, like your shampoo bottles and your glasses after they've been dishwashed.)

It's just the hardness of the water. Tell the builder you want a softener loop preinstalled. Don't let 'em tell you that you don't need it, or that "it's easy to do later". Way too many folks decide not to pony up the $$$ during construction, only to learn later that to do it properly (and to code) costs them well over $1k, and in some extreme cases, $2k+. And it'll never be as neat or convenient as one preplumbed during the build.

Originally Posted by Ann Sullivan

Last question: It sounds like everyone is suggesting Boerne, Helotes, etc. Does anyone have any comments on New Braunfels? I'm noticing online that the same new construction house plan by the same builder might be about $30k more on the northwestish (not necessarily as far north as Boerne) side of town compared to the New Braunfels side of town. Is that just because New Braunfels is more rural and has access to fewer city amenities than what you would see in the northwest area?

Funny you should mention that.... I didn't mention it before because I live here - Mom's side came in with the first wagon train of square-heads. Family has been around NB and SA since the 1800's - Dad's side showed up in 1860, came in through Indianola and settled into SA. I grew up in NB and (mostly) Leon Valley (small suburb out NW of SA), with the last year of HS in Bandera. Nice thing about this area IS the lower housing cost - but I look for it to "catch up" in the coming years as the SA/Austin corridor fleshes out. We don't have all the "stuff" the NW side does....but honestly, that's one of the things that drew us here. I can get to SA in 30 minutes, Austin in 45 - so not a big deal.

[88txaggie]

Agree with others, Boerne area will suit your needs. There is a vibrant cycling community here - I ride from my house to Bulverde, low traffic roads for the most part. Another thing to consider is not only city taxes but county. Kendall county is a significant savings over Bexar.