Feel free to delete or move this thread if it’s in the wrong spot. Don’t do that polling shit just for this.
My wife and I and the kids will likely be relocating to Texas this fall. I’m able to move to just about anywhere west of hwy 45. We are coming from the Bay Area Ca.
We were looking at San Antonio area as our fist pick with maybe Austin next? If any unstuckers know this area well I would appreciate any info on raising an family there.
I currently live in Southlake (Dallas Suburb) and went to college in San Antonio. I loved living in San Antonio. Winters are fantastic, summers are hot (all of Texas is hot in Summer). The blending of cultures makes for a lot of fun traditions like Fiesta. Population is spreading north towards Austin and the northern areas are generally more affluent. Close proximity to Hill Country is great for backpacking/hiking/ mountain biking. Happy to answer any questions you may have. I lived there from 1990-1995 and return annually to visit with friends.
I appreciate the response, thank you.
Since the San Antonio area would work perfect location wise, I guess my main question would be if you would prefer to buy a house in the suburban areas around San Antonio or would San Antonio itself be fine? We are looking for about a 3 bed 2 bath 1600ish typical home for around 250-300K. I will be taking a week off to visit so I will have plenty of time to look around.
If you tolerate suburbs well, I would probably look at north of 1604, given the numbers you presented (and my extremely rough knowledge of RE pricing). There are pockets in the city, like Alamo Heights, that are very nice (and expensive) but there is/was more crime in the city proper when I lived there.
It’s a typical sprawl city so you are likely to have a long commute unless you target a home close to where you plan to work.
Pardon the repeat posts, Selma and Shertz are apparently very nice suburbs. They were small town speed traps when I lived there, but now, a good mid point between SA and Austin.
Look at the Austin suburbs. This place is pretty nice.
Austin probably barely edges out San Antonio, but is becoming prohibitively expensive. San Antonio is nice enough though. Both are better than Houston and Dallas
Yeah I think the area between north of 1604 and the southern suburbs of Austin will be my focus point - closer to the Selma area if possible.
I think all of the cities in Texas are nice after having visited them, Austin seems to be the best one but is crazy expensive, San Antonio seemed kind of drab when i was there but I doubt you’d can go wrong. I don’t know a lot about real estate there, but I spent a lot of time in the cities when I lived in Shreveport.
Austin > Dallas > San Antonio ~ Houston
If you’re more sensitive to cost of living, then you can bump SA up a little.
I think they’re all great cities to live in assuming you don’t mind the weather in TX.
Grew up and went to college in Houston, so most knowledgeable about it, but had grandparents in San Antonio and spend a good number of weekends in Dallas and Austin.
I feel like Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas are pretty similar in terms of livability. All are super sprawling cities that are fairly diverse and thus have lots of options for neighborhoods depending on what you want (San Antonio less so since it’s just smaller).
Houston weather is probably slightly worse as it’s got a bit higher humidity.
Austin is different with a college/small city vibe, but as it grows it’s becoming more like the other cities. It’s more expensive, but the other cities can be too if you want to live in a good neighborhood.
Austin/San Antonio have advantage of being near Hill Country if you like outdoors or want to get a weekend lake house. Houston is close to Galveston if you’re a beach guy.
Big issue is whether you have flexibility in where to live. Traffic in all the cities is pretty bad, so you’ll want to live near work. If you can work from home, you’ll have a lot more options as the suburbs can be much cheaper and still have good schools.
Yeah my feeling was that I would be happy to live in any of them, each comes with its own set of pluses and minuses but none are too awful. I have a friend who lives in Fort Worth and even that seems decent, if a little more conservative than the rest.
Frankly there is only one way to settle this: a “Dr Jack” style breakdown where a bunch of categories are ranked. Best cost of living, best public transportation, best BBQ, best coffee, best access to XYZ, best microbreweries, etc. I doubt this would be particularly useful for OP but it sounds like fun so someone should do it.
Look at the northwest suburbs of Austin too. Lots of available housing stock in your price range, and the transit to downtown that’s available isn’t bad (there’s a train that runs from Leander to downtown which was super cool before COVID)… and if you don’t actually need to go into the city except for recreation the downsides are extremely minimal.
Disclosure: I live in Leander. I picked Leander after a damn near national search for places to live.
Would the areas make a difference if camping, water skiing, and fishing was a part of the family repertoire?
There’s plenty of all of that… but if what you want is somewhere physically beautiful and you don’t mind driving a ways to the grocery store look at Lago Vista. About as physically beautiful as you can get in central Texas and still have good internet. Lago vista is literally a lakefront town so you’re set for anything boating related. As for camping I HATE camping so I’m the wrong guy to ask lol.
Have you visited Kyle, or San Marcos? Location would be perfect and the RE market looks good. I think I may take a trip out there and start in that area.
I’ve driven through them a few times on the way to San Antonio from Austin. They seem fine. When are you guys planning on moving? It might be a really good idea to rent a house first before buying. We did that and I gotta say I do not regret it. Its really hard to make an educated decision on something with as much detail as this without having enough time to really explore.
One thing I’m sure of is that there are at least half a dozen fairly large area/neighborhoods within 50 miles of my butt right now that all have a case to make. FWIW we’re looking to buy in the same price range you are.
New Braunfels (New Braunfels, Texas - Wikipedia) is a relatively smaller town directly between SA and Austin. There’s a cool older district with lots of character, tons of river access/activities, and obviously less traffic than the larger options.
Plus it has the best waterpark in the country. When I was a kid, a road trip to Schlitterbahn was one of the greatest treats there was.