San Antonio House Hunting Help!

I have a friend from another forum that is moving - SOON! - from Tennessee to San Antonio. She has been looking online for houses, but when she and her husband were in SA last weekend to look at them in person, she found that they were in bad neighborhoods. They can't afford to come down again until they actually move. They were working with a realtor, but he ended up being a jerk, so they need to find a different one. (He kept trying to push a house that his BIL had "flipped" and he got very nasty with them when they didn't like it. Grrr...) Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions for them, it would be VERY helpful! They can move into an apartment at first, of course, but they have 4 children, which will make it a tight squeeze.

This is what they are looking for:

What is the area on the SW side near Lackland Air Force Base like, does anyone know? They found a house on the internet that looks good there... Thanks! :-)

Sounds like the same kind of problems my parents were having when they were looking for a place. They look a lot better online than in person. I do hope they are able to find what they are looking for!

:) Kim

Thanks, Kim. :-) I wish they were looking in Houston, so I could help them more. I love going to look at houses. :-)

My sympathies, Marylyn. San Antonio properties are plentiful but prices have risen for the north and northwest sides of town. Castle Hills is a separate incorporated city; very nice area, but price ranges are on the high side. Their price cap would not likely fit in the NW/1604 section unless they happened upon a distress sale. I live in the NW in a nice area between 410 & 1604. I bought it new in '97 and the tax appraisal has jumped half again since then. My suggestion would be to forget the far northern section because of the toll road controversy. US 281 going to tolls is almost a certainty and sections of 1604 are threatened. Commuting and shopping trips may well cost more in the near future.

I haven't visited in the Lackland area for some time, so can't really offer any suggestions. One area that may well start seeing increased values is the south side. Mostly ignored for many years, since the Toyota plant has gone in along with other industries/jobs, builders have begun new subdivisions and price ranges for now at least are likely to be more workable.

I'll D-mail you on a couple of other points. Yuska



This message was edited Aug 23, 2007 11:49 AM

Thank you, Yuska!!

I live in the NW part of San Antone outside of 1604....and 119,000 is going to be a hard find in this part of town...! Average price is around 135, 000 or so. We built our house about 2 1/2 years ago...and the growth around us has been HUGE. As well as the prices going up..... AND the toll roads are coming, no doubt about it.

Melanie

Thank you! I'll pass that along to her.

Marylyn, I sent you a d-mail with the name of an excellent realtor for your friend.

Stephanie

I would never want to buy into a house without checking everything out myself...neighborhood, schools, etc. Too risky and getting out of a house bought long distance when later on when it becomes obvious you don't want to live there is a very expensive problem. They might want to consider renting a house for a while instead. And then look around for a nice area where bargains can be had during the lease. Nothing worse than a bad realty agent, is there? I feel for them!

I sent that to her, Stephanie. Thank you!

You're welcome! I hope he's able to help.

There's lots of great places to live in San Antonio, you just have to worry about the traffic! I grew up there, learned to drive there, but hate having to drive there now when we go back to visit. LOL LOL LOL

Stephanie

Marylyn,

Just noticed this thread....any luck on their searches? The posts so far are accurate, San Antonio real estate has skyrocketed. We bought there on the NE side off 1604 S a couple years ago, a new home nice neighborhood, for $130,000 on a 2,300' home with huge yard but when we sold a couple years later we were able to list at $159,000. But homes in the NE are not selling as fast, possibly due to the hike increase, new home builders flooding the market, etc. But likely they could get into a new home with some real discounts about now because of the flooded market and still get in their price range? There is great shopping up that way by Randolph AFB.

I wish I could refer you to some great home buying sites for San Antonio but I don't know of any. When we looked we only wanted new there so I just picked up the new magazine guides at the store when there.

For a top notch realtor you can look up Dave Ramsey's website....he has his top realtors in areas (by zip code I think) and you can find someone reputable that way. There is one for the San Antonio area but his name slips my mind. If you fill out the online form you'll get the info asap though.

Best of luck!

This message was edited Sep 30, 2007 2:14 PM

My mom has a house in San Antonio close to Lackland. It's the house we all grew up in. She lives close to Military Drive, between Five Palms and Whitewood (where Kelly AFB was). The neighborhood is still fairly nice. Most of the homes have burglar bars on them, including my Mom's house. They bought the house in 1963 and my Dad added on to it, as needed. That house will be mine some day, while Connie will get the old family homestead in Virginia. Many of the homes have vinyl siding now, over the asbestos shingles. Mom's never had any problem with flooding.

I don't know of any homes for sale there but will ask a friend of my Mom's, who also lives there in SA, over off Five Palms.

Connie and I went back there in April and spent a lot of time driving around the city looking for Persian Shield in nurseries. I used to drive a delivery truck for Bauman's Auto Parts in the 70's and drove all over town. I cannot believe how much the outskirts of town have grown up. Especially around 1604 and Bandera Rd. Connie and I also spent a lot of time looking for thrift stores, from one end of SA to the other. It was a lot of fun seeing how much the town has grown.

As for driving there, I'd MUCH rather drive in San Antonio than in Houston.

As someone else suggested, the Southside of SA, off 410, where the new Toyota plant is going in would most likely get you the most house for the money.

Hope this helps.

Janet

Thanks, Janet and Tir! I'll pass that along to her. :-)

Unique:

It didn't matter what part of town I was driving in, I didn't feel stressed like I do when driving in Houston. I don't know if it's because I learned to drive there, or what, but that's just the way I am. You couldn't pay me enough money to move to Houston and put up with the traffic.

Janet

Hehe and that's where we moved. Sigh. They do tend to have better paying jobs here and house prices comparable. Though...ugh just got my electric bill (doesn't even include water heater at this place) and was about $70 MORE than I EVER paid for in house of same size (new) in SA. This house is 30 years old.

Marylyn---another great point to point out to your friend----older home costs more to maintain!!!! My last house had a top to bottom warrenty for 1 year and included brand new appliances. 10 year limited warrenty.

Unique---don't I know it about the old houses! Sheesh. Would have gone new this time BUT the new actually do cost more for the same square footage (we needed to move in asap) and their neighborhoods don't have a proven track record (how nice will the neighbors keep it up) or trees----after living in SA we REALLY wanted the trees in the yard again. :) We moved in here and added more blown-in insulation, went from a 9 rating to 40! And we changed all bulbs to CFL (not that that's a huge difference) and yet LOL bill continues to climb in the months we've been here. Sigh. Have 2 ac's and one is newer the other is *gulp* original! We plan to replace that in the spring which should help. Then the windows will go the spring after that. I can only afford one renovation like that per year for now because I don't finance anything except the house anymore (dave ramsey junkie). :)

San Antonio's gas/utility service, known as City Public Service, is city-owned unlike most cities and the rates are among the lowest in the state. Also, a goodly portion of the profits are paid into the city operations budget which creates a double benefit for residents.

Hi, Marylyn,
I live on the NW side of SA in an area called Westcreek. So, I'll tell you all I can, sorry if it's too much information,. :) We're immediately west of 1604 between Potranco and Military Drive West if you want to find it on a map. I think it's really more west than north, but we're still considered part of that "NW" area. There are -tons- of new builds here. I can't even explain how many homebuilders are in here putting up developments. Lots of military people live here and three of our neighbors moved this summer. They had a hard time selling their houses because the builders are offering really good deals and incentives to try to move the brand new houses. One neighbor took a loss compared to what they paid, one broke even and one ended up renting their place out. I think that means you can call it a buyer's market!
There are developments farther north that are nicer, with larger lots and more trees, like Sonoma Ranch and Wildhorse and a million more, but the prices are just higher. We live in a 2400sqft house and it was $171k brand new two years ago when we moved here. It was one of the middle priced floor plans, there were some near the $100's. Our builder was DR Horton and they seem to be one of the middle-range/nicer mass builders. (I say mass builder because I don't know what else to call them. There are lots of custom home builders here too, but they're more expensive as well.) You can go to DR Horton's website and look for Amhurst and Redbird Ranch, they have floorplans under $120. Amhurst is just outside 1604 and Redbird Ranch is a bit farther out. Other home builders in this area (that I know of and may have houses in that price range) are Centex, Armadillo, KB Homes, Lennar... One the Centex website you can look for The Meadows of Silver Oaks.
The neighborhoods here are nice! We have NSID for schools which is a great district here. Commercial developers are putting in things like crazy so even though we had to drive a bit to get to stores two years ago, just about everything you need for day to day life is available at 1604 and Potranco now. There aren't any "bad" areas nearby that I know of and we've been here two years. We're currently not truly a part of SA, so we don't pay the city taxes, but that will be changing very soon.
A house at $119 may not be one of the huge floor plans, but there are a few around and this is a nice area that is really growing. As far as utilities go, we moved here from Chicago and we think the prices are -wonderful- compared to what we paid there! If you have anymore questions I can try to answer them.

HTH!
DeAnna Puls

We used DRHorton, as well, DeAnna....and are in Wildhorse. Just in the 3 years that we built our home here...the growth has been unbelieveable! Traffic is much more congested on 1604 and it is so bad on Braun, that I believe they are about to widen it. There are definite perks to living on this side of San Antonio....but I see the disadvantages making an appearance more and more...as with any large city and surrounding areas. But honestly, I'm glad that we chose the place that we did. DRHorton has been great... :)

Melanie

Yuska,

Just noticed something on my electric bill from Houston---a SAN ANTONIO PO Box! LOL!

we live about 5 min from castle hills inside 410 and love it. Our $80,000 / 2,000 sq ft house is in a quiet clean older neighborhood that we've slowly upgraded (new windows a priority) is close to everything and we don't sit in traffic for hours to get anywhere like my friends on the outskirts. It takes me and my husband both abt 10 min to get to work and our Saturdays aren't spent waiting in construction line on 1604. I love the character and charm of the area inside 410 as apposed to outskirts that are more plastic looking to me. It's definetely a buyers market so hold out for somehting great

And you're much closer to all the main events downtown, hedersatx - the museums, theaters, Fiesta. Some of the older neighborhoods are now seeing some infill developing. New houses in classic styles being constructed on the occasional empty lot. San Antonio has so many choices and so much diversity that getting acquainted first seems to be the plan with less risk. Rents may be more than mortgage payments, but if temporary quarters can be found for a few months without a lease, newcomers can get a much better sense of the best choices to fit their circumstances.

Centralized accounting does have some strange results, Tir_Na_Nog. My phone bill payment goes to Dallas, even though the international headquarters for AT&T is right here in San Antonio!