Buyers drawn to district for quality of schools, quiet neighborhoods, Austin, Tx
Posted January 17th, 2010 by guy3
By Shermakaye Bass
SPECIAL TO THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Updated: 3:57 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010
Published: 10:20 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010
The Eanes Independent School District, a 31-square-mile area west of MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1), is Central Texas' own multineighborhood Mayberry. There's a small-town vibe to West Lake Hills, Rollingwood, Barton Creek and Cuernavaca. People know their neighbors, kids play ball in the parks and attend stellar schools together, sidewalks and lawns are nicely manicured. Even the affluent, close-in Westlake area has an idyllic, suburban quality.
"The people here are very nice. It's a very good mix of people," says resident Lesley Sarkesian, who lives on Far Gallant Drive in the Westlake area and has two teenagers. "There are kid people, people that are retired. ... It's just a very lovely community."
Because the Eanes school district covers of the large geographic area, homes can range in price from $250,000 to the multimillions. Eanes has had a little dip in sales in recent years.
According to the Austin Board of Realtors, in 2009, 402 homes priced for less than $10 million sold in the Eanes school district — the most expensive one selling for $4,037,500. In 2008, 404 homes priced for less than $10 million sold. That's 25 percent less than the 542 sold in 2007 and 34 percent less than the 608 homes sold in 2006.
That doesn't sound good, but compare those statistics to homes in the Austin Independent School District.
In 2009, about 4,900 homes listed for less than $10 million sold. That's 51 percent less than the 10,060 sold in 2008; 70 percent less than the 16,522 sold in 2007; and 64 percent less than the 13,671 sold in 2006.
The primary reason for the Eanes district's relative stability, according to residents and real estate agents: The schools. Eanes Independent School District is considered one of the top public school districts in the state. SchoolDigger.com — an online ranking site that covers 120,000 schools around the United States — rates Eanes Elementary 21st among Texas' 3,880 elementary schools and rates Eanes sixth among the state's 948 public school districts. The Austin school district is ranked 579; the Round Rock district, 240. The Texas Education Agency rated Eanes exemplary in 2008-2009, the highest rating. Austin was rated academically acceptable; Round Rock was recognized, the second-highest rating.
For more on this article go to:
http://www.statesman.com/business/real-estate/buyers-drawn-to-district-f...
