Moving to San Antonio

Just found out I'm moving to San Antonio in August. I'll be working at Randolph.

The plan is to rent for a year maybe in Cibolo? Then, hopefully buy somewhere a little more rural. Like La Vernia.

So, who's there? Any tips on where to live in that area?

West side of town is the prettiest. I'd Look there.

My place of employment is in north east San Antonio. So looking NE or East San Antonio.

Haven't been there since early 1990. I still remember the CO telling us not to go to the Lipstick Club.

Otherwise, I got nuthin.

I use to be there a lot for work. There are still a lot of nice neighborhoods off 1604 which gives yo a major highway access that feeds into Randolph.

There is a decent drag strip close in Sequin. They also do some autocross there too with Spokes out of Austin and SASC there in SA. You have some Rallycross not too far up the road at Brianne Corne's place. Too bad they never allow access to the public anymore but Cooper Tire has a great testing grounds about 30 miles south of town. It's a helluva a lot of fun to run out there.

It's a majority Hispanic community so there is a ton of latino influences.

Overall a pretty good place to live if you don't mind the heat.

Welcome to car heaven sir. SASCA and SPOKES are near by and you got even more just north of ya in Austin. Circuit of america, texas mile, and the hill country between bandera and kerrville to boot! (Lots of fun twisty roads out that way).

For a place, i found a nice house or two in Schertz. Definitely a fun place to be, i do miss it.

M4ff3w is just north of ya as well. Cool guy who always has something odd in his garage.

Cheers!

Thanks for the input

Glad to see the car culture is strong there. I'm coming from southern California (car heaven) so I was expecting a huge decline in car things. But, I see now it won't be too much to miss. I'll get my guns back too!

Ive been checking autotrader and Craigslist and noticed there's not much of a market for euro cars. AMG's, Porsches, and various high power luxury sedans to be specific.

For housing: I've been looking in cibolo, schertz, and live oak for rental places. My rental budget is $2000 and under. Hopefully closer to $1500 since we're trying to save some cash for a year or so. If the market favors buyers next year I'll be looking to buy somewhere more rural with an acre or more of land. Hopefully 300k or less.

Which areas have the best schools? My son will be starting first grade when we arrive there.

I'll ask Mrs. Hungary about the schools. We have a friend in Seguin that's a grade school teacher

There is definite car culture in the area. You just have to break through the initial crust of pickups and bro-dozers to get to it

Ok, I was a bit wrong. Our teacher friend is in New Braunfels (great place by the way). She says Schertz has great elementary schools all around, but specifically mentioned "Watts"

Mrs. Hungary, on the other hand, was really pushing North Central or North West side of town. We lived on the Northwest side and loved it (and honestly it is nice) but I think she's a bit biased because that's where she lived most of her life. I personally think the Northeast has some nice places to offer. Either way I generally stay outside the 1604 loop (or just inside) as the neighborhoods tend to be newer.

I'm pretty certain that with your budget you should be able to buy an absolute mansion out there. Mrs. H initially thought you guys should be able to get into Alamo Heights (serious "snobs knob") but alas the houses are a bit more expensive now than they were when we moved (2009). Still though, that's a lot of buying power for the area.

One thing I'd watch out for when buying a house is slab problems. Houses in the PNW were all pier and beam so I had no idea that the houses in SA were all just built on concrete slabs. Apparently these break sometimes and the house starts shifting and splitting. I'd do some research into the builder and see if they have a history of slab issues.

The only other thing Mrs. H wanted me to mention is "it's not a California commute". Basically she's saying "don't be afraid of distance. Cars tend to move on the roads in SA"

Cheers!

San Antonio in August huh? That's gonna be hot.

Autocross with Spokes. Find the Texas SCCA rallycross group on FB. We're doing events at Rally Ready in Austin now too. Fewer euro cars over there but Dallas and Houston are right up the road and Lord knows we have plenty. Harris Hill is a nice little local-ish road course. I haven't driven it but lots of friends are members.
August will suck, but by October the weather will be better and car stuff will go on all through winter.

San Antonio doesn't get as hot as where I'm currently living (30 miles west of palm springs). I went through basic training in San Antonio in July and August and yes it was hot and kinda humid but not too bad. I grew up in humidity but def I don't miss it. I'm looking forward to the better weather and less smog. And rain, I miss rain and thunder storms.

In reply to Hungary Bill:

I'll most definitely avoid snob knobs and HOA's. I'm the type of GRM folk that might fill my driveway with 3 classic euro cars at any given time!

Tell Mrs H that I said thanks!

Will do! Please tell me that's your driveway

Mrs. H will be in the area about the time you land. Feel free to pm me if you guys need anything and i'll pass the info.

That's the house I currently live in. I sold the last of the Mercedes last month.

I'll give you a holler!

Watching with interest....My wife has health problems and is becoming increasingly intolerant of winter weather, and I'm intolerant of Florida.

The Austin/San Antonio region of TX seems to check all the right boxes for us, at least on paper. Its good to know the area is well regarded by the GRM community.

I'd like to make a trip down there in mid summer to see if I take the heat. I suspect that since I can survive Philly summer heat with high nineties, high humidity and horrible smog, I'll be alright.

Overall, Agree with the north central 1604 area if you want good schools and nice neighborhoods. It's suburbia at it's finest or worse depending on your point of view. Agree with Mrs. H on Schultz. That has gotten pretty popular with the military community.

There is a lot of conflict right now between Austin and San Antonio and the state around sanctuary city policies and some other issues. It's a blue vs. red debate that unfortunately is getting to be kind of a mess.

At least the San Antonio area hasn't got hit as bad with the housing cost bug as Austin.

Holler if you have any questions on any of the road racing or HPDE groups. I can get you in touch with the right people there.

Know any megasquirt tuners out there?

So...anyone in San Antonio willing to let me ship my Conquest there the week before I arrive and babysit it until I find a place? I'll pay

In work. Wait one...

Ninja edit: You've got mail.

I'm not in San Antonio but close. I'm in Killeen AKA Fort Hood. I can babysit in Killen or in Austin or even arrange a place in San Antonio.

MegaSquirt tuner? How may I be of assistance?

RLM Transport uses an enclosed trailer to move toys around. Grate rates to.

In reply to GVX19:

Is RLM Transport a broker or the actual company?

Its the company, Text or Call. He loves to text

HappyAndy wrote: Watching with interest....My wife has health problems and is becoming increasingly intolerant of winter weather, and I'm intolerant of Florida. The Austin/San Antonio region of TX seems to check all the right boxes for us, at least on paper. Its good to know the area is well regarded by the GRM community. I'd like to make a trip down there in mid summer to see if I take the heat. I suspect that since I can survive Philly summer heat with high nineties, high humidity and horrible smog, I'll be alright.

San Antonio doesn't have super bad winter temps, but they do get below freezing around Jan/Feb. I'm sure it's nowhere near as bad as PA but you might also want to visit in early February just to see what it's like.

I heard there's some nice rallycross in the NE area of town. Anyone do it? I might try it out, never done it before!

Yup. http://www.lonestarrallycross.com/ It's a good series and Brianne the host has run all kinds of vehicles including a few runs up pikes peak.