West Austin

Steiner Ranch

Nestled in the Texas Hill Country, Steiner Ranch is distinctive among Austin luxury home communities for its striking natural beauty. Known as the "Land Between the Lakes," Steiner Ranch offers a wide range of amenities guaranteed to keep its residents busy and happy.

Situated between two of the most popular recreational lakes in the area, Steiner Ranch attracts active people who appreciate a natural environment. Nature enthusiasts will love the more than 12 miles of nature trails, and 819 acres of nature preserve and pocket parks within the community itself. It is this dedication to nature that helped Steiner Ranch cinch a Commercial Real Estate Award as "Best Master-Planned Community" in the greater Austin area from the Austin Business Journal in 2004.

Amenities include two community centers, a private Lake Club on Lake Austin, three basketball courts, six tennis courts, and full-time on-site activities. Several of the newest neighborhoods under development are located within the gates of The University of Texas Golf Club, the official home of The University of Texas Golf Teams. Roy Bechtol designed the 7,154-yard, 18-hole golf course, which provides a beautiful backdrop and exquisite views for these homes.

Steiner Ranch is in the acclaimed Leander school district, with two elementary schools, Steiner Ranch Elementary and Laura Welch Bush Elementary, and a new middle school, Canyon Ridge Middle School, within the community itself. High school students attend Cedar Park High School.

Steiner Ranch is accessible from RR 620, and new homes start from the mid $200,000's and go to over $3 million, with the median price in the mid-$400,000's. Besides Newmark, other homebuilders include Morrison, Plantation, David Weekley, Toll Brothers, Drees, Partners in Building, Taylor Woodrow and Mercedes.

Pedernales Electric Co-Operative provides electrical service to the area, and water and wastewater services are by the City of Austin. Southwestern Bell services Steiner Ranch with state-of-the-art fiber optics to handle the high-tech demands of the area.

Bee Cave

Bee Cave offers the best of country living with city amenities. You can live on two acres and have wonderful hill country views and still be only minutes away from shopping and downtown Austin. It´s only five minutes away from the boat launch by the 360 Bridge, and only 25 minutes away from Pace Bend Park or Mansfield Dam.

Bee Cave is bound on the north by Lake Austin, on the east by Loop 360, on the west by the Village of Bee Caves, and on the south by the Barton Creek Tributary, Barton Creek Blvd. and Lost Creek Blvd. Utilities are provided by the City of Austin and Pedernales Electric Cooperative.

The Bee Cave community includes a wide variety of older neighborhoods such as Rob Roy, Lost Creek, Cuernavaca, Austin Lake Hills, Barton Creek West and newer ones such as The Uplands, Lake Pointe, Senna Hills and The Homestead. In addition to the Eanes Independent School District, the area is served by the Lake Travis Independent School District, which also boasts an excellent scholastic reputation with outstanding academic accomplishments and fine facilities.

Lake Pointe

A great Hill Country location has made Lake Pointe popular with home buyers and successful for home builders. The terrain is rolling and beautiful. It's near Lake Austin and Lake Travis, yet it's not too far from Austin (about a 20 to 25 minute drive to downtown.). With the growing availability of shopping and entertainment in the area, including a planned Galleria mall complex, that proximity will be less important.

The three sections of Lake Pointe are Lake Pointe, Vista Pointe and The Pointe. The homes in Lake Pointe range from $215,000 to $425,000; the homes in Vista Pointe range from $650,000 to $850,000; homes in The Pointe are priced at $1 million or more. The Pointe is closest to Lake Austin, Vista Pointe is on a hillside with excellent views of the Hill Country and lake. There are approximately 750 homes in Lake Pointe.Lake Pointe offers the appeal of an established neighborhood coupled with the contemporary home styles that blend traditional, contemporary and classic Hill Country.The typical home offers between 1,700 and 4,000 square feet of living space in a two-story design with four bedrooms, two or three baths and a two-car garage. Cul de sac streets are common. This makes the area particularly suited for families with young children.

Children attend Lake Travis Independent School District schools. The boundaries of the neighborhood are Resaca Blvd. on the east, Bee Caves Road on the South, Bayton/Sonoma on the West, and Lake Austin/open land to the North.Water and wastewater is provided by the Lower Colorado River Authority. Austin Energy provides electricity.

River Place

River Place on Lake Austin, one of the few areas left in the city in which homebuyers can purchase lots with direct access to Lake Austin, is one of the city's most naturally beautiful master-planned communities. The rough boundaries of this waterfront/country club community include FM 2222 to the north, the Balcones Canyon Lands Preserve to the west and Westminster/Glen Lake to the east. In other words, the development can be reached by heading west on FM 2222 and taking a left (before you reach Highway 620), into the main entrance on River Place Boulevard.

Just a twenty-minute drive from downtown Austin, River Place appeals to both urban dwellers and nature lovers alike. Of the 1,440 acres owned by the homeowners association, half is dedicated to preserved land never to be developed. The natural beauty of the unspoiled land, bass fishing, swimming and boating, a marina with private slips for non-waterfront residents, rare preserve home sites situated along the hills overlooking Lake Austin, a park with youth soccer fields, tennis courts, fifty acres of nature trails and a fishing pond, century-old pecan trees, close proximity to River Place Country Club featuring Tom Kite Golf Course, nearby shopping, and a supportive, active neighborhood association make River Place an estate community that seems to have it all.

Construction began in 1990 when a Houston development team bought the acreage from the government. Fourteen years later, River Place is comprised of 1,200 to 1,250 single-family homes including 100 to120 lots that have yet to be developed. Prices run from $330,000 to well over $1,000,000 with mandatory membership to the homeowners association, River Place Residential Community Association, Inc.

In addition to the residential aspect of the community, River Place includes an office park. River Place Pointe, a business/technology office campus, takes up 47.9 of the 1,440 acres and houses seven buildings right next door to River Place Country Club

Utilities are partly served by the City of Austin, partly by the River Place MUD. The Municipal Utility District handles the water and wastewater services for newer homes as well as two expansive parks and the nature trail, while the City of Austin takes care of the rest. Austin Energy supplies River Place with its electricity. The development is under the Leander Independent School District so children attend either Laura Bush or Steiner Ranch Elementary Schools, Cedar Park Middle School or Cedar Park High School.

Westlake Hills

West Lake Hills has such a nice quiet feeling that it's almost like living in the country, even though it's pretty much in the middle of town. Living close in to Austin has many advantages, especially when looking at increasing drive time as Austin's population continues to increase. But for those who want the joys of rural living, buying a home close to downtown and the university area means buying a home in West Lake Hills.The city of West Lake Hills is comprised of four square miles, and is located west of Austin approximately between 3300 Bee Cave Road and east of Loop 360 on Bee Cave, with a population of more than 3,000 and approximately 1,000 homes and 200 businesses. Utilities are provided by the city of Austin.

In addition to its close proximity to Austin, another reason many families are attracted to living in West Lake Hills is that it is part of the outstanding Eanes Independent School System, which has received the rating of "exemplary" by the Texas Education Agency. Currently, there are six elementary schools, Hill Country Middle School and West Ridge Middle School, and Westlake High School.

Homebuyers can find bigger lots in West Lake Hills compared with other similar neighborhoods, and that $450,000 is the average homebuyers can expect to spend to purchase a home.

Another advantage to purchasing a home in West Lake Hill's is the city's restriction on new home subdivision development, which specifies a minimum lot size for any new home construction of one acre, meant to keep the area looking natural and beautiful for years to come.