NWR: Moving to San Antonio and need advice!

xjulie2188x

It's been a while since I've been on here, but my husband (who is in the Air Force) and I are moving to San Antonio and have found a few possible houses (for rent) that we are interested in. But before we get there and possibly waste time, we wanted to know if they are good areas to live in. We are mid-twenties, have a dog and are looking for a friendly/fun and safe neighborhood. Are the Great Northwest/Leon Valley and the Woodlake areas good places to live? TIA!!!

divinemsbee

I just moved to SA about 6 months ago and my FI is also in the Air Force. We live in the Wetmore/Thousand Oaks area near Hollywood Park. It's the Northeast but we're still in the city limits of SA. We're in a townhome just because it was easier to find something, but we may be moving out to the 'burbs closer to the base next year. The nicest thing about where we live is that we're really close to all of the intestates and loops, and you need those to get pretty much everywhere in SA. 

Of the places you've mentioned, I've heard good things about Woodlake. I also love Alamo Heights, but it's probably a little farther in that you might want to go.

kreyes

When I moved to San Antonio 2003 I bought a house in Woodlake because it was close to Fort Sam Houston (I was in the Army) and my neighborhood was new.  We moved out of Woodlake three years ago because it was no longer a nice safe place to live.  Home and vehicle break-ins were happening every week in our neighborhood. The whole area is going downhill.  I would defnitely NOT recommend it. Even the parts of Woodlake that aren't too bad are still subject to a lot of crime because of the neighboring areas (Sunrise) that are really bad.  A lot of crime that occurs in Woodlake is committed by residents of Sunrise. As for the Northwest/Leon Valley area, it's a large area, so it depends on where exactly you're looking.  But overall it's a nice area

sarah_beth1987

We just bought a house in the North East area and we LOVE the area. All of our neighbors are really friendy and it does not take very long to get anywhere from where we live.

TTiger03

I live in Northwest/Leon Valley Area.  I grew up inside 410 from Leon Valley, so I'm very familiar with the area.

Leon Valley is a very nice area and family friendly.  Leon Valley proper is a small area.  It is technically a different city inside San Antonio (as are Balconys Heights, Alamo Heights, etc), but is still considered San Antonio.  The houses are typically older, and there are some older residents but there are young families too.  My grandma is on the North East side.  It's nice over there, but houses are usually more expensive.  This is definitely the case in Alamo Heights.  It is beautiful there but prices are exclusive. 

As far as distance goes, it will help to know which base you are going to.  Lackland is close to Hwy 90. There are a lot of new houses out that way, but I don't know if it's the best area.  My best friend's sister bought a house in the Krie Heights area and says she isn't too sure about security outside her neightborhood.  

If you are going to be at Randolf, then NE would be a better option. 

I suggest first looking at prices to see what is available in these locations.  When we bought our house, I would have liked to be a little closer to our jobs, but prices nearly doubled for houses that weren't as nice as the one we got.  We loved one neighborhood until we found out we loved it because they have strict a HOA which makes it look great, but living there isn't as nice as driving through it if you like to do anything different than Stepford Wives.

DaveandRoxy

To be blunt, those areas are a little ghetto. Most people who work on base (if he will be working at Lackland) live near the Seaworld area. My FI is AF and works on base and it's only 15min from Lackland. Our neighborhood is pretty safe, lots of families and kids. A majority of the people in our subdivision are either retired or active military or in the SAPD so I feel pretty safe here. The only downfall is that our HOA is lazy.... but then again I've never met an HOA I liked. Oh well.