I drove past Gaberdine yesterday in fact, when I was in Olympic Heights, and it’s nice to see Gaberdine coming along and slowly getting built out. The houses are cute. It’s not a product type that I generally recommend to buyers, but for certain market demographics, it’s a good fit. I hope you enjoy the home and location.

Steve

Thanks for your comment.

In fact we do hear from buyers who already have zeroed in on “brand name” subdivisions in Austin such as Steiner Ranch, Circle C, Avery Ranch, Belterra and Shady Hollow, to name a few.

The Gabardine scenario outlined in the article would be like a Kia dealer going in, not next door, but down the street from a Volvo dealer, then using the search term “Volvo” in all their advertisments, claiming to be the newest “Volvo” car lot in town. We would think that improper because the products are entirely different. Gabardine is claiming to be a Volvo and it’s not.

In terms of “areas”, and certain shorthand names that get used over time to include extensions of homogenous and similar adjecent areas, your point has merit. For example, Travis Heights is now generally considered to be the square bounded by the river to the north, S. Congress and IH35 to the west and east, and Oltorf on the South. This even though there are any number of subdivision names contained in that area. The name Travis Heights really defines a section of town and, with it, a certain identity and lifestyle. It works in that instance because there is no notable difference between the look and feel of the areas contained in “Travis Heights”.

Yet, Sherwood Forest, just south of Oltorf is not and will never be called Travis Heights. Those are 60s and 70s houses, mostly ramblers, and even though they are a stones throw away, they are not Travis Heights homes.

And Gabardine is not Shady Hollow. Not even close.

Steve

Someone from out of state isn’t going to go “Oh, THAT Shady Hollow in far southwest Austin!” It’s not like it’s dinner table conversation in Peoria or Overland Park. I doubt you’ll even find many people in North Austin who’ve heard of Shady Hollow.

This is much ado about nothing – look at any large city and you’ll find that the ‘name’ of an existing neighborhood ends up stretching beyond the original borders. I’ve lived in “North Beacon Hill” (but the old Beacon Hill has much nicer houses and was never suffering by inadvertent association), and “Park Slope” is now 40 blocks longer than it was in the 1980′s. Big deal.

People judge housing based on a number of factors, and a generic name (very, very generic) name like Shady Hollow pretty much belongs to nobody. The quality of construction, schools, age of the housing, HOA fees and other factors are what matters.

Hi Jim,

Yeah, we pay $90/mo. to have our yard mowed every two weeks. I’ve never understood the “lock and leave” sales pitch, whereby one pays a really high monthly HOA and receives services/benefits that wuold cost less than the HOA fee if contracted for your regular home.

Plus, I don’t ever want to be part owner in what is technically a parking lot shaped like a street.

Steve

Their price / sqft is around $150, according to the price sheets, while you can get a home with a true yard at Shady Hollow for around $110-$120/sq.ft.

Their HOA is $155/month, Shady Hollow is around $30-$40, for the exact same amenities.

The best of course is this line from the website “Within 3 miles of Gabardine you can grab your Starbucks, head to HEB and knock out all of your grocery shopping …”
What convenience! Where else in Austin can you get a restaurant, HEB or Starbucks that’s closer than 3 miles?

Yes, the mapping and internet photos have changed the home searching experience for buyers.

But I would argue that it takes more than 5 minutes of map and photo browsing to learn everything one needs to know about a neighborhood and/or home. Yes, you can learn a lot, but I don’t think you can determine enough from that alone to either rule in or rule out a home for further consideration.

The exception would be seeing from a map view that a home backs to a freeway, or shopping center parking lot or something like that.

Thanks for you input.

Steve