I've lived in Southdown for about 1.5 years now. So far, it has been a great starter neighborhood -- plus, if you get a 2-story in the newer part (Oaks of Southdown), your backyard is HUGE. If you're not big on grass, of course, this isn't a plus. But, if you have a husband that is fascinated with swimming pools, this opens up all sorts of possibilites... We haven't had any problems with crime or flooding. There are a LOT of kids in the neighborhood, so the potential for crime is there. I've have seen one act of vandalism since I've been there -- a policeman's car (of all things) was vandalized while it was parked in front of his home. In the past year, I've also read (in the newsletter) about at least 2 instances of people's houses being burglarized. The (adult) people in the neighborhood are very conscientious. Everyone is pretty friendly with everyone else and you'll have no problem finding someone to pick up newspapers and water plants if you have to go out of town. As an indication of how many kids are in the neighborhood - we went through $40 worth of candy this Halloween and get hit up at least twice a month for some fundraiser or another. Of course, everyone could just be steering their kids to the house of the people without kids... Other pluses off of the top of my head: Established neighborhood, so low HOA dues MUD was dissolved at the end of 2005 2 parks (one just outside of neighborhood on Smith Ranch Rd) and a community pool good access to 288 & Beltway 8 very racially diverse That's all that I can think of right now...
