A Saturday in Bouldin Creek

We get asked about Bouldin more than any other neighborhood in the city, usually by people who have walked South Congress on a visit and wondered what it would be like to live two streets over. The honest answer is: quieter than you expect, and greener.

Seven in the morning

The streets are empty except for runners and dogs. Bouldin is hilly enough that a two-mile loop is a workout, and shaded enough that you can do it in July. Coffee is at the corner of South First, where the line is the neighborhood's informal town hall.

Nine, the market

The farmers market at the edge of the neighborhood is the reason half our clients bought here. Peaches in June, tomatoes in July, the same faces every week. Bring a bag; bring cash for the tamale stand, which does not take cards on principle.

Noon, South Congress

Ten minutes on foot and you are in the postcard: the boot store, the costume shop, the taco truck that has become a building. Locals go on weekday mornings. On Saturdays we send visiting clients and then meet them for a late lunch on the quiet side of the street.

The houses

Bouldin is a mix that should not work and does: 1930s bungalows, 1960s ranches, and new moderns built by people who want to be a ten-minute walk from everything. Prices run from just under a million for a bungalow that needs love to three and a half for a new build with a pool.

• Bungalows: $950K to $1.6M, most needing some work.
• Renovated bungalows and ranches: $1.4M to $2.2M.
• New construction: $2M to $3.6M.

Four, the porch

By late afternoon the neighborhood retreats to its porches. This is the Bouldin hour: neighbors walking past, someone's music, the oaks doing their work. If you visit a house here, ask to see it at four. That is when you will know.

People do not buy in Bouldin for the house. They buy for the walk home.