Northeast Austin · Travis County
Evelyn
Trophy Signature Homes has more than fifty finished houses standing for sale here and has closed eight, the first of them in September. That is not a criticism of the homes. It is the strongest negotiating position a buyer has in any community covered on this site.
Prefer to talk now? Call or text 254-718-2567
Use the inventory, and settle the tax first
A builder carrying fifty standing homes will move on financing if you ask properly. But the combined tax rate here is genuinely unresolved in public records, and the gap is worth about $350 a month. Luke Allen will settle that, then negotiate.
The short version
Evelyn is a Trophy Signature Homes community inside the Pioneer Crossing master plan in northeast Austin, with 53 homes for sale from $349,990 to $569,990, at a median near $419,990 and about $201 a square foot.
The number that matters is the second one. Eight homes have closed here in the community’s entire history, the first only in September. Fifty-three standing against eight sold is the widest gap of any community covered on this site at any real scale, and a builder paying interest on fifty finished houses has a problem that a buyer can use.
Two things to settle before you do. The schools are Manor ISD, not Austin ISD, despite the Austin address. And the combined tax rate here could not be established from public records, with the gap between a district and no district worth roughly $350 a month. There is a section below on how to settle that in two minutes.
The buyer case
Fifty-three standing, eight sold
Every other community guide on this site reasons from months of supply. That figure is not meaningful here, because Evelyn has barely any sales history to divide by. So this is the raw version: homes standing for sale, against homes that have ever closed.
One honest caveat. Foxfield shows a similar ratio, but Foxfield is a seven-home community and Evelyn is fifty-three. The ratio is the same; the builder’s exposure is not remotely. A production builder carrying fifty completed houses is paying interest, insurance and taxes on all of them every month, and that cost does not go away by waiting. That is the mechanism behind every concession you are going to ask for.
It also cuts the other way, and the page would be dishonest not to say so. A community with eight sales has almost no resale history, so an appraiser has very little local data and you have very little evidence about what these homes will do. Buy it because the home and the monthly number work, not because the discount feels like a win.
Every home for sale
Evelyn on the map
Each pill is a live listing with its asking price. There is a great deal of it, which is the point.
The nine most affordable homes here right now
Ask the sales office which of these has been standing longest. That home, not the prettiest one, is where the concession is.
New ConstructionCourtesy of HomesUSA.com
Built 2026Courtesy of HomesUSA.com
Built 2026Courtesy of HomesUSA.com
New ConstructionCourtesy of HomesUSA.com
New ConstructionCourtesy of All City Real Estate Ltd. Co
Built 2026Courtesy of HomesUSA.com
Built 2026Courtesy of HomesUSA.com
Built 2026Courtesy of HomesUSA.com
New ConstructionCourtesy of HomesUSA.com
Based on information from Unlock MLS (the Austin Board of REALTORS, ACTRIS) for the period through the most recent sync. Listing data is provided for consumers’ personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties. All information is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified. Properties may be listed by brokerage firms other than Austin Marketing + Development Group; the listing broker is shown with each home where the MLS provides it.
A puzzle that turns out not to matter
One community, one street, two ZIP codes
Evelyn straddles a postal boundary, and the MLS records both sides of it. Grouped here from the live listings by street.
| Street | Listed | ZIP codes on those listings |
|---|---|---|
| Tallsalt Dr | 14 | 78653 (9), 78754 (5) |
| Native Pearl | 11 | 78754 (8), 78653 (3) |
| Bridwell | 6 | 78754 (4), 78653 (2) |
| True Valor Dr | 3 | 78754 (2), 78653 (1) |
| Monument Valley Dr | 2 | 78653 (1), 78754 (1) |
| Koshoa Dr | 12 | 78754 (12) |
| Mystic Timber Dr | 5 | 78754 (5) |
And it changes nothing
- 78754
- 37 listed · median $419,990 · $201 a footBluebonnet Trail Elementary, Manor ISD
- 78653
- 16 listed · median $416,520 · $201 a footBluebonnet Trail Elementary, Manor ISD
Same schools, same district, same price per foot, medians within a few thousand dollars. This boundary is a postal artifact, not a real divide.
5 streets carry both ZIP codes, so two neighbours can have different postal addresses. Worth understanding mainly because of what it does to your search: filter by 78754 and you miss the 78653 homes, filter by Manor and you miss most of the community. It is the opposite of Parkside on the River, where a boundary through the middle of a community decides which school district you are in and is worth real money. Here the line is cosmetic, and saying so is more useful than making it sound dramatic.
The tax question
The one number on this page nobody can give you
Every other community guide on this site publishes a combined tax rate. This one will not, because the honest answer is that public records do not settle it, and a confident wrong figure here would be worth about $350 a month to get wrong.
What is known
| City of Austin | 0.5240% |
| Travis County | 0.3758% |
| Central Health | 0.1180% |
| Austin Community College | 0.1034% |
| Manor ISDLast figure found published was 1.0861% for 2023 to 2024; the current adopted rate was not established | unconfirmed |
| A municipal utility districtNot mentioned in any of the community’s records, but not ruled out | unconfirmed |
The four confirmed entities come to 1.1213 percent. Add a school district near the last published Manor ISD figure and you are around 2.21 percent, or roughly $9,271 a year on the median home here. Add a district on top of that and it could be most of a point higher again.
- 1Take the exact street address of the specific home, not the community name.
- 2Open the Travis Central Appraisal District property search and look the address up.
- 3Open the parcel and find the jurisdictions or taxing units list. Every entity that taxes that lot is named there, including any district.
- 4Add the rates. That total, not a community average, is what you will pay.
Worth doing on any new build anywhere, not just here. Districts and emergency services districts do not follow ZIP codes or city limits, which is exactly why a community-level number can mislead. On a brand-new home the parcel may still show the land assessment, so read the jurisdictions list rather than the dollar figure.
Schools
An Austin address, a Manor ISD assignment
Bluebonnet Trail Elementary, Decker Middle School and Manor High School. Manor High is on every record in the community and the other two on all but one, where a single listing names the middle school in the elementary field. The address says Austin; the district does not.
This is the third community covered on this site where the address and the school district part company, after Nolina, a Georgetown address in Florence ISD, and Foxfield, an Austin address in Pflugerville ISD. It is common enough on the metro’s edges to be worth checking every single time, and it is one of the few things about a house that you genuinely cannot change later.
The builder
Trophy, in two series
Trophy Signature Homes builds the whole community, across two product lines: a Texas Tree series on 40-foot lots, with plans named for trees including the Magnolia, Oak, Cypress and Spruce, and a Trophy series on 50-foot lots including the Turquoise, Heron, Trinity and Savannah.
Nearly every listing comes through one builder-services brokerage and a single listing agent, which is ordinary for a production builder but worth knowing: the person on the listing is not a neutral party, and there is no second sales office here to play against. The leverage is the inventory, not competition.
- A resort-style pool with a separate children's pool area
- A playground and an event lawn
- Sport courts
- A community centre and trails, within the wider Pioneer Crossing master plan
Association dues are $900 a year. The listings say it two ways, $225 quarterly on most and $75 monthly on the rest, but both come to the same annual figure, so there is no real discrepancy here to chase.
The practical part
How to use fifty standing homes
Leverage only counts if you ask for the right things. These are the asks that work on a production builder carrying completed inventory, in the order they work best.
Shop the standing homes, not the plans
A builder carrying fifty finished houses is paying interest on every one of them every month. That pressure applies to completed inventory, not to a home you ask them to start. Ask which homes have been standing longest and work from that list, because those are the ones costing the builder money today.
Ask for the rate buydown first, then the closing costs
A national builder with an in-house lender will almost always move further on financing than on price, because a price cut resets the comparable sales for every one of the other fifty homes. A permanent buydown costs them less and is worth more to you over a hold of any length. Start there and treat a price concession as the second ask.
Get the incentive in writing before you pick a lender
Builder incentives are usually conditioned on using the builder's mortgage company. That is legal and normal, and it is also where the value can quietly come back out through the rate or the fees. Get the incentive terms in writing, then have an independent lender price the same loan so you can see what the incentive actually nets you.
Do not let the inventory make you careless
Fifty homes to choose from is not a reason to skip an independent inspection at frame stage and again before closing, and it is not a reason to skip reading the builder's contract. Leverage is about terms, not about lowering your standards on the house itself.
Settle the tax question before you settle anything else
The combined rate here could not be established from public records, and the gap between a district and no district is close to a full percentage point. On a home at this price that is in the region of $350 a month. The section below shows exactly how to get the real answer in a couple of minutes, and it is the first thing to do.
Walk if the numbers do not work
This is the rare community covered on this site where walking away costs you very little. There are fifty-odd homes here and the builder is not running out. If the incentive is not good enough this month, it is a reasonable bet that it will be better next month, and there is no shortage of inventory to come back to.
Builder-paid representation
Settle the tax, then spend the leverage
Evelyn is the strongest buyer's position of any community covered on this site, and it is also the one where the carrying cost is least settled. Luke Allen will pull the taxing jurisdictions for the specific lot so you know the real monthly number, find out which homes have been standing longest, and push the rate buydown rather than the price, because that is what a builder with fifty finished houses will actually give. He represents you, not Trophy, and the builder pays his fee in most cases, disclosed in writing before you tour.
Luke Allen
Licensed Texas REALTOR, TREC #788149
Austin Marketing + Development Group
Good to know
Evelyn questions, answered
- How many homes are for sale at Evelyn?
- Fifty-three as of mid October 2026, against eight closed sales in the community's entire history, the first of which only recorded in September. That is the largest standing inventory relative to demonstrated demand of any community covered on this site at any meaningful scale. It is not a judgment on the homes; it is a straightforward statement of the builder's position, and it is the single strongest thing a buyer has going for them here.
- How much do homes at Evelyn cost?
- Active listings run from about $350,000 to $570,000 at a median near $420,000, on homes of roughly 1,388 to 3,304 square feet, as of mid October 2026. That works out to about $200 a square foot, against a metro median near $194 and roughly $292 across new construction inside Austin city limits. Homesites run about 0.11 to 0.16 of an acre. Live listings are on this page.
- What school district is Evelyn in?
- Manor ISD, not Austin ISD, despite the Austin mailing address. Every record in the community shows Manor High School, and all but one show Bluebonnet Trail Elementary and Decker Middle School. This is a recurring pattern in far northeast Austin, where the city limits and the Austin ISD boundary stop agreeing with each other, and it catches buyers who assume an Austin address brings the Austin district with it. Confirm the campuses for the exact address with the district before you write.
- Why do Evelyn listings show two different ZIP codes?
- Because the community straddles a postal boundary, and the MLS records both. Roughly two thirds of the listings show 78754 and a third show 78653, which is Manor's ZIP code. Five of the eight streets in the community have homes under both. Unlike a school district or a taxing boundary, this one appears to be cosmetic: the schools are identical across both ZIP codes, and so is the pricing, within about $3,000 at the median and identical per square foot. The practical effect is on searching rather than on owning, because a buyer filtering by one ZIP code sees only part of the community.
- Does Evelyn have a MUD?
- This page cannot tell you, and that is worth saying plainly rather than guessing. None of the sixty-one records in the community mentions a municipal utility district, and no district specific to this community surfaced in public sources. But the absence of a mention is not proof of absence, and northeast Austin has plenty of districts. The difference between a district and no district here is close to a full percentage point, which is roughly $350 a month on a home at this price. The section on this page headed "The tax question" gives the two-minute method for settling it for a specific address.
- Who builds at Evelyn?
- Trophy Signature Homes, across two product series: a Texas Tree series on 40-foot lots with plans named after trees, including the Magnolia, Oak, Cypress and Spruce, and a Trophy series on 50-foot lots with plans including the Turquoise, Heron, Trinity and Savannah. Almost every listing comes through a single builder-services brokerage and one listing agent, which is normal for a production builder and is why the community can look like it has one seller rather than two product lines.
- What are the HOA dues at Evelyn?
- $900 a year. The listings state it two ways, $225 quarterly on most and $75 monthly on the rest, but both come to the same annual figure, so unlike several other communities covered on this site there is no genuine discrepancy here to chase. Ask for the association budget and the dues schedule in writing anyway, and ask what the amenity programme costs to run as the community fills.
- Is Evelyn a good buy?
- It is the strongest negotiating position of any community covered on this site, which is a different question from whether it is the best home. Fifty-three standing homes against eight sales is real pressure on a builder, and that pressure is worth money to a buyer who asks for it properly, mostly in the form of a permanent rate buydown. Against that: the schools are Manor ISD rather than Austin ISD, the community is new enough that there is almost no resale history to price against, and the tax rate is genuinely unresolved. Settle the tax first, then use the leverage.
Related
Keep comparing
- 01New homes in AustinEvery new-construction listing inside the city, and where the eastern crescent inventory actually sits.
- 02NolinaThe same address-versus-district surprise in Georgetown, where the rural district also taxes higher.
- 03Meadowlark PreservePflugerville, where the district question does have an answer, and it is a PID worth $2,300 a year.
- 04Best New Construction CommunitiesAn honest, buyer-side ranking by value, schools, amenities, luxury, and commute.
- 05Buydown CalculatorWhat a 2-1 or 3-2-1 buydown really does to your payment, versus a price cut.
- 06How Much New Construction Costs in AustinThe live median price and price per square foot, what drives the cost beyond the sticker, and the most affordable areas.
- 07Buyer's Agent vs the Builder's RepWho pays, what gets negotiated, and what changes at the design center and inspection.