i am thinking about moving in ....

[DutchessCottonPuff]

Originally Posted by ocean2026

Port A has perhaps the best school district in the area. I don't know about Catholic schools but CCISD is pretty bad. If you have young boys keep them away from priests- if the true statistics of pedophiles involving priests were known - people would freak out.

You can live more cheaply in CC but you also run many times the risk or burglary or violent acts from criminals/gang members. If you live downwind from refineries there are other health risks. The ocean drive area is nice but expensive. I also like an area that no one else likes - "The Cut" but I do not recommend it for any but the least risk-adverse people.

LOL Whoa - ho !!! yes indeed " the Cut " is def taking a walk on the wild side alright lol however, I too was down there recently , somehow my dutchman could not seem to make it over to Concrete street when we saw Billy Squier so I just made him turn on port ( I think ) then down Winnebago ,,past Waco street etc .. it was a Friday evening and yes we were stared at by the neighbors , but they all seemed like they were happy enough visiting and almost every house on Winnebago , Including the PJ's had some kind of barbeque going on .

Once we got there though there is this black lady I recognized from the courthouse parking lot asking for money for a sandwich.. I could not believe I saw her in both places , she is WAYYYY out of it and needs to be taken off the street and into a nursing home,, she isnt your everyday crack head at all . she may have started that way but it is beyond that now .
Anyhow ,, yes you are right about he schools here .. that is one o the reasons we came back here after our last job assignment , most of our kids have gone here at one time or another or Catholic and an American School in the Netherlands .

We are both life long Catholics and fortunately for us have always had excellent priests. One old one I missed so badly when we had to go to north Texas that I had to stop going to mass for a while because I could NOT stop the tears when I would go into the church ,terribly embarrasing lol ,, yet another younger one about my age ( 47) I made a combined zep/ Jethro Tull live CD for him to listen to while he walked as a surprise from our family for staying with me at the hospital when the Dr.told my family I might not make it through the night, for several nights ,,over at Spohn Memorial ,, because we knew how he loved those two bands so much, he was shocked but very happy .... they arent all terrible.

We had 4 sons and two daughters .. all grown now except this one daughter who is 8 ..but the rest you have brought up are the very same things we bring up everyday in trying to make this decision .. not very easy .

[rednax]

Originally Posted by produrre

We spent many weekend looking at homes along the Bay Area (Gaza Strip?) recently and decided that the prices they were asking was just too much for the 'bones' that were available in the homes. We wanted an open floor concept and would have had to do a lot of construction work to the older homes in order to get that... and as the homes were at a higher price, we could sink more money in that we wanted. So we focused on the Lakes. Beautiful neighborhood... but didn't find our house there. We are closing on a house in Kings Crossing, at an area where the yards are a little wider and the landscaping is a little more mature. My initial impression of much of Kings Crossing was the way the homes were on top of each other, but the area we found was much more acceptable. For $240k we found a 2700 sf home that fits what we need perfectly. .

Nice you found a house you like. But there is more to this thread for a stranger to CC to consider:

We are all pressed for time when jobs demand moving. Granted, "open style" [carpeted warehouse with TV on constantly] is popular these days, and is not a feature of homes built from the 1930's into the 1960's.

We saw plenty of unthinkingly bad renovations (additions) as we looked along the bayfront. But what we also saw were houses better built, on a better scale, with more windows per square foot (and with windows on more than one wall per room, a very basic design criterion) versus the cookie cutter blandness of ANYTHING newer. There's a reason that the bayfront home "peer" in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio or Austin is much preferred, and closer-in location is only part of it.

In CC it also means a better breeze, better rainfall (little, but telling) AND that one is 25-30' above sea level. It remains cooler in the summer and a bit warmer in the winter (again, not much, but it adds to value) versus the south side.

The south side will quickly be underwater in a major storm. Winds may do their damage along the bay, but Celia proved many of them forty years ago. And these neighborhoods are full of people who spend to upgrade . . architect-designed homes have that ageless appeal.

After a major storm the bayfront will be quickly, easily rebuilt. None of it will go underwater. The south side will be terribly affected by storm surge (as will the Island, Flour Bluff, etc) with the worst surges in excess of 18'.

Study maps carefully before buying.

[DutchessCottonPuff]

I agree with you there rednax ,, I love the older neighborhoods and houses of the bayfront ( the Gaza) as some put it .. I love 40's through mid 70's architecture ( sp) I do not like the cookie cutter house of today at all .. i guess it is just a personal thing with me ,, still in Port Aransas but want to move into CC badly ,,my lease is up and I want to go.. cant decide where.. School system is neat but the kids are as wild or wilder than any neighborhood in CC and they usually have more money to be more wilder..... LOADS of dope passing through the school and just around the local kids ( my high schoolers are back home ) .. ..it is a constant battle and many are out all night .. I have teenagers wander in my house at ALL hours because alot of the local parents here are also loaded/drunk .the text or just plain knock on he door and my older kids will let them in ,,,a common practice in the town ... it has gotten worse in recent years.

Some really straight types may be able to keep them under control but I doubt it ,, lol its been this way since I was a teen 30 years ago and longer