Keller or Colleyville...help (North Richland Hills, Bedford: apartments, leasing, homeowners association)

[amom]

Ok...I need help. We have narrowed it down to Keller or Colleyville. Commuting to North Richland Hills, so they are both close. Looking for a town with a real "community" feel. 350-500K. Safe. Great elementary schools. Close to shopping. Would like a Target close by. Good parks system. Like to push the baby on paved walking trails. A YMCA or big gym close by. Good doctors. Community events like parades, festivals, etc. Any info on Mom's Groups would also greatly be appreciated.

[nsumner]

Colleyville!!! Wonderful school district, small town feel but with all the conveniences of the big city. About 95% if the neighborhoods in Colleyville are considered upscale here because decent homes there start around 350K. This is one of the few cities in the metroplex where values of homes are still appreciating. Very good medical care too. I sent you a PM about a week ago, did you receive it?

[5stones]

I would say if you are looking for above 400k then look in Colleyville. Everything we looked at between 350-400 needed loads of work.(4 bedroom) We just couldn't go above 400k so we had to scratch Colleyville off our list.
It's a wonderful community and schools are great.

[skyblu]

Look at Hidden Lakes, a masterplanned community in Keller. It's right on the border of Keller, Southlake and NRH off of Davis, right down the street from Target and Walmart. The community is very active with varying home prices, a golf course, two pools with club house and volleyball pit, soccer fields, a few hobby/interest groups (including a playgroup) and organized activities on several major holidays. The neighborhood elementary school is rated exemplary. The web site for the homeowners association is HLHOA.com. Also nearby is Keller Pointe, a recreation center with gym, basketball, indoor walking track and indoor/outdoor water park.

[loves2read]

be aware that Keller is much larger than Colleyville and contains a much more diverse blend of residential/commercial developments--
while housing in Colleyville is more expensive and they are only building expensive 700+k homes probably in the future--colleyville has NO apartments--that is an important feature of why Colleyville schools are so good---it is just very difficult for a district to deal with the demands that a significant number of apartment-based children bring--especially to local, elementary schools---HEB is an excellent case in point--
Keller does have apartments--mainly in the older sections--and has more rental properties than Colleyville does...
the closest YMCA to either city is the YMCA on Central in Bedford--close to Cheek Sparger--but Colleyville/Keller/and other Mid-Cities towns have pretty active sports programs for younger children--and their parks programs have some fitness activities for adults depending on which town you are looking at--Keller does have the swim program at The Point which draws many young swimmers from the Mid-Cities area to the competitive swim program...

There are several elementary schools in both ISDs that are rated exemplary by TEA--

IMO property values will probably stay strong better in Colleyville than Keller because of the larger volumn in Keller--the fact that many homes were tract built vs independent builder which matters to some buyers--the tax rates in both towns/ISDs if farily comprable--Colleyville is pretty much built out while Keller still has lots of land left to develop---Keller has much more active drilling program for Barnett Shale gas than Colleyville but that is just because drilling is moving west to east and Colleyville is east of Keller...and I don't know what the Colleyville city council has decided about oil/gas leasing/development--

I know that Keller's pretty much embraced the drillers with open arms because of the money the city stood to make...and some people in Keller feel that they were taken advantage of and did not have their views taken into account by the city's actions--Keller has had some racous debates in city council and on the school board about issues that effect the city and ISD--Colleyville does not seem to be as devisive--

Many people judge Colleyville to be "eliteist" and some people definitely have that attitude--but many people who live there just want good schools and neighborhood values to be stable---they live on a budget just like people in Keller...
and I know some people in Keller that have the same "elitest" values as Southlake and Colleyville--it just depends...

[larissanne]

I prefer Colleyville. They have a great school district and in fact was named in the top 100 US schools by Newsweek. People are down to earth. Shopping is great, because you are close to Southlake Town Square, Grapevine Mills, and big box stores in Euless and Grapevine.