Black middle class family in need of help (Fort Worth, Arlington: relocation, real estate)

[msmae]

Hello everyone. My family and I will be relocating here soon and will be at Carswell. We are looking for an area to live that is accepting of minorities and is not a bad commute to JRB. We want to stay around 260K. Good schools a must as we have an elementary child. Any info would help. Heard about the horror story of black family building in area in Fort worth and had the N word written on their garage. Want to avoid that. We are looking to build.

[Ådvenio_Nobis]

There are lots of nice areas to choose from depending on what you're looking for in a neighborhood. I'm most familiar with the areas in NE Ft Worth... Keller, North Richland Hills, you can get a very nice home for $260K here.

The commute to JRB might not be as quick as if you were in west Ft Worth... but it would put you in a fairly centralized location with easier access to more of the metroplex.

Where will you be relocating from? What size home are you looking for? Do you prefer new construction or a more established neighborhood?

[jdtaylorco]

We live in Kennedale and just down the road is Mansfield, both to the southeast side of the city of Ft Worth. Kennedale is known for good schools and Mansfield is growing fast. I think about 25-30 minutes to Carswell and you could find a nice neighborhood either place within your budget.
I think the incident you refer to was unusual and expect that you would find the area a happy place.

[ChristieP]

Carswell is on the NW side of town, so it would be silly to live in Kennedale/Mansfield and drive all the way across Fort Worth every day. It would also burn a LOT of gas and waste a lot of time! NO WAY would that be only a 30-minute drive on a daily basis, and if there's a wreck, it would be even longer!

Look at Saginaw. It is a growing area with lots of new homes under construction and good schools. It's also very close to Carswell and the drive wouldn't take more than 20 minutes. A coworker of mine who is black just moved his family there and he loves it.

[kacvb1974]

A commute time of 30+ minutes is reasonable to some folks. *I* couldn't do it...but to find one's ideal house/school district/community combo, sometimes a compromise is made on the commute. So IMO, ruling out any Ft-Worth area 'burb, N, S, E or W could be shortsighted.

My father is a Marine Gunny Sgt, prior service recruiter, stationed at Carswell. He does the commute from Euless, which is right near DFW airport but a pretty long hike to the base. For areas closer to Carswell, he said he'd be more than happy to ask his black co-workers w/kids where they live and where they feel comfortable. I do know if any people of any shade or color, in his office, had experienced something as disgusting as having a garage tagged or the like, he'd have heard about it.

For new construction Keller seems hard to beat. But according to the City Data stats, Keller is overwhelmingly white. That definitely does NOT mean you'd be an automatic target of slurs or your kids would be ostracized. However, lots of these newer and quickly growing communities are not as diverse in race or income as the more established 'burbs.

Try running some of the cities mentioned in this thread through the link below to get some general idea of the demographics. Oh, and welcome to town and to Carswell! PM me if you have specific questions, I know my father is always eager to help out any fellow armed forces personnel. Even the Navy folks.

Stats about all US cities - real estate, relocation info, house prices, home value estimator, recent sales, maps, race, income, photos, education, crime, weather, houses, and more

[msmae]

Thanks for your responses. I looked at a subdivision called Saratoga in Keller and liked its concept. Will also look in Saginaw. We are coming from Illinois and we are looking at new construction. Thanks Kacvb1974 for the link. I was hoping to find a community that had a great deal of diversity. Still looking. May have to do a more established community. I'm okay with that. Just don't want a commute more than 30 minutes away. Prefer even less. Any help will be appreciated to narrow this down ASAP. We will be relocating real soon.

[Arcane]

IIRC the issue you're referring to was isolated between two neighbors, and happened in Dalworthington Gardens (I think). The people that it happened to subsequently wanted to keep it up for everyone to see; instead of letting the city remove it, that caused some more attention to the matter.

[Tex_Driver]

It's likely the incident referenced was that which happened in Arlington last year on the street I lived on for 15 years, long story short, facts have yet to come out. It isn;t as it appears.

Regardless, it's not at all representative of Arlington, or any other town I'm familiar with in the area. Having lived in a few places in the US and overseas, I don't think any regular, middle-class person has to be concerned about racial issues when they look for housing.

[macjoubert]

Wow unbelievable that such things happen in the USA of 2008!
Be that as it may, dont you folks call each other N all the time?
Just an argumentative point, its hypocritical when on one hand everyone calls whites derogatory names yet cringe when whites return the favor, once again it may not be right, by hypocrisy is just as wrong. BTW im a minority of sorts as well.

[5stones]

Saratoga in Keller (NOrthwest ISD) is a nice neighborhood, very family friendly etc... and for your price you should be able to find a VERY nice house.

BTW Keller is more diverse than people think...esp those who don't live here. I don't think you will have ANY probelms.

Northwest ISD is up and comming and has a pretty solid reputation. It's growing (as keller is) so school boundries will be changing etc. NWISD is adding a new HS in Trophy club and not sure if that will effect Saratoga or not. Schools are a bit spread out etc...

Good Luck and welcome to the area.