Moving Back to Texas (Arlington, Mansfield: foreclosures, insurance, home builders)

[N8VTXN]

Hello! We left Texas 9 years ago and have the the opportunity to move back next summer - after school is out. We currently live in Washington State. We were looking at homes in the Mansfield area (grew up there) that isn't within peeking distance of your neighbor. I know the property taxes are high due to the schools. Are there any areas in the Mansfield High School area where the houses aren't on top of each other and the lots are about 1/2 acre? We've looked at houses on the web in Justin and Haslet. Any information on the schools in these areas would be helpful. We have a 10 year old that would be entering the 6th grade and is fine with the move. The other question - our daughter will be a senior next school year. She'd love to stay where we are and graduation, I can't leave her here. We don't have anyone for her to stay with and we'd miss her senior year. Any suggestions here are greatly appreciated. Thank you

[loves2read]

Mansfield and Justin/Haslet are about as far apart as you can get in the west side of the Metroplex---
first question is where are your working--you don't want to try to drive two hours a day for a commute...
Mansfield ISD is having some problems since its heyday about 10 years ago--not that bad but the more people who move there, the more difficult it is for the schools to excell...
if you want larger lot you are probably going to be west of 287
part of that is not very well zoned--lots of foreclosures and some flooding--you have to be careful where you buy
schools west of 287 not considered as good as schools east of 287
east of 287 more developments--that has the golf course and more commercial/retail areas
west of 287--more rural, larger lots--some farming, cattle, horses--streets are not as good--signs are definitly not as good for finding your way around--part of that turns into unincorporated Tarrant or Johnson county--no city services--volunteer fire departments and county sheriffs...

[Eric S]

I'm in the same position as you, friend. The lots and homes west of 287 look really enticing (large lots, big homes), but when you stop to wonder why many of those homes seem to languish on the market, you suspect there must be a really good reason My search has shown that there are some flooding issues on the west side of 287. Every home that I have considered on that side of 287 ranks as a flood risk using this FEMA web app:

Floodsmart.gov: Your premier resource for flood insurance information

Then on the east side of 287 it seems that there are lots of interesting subdivision and lots more people. I'm beginning to think that we'll just settle on being friendly with our neighbors and having some pretty close proximity to others. Coming from NJ that isn't really a problem for us, even though the thought of an acre or more is really attractive. I'm originally from Alabama and believe that kids benefit from having room enough to run and play outside.

Other issues which sort of turned us away from areas west of 287 was the lack of zoning and talk of a chicken processing plant that you can't ignore when the wind is right (or is that "when the wind is wrong?").

Good luck. My family will be arriving in Arlington at the end of next week. We intend to spend some time getting to know the area before we purchase anything. Right now Mansfield is at the top of our list of towns.

Some subdivisions that currently have my interest are Hunter Oaks Estates, Mansfield National, Cramer Estates, Lakes of Creekwood, Waterford Park and Lowes Farm.

Keep us posted of what you find. I am very interested in learning all about Mansfield, its neighborhood and the local home builders (Boyd and Drees have currently have our attention).

Good luck with the move and family.

-Eric