Help! north richland hills-saginaw-keller? family oriented but decent commute? (for sale, lease)

[Guingirl]

Just so you know...we took two one week trips out here driving around different neighborhoods and we still couldn't make up our minds. If you have the opportunity to rent before you buy, I would do it, just so you can make sure you like the area. You have a lot of options open to you, so no need to jump in to a house that you may feel stuck in later.

For us, we just had so many options available, it was hard to make a decision. Very fortunate to move into this great area and have that problem, but then it becomes making the actual decision.

If we wouldn't have moved out into more of the country, we would have either been in Heritage or Hidden Lakes (a development in Keller).

Congratulations on your impending transfer and you will love the area!

[momentumspace]

The thing about North Richland Hills is you have to stay north of N Loop 820, or east of Rufe Snow Dr. It is a fantastic city. I live here and can honestly say it's great. Families tend to flock to Keller, so it is going to be a terribly overbuilt city without the infrastructure to support it. It was a tiny, tiny town only 10yrs ago. The growth it has seen is phenomenal, but when it gets built out, that's going to be it. Only then will real infrastructure growth be seen. People are packed into that small area like sardines. The yards (for the most part) are TINY, and the houses (for the most part) all look the same. Do yourself a favor and look to Saginaw. Lots of room to grow out there, and good schools.

[loves2read]

250K is going to limit your NRHills to older areas--

Heritage is in FTW city limits and Keller ISD I believe--
there are other threads about that divergence

will forward to you DM a great web site for checking real estate

know that realtor.com lets you check rental homes--

[mudbelly]

You need to check out Aledo west of Fort Worth - much closer to where you work, and has excellent schools.

[JS1]

It makes absolutely no sense to live in North Richland Hills and commute to White Settlement. Rush hour traffic on 820 on the northeast side of Ft Worth is just awful.

[ChristieP]

Originally Posted by JS1

It makes absolutely no sense to live in North Richland Hills and commute to White Settlement. Rush hour traffic on 820 on the northeast side of Ft Worth is just awful.

Agreed. The WORST congestion in the metroplex is on 820 between 121 and I-35, especially around Rufe Snow. It is just gridlock there at rush hour! I would look in the Keller and Alliance areas west of 35 so you don't have to sit in that traffic every day.

Saginaw is OK, but it is SO remote... It is a long way from major shopping and pretty much everything else. There's not much there besides a Wal-Mart and a few small restaurants. Also, many of the roads in the area are still 2-lane blacktops back from when it was farmland. I'm sure things will catch up in a few years, but I wouldn't move there yet.

[Guingirl]

Saginaw isn't remote if your commute is into the White Settlement area. Yes, there is a Walmart and Albertson's and a mixture of fast food and restaurants. You would be able to find something fairly new there for your budget of 250K and might be able to squeek out a quarter acre of so.

It's not a destination spot, but it has services and we have been using them just fine for the last two years. The area is growing and we do go to different spots for retail that aren't that difficult to get to and not that far away.

There is Lake Worth that is close that has pretty much every big box convenience store you may want and if you want some more upscale shopping, you can always hit I-30 and hit Central Market (which is about 20 mins away) and University Village (can't remember the upscale shopping area by TCU).

Then running over to the Alliance/Heritage area is all of 15 minutes and they are building out quite a bit of retail there.

White Settlement also has quite a bit built out as far as grocery/big box retail. So while it isn't Grapevine, Southlake, or Colleyville, its not that far.

Honestly, over here you will find it hard not to find everyone just much more friendly. Gah, I spent a few hours over at Target in Watauga and everyone seemed to be in a general pissy, pushy mood. I swear, I was thinking, come on people get over yourselves and smile a little bit! It is the holidays after all!

[gogogo]

Thank you so much for the posts and all of the helpful insights.

I wish we could live closer to White Settlement, but the schools there just continually show poor test scores and rank 4 out of 10 on greatschools.net. Am I missing something? Are there some super standout schools (specifically middle schools and high schools?) I should know about in the W Fort Worth Area.

My DH is OK with a commute of 30 min to Lockheed in White Settlement-so we are trying to limit our search to 30 min commute, good schools (don't have to be the best of the best-but solid) and a home for $260k or under...

Keep the info coming, I can't tell you how helpful it is.

[5stones]

Heritage is a great family area with great amenities... elementary schools are very good as well as intermend. the HS situation is hard because due to re-zoning the Heritage area (VERY LARGE) has been split up to different HS. (Keller just built a new HS to aliveate overcrowding)
IF you buy in Heritage make sure you are in the zone for Central HS It will help re-sale alot.

Aledo is another great little town with smaller schools and a very good rep. I don't know if you will find all the family amenties like in Heritage out there but there are some VERY nice homes with BIG lots etc... you would need to go to Lake worth for entertainment etc.

I have friends who live in Saginaw and love the neighborhood but pulled the kids out of school and drive them into Keller for Private schools. Just something to look into.

Good luck

[loves2read]

if your husband is willing to make a 30 min commute consider the HEB area--
North Hurst in HEB or Birdville ISD, Bedford in HEB,
North Richland Hills has some older homes in that price range in area around the Tom Thumb on Hwy 26
I agree that schools in White Settlement are not what I would consider if there were other options
will PM you a good MLS site for searching