Memorial West (Houston, Briar, Stratford: cul-de-sac, apartment complexes, rental)

[fnh]

Josci, if schools are a primary consideration, Children at Risk compiles performance data to rank the schools and they provide their full methodology AND data set. Here are links to the Greater Houston Area rankings:

Elementary - http://173.45.238.175/content/wp-con...y-Rankings.pdf

Middle - http://173.45.238.175/content/wp-con...l-Rankings.pdf

High - http://173.45.238.175/content/wp-con...l-Rankings.pdf

Good luck!

[ToyYot]

Originally Posted by fnh

Actually the schools in 77043 are not much worse than those in Nottingham.

Go ahead and accuse me of bashing again but seriously, Spring Forest Middle? Nottingham Elementary? I know several families in Nottingham but no one considers the public schools an option. They are only there because they work far west in the energy corridor but the kids are at Awty or The Village School.

You don't live here but you know someone who does. You send your kids to private and your friends send their kids to private. So that's your evidence the public schools here are bad?

As for Nottingham and Spring Forest - best in the city? Probably not, but the education is sound and they feed into Stratford which is arguably one of the of best high schools in Houston.

I suspect your friends reluctance to send their kids to Nottingham and Spring Forest is the high proportion of apartment kids zoned there. There's more than enough snobbery to go around when it comes to zoning. At any rate, many of the "problem" apartments have been torn down, with the last one zoned to Nottingham (on Nottingham Trail) set to go within the year.

And by the way, if you were in the public system you would understand how "the test" is one of the negative challenges parents and teachers in the Texas public school system have to face. Parents and teachers have been fighting it for years but its hard to beat the politics of the $486M five year contract Pearson has to provide this testing.

Children at Risk is all about "the test", all they do was skew the results to more heavily weight those schools who are better at teaching the test to economically disadvantaged kids. Better advice would be to talk to those who ACTUALLY live in the neighborhood and ACTUALLY have their kids in the system. Tour the school, talk to the principal, form your own opinion.

[Memorialite]

Highly recommend NF8 or Westchester with that budget. Several very happy friends living there. Plus kids can walk to elementary, pool & Terry Hershey park. Friends in Thornwood wish they had bought on that side of Memorial. Strong mom's group too. We seriously looked out there last year bc it's closer to energy corridor jobs & the people are more down to earth than inside the beltway.

Tour the Nottingham elementary. Small class size, active PTA.

[Spartacus713]

Originally Posted by ToyYot

I'm assuming they need good K-12 schools.

Close to I-10 that is Sherwood Elementary, Spring Forest Middle and Stratford High. I wouldn't send my kids to Sherwood Elementary, but Spring Forest Middle and Stratford High are just fine. For the budget posted, this poster is not getting into a Memorial High neighborhood, so Stratford is the next best thing in SBISD.

[marksmu]

Originally Posted by Spartacus713

Close to I-10 that is Sherwood Elementary, Spring Forest Middle and Stratford High. I wouldn't send my kids to Sherwood Elementary, but Spring Forest Middle and Stratford High are just fine. For the budget posted, this poster is not getting into a Memorial High neighborhood, so Stratford is the next best thing in SBISD.

Thats not true - there are a few houses that pop up from time to time in that budget that are zoned to Rummel Creek Elem, memorial middle and memorial high. If schools are all that matters to you, then you just have to sacrifice on home quality. There are also a litany of town homes, etc that make the cut as well.

Just do a 77024 search with max price at $600K....Memorial bend subdivision has 3 properties that meet that search, though 1 is a tear down.

[Spartacus713]

Originally Posted by marksmu

Thats not true - there are a few houses that pop up from time to time in that budget that are zoned to Rummel Creek Elem, memorial middle and memorial high. If schools are all that matters to you, then you just have to sacrifice on home quality. There are also a litany of town homes, etc that make the cut as well.

Just do a 77024 search with max price at $600K....Memorial bend subdivision has 3 properties that meet that search, though 1 is a tear down.

Good luck with that.

[fnh]

ToyYot repeatedly steers people away from other areas of town (like 77043 here, or Meyerland, or West University in other threads) while simultaneously recommending this area specifically for the "good K-12" schools. That's totally disingenuous because the schools in the other areas perform as well and often significantly better. I agree completely that test results are not the ideal measure of a school, but what does one use to justify saying that Spring Forest, a C+ (48th percentile) school is preferable to say, Johnston, a B (62nd percentile) school?

The Children at Risk group provides their entire data set for download so anyone can look at the data and methodology used for the rankings. Yes the rankings are heavily dependent on test scores but only a small proportion of the ranking is adjusted in any way for demographics. At the high school level other factors are included in the analysis such as graduation rates and college exam scores.

I know quite a few families in this area and I know it's a big stretch to say the schools are good K-12. We've chatted about them around the Nottingham pool and in the old clubhouse. What ToyYot says in defense of them is something that I myself would say, but can't the same thing be said about any low performing school in Houston, or anywhere? So I ask again, how can one say other schools are bad despite good results, but my schools are good despite bad ones?

OP, if the schools in this area meet with your approval, then go for it.

[ToyYot]

Here's me trashing other neighborhoods and their schools:

Originally Posted by ToyYot

Our elementary is 50% economically disadvantaged and its a great school. I wouldn't write off Conduit without more thorough research.

Originally Posted by ToyYot

I'd second green trails.

Me trashing fnh's neighborhood:

Originally Posted by ToyYot

Jersey Village is supposed to be nice with lots of families. I'm sure there's a Montessori close by, they're everywhere.

Me trashing Eagle Springs schools:

Originally Posted by ToyYot

Why don't you schedule a tour the public elementary?

Copeland

Originally Posted by ToyYot

While I'm not familiar with Copeland its stats are on par with our local elementary which we're very happy with.

I managed to trash both Meyerland and West U in one post:

Originally Posted by ToyYot

I second (third?) this. It will be the closest you'll get to what you're looking for within a reasonable commute, unless you can afford West U.

And here's what I said last time about Sherwood:

Originally Posted by ToyYot

Its more the proportion of economically disadvantaged to not. Sherwood is 72%, that's a turn off for most college educated SFH buyers. I suspect the reason the %age isn't higher is the "magnet" program.

It is what it is...but it will affect resale.

Maybe with the influx of new townhouses it will change? Not too far fetched IMO.

At any rate, Despite fnh filtered view of NF, its a white collar neighborhood where people are comfortable sending their kids to the local schools K through 12. For most people on here looking for advice, that's a good place to start. Then do your own research

[gwarnecke]

Your budget will get you into an original-condition or lightly-updated home in SBISD 77079. That would be particularly convenient to your work location. As others have said, you're probably priced out of Memorial High unless you're willing to rough it in a Memorial Bend teardown.

If you are thinking of going with private schools down the road, might as well consider KISD 77079. The schools are good, but (except for the elementary school) are inconveniently located west of George Bush Park (however, if you're buying for the long term and if your kiddo is still a toddler, you could send him/her to middle/high school in an autonomous car by then). Your money gets you a somewhat newer and much larger house, compared with SBISD 77079, although lots tend to be slightly smaller.

[marksmu]

Originally Posted by gwarnecke

Your budget will get you into an original-condition or lightly-updated home in SBISD 77079. That would be particularly convenient to your work location. As others have said, you're probably priced out of Memorial High unless you're willing to rough it in a Memorial Bend teardown.

If you are thinking of going with private schools down the road, might as well consider KISD 77079. The schools are good, but (except for the elementary school) are inconveniently located west of George Bush Park (however, if you're buying for the long term and if your kiddo is still a toddler, you could send him/her to middle/high school in an autonomous car by then). Your money gets you a somewhat newer and much larger house, compared with SBISD 77079, although lots tend to be slightly smaller.

I happen to be of the opinion that the Memorial Bend neighborhood is one of the most overlooked neighborhoods in all of Memorial....Virtually no where else in Memorial can you get decent size lots 8000+sqft, and a decent 1600-2400 sqft house under $750,000....do they need to be remodeled? Sure, but you can usually get that done for $25K or less on a smaller home and be quite happy.

Its a well kept neighborhood....park/pool, great neighbors in the area, and the houses that are original are decent, at a minimum they look quite nice from the outside, and they are selling for close to lot value, b/c most people in the area want new homes.

To me, its one of the gems of Memorial -its only drawback is the fact that the Beltway cuts it in half - which I will admit is a significant drawback, but I would pick this area for schools/appreciation alone long before I settled on something where the schools are much more inferior. In Houston, schools drive property values, and it is zoned to all 3 excellent schools. Rummel Creek, Memorial, Memorial. That is hardly roughing it.