West Oak Forest (Houston, Howe, Tool: for sale, real estate, crime) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

psyguru · 08-08-2016, 11:07 PM

I was looking into buying a house in West Oak Forest near 290 and west of the Jester park. I know the schools are not as nice but my kids are going to private. How would the resale be? How is crime? Is that area growing?

chris_ut · 08-09-2016, 08:31 AM

Resale is best if you stay east of TC Jester.

Seymour_Butts · 08-09-2016, 01:15 PM

I have have lived in Oak Forest west of the bayou for 3 years and really enjoy it.

Lots of families with kids on my street, I have never inquired about where they go to school.

Crime has not been an issue for us.

Hard to say on resale, there is quite a range with some brand new houses $700-$800k, some maintained/renovated original 1950's homes in the $300,000s and other $200,000 older homes.

There is an interesting development called Village of Oak Forest, I see one listing for sale at the moment if you want to see pictures: 4615 Trembling Forest Ln, Houston, TX 77092

I have only walked around this development a couple of times but I thought it was pretty neat. No yards but nice pond and yard in the middle.

All in all I can personally recommend west oak forest. We do not have kids yet but plan to and hope that the schools ratings will improve. It looks like a lot of money was poured into Smith elementary so hopefully that will encourage more of the local parents to send their children.

When I was looking at homes I looked in all of Oak Forest as well as Garden Oaks.
I would caution you to use the Harris County Flood Education Mapping Tool when you find a place you like.

Harris County Flood Education Mapping Tool

Oh and lastly resale... hard for me to say on this. There is a wide range of prices so it is not like saying you buy a new house in a development for 200 and it should go up a certain amount. Your return will depend on what type of property you purchase.

If you are looking for a brand new $700k+ home I would say East would be better, as it is just more densely developed and would not be unusual East of the Bayou.

The pace of development was pretty quick West before the oil price collapsed, at least two houses under construction at a time. Now it has definetly slowed down. I still monitor real estate transactions and quite a few homes have been purchased in 2016, the prices looked surprisingly strong (these were for original 1950's homes that had been updated quite a bit).

Like I say I live there so if you want you can make me an offer I can't refuse.

3shipguy · 08-09-2016, 01:37 PM

OFW isn't gentrifying as fast as OFE. It will catch up, especially when 290 is completed. However, I don't think it'll reach the level of OFE. To my knowledge, there are no million dollar homes in OFW like OFE. New builds--same house, same builder--would probably list for about 80k less in OFW than in OFE. As far as resale, if you plan to keep your house long term, appreciation will definitely ensue, imo, especially when the area is fully gentrified--that may be 10-15 years from now. If you're only going to be there less than 5 years, then you roll the dice with resale. Homes over 500k in OFW, as well as OFE, have seen significant price drops in this current economic climate. As for crime, check spotcrime. I say both areas are about the same. As for schools, both HS suck (Waltrip and Scarborough). Oak Forest Elementary is good, however. You move to the area to be close to town, close to the freeways, to be surrounded by mature trees, and to avoid the cookie cutter of the suburbs (not that there's anything wrong with that).

rb29335i · 08-09-2016, 02:13 PM

I just bought west of the bayou and south of 34th, we got a lot more house for our budget than East GOOF or the Heights. I'm not worried about schools yet and plan to keep for 5-7 years. I don't see values increasing until oil is back up for a while and 290 is done. But it's got to be a matter of time before gentrification heads our way...

aimeenp · 08-10-2016, 01:58 PM

depends on location within the neighborhood. My sister is located on the east side of the park, a few houses off TC Jester, south of 43rdf and her house has been burglarized twice in 3 years. They are moving.

txdemo · 08-10-2016, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aimeenp

depends on location within the neighborhood. My sister is located on the east side of the park, a few houses off TC Jester, south of 43rdf and her house has been burglarized twice in 3 years. They are moving.

Just curious whether she has an alarm system or not?

aimeenp · 08-10-2016, 02:53 PM

Yes, they do.

robbery number 1. the system was a bit dated, and the burglars ripped the pad out of the wall and it never called the police.

they replaced the system with an up to date system.

Burglary number 2. Police were called but did not show up for 3 hours. My sister made it home from the med center before anyone showed up.

The across the street neighbor has security cameras so they were able to see the type of car, but could not see plates.

I think it is the access right there to TC Jester which makes them an easy target. That plus no garage (slight renovation to make house bigger). so there are two nice cars parked out front.

chris_ut · 08-10-2016, 10:39 PM

Don't get a house without a garage as car breakins are common.