So how bad is Sunnyside/South Park these days? (Houston: HOA, condos)

[slallison]

Looking for somewhere near the Medical Center, and there's a bunch of renovated/new houses between Cullen and Scot and Bellfort and Reed. Historically, not great I believe. Is the area starting to turn or is it still really rough?

[hbcu]

It’s not the heights and it won’t turn quickly so we’re safe.

School reps will keep folks from moving in and a lot of original landowners and slumlords making too much to even think about moving.

Best thing it has going is proximity and that’s it.

[AcresHomes44]

Compared to the 80's and 90's, Sunnyside/South Park has calmed down, although violent crime is still an issue. As long as you stay on or close to the main thoroughfares of MLK, Belfort and Cullen, you should be straight as far as safety goes.

[slallison]

To be honest, not sure that 'calmed down is enough' though getting an actual house instead of a condo is tempting. Though I'm currently on the west side of NRG so maybe it's comparable.

[SouthernBoy205]

Originally Posted by slallison

Looking for somewhere near the Medical Center, and there's a bunch of renovated/new houses between Cullen and Scot and Bellfort and Reed. Historically, not great I believe. Is the area starting to turn or is it still really rough?

Gentrifier?

[slallison]

Originally Posted by SouthernBoy205

Gentrifier?

Nah, too poor to move somewhere nice, not interested in getting shot. Does that count as gentrifying?

Seriously I got maybe 140k to work with, and I work in TMC. Not particularly interested in living in the next county over either.

[hendersj31]

You mean you have 140k to put down or you can spend 140k max?

Originally Posted by slallison

Nah, too poor to move somewhere nice, not interested in getting shot. Does that count as gentrifying?

Seriously I got maybe 140k to work with, and I work in TMC. Not particularly interested in living in the next county over either.

[Vicman]

Originally Posted by AcresHomes44

Compared to the 80's and 90's, Sunnyside/South Park has calmed down, although violent crime is still an issue. As long as you stay on or close to the main thoroughfares of MLK, Belfort and Cullen, you should be straight as far as safety goes.

One reason South Park calmed down, sadly, is because all the wealth went away from the area.

A Houston Chronicle article from 1993 described South Park during the early '90s solely in terms of violence: "South Park was a war zone, a place of nightly shootings, fistfights, police harassment and strife. There, the right amount of money could buy any weapon, even hand grenades. Seven-year-old children knew how to handle pistols."

But, Gonzales says, even that period in South Park's history eventually came to an end.

"The criminal element destroyed itself," he states, plainly. "You can only steal so much before it's all gone. You gonna break into a house already has the door hangin' off it, ain't nothing inside but dirt? The bad guys moved on to Alief, Hiram Clark."

And South Park now? "Pickins is slim over there," he sighs.

--

Sunnyside was always a black community but South Park was initially white suburbia that turned after white flight. That's why Worthing (black) and Jones (white) were so close to one another. https://www.houstonpress.com/news/st...anding-6587672

[slallison]

Originally Posted by hendersj31

You mean you have 140k to put down or you can spend 140k max?

140 very top end max. I've been looking at the Holly Hall condos, but the HOA is eyewatering. Open to suggestions.

[hbcu]

alot of those areas are up and down as its transient.

I know folks who bought in Sunnyside (new homes) with no issues but its situations where the lot next to them is a house of different standards. I know folks who lived off Holly Hall but its hit-and-miss over there.

I have a friend who lives in Sunnyside in a new townhome and had no issues but the neighbor next to you can make life miserable.