Planning a move to Houston (Allen, West: real estate, apartment complexes, neighborhood)

[nooneknowsmyname]

I'd like some information about a neighborhood described in real estate ads as Forest West. The street name and zip code are Bough Ct, 77092. From the map I notice that while it isn't inside the loop, it doesn't appear to be too far outside of it. Besides being on the West side of Houston, how does this neighborhood compare to Glenbook Valley, in terms of housing costs, safety, traffic, ease of getting into the city? I welcome comments and insight. Thanks.

[nooneknowsmyname]

There are 99 views and no responses. Can anyone help answer my question?

[Vicman]

Ah, this is the Oak Forest area.

The Oak Forest area has some retail, especially on Highway 290.

[Nanner]

Sorry, I hadn't seen this post before.

I don't know anything about Glenbrook Valley, so I can't make a comparison. But I live in 77092, in Oak Forest. Forest West, I believe, is just a mile or so NW of me. Although I don't know anything specifically about Forest West, this is what I know about the general area: there are plenty of ugly retail properties, as well as undesireable apartment complexes, but I can't tell you how that affects the neighborhood itself. I can say that it doesn't really seem to affect my neighborhood much. I enjoy living in this area, and I feel pretty safe most of the time. As a female, I wouldn't go walking around in the dark by myself, though.

Don't know if you have kids, but the schools zoned to the area aren't the greatest either.

Traffic--290 is bad, but you can avoid it by using streets to get to 610 instead. Getting downtown is a breeze--just take streets to get to Washington or Shepherd, and you can take Allen Parkway or Memorial into downtown. Overall, that's a big reason I love this area, is because it's really convenient to get to just about anywhere in town.

I would use HAR.com to look up the property value history, school info, etc. to get a good idea of whether it's a good investment or not. Also visit http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/haif/index.php?. There are a lot of knowledgeable people there that can probably tell you more about Forest West specifically.