Thornwood in 77079? Nottingham Elem. & Spring Forest middle? (Houston, West: apartment, foreclosed) - Texas (TX) - Page 2 - City-Data Forum

Premont · 12-31-2008, 02:06 PM

It may be that there's more apartments close to Thornwood than the other neighborhoods. That and the fact that a lot of Thornwood is zoned to Katy isd. It's also a smaller neighborhood, but some may prefer that.

sbhubbell · 12-31-2008, 08:15 PM

I don't think any of Thornwood is zoned to Katy ISD is it? We looked at houses on the far west side of Thornwood, bordering the cemetary, and they were all zoned to Spring Branch. It's a very pretty neighborhood and the traffic didn't seem bad at all, except for pulling out onto Memorial can be a pain. Still seems like there are quite a few original owners there, senior citizens.

Mom2Feebs · 01-01-2009, 01:52 PM

Yes, the area on the other side of Eldridge is zoned to Katy ISD. We have friends who live there and their kids go to Wolfe Elementary.

mikehtown · 01-01-2009, 06:25 PM

I grew up in Thornwood- attended Nottingham, Spring Forest, and Stratford. 18 months ago, I looked to move my family (our kids are now 2 and 5 years old) back to the West Memorial area. We had moved to Cypress a few years earlier for good schools and housing value for the dollar.

In our quest to move closer in, we spent a lot of some time looking into the schools- especially the elementary and middle schools. We wanted to make sure we weren't hurting our kids educational opportunities just to decrease my commute time. We found that Spring Branch ISD measures up very well.

Take a look at the school comparison tools on HAR, and this greatschools site is helpful- Texas schools - TX elementary, middle and high school information. I even downloaded a bunch of data from TEA to compare the schools.

Spring Branch has a lot of very good schools, but in the end I felt like the elementary schools feeding Memorial Middle were best for us. All of these elementary schools and Memorial Middle have some of the highest TAKS scores in the city. I didn't see much of a difference between Memorial and Stratford, so our primary driver was to get into one of the elementary schools feeding Memorial Middle.

I have heard that Spring Forest is turning things around, but a few of the elementary schools that feed it have underperformed for years.

anabel · 01-01-2009, 06:48 PM

Hi Mike, thanks so much for your post. I am really in a quandary. We have 2 houses we are interested in. One is just right for our family, in a cul de sac, just perfect. However, it goes to SF and Nottingham elem. The other is on a busy street, a bit on the small side for us but is zoned to Wilchester and Memorial Middle. I am really struggling with this decision. I am going to meet with the principals and tour SF and Nottingham next week, though, and I feel like that will help make things a bit more clear. Thornwood and Wilchester West are the two 'hoods we are looking at. How did you like living in Thornwood?

mikehtown · 01-01-2009, 07:28 PM

Growing up in Thornwood was great, but I left for college in ‘94. The turnover in the neighborhoods that feed Nottingham is definitely positive, but there are a lot of economically disadvantaged kids from the nearby apartments. I’m not close enough to the school to know how Nottingham compares or how well they’re positioned, but they definitely lag some of the other SBISD elementary schools in TAKS scores.

We spent almost a year looking for a home in the area. Fortunately for you, things seem to have softened a bit. We really loved Wilchester Elementary and the neighborhood, but ended up buying in Fonn Villas just inside the BW. We had some of these same debates and put offers on some houses that I’m glad we didn’t get. There were a couple on Gessner and Wilcrest that were very compelling… I’m still not sure how you balance the trade offs.

My wife watches the market nearly every day… kind of a habit after our lengthy search. She is shocked that the house on Yorkchester hasn’t sold (http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cfm?mlnum=1960637)... We looked at one right across the street.

Best of luck, and let us know what you choose.

anabel · 01-01-2009, 07:48 PM

Hi Mike, we love FV and have many friends in that neighborhood. We are in Riedel Estates across Gessner from you. We actually joined the FV pool this past summer. My husband and I also wonder why the house on Yorkchester hasn't sold. It has been on the market for about a year. I do know that it was under option and the people decided not to continue after the inspection. I have no idea why. From watching HAR every day, I can agree with you that it has softened. Not nearly the turnover there was. We hate the idea of a busy street, but recognize, we have to give up some things. We have yet to put in offers on anything, as we feel like possibly more homes will come on the market starting Jan and hopefully, conditions will continue to favor buying. Thanks again for your input!

mikehtown · 01-01-2009, 11:26 PM

I think you are probably positioned well, as it should be a buyer's market in the first quarter. A good portion of the owners in 77079 work in the O&G industry and all of us are cautious regarding the market conditions. Homes aren't selling like they were 6 months ago, so I'm sure that'll impact selling prices. However, areas like Memorial seem to withstand market downturns better than the farther out 'burbs.

I wish y'all the best of luck. It is tough in this area- the limited supply makes it very difficult to gauge the value of homes. We love FV and couldn't be happier with our decision. I was shocked at the number of families with young kids and it really is a strong community. Our 5 year old is at Wildcat Way for pre-K and we've been very happy so far. You know, we probably were at the FV Swim Club sometime last summer with you

Again, best of luck. I'd love to hear where you end up buying.

anabel · 01-02-2009, 08:48 AM

Thanks, Mike, for your help. My 4 year old is headed to Prek next year and may end up at Wildcat Way. My friends that have their kids there really like it. May you and your family have a blessed 2009!

Mom2Feebs · 01-02-2009, 09:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikehtown

Growing up in Thornwood was great, but I left for college in ‘94. The turnover in the neighborhoods that feed Nottingham is definitely positive, but there are a lot of economically disadvantaged kids from the nearby apartments. I’m not close enough to the school to know how Nottingham compares or how well they’re positioned, but they definitely lag some of the other SBISD elementary schools in TAKS scores.

[color=black][font=Verdana] My wife watches the market nearly every day… kind of a habit after our lengthy search. She is shocked that the house on Yorkchester hasn’t sold (http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cfm?mlnum=1960637)... We looked at one right across the street.

Best of luck, and let us know what you choose.

Isn't that house on a corner backing up to Memorial?