New to SA and a question about Northern Hills (Howe: renters, mortgage)

[starry1st]

We recently relocated to SA, bought a nice older home in Northern Hills, off of Thousand Oaks but I am concerned about the surrounding areas. I feel safe enough here in NH but I think (I could be way off base here) that this area is declining. I notice graffi on Thousand Oaks that I'd never seen before and from I-35 to Nachodoches, it's looking seedy.

Does anyone know what is going on?

[tjdsatx]

Originally Posted by starry1st

We recently relocated to SA, bought a nice older home in Northern Hills, off of Thousand Oaks but I am concerned about the surrounding areas. I feel safe enough here in NH but I think (I could be way off base here) that this area is declining. I notice graffi on Thousand Oaks that I'd never seen before and from I-35 to Nachodoches, it's looking seedy.

Does anyone know what is going on?

You are seeing what is, sadly, true of this and so many cities - areas start to get older, some of the homeowners don't take as much pride as when the neighborhoods were new, the original homeowners move/pass away and the rental units increase, etc. However, NH is still pretty stable and nice...I think the property valuations are quite a bit higher than in some nearby communities (and there may be more owner-occupied properties).

[starry1st]

Thank you for answering. Yes, we really don't have any problems within the subdivision itself...........we have nice homes and it seems no renters near us..we're by the clubhouse and golf course. It's mostly the areas from I-35 to Nachodoches, then some of the subdivisions along Thousand Oaks which look like they're declining.......to me, anyhow.......but I fell in love with the house, the price was good and you might say it was an impulse buy and move but we wound up with equity in our house with the appraisal coming in higher than we paid for it.

We're locked into a mortgage with a 3 yr. pre-payment penalty, unfortunately, which might turn out to be a good thing in a way because our home in IL still has not sold and might take that 3 years to sell and I am still not working.

But, I'm thinking the area shouldn't decline too much in 3 years, at least have my fingers crossed.

[traficdogn]

no you are not off base.

the east-side is moving your direction. its quite nasty at i-35/410 and that is spreading.

[smuboy86]

^To bad that would have been true 15 years ago, but not anymore.

no you are not off base.

the east-side is moving your direction. its quite nasty at i-35/410 and that is spreading.

Oh noz! The poor people are coming, the poor people are coming! Run away! Run away! Hide your babies and your beadwork!

Yeah, while it's legitimate to worry about the long-term outlook of your neighborhood, it's not likely that you're going to be invaded by "the East side". Besides, only a few isolated pockets of the East Side are even all that bad. The rest is just standard issue older housing stock.

[Big A]

I'm sick and tired of these negative comments about the east side. It is a shame that people like you think that everybody that lives there is some terrible person or something. There are a lot of good hard working people that live there.