Beaumont / Orange area - HELP please! (Nederland, Vidor: insurance, crime, motel)

[gopherit]

Looking at relocation to Beau / Orange area. Schools are VERY important to us. DH and I would be working in Orange. From what we have gathered thus far, the area is comparable to our mid-Ohio valley home in terms of cost of living - crime and schools, however, are ANOTHER matter! A colleague already stationed down there said he moved his dd from (one of the "better") Beaumont public HS to a private because they did not feel she was safe? Ok, YIKES.

Is Orangefield any better than Beaumont in that regard? Or do we just need to accept that we will need to send the kids to Kelly once they are HS aged? Our kids currently attend Catholic school, so we have no objection to that - but it would make a difference on where we buy a house (O'field or Orange area vs. Beau). We don't want to drive from Orange to Beau to drop kids at school, then back to Orange for work!! Likely relocation would occur this summer, and our kids will be entering the 3rd/6th/8th grades - so what elem / middle schools are best? Does getting your child into Kelly depend upon going to a parochial elementary school? (Around here, it is hard to get into the Catholic elem. school sometimes as certain grades fill up, but never the high school - always room for another paying customer, haha. Not ALL are like that though - in some areas, they screen and select due to high demand. Is Kelly like that?).

I have a MILLLION other questions, which I'll post separately, but my biggest question centers on the school issue. Our children are all excellent students and are very accustomed to a good learning environment. I am not opposed to school diversity and different teaching styles and both DH and I attended large public schools growing up, so it's not like we're only looking for private schools - but a lack of safety is wholly unacceptable for obvious reasons. Likewise, the curriculum needs to be challenging as well. For example, our eldest is in 7th grade but takes 9th grade math - we would want a school system that could work with that in a way that would continue his growth (not stagnation).

So bring on the schools info!! (And thanks in advance!)

[gopherit]

Potential relocation to Beaumont / Orange area, so we have many ??? on housing in this area:

Who are the reputable builders around Beaumont / Orange? (Or are there any that one should AVOID?) Does anyone have a quicklink that would guide us on areas prone to storm surge / flood plains?

I have a separate post regarding best schools, and answers to it would likely influence where we would look for a home. Our jobs would be in Orange, so we wouldn't want to shuttle kids to school in Beaumont then back to Orange for work, then back to Beau to pick up kids, then back to orange for home. I know many speak favorably of Lumberton, but I am sure that DH would feel the commute was too far. He even balked somewhat at the idea of commuting from Beaumont to Orange, even though the drive seemed fairly fast to me (about 20 minutes from center Beaumont to our work place, and that was just using I-10 during heaviest times). We would be looking for a 4br in the 250-350K range, so hopefully there are some good neighborhoods in Beau or Orange to choose from? We would also likely tend towards a new construction.

Input on builders / neighborhoods / realtors / areas to choose or avoid are greatly appreciated!

[texdav]

Vidor is pretty much like Lumberton IMO. Its closeby too. There are some pretty nice areas just out side of orange on 62 nirth of IH10.I am not familar with builders. Housing is pretty short in the area with the large industrial expansions in the port arthur /beaumnt area now: so building new would be a good idea.Look also at the orangefield area ;it is closeby but more in the country really.Good Luck

[destin04]

I would stay away from Vidor or any where in that area. I know you mentioned Lumberton on another thread....it's the best and that's where a lot of Beumont workers live.
I have family in Vidor and there isn't but one motel to stay in. The entertainment is null and void and very small town attitude.
Nederland is another area you may want to check out. It is on the other side of town from the Beaumont area but I know the schools have high marks and the neighborhoods seem to be nice.

[southeasttexas]

There are some great, (and I mean great!) options for you nearby. As said, Vidor is good, just make sure property isn't flood prone. Bridge City is a smaller version of Lumberton, minus the pine trees, great schools. Little Cypress-Mauriceville is another great choice, wooded and a bit more rural....Check out the new subdivisions in Bridge City...

Tony Houseman Homes is a major builder in the Orange Co. area.

[texdav]

I think that lumberton is too far from orange and a bad drive down IH10. Plus it has very poor drainage and is prone to flooding(one reason for low taxes).Nederland is also a drive to orange to commute for work.Bridge city is ok but has many coastal bayous and no hurricane protection.Little cypress/mauriceville is country but further inland.Really any place you look outside of jefferson county you need to check flooding because of poor drainage districts or no district.That can make a huge difference in insurance and coastal insurance is just starting to skyrocket.

[gopherit]

Originally Posted by texdav

I think that lumberton is too far from orange and a bad drive down IH10. Plus it has very poor drainage and is prone to flooding(one reason for low taxes).Nederland is also a drive to orange to commute for work.Bridge city is ok but has many coastal bayous and no hurricane protection.Little cypress/mauriceville is country but further inland.Really any place you look outside of jefferson county you need to check flooding because of poor drainage districts or no district.That can make a huge difference in insurance and coastal insurance is just starting to skyrocket.

I would agree that Lumberton is going to be too far. My DH was not keen on just the 15-20 minutes of I-10 that we took from center-Beaumont to Orange.

We looked at Little Cypress and there were some nice new neighborhoods right near the schools that appealed to us - but ONLY if the schools truly are good (and safe!) We also looked at Orangefield and saw lots of growth and development popping up around there, but I wondered about the bayou / water issues there. I think insurance is only going to continue to escalate, so it is a consideration.

We also looked at some houses in Beaumont, but what struck us there is how CLOSE the houses are to each other! Or at least, in the subdivisions we looked into (Barrington Hts, for example - shake hands out your bedroom windows!) Is this the norm for all new developments? We could buy into an older neighborhood I guess - but I worry about whether those homes were built to current storm codes (i.e., like wind storm certificates?) Plus, established neighborhoods can tend to be older familes - having young kids on our street would be a HUGE selling point for our own kids and make their adjustment so much easier. We are in an "older" neighborhood now and my kids are forever complaining that there is "no one to play with"....

What about Dishman Elem - how is it rated? It seemed like a new school, and we saw some new homes being built around there, too. Again - right up tight to each other, but oh well.... at least we wouldn't have to mow as much?!?

[aggie2005]

Originally Posted by texdav

Vidor is pretty much like Lumberton IMO. Its closeby too. There are some pretty nice areas just out side of orange on 62 nirth of IH10.I am not familar with builders. Housing is pretty short in the area with the large industrial expansions in the port arthur /beaumnt area now: so building new would be a good idea.Look also at the orangefield area ;it is closeby but more in the country really.Good Luck

Well the two towns are practically all white and about the same size. But, if you look closer you will see some major differences.

Residents with at least HS diploma:
Lumberton 89.2% (18% with at least collee degree)
Vidor 73.6% (5.6% with college degree)

Median Income in 2005
Lumberton: 45,700
Vidor: 31,600

Median house value:
Lumberton: 111,700
Vidor 56,600

These numbers show part of the picture of why Lumberton is growing rapidly and Vidor is not.

In 2006, there were 107 new home permits in Lumberton with an average cost of $143,100, and in Vidor there were only 16 new home permits with an average price of about 100,000. Lumberton also has a significantly lower crime rate.

I guess if you make judgments just based on race, then yeah, the towns are about the same. Hopefully most people aren't that judgmental.

[texdav]

I can't really say that beaumont schools are good.My wife has a sousi who has children in orangefield schools and they like them.I have another foriend that lives just outside of orange off hwy 62 . He has three acres and his house is about 8 years old. I really like where he lives because it is a subdivison but you can see the houses nearby.The area around hyis neighborhood is very nice with a mixture of large acrage lands and relly nice separate homes.I would ick his area any day over Vidor or lumberton. Both have alot of traffic problems and I avoid them. Personally I would only pick lumberton if I worked in beaumont as that is why it is so popular besides the low taxes.Both it and vidor have huge traffic problems. My neice lives in lumberton and she hates the traffic sepecially with the school located on Hwy 87 ;the main hwy. She recently built a new house because of flooding problems ;not in her neighborhood but on the way out to the hwy.Good luck with your search.

[southeasttexas]

Working in Orange, I would look real hard at Bridge City....