thinking of moving to beaumont area, where is best?

[orbius]

I knew the management of one of the ancient WWII era chemical plants down there and he said theres no way he would live South of the treeline thats North of Beaumont. He worked in the plant and knew what it was emitting so take that for what its worth.
Personally if I had to do it I'd live well North of Beaumont and commute in.
However the weather is outrageously horrid year round. Its feels like you're being microwaved for most of the year. Getting a swimming pool is one of the best investments you can make IMO if you're going to live there. It makes the Summers a little more tolerable having your own swimming pool.

[centexguy]

Originally Posted by orbius

I knew the management of one of the ancient WWII era chemical plants down there and he said theres no way he would live South of the treeline thats North of Beaumont. He worked in the plant and knew what it was emitting so take that for what its worth.
Personally if I had to do it I'd live well North of Beaumont and commute in.
However the weather is outrageously horrid year round. Its feels like you're being microwaved for most of the year. Getting a swimming pool is one of the best investments you can make IMO if you're going to live there. It makes the Summers a little more tolerable having your own swimming pool.

The air quality in the area has greatly improved over the last 20 years, so unless you live right next door to a chemical plant you'll be just fine. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has monitors all over the area (and all over the state for that matter) and with better environmental laws, upgrades to equipment and technology, better monitoring, the air is a lot safer.

I grew up in the area, moved away about 25 years ago, but visit several times a year. Back in the 80s I could tell when I almost to Beaumont by the smell in the air, but that's not the case anymore. There's been recent articles in the Beaumont Enterprise about how certain areas have seen a dramatic decrease in pollutants (one area near ExxonMobil in Beaumont and another in Port Neches).

If I were to move back to the area, I would choose either the west end of Beaumont, the Lumberton area, or possibly mid-county. Of course it's hot and humid, it's the Texas gulf coast, but it's hot almost anywhere in Texas.

For a real time look at the air quality around Texas go here: Air Quality in Texas - Texas Commission on Environmental Quality - www.tceq.state.tx.us

[texdav]

And of course the weather i winter from ocat to may is not hot at all. In fact the weather has been much better this summer when places liike central texas were much hotter by aout tewn degrees with enough humity to mean little difference. Its even hotter in the piney woods than the coastline really and of course the less breeze there makes a big difference. Most of the chmeical plants actually are north of the coast too and they as well as the refiberies are some of the most updated in the country ;so no worry about WWII area plants.There are emiison site monitored sites near the plants that take 24 hr samples and of course looking at Centtexguys site tells you the real truth about air quailty in Texas;much of which is surprising to many.

[setxhomepro]

For those of you moving to Beaumont or thinking about taking a job relocation to the area, here's some info. Home sales are off pace a little this year. Some sellers have started to come off their asking prices a bit. Builders are accepting offers on new construction - which didn't happen a few years ago. But you won't find a glut of foreclosures like you will in some towns. You can look at the Beaumont area home sales statisitics for the past several years at Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. For those that bought homes in Beaumont, Lumberton, Golden Triangle you'll see it was a very good investment and it still is if you plan to stay in the home for 2 or more years.

[Oildog]

Another thing that may help buyers is that many of the expansions planned for local plants have been delayed or stopped. This will help on the gouging that has taken place the last few years.

[LinaJo76]

Originally Posted by floridashop75

What area should we move to? My husband is possibly moving us to the Beaumont area. We would be moving from Florida asap. we have a 1 year old and a 3 year old and would be staying for a minimum of 5 years. Schools are very important!! Also I am a bit more of a city girl, meaning I'm not much into the country living. I would like to live in a newer, clean, low crime, livlier town. Anyone have any suggestions?

Great! It's a great little town. It's pretty laid back and nice. But beware of most of downtown Beaumont (and "old" downtown). That's where the drugs are there and such.

I went from the last part of 1st grade to the last part of 4th grade in Beaumont. I had went to Pietzche Elementary school there in a really great neighborhood (about 2 blocks from Alice Keith Park). I used to live on Irby Street (off of the I-10 onto Sarah St. and you go about another 1-2 miles and there it is). It was only 2 blocks from the park. We played there all day.

There are lots, and LOTS of parks for your children and lots to do in them. Now they have jogging/walking trails too (which they didn't have 25 years ago when I lived there) and new swimming pools too for the summer.

I think you'll like it. I don't know much about the schools there (I only know of Pietzche, where I went to and Beamon Elementary, I think I spelled it right about 6 miles from there).

[amirelez]

Originally Posted by BobTex

Floridashop ... Beaumont is an industrial town as is the whole area. I'd stay out in what is known as the "West End". Off Major Drive and Dowlen Rd. area. Get a map and call the realtor. Be aware, though, the area is suffering as parts of the area were inundated by Ike's storm surge. Specifically Bridge City in south Orange County was pretty much flooded with 8' of storm surge. This on the heels of a direct hit in '05 by Rita. Lots of industrial expansion (I've heard fron $3 to $8 billion thrown around) with lots of out of towners moving in ... thus the housing crunch!

Good luck.

I agree try off Major and Dowlen which is one of the nicer areas in Beaumont to me. You won't really have to worry about the Hurricane stuff over in Beaumont like storm surge etc. Bridge city is not where you want to be anyway. I would also check out Port Arthur if you don't like Beaumont it's not too far from Beaumont and you might like it better.

[setxhomepro]

Did you see the article in the Beaumont Enterprise that cited a new report that named Beaumont, Texas as the number 1 housing market in the country for 2010? It was published Oct. 21, 2009. I'd link to it here but I don't think they let me do outside links. You can make statistics say anything but its still good press for the Southeast Texas housing market. There is a new neighborhood called Springwood in the westend with new construction homes starting under $200,000. The builders have really cut back on the specs they have been building so its getting harder to find new construction unless you go into the upper price ranges (for Southeast Texas that is $300,000+).