Best Texas Coastal Town for Family, Sailing, etc. (Corpus Christi, Beaumont: new home, school district)

[kidseven]

Hi All,

We've nearly had enough of the mild (cool) climate of the Pacific Northwest and are looking at the Texas coast as a possible new home. Our priorities are as follows:

1. Safe family friendly town
2. Some nautical heritage, sailing community, etc.
3. Moderate cost of living and home prices--hopefully much cheaper than Western Washington.
4. Pefer funky, artsy type towns to strip malls and the like.

We work from our home and can pretty much bring our own jobs with us.

Would really appreciate feedback!

Thanks.

[SoldierBoyBliss]

You will want Galveston then.

[Marlow]

You should just do a swing up the Texas coast starting at South Padre Island and going up past Galveston. You could do it in a week, or less if you do some school district/individual school research and narrow it down a bit. There are several where you can find what you're looking for.

[lowviolette]

corpus christi or the surrounding communities would be your best bet. galveston is a shell of its former self after being hit by the last hurricane. i was recently there.

[Tmoneymonet]

Galveston is nice, but as was already said....the hurricane has set it back some. If you can handle not being directly on the coast (Galveston is an island)...about 20 minutes away from Galveston is Kemah/Clear Lake. They have plenty of activities/shopping on the water, and the homes are nicer than you might find in Galveston. Good Luck in your move!!

[SoldierBoyBliss]

Ahh but more the reason to Move to Galveston. help repopulate it and rebuild it to a better place.

[ElectroPlumber]

I'd vote for Corpus Christi right now, because of Galveston's rebuilding situation. Galveston might be a good choice down the road.

But, you would really want to visit and check out Corpus to see if you like it. I'd stay there for several weeks if you could afford it. It's not everyone's cup of tea.

I wish Texas coastal towns were more appealing. I worked in Galveston for 5 years (before the storm hit) and thought it was interesting and attractive in some ways, but it had problems with housing projects and a lot of seedy areas. Also, the schools situation in Galveston is not great. The west end was ok (mostly beach houses), but you start to get further away from the convenience of major grocery stores, etc. I never could bring myself to live in Galveston.

I lived in Clear Lake for 15 years and personally think it's one of the truly great areas to live anywhere in the U.S. But, it's not really the coast--more like living on or close to a bay front (which is what it really is).

Beaumont is . . .well, I'm not going say anything about it.

[ocean2026]

Galveston has an area called "The Jungle" around midtown because its notorious for crack and crime. Corpus has low educational attainment and gangs. Ingleside and Rockport are nicer with better schools, both have waterfront that's pretty cheap now,especially Rockport. Port Lavaca is ok with some waterfront-its a bit more isolated though, its schools are pretty good.

[lowviolette]

i don't agree with the low education attainment part unless you have some hard evidence backing up your statement comparing it to every other city. the gangs are relative to EVERY urban setting, so you comment does not hold water. i would surely have to disagree about rockport waterfront being cheap, i was looking for a retirement lot to build on and rockport was far from "cheap". the only nice part to rockport is the waterfront area, the rest is marginal at best. dont get me wrong, i love rockport, but it it pales in comparison to CC.

[txsizzler]

I think your best bet would be Rockport, if you are wanting to be fairly near Corpus Christi. It has pretty much everything your original post had asked for. Cost of living anywhere here on the Coastal Bend, I have no doubt, is considerably cheaper than what you would find in Western Washington. I hope that helps!


Ian