Best schools?...Colleyville/Grapevine-Trophy Club-Keller? (Fort Worth, Denton: apartments, to rent, townhome)

[fceresoli]

We are looking to buy a house this winter in a very family oriented, SAFE area with great schools from elementary through high school. We have narrowed it down to Colleyville, Grapevine, Keller and Trophy Club and want to know which system has the best schools. Thanks.

[Guingirl]

Well I can comment on Keller and Trophy Club from my research and talking to different people out in the neighborhoods.

Keller has a great ISD although it is has been going through some growing pains from what I have heard. A LOT of schools in the district have very high ratings. Some parts of Keller ISD are in Keller proper and some fall into Fort Worth which has a slightly higher tax rate.

Trophy Club is in Denton County and in Northwest ISD. Samuel Beck Elementary has consistently strong ratings. Northwest HS is currently the only high school in the district but they are going to be adding additional schools in the district. I want to say I thought they had on plan that they were going to put in another HS within the next 5-8 years.

Here is the quote -

The continued growth in the area could cause the District to expand from 15 schools in 2007 to 115 in 2027. Included in the new schools is Kay Granger Elementary, which will open in August 2007. The following fall, two additional elementary schools are set to open, and then in the fall of 2009, three schools will open: a middle school, an elementary school, and the District’s second high school.

The link: Northwest ISD (http://www.nisdtx.org/northwest/site/default.asp - broken link)

[fceresoli]

Is it possible to get a 4 bedroom, 2+ bath in Colleyville for around $210K? I have researched move.com and have seen the prices there, but do not know if the slumping housing market has lowered the actual selling price versus the listing price.

[Guingirl]

Wow..in Colleyville? Honestly, I would question a property that low in the area. How old is the home?? What is the price per square foot? Generally I have still seen about 80.00/ft for older unimproved home in regular neighborhoods. I personally would catagorize Colleyville as above that regular neighborhood price point. I would expect to see 100/ft+ in Colleyville along with Southlake.

I didn't see any that came up (4/2 >210K) in Colleyville when I just did a general MLS search. Could you have seen a townhome or duplex?

Edit: The least expensive house that came up was a home at 237K, it was really big (4200 sq ft) but built in 1972. I did see a little cottage of a house up there though...only 12K sq ft, 7.4 acres, stables and only a measly 6.5M. All I can say is WOW!!

[5stones]

We too looked in Trophy club, I liked it and found a pretty great house with an awesome backyard. (it only had a two car garage though and it was a swing drive...we need the storage!)

The new HS will open in Trophy Club (in 2009 I believe.) The land has been designated and cleared. Which will be nice beacuse JUstin (northwest HS) is a pretty long bus ride for the kids.
NOrthwest ISD has an Excellent reputation. We just couldn't find all our "wants" (in 10days!!) in that district!

we looked in all the same areas nad Really all the schools are good and the areas are very safe.
Prices are higher in Colleyville/Grapevine ISD

Keller is also building a new HS and that will affect boundies for the existing HS. We choose to stay in Keller proper (for our own reasons) and by looking at the boundry maps have an 90% chance that our kids won't be redistricted. (but no gauntee's)

OUt in Hertiage and Woodlands springs they are alot of people DESPIRATELY trying to sell, you an probably get a great deal out there. (ft worth but zoned Keller schools)

Sendera ranch is ft worth but zoned for NWISD and some very nice homes out there as well.

[loves2read]

IMO--the high school in Northwest has only an average/ acceptable TAKS score--think if there is quality teaching going on there it should be higher--in past years, numbers of students there have been fairly rural/small town/and pretty much all anglo---frankly, those kids should be scoring higher...check out their latest test scores on their web site--it is not good --Math is really low..Science and English are a little better...Social Studies is an easy test--almost any district does ok there...

Growth in Northwest ISD is pretty strong---so there is influx of new kids on all levels from a variety of locations -- all with different educational background--to get those kids all on the same wave length and correct any weaknesses they have brought with them takes work and specific testing/programs....

building new schools is just about the easiest thing when you are dealing with an enlarging district...

Keller is discovering that in 4-5 years past as well--their scores have suffered because of the new students and trying to hire quality teachers/administrators and build depth into their programs...
Colleyville has no apts within its city limits but Grapevine that it shares a district with does--but in the Colleyville zone there are not apt students--for my money that is more stable district in the long run because home owners are better bets than apt renters--from someone who has been in teaching for more than 15 years that is just what I have seen--renters move, are more likely to have single parent homes, are more likely to to be lower-socio-economic families simply because of the economics of owning a home

Keller probably has more homes to rent than GCISD or Northwest because of its size and Keller also has apartments within its zone...Keller is very large and also high density--which Northwest is not--Grapevine-Colleyville is not as large physically as either of the others....

Grapevine-Colleyville
Northwest
Keller
would be my ranking--but Northwest will have to work hard just to keep their scores as high as they are in coming years...