Family relocation to Arlington, TX from Florida (Houston, Fort Worth: real estate market, foreclosures)

[gulfofmexicomom]

Hello! We are considering a relocation to the Arlington, TX area. My husband and I are pushing 40. We have 3 children (5,6, 11). Looking for a newer home (0-15 yrs old) that is move-in ready. Want a safe neighborhood with some land (anything .25 acres or more a plus!) Within 10 to 20 miles of Arlington with good schools. The maximum we can spend on a house is $150 k.
Any recommendations on what areas would fit our description would be appreciated.

[Squirl]

is the job in Arlington? What part of Arlington? Kennedale or Mansfield are myrecommendations on the south side. Hurst,Bedford or Euless would work for the North side. Southwest Arlington has good schools, too. For your price point you will maybe find something newish in Mansfield

[ChristieP]

You won't find newish homes in that price range to the north of Arlington. Definitely look in Mansfield and southern part of Arlington. Even then, the house will be on a normal sized lot. If you want something with acreage in that price range, you are going to have to go a lot further away...

[loves2read]

you won't find anything newer really in any area for that price except maybe FTW side of Keller
long way from Arlington

get realtor.com and do an MLS search for Tarrant county or Burleson county
and see what comes up

[gulfofmexicomom]

There's no job yet. Hubby is looking into possibly going there with his company. All he told me is that it's Arlington, so I am researching the area to see if we should do this. He'd like to be within 10 miles but I don't think we'll get much land being so close to the city.
We lived in the Northeast most of our lives until we came to Florida. I've only been to Texas once in my life and that was Houston for a visit with his family.

[Ketabcha]

I live in Southwest Arlington. The schools are good in this part of town. Plus, it's fairly easy to get around using I-20. This area abuts Mansfield and Kennedale. They are nice places, too.

I can pretty much assure you that you won't find a house with land at your price point but you can certainly find a house with a decent lot.

[gulfofmexicomom]

Thanks for the feedback so far. I guess based on your responses, I would be satisfied with land more than .15 acres. I just want a decent backyard where the kids can run around and we can have a swing set. When I do a search on realtor.com, Ft Worth comes up quite a bit. Is this a good area too?

[ChristieP]

Fort Worth depends. There are good and bad areas, just like most of the bigger cities in DFW. The Eastern part of Fort Worth, called Meadowbrook, can be very mixed. You need to really look at FWISD schools and determine your comfort level with performance and diversity level before deciding on an area to buy.

We usually recommend that people rent for a year before buying. This allows you time to investigate the areas better, and see what parts you really like and find yourself gravitating towards. Admittedly, your price range is also on the low end, so you need to really be careful when buying to avoid getting stuck in a high-crime, deteriorating, area with bad schools.

[gulfofmexicomom]

Thanks, Christie P. Renting would definitely be the smart option to learn the area. I learned that the hard way when we moved to Maine and Florida without investigating the area first.

Yes, I realize our budget is low. We bought our 3 bedroom, 1800 square ft house in the Clearwater, Fl region 8 years ago for $167,000. I doubt we could get that price now if we sold with the way the housing market is here. That's why I thought about 150 k as the max for our budget. Our home is rather old too- late 70s. Houses are not selling here, many foreclosures.

I've been doing heavy searches on realtor.com in the past few days and I was surprised at how nice the homes are out there. $150,000 or less can get you A LOT compared to here. But maybe the areas coming up are not so great in terms of crime and schools.

[ChristieP]

The areas where new homes are being built are on the fringes of the metroplex. Yes, you can get a nice house, but the feeder roads leading into town may be 2-lane blacktop, and the the nearest town may be 15 minutes away. Even worse, all of your neighbors are making the same morning commute, and the roads are clogged with traffic...

I hear you on the FL real estate market. Thank goodness Texas fared better.