Relocating to Fort Worth or Surrounding Areas (Arlington, Irving: low income, section 8)

[5elliotts]

Hi, We're considering a move from Henderson, NV to the Fort Worth or surrounding areas. We're in the preliminary stages of decision making at this point because 90% of our family still resides within minutes of where we live as well as friends. We've always talked of leaving Vegas to get away from all the "in your face" garbage we are subjected to daily on billboards, taxi cabs, flyers on street corners, etc. It's an easy place to live but definitely not "family friendly" in the sense of raising children. We would need to be driving distance for a daily commute to Arlington or the new stadium being built there. Should we be looking in the Ft. Worth area or some place closer to Arlington? We'd be searching for a great, safe, family-friendly neighborhood zoned for excellent public schools. (After reading the input from other submissions, it sounds like we have our work cut out for us.)Would anyone be able to suggest well liked areas of towns or specific cities/locations that would allow this daily commute within a reasonable amount of time? Living on a larger lot, maybe a half acre would also be desirable, if possible. We don't want to live under any flight paths or too close to railways that cause ongoing heavy noise. Is this possible to avoid? Thanks for any information anyone is willing to provide!

[loves2read]

if you want a larger lot and won't be working farther north than the new stadium then you probably should be looking at Mansfield which has pretty good schools, or maybe even Waxahatchie which is smaller, historical square, town SE of Arlington...but driveable if you don't mind a somewhat longer commute...you could just buy an acre or so...Waxahatchie is due for big development in next 2 years so it will be active area--schools will have to accomodate that growth which means they may suffer initially...no gain w/o some pain...
Duncanville I would avoid--articles in newspaper about its decilining property values...
Grand Prairie has lots of affordable housing but schools are not that well-regarded compared to other DFW districts...

HEB ISD is a better district than some people would have you believe--Hurst or Bedford makes an easy commute to Arlington--some homes in Euless are in Grapevine-Colleyville ISD but their lots are small...
Arlington ISD has some good elementaries but on the whole think the district struggles--lots of apartments (section 8) low income per capita and large numbers of minorities make it difficult to teach/reach students in those groups--and the city has some major problems with traffic--taxes...

Areas south of ARlington like Mansfield, Crowley, Kennendale, Burleson have been fairly small towns with big rural areas with few subdivisions === that is changing--land was cheap and it is being developed---some people post about negative elements moving in from S side of FTW and bringing problems---

[5elliotts]

Thank you. How does living in Hurst, Bedford, or Euless compare with living in a place like Colleyville, in which I've heard very good things about the school district? If looking for a larger lot weren't as much of a consideration as getting into a great neighborhood/town with excellent schools what then, would be your recommendation? We live in a community with the 5th largest school district in the nation and have seen the growing pains with many kids, not our own, having to move to the latest school there home is zoned for along with going to school year around. I am currently a teacher for this district and have enough seniority to work at and live in the areas with exemplary schools. We specifically chose to live in this more mature area that was not in the middle of all the growth so we could avoid the constant moves between schools along with all the traffic, dust, construction, and everything else that goes along with living directly in a rapidly growing area. We currently live in a great area with some rentals including Section 8, but are definitely in no way in the center of that type of atmosphere nor do we want to make a move to anything remotely so. Thanks again for your input!

[jhiehle]

Originally Posted by 5elliotts

Hi, We're considering a move from Henderson, NV to the Fort Worth or surrounding areas. We're in the preliminary stages of decision making at this point because 90% of our family still resides within minutes of where we live as well as friends. We've always talked of leaving Vegas to get away from all the "in your face" garbage we are subjected to daily on billboards, taxi cabs, flyers on street corners, etc. It's an easy place to live but definitely not "family friendly" in the sense of raising children. We would need to be driving distance for a daily commute to Arlington or the new stadium being built there. Should we be looking in the Ft. Worth area or some place closer to Arlington? We'd be searching for a great, safe, family-friendly neighborhood zoned for excellent public schools. (After reading the input from other submissions, it sounds like we have our work cut out for us.)Would anyone be able to suggest well liked areas of towns or specific cities/locations that would allow this daily commute within a reasonable amount of time? Living on a larger lot, maybe a half acre would also be desirable, if possible. We don't want to live under any flight paths or too close to railways that cause ongoing heavy noise. Is this possible to avoid? Thanks for any information anyone is willing to provide!

Bedford is a nice town to live in and L.D. Bell High School is one of the best in the area. My brother graduated from there and loved it. You may want to look into Bedford or North Richland Hills. Arlington is a run-down city so I would not advise to live there, however Irving, Tx is very close and is very nice as well as Las Colinas which sounds like would fit you and your family well. I would suggest looking into Las Colinas first.

[5elliotts]

Thanks for the location tips. I'll continue to research.

[muaranah]

All, I have read this thread with great interest and am hoping to get a little advice since I know almost nothing about FTW.

Here is my situation- married couple in their 30s, no kids and do not want to have kids, looking at possibly relocating to FTW. Here is what is important to us oin choosing a place to live:

Low crime rates, especially violent crime.

Relative quiet- not under a flight path, or next to a large highway or rail tracks.

Relatively good roads in the area, i.e., relatively low congestion at this time.Would prefer moderate commutes to work.

Single-family houses in the $100-150,000 price range, ideally on a quarter-acre lot.

Quality of schools is not important to us.

I hope this is enough info to get some suggestions as to where to look.

Thanks in advance...

[loves2read]

FTW is BIG--where you work would make a significant different in where you would chose to live--if you have no children and don't care about schools you should---ISD is one of the prime drivers on the resale market and will be for long time to come--if you don't care about schools, the people who would buy your home probably would...
that being said--there are some nice areas of Hurst and Bedford and FTW--Frapevine will be more pricey--Colleyville and Southlake will be too expensive
North Richland Hills probably has lots to small...

[muaranah]

love2read, thanks for the suggestions. Point taken on quality of schools being a factor.

[daisies76]

What price range are you trying to stay within? That will help rule out or narrow down some of the areas. we recently moved to Keller and love it in this area. They have great schools and I love the "hometown" feel in comparison to where we came from. You may want to check this area out, we love it.

[5elliotts]

What are some specific positive things you can say about living in Keller? Can you speak more specifically to the "hometown" feel you've found. Did you relocate from the West Coast? What price range would you say a 4 or 5 bedroom house would run? Thanks in advance!