Relocating to Ft Worth/Carswell (Fort Worth, Lewisville: renters, chapel, mobile home)

[Movingagain2014]

Looking for areas commutable to Carswell area with four h.s. kids in tow. Have lived in Keller in mid 1990s before all the huge expansion. Trying to find a home to rent in the $1200/per month. Keller is just out of reach, I think. Looking in that direction simply because we know it, not familiar with areas south of Carswell, like Burleson, but wouldn't rule it out. We don't want "country", need some retail nearby (shopping, Target, etc.) and a good school district. Saginaw seems to get good reviews - but are schools Northwest ISD or Saginaw ISD, or both? Haslet schools? They are actually ice hockey players, so we know we will have to travel to find rinks and schools don't have teams. Also field hockey for the girls, but that seems nearly impossible to find. Help?!

[4Movingeast]

No field hockey in Eagle Mtn/Saginaw ISD. Zip codes 76179, 76131 I think. Your rental budget is also too low for EM/S-ISD except maybe the sketchy parts in Blue Mound, maybe a small, old house in Saginaw. A quick search showed even kinda tough areas, 4 bdr houses starting over $1200/mo. But man, with 6 people you don't want too small. Are your kids used to sharing rooms? I honestly don't know where you can find with decent schools in this area on that budget, but maybe someone can chime in to help.

I'm thinking the commute from Burleson would not be good, but someone better acquainted with that animal can comment.

Lake Worth schools are not good, but if your kids are motivated they can get to college from there- a friend's daughter did it. Lake Worth is 76135.

Maybe check out Brewer HS attendance zone also.

3 bdr in Haslet starting around 1600/mo. Northwest ISD. Pretty good high schools.

Best of luck to yall- I hope you can find a safe place for your family. Definitely not trying to be negative, just realistic.

[ChristieP]

Field Hockey isn't very common at all in Texas. Some of the fancy private schools play it, but it's not played in the public schools. For ice hockey, look for the Dr.Pepper Star Centers in the area. That's where the leagues play.

White Settlement is not a good place to live at all. It is a rough town with bad schools. Avoid if at all possible.

You will want to live north of Carswell, not south. Commuting from Burleson would be absolute hell. You would have to drive through downtown, or take the long way around the I20/820 loop.

Look at Azle. There will be homes in your price range there, and the schools are decent. You might be able to buy a mobile home that will have more room for your family. The city has plenty of shopping and restaurants, and it won't be an awful commute to the base. You'd go straight down 199.

[Movingagain2014]

OK so if we up the budget to $1400-1500, which is where many Keller homes seem to be....is Keller just crazy with traffic like I am reading? What's next best after Keller? Any idea what electric and water will run for a 3-4BR house roughly? Trying to get an idea of what we can afford. Two kids will be "part-timers" since one will likely play junior hockey away from home for the season, and one will be heading to college, so we can make due with a 3BR for a year's lease. Might not be pretty, but not planning to stay more than 2 years till youngest (now sophomores) graduate hs. We've bought and sold 9 homes in the past 18 years due to job relocations and just can't bring ourselves to buy another right now...

[4Movingeast]

So totally understand! And I wouldn't want to participate in this bubble if I didn't have to. Our electric averages $300/mo but that is 3400 sq ft 2 story. No clue on water as we have been on a well for 6 years.

Check out Azle, though the schools are nothing to seek after. Parts of it are pretty with trees, near the lake. 199/jacksboro hwy is not the nightmare it used to be.

There might be some houses in the 1400-1500 price range since the construction boom in EM/S ISD, esp if you do a 3 bdr. It's a handy commute to the JRB and has all the shopping centers there and close by you could want.

Best of luck!

[Movingagain2014]

Now I'm not scared about upping the housing budget - $300/month for electric is a walk in the park compared to what we've been paying in the northeast for heating oil and utilities - oil alone nearly $5000 this winter!

[ChristieP]

Keller would not be a good commute to JRB right now due to the construction on I35W. If you want to look that far north, stay west of 35.

[TxBrn&Raised]

In the actual town of Saginaw, you may be looking at paying closer to $1500 a month for a home in a desirable community with the desirable schools. Rentals go quick in those neighborhoods. I'm doing a search right now and actually found a home in Eagle Ranch for $1495 and another one located in Chapel Hill for $1500. Right outside of Saginaw city limits (Fort Worth addy), but you'll still be in EMS ISD schools

[4Movingeast]

I used to own a home in Eagle Ranch and rented it out for $1/sq ft back in 2008-9. Then the schools took a hit with an influx of new students via uncontrolled building. We sold. Fast fwd- my BIL and SIL still live there, and it has basically become a neighborhood of rental homes. Not a bad place to be- at all- but not a homeowner atmosphere.

[TxBrn&Raised]

That seems to be the case in quite a few locations, we noticed as we were house hunting between Fort Worth and Lewisville last Fall. The record low housing prices the past few years attracted quite a few investors. They scooped them up cheap and have been raising the rent as the market increases and new renters come in. We've also seen homeowners who are unable to afford their home due to loss of job, yet will lose an extreme amount of money if they sold, so they are renting out there home. Not to mention the homebuilders who needed to rent out their brand new homes just to get rid of their inventory that wasn't selling. Great for those at JRB or short term contracts at Lockheed or Bell I know it's not necessarily desirable for homeowners, though. From our personal experience, we've noticed the rental companies being extremely picky about who rents their homes ...we've had more pleasant experiences with our rental neighbors than we have with some of our homeowner neighbors lol