Burleson-for raising a family. (Dallas, Fort Worth: house, neighborhoods, buyer)

[TCUFAN]

Hey ya'll, my wife and I who relocated here from Kansas City a little over a year ago, have been living in the northwest part of Fort Worth/Saginaw area. This has been a great stepping stone for us, but we are ready to find a middle-sized town that offers the big-city amenities (shopping, dining, etc.), have a decent school district, and also be close enough to work that we don"t pull our hair out everyday on our commute. I work near the North East Mall area, and my wife works just south of I-30 off Camp Bowie. Over the last year I have been researching, and checking out all areas of the greater Fort Worth. The North side (outside loop 820), although is new and shiny, offers very little personality and is very cookie-cutter.

We both are in our early 30's and looking to take the next-step, which is purchasing a home (budget of $180k max) and starting a family within the next year. We had our hearts set on Burleson, but have read so many negative things about North Crowley, and Crowley school-district, that we are concerned that Burleson may be prey to going down hill next.

Is Burleson a good area for a first time home-buyer? Is it a good area to raise a family? I know I will have approx 27 mile commute, a co-worker of mine makes it ever-day which I believe would be worth it to live in such a nice country-style town. How is living in Burleson? My Co-worker loves it, BUT his wife also home schools their children. How are the public schools in Burleson? We Love the location of Burleson, the shopping off I35, and also the fact that it is on the South/Southwest side of town where all the neat areas of Fort Worth area (Museums, Entertainment, West 7th, Sundance Square, Central Market, Camp Bowie etc.)
(We donot go out much, but when we do this is the area we usually go to.)

We have considered Benbrook as well, we just happened to like the Burleson area a little more overall. (More housing options)

Any input would be great, maybe I am just worrying too much here.
.............also open to other options.

[ChristieP]

Your commute to NE Mall would be awful from that area. Have you considered looking in the older areas of Hurst or North Richland Hills? That would be in the middle for both of you.

Definitely avoid Crowley schools. I have a teacher friend who lasted 1 year there when she relocated to DFW.

[bmlx]

Much of Burleson appears to be pretty nice, but appears like it leans more suburban than a country-town feel, although it seems like the older portions of town (which I assume you are looking at) do have a small-town feel, in spite of the suburban sprawl. The same can be said with Benbrook.

With regard to schools, the Burleson ISD schools do tend to score higher on the GreatSchools.org rankings than does Crowley ISD, but if Burleson goes downhill then so would their ratings. Small portions of the city of Burleson are zoned to Joshua ISD and Mansfield ISD, although I am not sure if you are looking at these parts of Burleson. The portion of the Fort Worth ISD that serves Benbrook south of Interstate 20 appears comparable to Burleson ISD in its average rankings; if you are looking at Benbrook, a house zoned to Westpark Elementary would be best (10/10 rating on GreatSchools; the combined Benbrook Middle-High School gets a 7/10). The older portions of Benbrook (south of I-20 and east of 377) would be zoned to Benbrook Elementary (8/10). The high school situation in Benbrook is also confusing to me at this point in time, because FWISD has not delineated a boundary between Western Hills High School (5/10) and Benbrook MHS (the boundary for middle school students is shown) on their School Site Locator. Benbrook MHS only becomes a full high school starting next school year (that is, serving all of grades 9-12; the HS grades were phased in year-by-year), so perhaps this is why. I would most definitely contact FWISD regarding this situation if you are considering Benbrook, since Benbrook MHS seems to be the better school between WHHS and BMHS. Of course, seeing that you don't even have a child yet, who knows what your school situation might be when he or she reaches high school?

If you wanted to live closer in to town I might look at the Alamo Heights neighborhood of Fort Worth (off of I-30 west, just east of Hulen and the Central Market store), some of which appears to be within your price range. It's an older neighborhood, but the schools don't seem as good as the suburban locations (South Hi Mount Elementary gets a 6/10, Stripling Middle gets a 7/10, and Arlington Heights High gets 4/10, but currently offers a college-prep program). Westworth Village would also be another close-in place to look at (Burton Hill Elementary gets 9/10 and also feeds into Stripling and Arlington Heights). Both of these locations are also in the FWISD, and would be very convenient with regard to your wife's workplace, quicker to access the NE Mall area (esp. Alamo Heights with its proximity to I-30) as well as being very close to the "fun" parts of Fort Worth you mentioned. Westworth Village will also be adjacent to the River District, a new town center and entertainment area currently in development along White Settlement Road on the west side of Fort Worth. All of these older neighborhoods have had time to mature and shouldn't feel "cookie-cutter" like suburban developments do.

I am a little bit more familiar with the central portions of Fort Worth, hence my bias towards those locations. While FWISD does not have the best reputation, there are definitely bright spots in their district (Benbrook, some areas of the west side, Tanglewood/Lily B. Clayton) as well. And considering the current work locations of you and your wife, some of these "bright spots" are well-located.

[ChristieP]

Arlington Heights HS can be rough. It's not the best of FWISD at all. Most people I know want to be in the zone for Paschal HS if they are going to use a public HS in FWISD.

[bmlx]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

Arlington Heights HS can be rough. It's not the best of FWISD at all. Most people I know want to be in the zone for Paschal HS if they are going to use a public HS in FWISD.

That is actually quite understandable, seeing that kids from the Como neighborhood (high poverty) feed into Arlington Heights.

There is a lottery process if you want your child to attend another school in FWISD other than the school you are zoned for, provided that there is a "program of choice" at that school, but this is no guarantee of getting into a better school (if the program is at a school with a delineated attendance zone, you have to compete with those who are actually zoned to that school, which take priority over others).

Burleson or Benbrook does sound better, school-wise, than the west side of Fort Worth. I did also notice a neighborhood next to Paschal HS (just east/northeast of there, the main N/S streets are Gordon and Livingston Avenues) that is affordable and within your price range, but is next to a railroad track (on the west side; the east side of the tracks has worse schools). This area would attend Lily B. Clayton Elementary, McLean MS, and Paschal HS. The homes are older and do not appear in the best shape, and the neighborhood does not look the best, although you would get some of the best schools in the central part of Fort Worth. Given the state of this neighborhood, I'd probably stick to looking at Burleson, Benbrook, or the Mid-Cities (Hurst, Euless, Bedford, etc.).

[loves2read]

Your price point is not great for better than avg schools
You might look in areas feeding to Birdville north of 820 (north Hurst itself feeds into Birdville ISD)
Maybe some north Euless that might be in GCISD but don't think you will be under 200K for GCISD
Aledo might be an option but commute to NEMall area would be long and frustrating...and again 180K in a hot market doesn't get much house...
Will PM you a good website for searching -- but it doesn't have Burleson or Aledo--
More MidCities, north FTW like Roanoak
But is very handy for searching by price point and location

[TCUFAN]

Thank you everyone for their input. Tonight we decided to check out some of the area's that were mentioned, and I'm starting to feel for our price point we may be better off in the Benbrook area, or possibly the cookie cutter starter home areas in Saginaw even though that is not what we REALLY would like to have.
The HEB area seems so congested, that it is a turn off. I work in such a fast paced environment for 12 hour's a day, that I enjoy the slower pace a small town on the outskirts. Saginaw is a love hate type of place, and overall just "works" for us. It is mostly industrial and cookie cutter, but it is in a very convenient location for us.

This all is slightly disheartening, that it seems you almost have to spend $200+ to get in a good area with descent schools down in this particular area. Heck, we even checked out the Mansfield area tonight. Although nice, it seemed that $200+ is what you'll spend in most areas.

[TxBrn&Raised]

We've been in Saginaw for almost 9yrs and have loved it. It was supposed to be a temporary stop when my husband left the military, but accidently turned into home Once we got our kids involved in activities and school, it was hard to leave the close knit community.

[dlc1234]

Burleson is a great place to live. The schools are great! We do homeschool but not because the schools are bad. We have a lot of friends in the schools and I mostly hear very positive things. I have not seen any sign of things going downhill. In fact just the opposite! It still has a small town fell even though there is lots of building going on. The people are very down to earth and friendly. We've lived all over the metroplex (N ft worth, by Frisco, east of Dallas) and this is by far our favorite place'