Advice for relocating to Fort Worth & Surrounding Areas (San Antonio: section 8, apartments)

[katihoff]

Hello,

I am needing some advice. I currently live in Goodyear, AZ, moved here 2 years ago from MI and I really really don't like it here, it's just not for me. I have been looking at TX for a while now and thought Fort Worth would be great. I am a single mom with 3 kids 14,11 & 3. Income under 40k, I will be renting at first before I try to purchase a home, and not sure what I would qualify for. Looking for good schools, good areas. I am going to Fort Worth in March to look around. Any advice??? Trying to figure out how to go about doing this. I am applying online but since I am not physically there already it's a challenge. Any feedback would be great.

[bmlx]

I'm not too sure what good schools and good areas would be doable on an income of under 40K, since most of these areas will be somewhat expensive and out of your budget. Your best bet is to probably look into the apartments in the Stonegate area (if you don't mind living in an apartment) off of Hulen Street, since they feed into Tanglewood ES/McLean MS/Paschal HS, but the rent there tends to start (larger units will of course be more expensive) at around $1400/month. For your youngest child, keep in mind that Tanglewood ES does not have Pre-K as most of the kids in that area come from fairly affluent backgrounds.

I believe that I've also seen apartments in the Keller ISD area as well (the Keller ISD generally includes parts of far north Fort Worth and the city of Keller) and that is a pretty good school district generally speaking. Also look at the Northwest ISD area as well; it is a fairly large school district that even covers some rural areas (such as Rhome and Newark, where it might be a bit less expensive). Unless you get lucky can find someone who is renting a house fairly inexpensively, pretty much you will have to do an apartment if you want to get into a better area in terms of schools. And not all of the great areas will even have apartments. I'm not trying to sound like a downer, but just keep in mind that you probably won't be able to buy a home in a neighborhood that has good schools unless you manage bring your income level up.

[TurtleCreek80]

With an income under $40k, you would AT MOST qualify for a home priced around $125k assuming you have basically no other debt (credit cards, car loan, other loans). A home zoned to good schools anywhere around DFW is going to close close to 2X that. Buying a home is not a reasonable goal here on your current income. I’m more concerned about your ability to rent an apartment somewhere safe on $40k income here because with 3 kids, landlords will at a minimum require you to rent a 2br and then you’re looking at spending about 1/3 of your take home pay just on rent, not including apartment bills.

I would focus on increasing your income (career change, additional certificates or schooling, etc) or look at much lower COL areas (where I would still recommend doing what you can to increase your income). I don’t know what home prices are in San Antonio or El Paso but they are definitely lower than DFW.

[ChristieP]

I agree with TC80 on the rental expenses. And FYI: the waiting list for Section 8 vouchers in the DFW area is YEARS long. So, that's not an option to help with your living expenses.

[jbb303]

It's been awhile since I've apartment hunted, but I don't think a single income of $40k is going to qualify for section 8 in the first place.


Before you give up, you might try some of the older apartment areas in NE Tarrant County. Even the schools that some people in those areas would turn their nose up at are better than what you might find elsewhere.

[HEBres21]

Agree with all the above, your annual income just isn't possible to work in DFW outside of living in some very very rough areas. Save your money, don't waste taking a trip down here.

[ChristieP]

Originally Posted by jbb303

It's been awhile since I've apartment hunted, but I don't think a single income of $40k is going to qualify for section 8 in the first place.

$40k for a single person would not qualify, but $40k for a household with 3 dependents definitely would qualify.

[WorldKlas]

Why Fort Worth? What is your career field?

[loves2read]

Yes—that would be my question
What type of work are you going to apply for?

In TX the ISDs do not run buses for those living within 2 miles of a zoned school
I don’t know how that works in AZ

Rents are expensive and the better the school area the higher the rents usually

Personally with your income I think you should rethink moving to DFW since it seems not to be based on any concrete factor—like you have a new job here or family connections here

[loves2read]

No response from the OP
All her posts are about moving to other areas...vs joining those threads...