46 yr old, divorced female moving to Fort Worth (Arlington, Mansfield: for sale, rent)

[Nick20]

Was wondering if anyone to point me toward the safe neighborhoods of Fort Worth for a single female. I see a lot of houses for sale in the $150k to $200k range on Zillow but don’t know what the neighborhoods are like. My daughter is graduating high school this year so I no longer have to consider school district. Thank you for any help you can provide.

[ChristieP]

Where will you be commuting to for work? Or will you be working from home?

[Nick20]

I’m a teacher so nearby schools. Saginaw has some nice homes in that range...is that a safe area?

[ChristieP]

Ehhh....It’s safe, but not a very desirable area. Saginaw schools don’t have a good reputation.

Find the job first, and then decide where to live.

[mastershake575]

In that range your going to have better luck with condos and townhouses. I'd rather have one of those 2 in a good middle-middle class neighbhorhood then try to buy basically a lower-end house in a neighborhood that's majority rent houses or is all the way on the boonies.

[WorldKlas]

Rent until you find a job. Traffic is murder in the DFW area. Saginaw is fine. And Saginaw schools are actually rated pretty good. Also Roanoke.

Also look in Arlington in the Martin HS feeder attendance zone — zip codes 76017 and 76016.
Mansfield is quite safe.

[Wittgenstein's Ghost]

A few points:

1. Since you don't have to be in a good school district, you have a lot more options. You should still find your job first, though.

2. "Good schools" as described on this forum nearly always means high test scores. That is not the same thing as "a good school for a teacher to work in." There are myriad factors that go into a good school from a teacher's perspective, and I'm not sure the Great Schools rating is a significant part of that.

3. You can find a good house in a pretty nice neighborhood for $200k in various parts of Fort Worth. People on this forum tend toward large, family-oriented houses with 3-5 bedrooms in good school districts. You don't need that.

Below are a couple options (although I do think a condo could possibly a good idea as well). All are currently pending, but at least you know they are out there. Even though the market has cooled, you will need to be quick at that price point.

Really cool Fairmount 2/1: https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...4_M75223-61643

Westcliff 3/2: https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...9_M82312-35625

[Wittgenstein's Ghost]

Originally Posted by WorldKlas

Rent until you find a job. Traffic is murder in the DFW area. Saginaw is fine. And Saginaw schools are actually rated pretty good. Also Roanoke.

Also look in Arlington in the Martin HS feeder attendance zone — zip codes 76017 and 76016.
Mansfield is quite safe.

Why should she care about feeder zones?

[ChristieP]

Originally Posted by Wittgenstein's Ghost

Why should she care about feeder zones?

Because some parts of Arlington outside of these areas are pretty sketchy.

[Wittgenstein's Ghost]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

Because some parts of Arlington outside of these areas are pretty sketchy.

Well, sure, but that's a weird way to describe a neighborhood. If a city turns rough west of Main Street, "Stay east of Main" seems like the normal way of describing that if that's what we're discussing. My guess is there was more to it than that.