Retiring from military (another request for area/neighborhood info...) (Fort Worth: to rent, crime)

[Texas Nick USN]

I'm a native Texan (Lubbock area) a few days away from my 19th year in the Navy. I'm going to retire in the summer of 09, and my preliminary job hunting seems to be leading me to Fort Worth (lots of defense jobs). My wife works in medical billing.

My plans as of now are to rent for a year so that I'm sure of the job... and it gives me more time to look for the house I want to buy.

I will probably be looking to buy a 3BR ranch in the $100-150K range. If possible, I will rent a house in the same area I will eventually buy in. I will have one son entering 12th grade and one entering 8th. What areas, neighborhoods, surrounding towns should I look in... and what should I avoid?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

[loves2read]

I live in Bedford--east of FTW close to DFW airport--north of 183
to me this--Bedford/Hurst/North Richland Hills area is nice area--I can't say that it is crime free because there are house burglaries and car burglaries/thefts and sometimes something more physical--but rarely any shootings
we have never been burgled or had cars broken into parked outside at night--we have people who walk at night in our neighborhood all the time--not saying that happens in EVERY neighborhood--
HEB ISD has an IB program which at Bell HS is one of the strongest in the US--ranked 3 and the 1 and 2 IB schools ahead of them are IB magnet schools --Bell can offer a nationally-ranked band, good art programs and choral music--it is a campus with ethnic mixutre and probably half low-income students but teachers for the most part are strong and the programs like baseball and wrestling, gymnastics are very good as well...
technology is pretty strong as well
Trinity--the other hs in HEB--has won state 5A football twice out of past 5 years--if that is important--and they also offer IB strand...
Bedford is older--towns like Keller and Southlake--even North Richland Hills get more press--but it is convenient to downtown FTW (20 min) is close to Bell Helicopter, has reasonable housing even if most of it is 15-20 years old...

If you think you would be working at NAS--that is west side of town--you might want to check out Aledo/Aledo ISD or Eagle Mt-Saginaw area/ISD but neither one of them really has what I consider academically challenging schools--
Whilte Settlement ISD I don't think you would like and while the west side of FTW is growing White Settlement as some pretty iffy areas...
Benbrook/SW FTW might be something to consider as well
some people in the Crowley area have voiced concerns that the city/ISD is showing signs that it is having problems--tract housing developments have brought in people in lower-socio-economic groups who don't have the same values/standards and they are seeing difference in quailty of the schools...
run a search here for Crowley--Saginaw--Benbrook--Aledo--White Settlement--Hurst--Bedford--Keller--North Richland Hills
and see what comes up

[Texas Nick USN]

I will look into the areas you mentioned... I have also seen a lot of homes in my price range available in Burleson.

I guess a lot will also depend on where I'm going to be working. I'm used to a commute, but wouldn't want more than 30-40 minutes if I can avoid it.

With 14 months left before I go on terminal leave, it's a little too early to start sending out resumes (I'm going to start that at about the 6 month mark), but I've been looking into things a little and trying to get a feel for what's out there.

So the NAS and Lockheed Martin are on the west side? I'm also interested in DynTech at Alliance Airport (north side, I think?).

I'll definitely be looking at NAS, LM, Dyntech, Bell Helicopter, and BNSF. Any other recommendations would be appreciated.
(Should I start a seperate thread for that? )