Future move to FW - what areas to stay away from? (Arlington: rentals, condo)

[NewYorkMBA]

Good Afternoon,

My wife & I are planing to move to the FW area. We are taking a trip there on May 23-26, 2009. We are both federal employees, no children (DINKS - dual income, no kids). We are both in our mid 40s.

School district(s) is not an issue except for how it would impact +/- housing prices. I will probably work in FW (801 Cherry Street) and my wife will probably work in the Arlington area. We will initially seek to rent for a year or so, then look to buy a house/townhouse/condo.

Could someone please advise what areas (rentals) we should look into, and especially the areas we should stay away from? We would consider FW and areas east of that. We have excellent income so the monthly rent is not an issue (the safer the better - my wife is deaf and I worry about her whenever she is coming to/from work alone).

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

- Rob

[loves2read]

price point is the issue--how much do you want to spend--
you can be in safe neighborhood for around 1200 a month for 3/2 house in the Mid-Cities area
pay more and you can rent in more upscale, "classier" towns...those same areas are probably good to buy in...depends on what you want--age of house, size of lot, trees

there are nice areas in FTW itself which are probably fine--best HS zone is Paschal--so would try for house there for resale...
would not recommend Arlington itself because of the ISD

[NewYorkMBA]

Originally Posted by loves2read

price point is the issue--how much do you want to spend--
you can be in safe neighborhood for around 1200 a month for 3/2 house in the Mid-Cities area
pay more and you can rent in more upscale, "classier" towns...those same areas are probably good to buy in...depends on what you want--age of house, size of lot, trees

there are nice areas in FTW itself which are probably fine--best HS zone is Paschal--so would try for house there for resale...
would not recommend Arlington itself because of the ISD

Thank you for the reply. At this point we are interested in renting in a safe rather upscale (than downscale) area, then research buying once we have been there awhile. What about N. Richland Hills (or some other area you could suggest) for renting? Thank you.

[Aporkalypse]

There are some nice rentals in East Ft Worth/Eastchase/Bentley Village area. It would be convenient to Arlington or downtown Ft Worth. I'd also look around North Arlington as there a lot of nice rentals there. Hurst or North RHs are both reasonable but further. This would be my outlook if schools aren't an issue.

If schools were an issue I'd stay out of Ft Worth proper altogether.

[NewYorkMBA]

Excellent information, thank you all for your help.

- Rob