Westbury neighborhood of Houston: good or no?? (Bellaire, Post: apartment complex, homes)

[Illủmiñatex]

Perhaps but Bellaire and Meyerland are nice surrounded by nice. Westbury is decent surrounded by Fondren Southwest, which is one of the most notorious areas in town to anyone who has lived here for awhile.

[tc33]

Originally Posted by testmo

lots of other people put their kids in privates around here. there is a plethora of charter and private schools in the area as well as large magnets that are in next door meyerland or in westbury itself

westbury hs - i never witnessed any fights in the streets and i see neighbor kids (who are white) walking there to go to school in the morning. they don't look beat up and bloody.
Fondren MS - you may be zoned to in that area. That would be the school you don't put your kids in

i was driving home on chimney rock and as i passed by the apartments there were 2 white kids fighting in the streets with a bunch of black kids. this was last year, the year it was the most improved school in hisd.

[modster]

Originally Posted by Illủmiñatex

Perhaps but Bellaire and Meyerland are nice surrounded by nice. Westbury is decent surrounded by Fondren Southwest, which is one of the most notorious areas in town to anyone who has lived here for awhile.

Meyerland shares a border with Westbury, and Westbury shares a border on the west side with Fondren SW. Bellaire shares a western border with Gulfton area and all that mess immediately to the west of about Chimney Rock. Point being, yeah, there is crap to the west side of Westbury, but if you are going to live close in, chances are pretty high you are going to have to deal with some hoodish areas near by on some level.

[testmo]

Montrose, River Oaks and the Heights are bordered by crap too.

Westbury is a safe place and a good value. I've never been a victim of any crime here nor do I know anyone who has. It is in the city of houston so has living in the city issues. If you want the suburbs live in the suburbs (where there is also petty crime and freak murders. its 2012). not a lot of delinquents are buying 200k+ homes


i'll take your anecdote but I have a hard time imagining a group of kids fighting on Chimney rock. If you knew the street you'd know that sounds a little ridiculous


spend time here yourself during the day and at night. take a walk through the neighborhood. go to the retails, grocery stores, cafes nearby. experience it for yourself. then listen to people who actually live here.

[Ginger4]

I am also a potential buyer in this area. I am graduate student at UT and don’t want to spend an hour in the morning to go school. I am considering the condo on Chimney rock (actually on Arboles), south of Bellfort but north of Airport. It is zoned to Parker elementary school. I drove through the area both day and night, and don’t see signs of ghetto.

Anyone know about the apartment complexes on Chimney rock? Is it safe? agent told me that the owner/renter ratio is 46/54. I am afraid that the apartment is going to be ghetto since the % of renters is going to increase.

[jr1038]

Originally Posted by testmo

Montrose, River Oaks and the Heights are bordered by crap too.

There is no "crap" bordering River Oaks - maybe an isolated low-rent apartment complex or two around Greenway/Upper Kirby but nothing even remotely comparable to the third-world blight along Fondren. Heights, yes, and there are some (small) bad pockets near Montrose.

[testmo]

third world blight?

you can cross memorial just behind river oaks and walk a block of shanty homes

plenty of low rent apartments in Montrose and a sex offender half way house. i used to live there (not the sex offender apartments). great area loved it and didn't have a problem. Westbury is more consistent though

it is houston so zoning even in neighborhoods is a little different but to say Westbury is some scary forbidden place is ridiculous

im closer to multi million dollar homes of bellaire and West U than I am to fondren

[jr1038]

Originally Posted by testmo

third world blight?

you can cross memorial just behind river oaks and walk a block of shanty homes

plenty of low rent apartments in Montrose and a sex offender half way house. i used to live there (not the sex offender apartments). great area loved it and didn't have a problem. Westbury is more consistent though

it is houston so zoning even in neighborhoods is a little different but to say Westbury is some scary forbidden place is ridiculous

im closer to multi million dollar homes of bellaire and West U than I am to fondren

Just north of Memorial (across the park from River Oaks) is Rice Military which is a great neighborhood with far more upward momentum than Westbury and higher income as well. Cross Westcott towards the park and you're back in million dollar home territory. You really have to go north of Washington or east of Shepherd to find clusters of "shanty" homes - probably vacant and awaiting to be bulldozed for more $300k+ townhome construction.

Montrose might have a few problems or isolated low rent complexes but it's also (overall) a pricy and highly desirable area as one of Houston's most vibrant neighborhoods. The vast majority of Montrose is great. The areas that border RO to the south (Afton Oaks, Upper Kirby) are excellent neighborhoods, and that continues across 59 or 610.

All this to say I couldn't disagree more with your analogy between the "crap" near Westbury and the "crap" near River Oaks. RO is very well insulated from the scummy areas of Houston and that's probably part of why it commands the premium it does. I do agree that Westbury is a fine area overall - and I would happily live in certain parts of Westbury - but there's no denying it is more exposed to ghetto elements than RO.

[houston-nomad]

Originally Posted by jr1038

Just north of Memorial (across the park from River Oaks) is Rice Military which is a great neighborhood with far more upward momentum than Westbury and higher income as well. Cross Westcott towards the park and you're back in million dollar home territory. You really have to go north of Washington or east of Shepherd to find clusters of "shanty" homes - probably vacant and awaiting to be bulldozed for more $300k+ townhome construction.

Montrose might have a few problems or isolated low rent complexes but it's also (overall) a pricy and highly desirable area as one of Houston's most vibrant neighborhoods. The vast majority of Montrose is great. The areas that border RO to the south (Afton Oaks, Upper Kirby) are excellent neighborhoods, and that continues across 59 or 610.

All this to say I couldn't disagree more with your analogy between the "crap" near Westbury and the "crap" near River Oaks. RO is very well insulated from the scummy areas of Houston and that's probably part of why it commands the premium it does. I do agree that Westbury is a fine area overall - and I would happily live in certain parts of Westbury - but there's no denying it is more exposed to ghetto elements than RO.

This is all really apples to oranges. Yes, RO is less exposed to the Houston Nasty than most areas. That's why it's one of the most expensive places to live in the city. But River Oaks aside, it's hard to find anywhere that doesn't border on the Nasty.

I absolutely LOVE Montrose. But you are far more likely to have your car broken into, or bike stolen, in Montrose (because they're often not garaged, and there's a lot of opportunistic petty crime) than in Westbury. Most of us in the Westbury neighborhoods (I'm including Parkwest, Maplewood) really never have to think about crime.

Westbury is very small-town, very suburban feeling. It's huge, and you can drive into the neighborhood from the direction of the loop, and drive deep into it, without seeing any of the Nasty. I couldn't find that anywhere else I looked, in a comparable price range.

[MommiePreMed]

We moved to the area 4 months ago, and except for the lack of natural grocery options, my family is happy. My neighbors have lied in their home since is was built over thirty years ago, and they have no plans on moving. I would knock on doors and talk to my perspective neighbors before taking the word of an agent who does not live in the area.