Need help with Midland!!

[lhafer]

Well, hubby and I flew out to Midland yesterday for the day. It was pleasantly suprising I must say. We found it to be a nice, clean city. It felt a lot like our current suburb of Houston without having the proximity of a large city nearby (so minus stuff like The Children's Museum, museum districts, medical center, etc).

We drove around for a while before hubby had a meeting to go to, and looked around. Then I drove around some more, and drove around Odessa a bit while he was in his meeting.

We found the Old Midland area to be super charming and cute, with some beautiful homes and I really liked the area.

Went to Los Patios, and liked those homes. They are the newer style home we are used to, but lacked the trees/vegetation and were on much smaller lots.

Went to Polo Estates and liked those homes as well. A little more trees, homes seemed to be from the 1990's and well maintained.

Took Loop 250 all around, and went East of the city a bit off of Loop 250 onto some county roads and found some gorgeous properties on what looks to be a acre of land or so. But I can't find any information on this area of town or the homes here.

All in all it was a good day.

[Westerntraveler]

well glad yall had a good time.i hope yall enjoy living in Midland my friend.

[debzkidz]

Midland does have a few good museums including a children's museum. There's the Museum of the Southwest which is located in an old estate, and the Children's Museum is located on their property. I used to docent for a traveling science program that the museum took to elementary schools. There's also the Petroleum Museum which is really nice, and is not just about oil and gas, but also has some great western art.

The homes in Polo Park were mainly built in the oil boom of the 80's with a few newer ones in the 90's. My advice if you look at those homes is to look at everything very closely and have a very good inspection. We bought a home there and we loved it, but we didn't notice, until we'd already had an accepted contract on the house that there was no range vent. Supposedly, they have to be there due to city code, but our house didn't have one. When we first put the contract on it, we thought it had a Jennaire type downdraft, as it was on the island. It wasn't until we were having our inspection that it was pointed out to us that there was no ventilation for the range. Apparently, it was built without it, and someone allowed it to pass inspection without it being corrected. While we loved that house, it was a big problem, because I can't stand to smell stuff cooking. Because many of those homes were built during a time like right now, when housing was at an extreme shortage, lots of corners were cut, so just be forewarned.

[lhafer]

Originally Posted by debzkidz

Midland does have a few good museums including a children's museum. There's the Museum of the Southwest which is located in an old estate, and the Children's Museum is located on their property. I used to docent for a traveling science program that the museum took to elementary schools. There's also the Petroleum Museum which is really nice, and is not just about oil and gas, but also has some great western art.

The homes in Polo Park were mainly built in the oil boom of the 80's with a few newer ones in the 90's. My advice if you look at those homes is to look at everything very closely and have a very good inspection. We bought a home there and we loved it, but we didn't notice, until we'd already had an accepted contract on the house that there was no range vent. Supposedly, they have to be there due to city code, but our house didn't have one. When we first put the contract on it, we thought it had a Jennaire type downdraft, as it was on the island. It wasn't until we were having our inspection that it was pointed out to us that there was no ventilation for the range. Apparently, it was built without it, and someone allowed it to pass inspection without it being corrected. While we loved that house, it was a big problem, because I can't stand to smell stuff cooking. Because many of those homes were built during a time like right now, when housing was at an extreme shortage, lots of corners were cut, so just be forewarned.

Excellent points, and will definitely take those thoughts into consideration! I'm kind of thinking I'm going to try to get hubby to go for a house in Old Midland (if we can afford it). Really really liked the feel of the neighborhoods there. Kind of like West U/Bellaire here in Houston - only with the older homes and not the McMansions people are building here.

Any thoughts about a house with a pool? We are considering that if we move there. We've never had a pool before. We won't be there long enough to consider putting one after moving in. Job would probably have hubby moving around about every 3 years or so (various states).

[txmom42]

I am very familiar with west texas having lived in amarillo for 5 years. I have never been to midland but it can't be that different from Amarillo , can it? Hubby had a job interview and I may need to relocate quickly. any advice would be helpful.

[lhafer]

Originally Posted by txmom42

I am very familiar with west texas having lived in amarillo for 5 years. I have never been to midland but it can't be that different from Amarillo , can it? Hubby had a job interview and I may need to relocate quickly. any advice would be helpful.

Can't tell you much, other than what I have been pouring over the last month or so.

www.Greatschools.org - rates public schools and shows parental reviews if there are any. Have to say Midland public schools aren't really ranking high. I have already sent in an application and app fee to a private school there just in case we move. Hilland and the Montessori schools were at capacity for the grade we need in the fall. Trinity had some openings. There are 3 public elementary schools I would be (sort of) willing to send her to because they were the highest ranked, and they only topped out at 7 (out of 10). I'm coming from a rating of 9 (out of 10) where we currently live.

Housing - there are houses on the market in all price ranges, but they are going fast. In the past 2 weeks or so, I have had to delete about 20-25 (out of about 80 in all various price ranges) house listing I was keeping an eye on because they sold. I have called about 5 apartment complexes and visited 1 while we were there and they all are full. We need at least a 2 bedroom because we are a family of 4 that would be moving there.

I tend to look at realtor.com, trulia.com, zillow.com, and another real estate website I can't remember right now. I live in Houston and we have one of the best real estate websites out there - you can see ALL homes that are listed with any realtor in the entire area of Houston, and you can apply various filters (zipcodes, counties, neighborhoods, etc). So not being able to see all the homes that are for sale on a single website is a serious PITA!! The homes are going for more than I'm used to ($100-150sqft). I think some homes are ridiculously priced, but unfortunately because of the influx of people - they will get it.

[Westerntraveler]

Originally Posted by txmom42

I am very familiar with west texas having lived in amarillo for 5 years. I have never been to midland but it can't be that different from Amarillo , can it? Hubby had a job interview and I may need to relocate quickly. any advice would be helpful.

the north and northwest parts of town are the best.