Relocation to Fort Worth - Help with Area to Live

[LaurenR]

Can anyone familiar with Fort Worth help me find the right spot to live?  I'll be working downtown at 714 Main.  My husband might be working at the Schwab campus in Westlake, or he might do his own thing. 

Max 15 min car commute (or good commute for biking), decent public elementary school for the kids, safe area.  Company will pay closing costs to buy, looking to stay under $350k.  It's a tall order!  THANK YOU!!!!

[SC93]

For kids you do NOT want Fort Wort ISD. It is the worst. We have custody of our grandson. We've had him since he was 8 and is now 14. When we got him he was a straight F student thanks to his mom. With the help of Birdville ISD (I also helped him with his school work every day after school) he is now A/B honor roll and has been since he was 10 years old. Saginaw is another good place. If you go with FW ISD you will probably regret it.

15 minute commute? LMAO You better move next door to where you work. This is no joke, I can see Loop 820 from where I'm at right now, but it takes me 10 minutes just to get up on it. Biking? Personally I don't think this entire area is very good for biking. I used to live in Omaha and that place has it going on for bikes.... but Fort Worth, not so much. Downtown where you will work and Westlake might look close on the map and it might say that it only takes like 20 minutes to get from one to the other but you drive it once during rush hour and you will find that is no where near true. We live basically in the middle of those 2 places and my wife works in the museum district (kind of by where you will be working), it takes her a good 35 minutes to drive each way.

As for under $350k, that's easy. You can get one hell of a house here for $350k.

[gocubs]

We live just west of white settlement on the west side of Fort Worth.  I commute  to Arlington but even that only takes 30 minutes.  350k will buy you a super nice home but prepare for 10k property taxes a year here. Don't have kids yet but they say white settlement isn't terrible.
Good luck with the move!

[SC93]

I am glad you live in that area because I have a question..... how are the planes flying over? Is it only loud when the Blue Angels do their fly overs or do you hear loud planes quite often? I have a friend that is looking in that area and when they went to look last year, the Blue Angels were flying over and turned them off of the area.

If her husband is going to work in Westlake they will both have a good 30 minute drive and if she wants a good school district she will have a good 30 minute drive.

We are thinking of buying again but it's just such a hassle (to me). We ended up moving in to what I was using as my office/ a place for guests to stay because I do not like people staying with me. But she is wanting a house again. The problem with us is, like the lady that was the OP, my wife doesn't want to add on to her commute yet we need a good school district for 4 more years. One option we are exploring is a charter school.

[streetride]

Can anyone familiar with Fort Worth help me find the right spot to live?  I'll be working downtown at 714 Main.  My husband might be working at the Schwab campus in Westlake, or he might do his own thing. 

Max 15 min car commute (or good commute for biking), decent public elementary school for the kids, safe area.  Company will pay closing costs to buy, looking to stay under $350k.  It's a tall order!  THANK YOU!!!!

Your best bet is going to be watauga,north richland hills,keller. This would put you right in between westlake and your place of work if you decide to go that direction. The westlake drive will be very easy, but the fort worth drive will be a little more rough. Your property value will probably go up the more north you are of fort worth as well.

I have grown up in fort worth and in north richland hills and the keller,watauga,north richland hills area is a much better area for kids and overall quality of life. 350k will get you a house pretty easy in any of these areas. I dont know what exactly you or your family is into or what yalls lifestyle is like so it would be harder to find the perfect area out of those 3.

As for bike commuting you are sort of out of luck unless you dont have a problem riding your bike on sidewalks. I ride freestyle bmx bikes and would ride all over the tarrant county area but my bike would only go about 20 mph and i would could easily jump up curbs and 3ft ledges or over 10ft gaps in sidewalks.

[Uturn]

Fort Worth is under construction right now.  I35, the main north/south corridor has been two lanes each was for at least the 30 years that I have been driving.  They are putting in more lanes, however they will be toll lanes.  If it's anything like 820/183, the east/west corridor, it won't do anything to alleviate traffic unless you are willing to pay the approx $7 each way.  What this means is don't look at distance for your commute, look at time.  I live in N. Fort Worth and used to work in Irving, 26 miles.  It was normal for it to take well over an hour in the afternoon, especially Friday afternoon. However, 26 miles the other direction would be about 30 minutes.  I don't think you will find a 15 min commute to both downtown and Westlake.

$350k will get you a lot of house around here.  Mine is 2300 sq ft in a nice neighborhood, Keller schools, built in 1995.  Currently valued at $225k, taxes are $5200/yr.  I would really recommend renting for a year and learn the area before you buy.  Just a few miles in any direction can vastly change your commute time.  It would suck to buy a great house in the wrong area.  Haslet looks good on paper, looks good on a map.  Affordable houses, any store you can think of, good schools, everything is close.  However, due to all of the two lane roads, it is an absolute whipping to get around during rush hour. 

714 Main is an XTO building.  They are moving a lot of the company to Houston in the next year or so, something to keep in mind if that is who you will be working for. 

This is a car city.  Anything area older than about 20 year is going to be sketchy.  Narrow roads with little to no shoulder.  Google maps does a pretty good job of bicycle routes, I would plug in your destinations and see what it comes up with.  If there are not dedicated bike lanes/paths, it will try to route you through neighborhoods.  I cycle as much as I can, but am limited to about a 5 mile area west and south, 12 miles north and east without having to travel on very busy roads. The good thing is just about anything I need is within 5 miles.  Except for a good bike shop. 

I've lived in the area since 82 and would be happy to answer question or show you around.

[SC93]

YES! Excellent point that I didn't think of. Rent before you buy. Like the person above said, you will get to know the area. They built the houses and businesses before they built the roads so right now it is terrible. And if you like Chicken or Donuts.... you are IN LUCK around here! :)

I've never been there but I think there is a bike shop over on Heritage Trace & Riverside. If that is close at all.

[gocubs]

I am glad you live in that area because I have a question..... how are the planes flying over? Is it only loud when the Blue Angels do their fly overs or do you hear loud planes quite often? I have a friend that is looking in that area and when they went to look last year, the Blue Angels were flying over and turned them off of the area.

If her husband is going to work in Westlake they will both have a good 30 minute drive and if she wants a good school district she will have a good 30 minute drive.

We are thinking of buying again but it's just such a hassle (to me). We ended up moving in to what I was using as my office/ a place for guests to stay because I do not like people staying with me. But she is wanting a house again. The problem with us is, like the lady that was the OP, my wife doesn't want to add on to her commute yet we need a good school district for 4 more years. One option we are exploring is a charter school.

Are you referring to the base on the the west side of town?
If so it's not bad. I may hear them a time or two a week but I rarely notice it. I've been here about 4 months so other parts of the year may be worse. 
Growing up my dad worked at an airport so I always got close ups of all the jets. I guess I just got used to them. It's kind of nice to hear them now though, Brings back old memories.

[Uturn]

Once a year they have an airshow.  If you just happen to be in town that week, there are a lot of loud planes practicing their show routines, I could see how someone would think it was a regular occurrence.  It's a ton of noise, but only a few days.