We are moving to Ft. Worth from Houston for a new job. We have two small kids (2 and 1 yr old). We are trying to sell our home in Houston and then will be looking to buy in Ft. Worth. Any recommendations on good neighborhoods to look into? We would probably be trying to stay below $450k. I will be working in the area around I-30 and Chisolm Trail. Thanks for your help!

Where your work is located is going to give you some great options. Pretty much anything really close to the TCU area is going to be a pretty good location, I grew up a little bit southwest of TCU.

But I've had a few friends (around 30 years old, some with small families) wind up in a pretty neat little area just northwest of the Camp Bowie/Montgomery intersection. It's a nice little affordable area that will put you really close to your work and the 7th street scene that has exploded. I squared the area in the picture below as best I could. These are going to be older houses which is more my style, just a heads up. I would think that area would fall in the 76107.




All of that info is coming from someone who has lived in Dallas for the last 6 years so take it for what it's worth, but I get back to Fort Worth quite a bit and spent my first 18 years there (I'm 30).

Just moved from FW. Awesome area is north of 20 east of Hulen and south of TCU. Tanglewood area. HIGHLY recommended. Very family friendly. Best schools.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Tanglewood,+Fort+Worth,+TX+76109/@32.7082129,-97.384671,16z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x864e7243cf98ff61:0x76aed142d7b4340!8m2!3d32.7055646!4d-97.3800203

or south of Bellaire east of Hulen west of granbury and north of 20


Or you can go to Ridgelea
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ridglea+Hills,+Fort+Worth,+TX/@32.7022736,-97.4217516,15.5z/data=!4m8!1m2!2m1!1sridglea+neighborhood+fort+worth!3m4!1s0x864e72da9badfc09:0x34f59e0b9e802fd4!8m2!3d32.715567!4d-97.4246174

All good stuff from Matsui.

I went to Tanglewood and grew up in that school district, great schools for sure. I will caution you that there's about as close to zero diversity at Tanglewood Elementary as you can get unless things have changed. While the schooling was fantastic, I would never send my kids there for that very reason. That's a 100% personal opinion though.

That said, I had a fantastic upbringing through age 18 in that area.

Ridglea Hills or either side of Camp Bowie north of 30 & west of University (Arlington Heights, Monticello, Rivercrest). There's also the Bellaire area & Mira Vista as well near Bryant Irvin. Overton Woods & Westcliff off of Hulen are nice homes as well. Park Hill north of TCU & then of course there is Colonial.

Or you could come out west to Aledo. It's only a 20 min. drive to downtown & 450k can get you a lot of home on some land if that's more to your liking.

No!! Don't come to Aledo!! It is full!

There are enough terrible drivers out here already!!! (Not saying that op is a terrible driver)

There's definitely a lack of diversity at Tanglewood Elementary, but if you are going to keep your kids in public school throughout their primary and secondary education then that will all sort itself out once they feed into McLean and Paschal.

Diversity is important, but IMO it falls way behind the actual education you are getting in elementary.

quote:

---

There's definitely a lack of diversity at Tanglewood Elementary, but if you are going to keep your kids in public school throughout their primary and secondary education then that will all sort itself out once they feed into McLean and Paschal.

Diversity is important, but IMO it falls way behind the actual education you are getting in elementary.

---

Yeah I hear you... It's pretty hard to get the perfect elementary school experience. I went a pretty similar route: Tanglewood, McLean, and then transferred to Arlington Heights (mom taught at Heights at the time and the sports were light years better).

Aledo FTMFW

I would also throw in Mistletoe Heights and Berkeley Place.

I've lived in westcliff in sight of McLean Middle School and I just recently moved back to Fort Worth and I'm in Ridglea Hills. I like both areas but I really enjoy how quiet the neighborhood is in my current house. Also you get the annual free Blue Angels show in the spring. I liked tanglewood but nothing came on the market that fit my wants and price range in the 1.5 years I was looking.

Tanglewood is great, but you're not going to get much house for $450K (at least not in Tanglewood proper). Same with any of the TCU area, Monticello and North Hi Mount (WGann's suggestion above).

Ridglea Hills, Ridgmar/Leftover Hills, Crestwood are good places to start looking. Further southwest are the Benbrook hoods of Ridglea Country Club Estates, Meadows West, and Mont Del. All have their pros and cons.

Aledo is a good suburb that still has a small town feel, but it's a further drive than anyone out there likes to admit.

Older neighborhoods (1920-1930)Berkeley, park hill, mistletoe, fairmount, Ryan place. I have 2 customers selling their houses in Berkeley (moving to Ohio & Houston). Lily b Clayton elementary school, McLean middle, paschal high school (highest number of national merits in Fort Worth). Close to magnolia area w/ great restaurants & bars. Close to tcu. Feel free to email if you have any other questions. John at fivestarlandscapeco dot com

I support the Southwest area: Mont Del/Meadows West. Lots of development going on with Waterside and the trinity trails. We just bought last year in Country Day Estates at the bottom of Mont Del neighborhood and we are in love with the area and our neighbors.

you should look at river hills phase 1
http://www.riverhills1848.com/

The Westcliff area near Westcliff/McLean/Paschal/TCU still has some decent neighborhoods tucked into it. You just have to be careful where you buy as you run the risk of ending up near rent houses that TCU parents buy for their kids and a little bit of sketchiness as you get closer to old granbury road.

The school district for the kid makes the decision tough... If it weren't for the kids and wanting to look at more affordable places, I'd look in the 76109 area that is just outside of Tanglewood zone (zoned to Westcliff I assume). You'll likely have good neighbors due to the proximity to Tanglewood school zone, but not paying the Tanglewood price.

I'm sorry but Lily B is just as good as Tanglewood and it offers more diversity. Plus you wouldn't have to eat ramen & pb&j for the next 20yrs just to get your kids into the Tanglewood attendance zone. Amazing teachers which some have been there for over 25yrs. Very involved PTA. There are some fairly wealthy families in the Park Hill & Berkeley neighborhoods that send their kids to Lily B and they absolutely love it.

I think parts of Ryan Place are still a little too rough for my liking. Yea the houses are nice but it's still in the process of "cleaning up" it's act. Although it's a good time to get in cheap.

Alamo heights is currently being cleaned up house by house. In 10 years i bet it will be like the Arlington heights homes north of 30 if this housing boom continues.

A little more info on your preferences would be helpful. My wife and I live in Ryan Place and we love it. Historic neighborhood, classic architecture, close to downtown, magnolia ave, etc. You could likely get something in the 2,500 - 3,000 sf in pretty good shape in your price range.

My son just bought in Ridglea Hills and there's a lot of improvements happening in that area. I hear good things about Ridglea Hills Elementary from my daughter-in-law.

Good news is that Fort Worth is simply a fantastic city and you will have plenty of great choices.

Congrats on the new position.

What street?

5th Ave between Liz and Rob...

quote:

---

I'm sorry but Lily B is just as good as Tanglewood and it offers more diversity. Plus you wouldn't have to eat ramen & pb&j for the next 20yrs just to get your kids into the Tanglewood attendance zone. Amazing teachers which some have been there for over 25yrs. Very involved PTA. There are some fairly wealthy families in the Park Hill & Berkeley neighborhoods that send their kids to Lily B and they absolutely love it.

---

I don't think anyone is saying there aren't other very good schools in the area, but if you're going by one of the few things that can actually be evaluated numerically -- test scores -- then no, Lily B is not just as good as Tanglewood, in fact it's really not even that close.

You can make strong arguments you aren't getting enough bang for your buck or that it is severely lacking in diversity, but as far as elementary schools go, Tanglewood scores as one of the top in the entire Metroplex.

quote:

---

A little more info on your preferences would be helpful. My wife and I live in Ryan Place and we love it. Historic neighborhood, classic architecture, close to downtown, magnolia ave, etc. You could likely get something in the 2,500 - 3,000 sf in pretty good shape in your price range.

My son just bought in Ridglea Hills and there's a lot of improvements happening in that area. I hear good things about Ridglea Hills Elementary from my daughter-in-law.

Good news is that Fort Worth is simply a fantastic city and you will have plenty of great choices.

Congrats on the new position.

---

My best friend's daughter has been there a year and they have nothing but positive things to say about it, and both of their parents were involved in education in one form or another so I'd assume they somewhat know what to look for.

Thanks a lot for all the feedback, everyone! Very helpful! We are pretty open right now to both in town options.and have already been looking into Aledo just because of the bang for your buck out there. I'm tryin to avoid a long commute though as we are moving from a situation here in Houston where I was commuting in from West Katy (hr plus) in combination with an extremely demanding work schedule. Looking forward to hopefully meeting some good Ags in Cow Town.

We are on college b/w Elizabeth & Robert

My wife commutes from Aledo to the hospital district (basically i30 and Chisholm trail) and it takes her about 25-30 mins in the morning (leaving our house at 0700) and roughly 30-35 mins in the evening leaving around 1730.

Not ideal, but not terrible. The traffic here is nothing like Houston.

Matt Hayden?

Thank goodness

Indeed. Looked up the email address -- hope you're doing well John.

I figured it was you. We are doing well. We are expecting our first kiddo in February! Its been a long time coming. How are yall doing? Are yall in tanglewood?

Same here. I drive from Aledo to hospital district/downtown area for work. It takes 25 minutes, usually. Not a terrible drive, at all. 10 of it is getting to the highway.

Doing well. Still not in family mode yet so not needing to look at elementary locations. I think I saw you running on the trails a while back but my brain doesn't process faces until about 10 minutes after the fact so I didn't realize it.

Congrats on the first!

I should be running on the trails but I can guarantee it wasn't me. About to start working out

quote:

---

Thanks a lot for all the feedback, everyone! Very helpful! We are pretty open right now to both in town options.and have already been looking into Aledo just because of the bang for your buck out there. I'm tryin to avoid a long commute though as we are moving from a situation here in Houston where I was commuting in from West Katy (hr plus) in combination with an extremely demanding work schedule. Looking forward to hopefully meeting some good Ags in Cow Town.

---

The commute from Aledo isn't bad! Matter of fact, I actually commute from Brock and it takes me 35 minutes from my doorstep to the office (University and I-30).

I too think "bang for your buck" is where it's at! We lived in South Fort Worth (which I wouldn't recommend) for over 10 years. Moved to Brock, built a new 3000 sq ft house on 2.5 acres and spent significantly less than your $450K budget.

We are in Tanglewood and love it. Great school, great people, great community. Almost like a separate small town within a city.

Lily B is a good school in a neat area that I would happily send kids to. But it isn't "just as good" as Tanglewood. Really not close. Tanglewood is #1 in FWISD and #20 in the state. Lily B is #5 in FWISD and #784 in the state.
[url=http://www.schooldigger.com/go/TX/schoolrank.aspx][/url]
http://www.schooldigger.com/go/TX/schoolrank.aspx


That said we love the entire west side of FW. I think anywhere in the Park Hill, Colonial, Tanglewood, Ridglea Area is a very nice place to live. And certainly less traffic and more affordable than comparable areas in other big cities.