The wife and I have been house hunting for about two months. Currently in north Fort Worth (Alliance area) and wanting to move south

We've looked at many routes with new builds from Burleson to Mansfield to Benbrook to Aledo...

We just started looking at existing homes inside Fort Worth proper; Ridgmar, Ridglea, Ridglea Hills, Mount Del, all the Heights, Fairmount, Ryan Place, Berkeley, prob a few more...
Ridglea Hills and Ridglea CC Estates and Allen Place are my favorites so far.

I've never bought anything used (parents bought two new builds growing up, we're in a new build now) and it's difficult for me to grasp it. My wife grew up in and around many of these neighborhoods, and has always wanted to live in Fairmount. I've been told it's been "up and coming" for 20 years now. Really? 20 years and this is what it looks like?
It's hard for me to think about spending $400k+ on 2-3k sf with no garage and all the crap yards I see everywhere.

What am I missing? What's he appeal of Fairmount or Ryan Place? Even if you get on one of the nicer streets with clean homes around you, one street over and you're in crap again...

Bc you actually live in the city.

Look north of 20 west of granbury road and east of hulen road.

If you can swing it, live in Berkeley.

Are schools a priority?

I agree with you about fairmount. It's been "up and coming" my entire life. Certainly the prices have gone up!

Of the neighborhoods you mentioned, you'll get the most house for your money in Ridglea CC Estates.

Whichever you choose, you'll get an old house, which comes with old house problems. That includes Rumsfeldian "unknown unknowns." Factor that into your budget.

Matsui said:

---

Bc you actually live in the city.

Look north of 20 west of granbury road and east of hulen road.

---

This is good guidance. Be careful buying a "flipped" home as a lot of flippers do really shoddy renovations. My neice bought a really cute home with super paint, neat modern fixture, a roof that's falling in and a bad foundation. It's better to just buy the older home and have your own people do the renovations.

Be very careful around TCU as there's lots of "shadow dorms" and crazy parking problems due to students. Cruise the neighborhood during a school day.

I'd say Ridglea Hills or Ridglea CC Estates.

In most cases I'd venture to say the older houses are better built than new builds are. Granted that'll depend on how well the house has been taken care of by previous owners.

I have a great old home (1944) in ridglea north that was well maintained and is in great condition for its age. I love it as it doesn't really have any issues.

Berkeley/Misteltoe heights are good neighborhoods, but you're paying a premium to basically be downtown. I'd venture to say it's safer than fairmount though

We live in Fairmount and love it. Close to everything in FW and can walk to Magnolia Ave. We love all of the history and character our house came with. Nice big front porches to relax on. We have awesome neighbors and probably won't ever live anywhere else. The Montessori school is also highly rated.

There will definitely be maintenance that comes with buying a 90+ year old home. And Yes, it isn't far from Hemphill and areas that aren't the prettiest. It's all in what you're looking for. If you want a more urban vibe and to live close to a downtown then you're going to get some of that. Otherwise, elect for the burbs.

I'd be happy to answer any questions you have about Fairmount.

Used to live in Fairmount. Liked it there but price per ft is ridiculous. Moved to Kennedale. Good schools, small town feel, more home for the money and 15 mins from FW.

Fairmount will still be up-and-coming in 10 years.

As a few others have mentioned, Ridglea Hills and Ridglea CC Estates are the best bang for your buck right now.

And while the area will still be overpriced, it will be interesting to see if prices are reigned in for the Tanglewood area once the new school opens.

You've outlined the major drawbacks to Fairmount, but as others said, you're paying for proximity and a strong neighborhood feel. If the big porch, community feel is important, look just south of Elizabeth. You may pay a bit more but you'll be out of the historic overlay (which will be helpful if you do major renovations later).

Ridglea (and the area just to the west of Ridglea - whatever it is called) seems to be surging in popularity. We've got a lot of friends with elementary aged kids moving there and they are happy with the schools and love the neighborhood.

We chose Tanglewood since my wife and I both work downtown and love the proximity to everything. The big trade off is that our house is a hovel compared to what we could have bought for the same price. But that will be the trade off for most of us in the closer areas.

I live in Mansfield and love it. We have our house up for sale now, built in 2001. Let me know if you are interested.

We are moving and staying in Mansfield. We want a pool and our current backyard is too small to allow for both a pool and a backyard.

I used to actively advocate for people to move to Fairmount, but we lived there for years and the appeal of it eventually wore off. I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone, for a variety of reasons.

Now we're in South Hills and we love our mid century ranch mostly because it has a million fewer problems than our house in Fairmount did. Also our neighbors are great and our property taxes are reasonable. The only problem is the schools, but our daughter starts kindergarten next year and we moved here knowing that she would have to go to private school. I've wavered on that a bit recently, so we're sort of halfway looking in Tanglewood, Overton Park, and Westcliff, in that order. We won't move unless we find something really tempting, but all three of those are great neighborhoods.

Another fellow Ag shared your post today!
We have listed our home in Ridglea Hills and moved across the street. Suffice to say we love the neighborhood-just needed more room. I actually bought our house that is listed from a fellow Ag!

Would love to show y'all our home.

Shoot me an email if you would like the address.

rwrember@gmail.com