I am looking at some homes on har.com and searching south of I-10, West of Wilcrest, and North of Memorial. This falls in the Wilchester/Memorial" area.

There are numerous homes for sale in this area. Were they affected by the recent flooding or is there a crime issue in this neighboorhood, or economics?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

One guess I may have is the fact that Wilchester Elementary is to be rebuilt... the current campus and/or a "portable city" will be constructed near Wilchester ES/Westchester Academy to serve as a temporary school for other schools in the district over the next 10 years as they get rebuilt one at a time. I know alot of residents have been up in arms about this; this may be leading to people moving out of the area.

Wilchester is a very nice neighborhood.

I don't think there is much of a crime problem in the neighborhood itself.

I'm not 100% about how it fared in the recent storms but I know it's not in the flood plain.

My folks bought a house in that area in 1965. My Dad still lives there. 3 streets north of Memorial, several houses west of Wilcrest. He has never had his house flooded--a few feet into the yard has been the worst.

Their street--and most in that area was rebuilt about 18 months ago. Pretty sure a couple of houses had some water in them at the corner @ Wilcrest since then(not sure if it was the 1st time)

He has never had a crime issue-but I have heard of a couple of people that have. A few instances in 40+ years is not too bad. I think the area is on some contract with the constables office or someone and you do see their cars out regularly patroling.

I live in Wilchester south of Memorial. Some houses did flood, but it was mostly due to improper drainage on their property.

There are actually very few "Wilchester" houses for sale of any quality. Most either back up to Memorial, are on or near the Long Point fault line, or in poor condition. A 3,000 SF house that has been updated (kitchen, bath, floors, etc.) will typically sell for $180 - $200 PSF. During the housing run up in 2006 & 2007, the best houses were selling for over $200 PSF in less than a week or never even hitting the market.

Wilchester Elem. is being rebuilt on its current site, so the kids will be in temp buildings for 2 years. The city rebuilt Walnut Bend & Briargrove Elem. on their current sites and it took around 18 months in each instance.

Suprisingly, Lakeside Country Club and the bayou provide a buffer from the elements located south toward Briar Forest. The intersection of BF & Wilcrest is pretty rough. I haven't experienced an increase in crime in the 5 years I have lived there.

Bottom line: The neighborhoods zoned to Wilchester & Rummel Creek Elem (along with Memorial Middle School) have historically held their value since they were constructed in the mid 1960's. Every home that sells is purchased by a family, no empty nesters or young couples. It makes for a great environment to raise a family. My home has appreciated significantly in the 5 years I've owned. I don't think you can go wrong.

We're looking in that area too. Decent houses in Wilchester run pretty high (450K+) so we have been looking at Nottingham Forest also. Those houses are a little more affordable and it's supposedly a great neighborhood, though Wilchester goes to better schools.

Generally a good area, and the prices have gotten really high in the past ten years. There are teardowns starting to occur around there now, as the lots become more valuable than the 30+ year old houses. Just check the flood maps for any particular house you're considering and you should be fine.

Jamar,
Nottingham Forest is a beautiful neighborhood. Great homes and excellent clubhouse/pool. Homes would sell at much higher price if not zoned to their particular elem. & middle schools. I know the prices are attractive, but they are lower for a reason and always will be.

fyi, the apartments and now townhomes next to spring forest and stratford have become a den for thugs. i know several good citizens that used to live there, but have since moved out. they definitely took a major loss on the value of their property when they sold.

We moved from that area a year ago. Crime has increased dramatically over the last three years (since Katrina). Lots of evacuees still live in the apartments and townhomes between Dairy Ashford and Kirkwood.

I play tennis w/ the guys out at Wilchester and will tell you they are a great group of guys and there's a lot of comraderie in the neighborhood.

CMAC is right. Area around Royal Oaks was really affected by Katrina. Also, like mentioned above, the schools arent the best. If you move inside BWY 8 in that area, your in alot better schools. I went to school off westheimer by Dairy Ashford and can tell you since the 1990's the pockets of bad neighborhoods around the area has increased. With that said, the neighborhoods east of DA, off of Memorial are still really pretty. I love the concentration of trees in that area along with that fact that LCC is right there too.

I think there are more houses for sale due to the Market. They are not moving as fast as they were and people are asking quite a bit.

pound for pound one of the better areas in houston. Try Nottingham and Notingham west (west is cheaper) Both zoned to Wilchester.

No major flooding. However, one street east of wilcrest may have flooded with the last major storm. I think it was due to a new drainage system the city put in a year ago that failed.

Our house has appreciated, and if we did not love the area, I would sale pay cash for my katy home and buy a vacation home with the rest.

quote:

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Jamar,
Nottingham Forest is a beautiful neighborhood. Great homes and excellent clubhouse/pool. Homes would sell at much higher price if not zoned to their particular elem. & middle schools. I know the prices are attractive, but they are lower for a reason and always will be.

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Yeah, our plan is to send our kids to private schools but we want to be sure to have good public school options as a fallback. We are in Memorial now and zoned to some of the best schools in the city but our house is getting too small with two kids and we can't afford to buy anything bigger in our neighborhood.

poor people

Slurpee and cmac are correct about the apartment area between DA/Kirkwood. I went to SFJH and Stratford back in the day so I can imagine what they became after Katrina.

As far as the original question, that Wilchester neighborhood and pretty much all of the others south of I-10 that feed into SHS have always been solid. I would love to move back to that area some day.



[This message has been edited by Rick Deckard (edited 7/24/2009 2:36p).]