Looks like I'll be relocating to Midland for work here in the near future. Can anyone point me in the right direction as far as a good neighborhood to live in? Just me, my wife and the dog coming along for the ride. We are also looking to rent instead of buy because we don't think this is going to be a permanent move. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Ags!

North of Andrews Highway and West of A-Street. You are welcome, pretty much anywhere following those parameters can put you in a decent or nice spot. The further north and west you go, the nicer it will be.

That doesn't mean everything outside that isn't nice, but it's a decent guideline outside of "old Midland"

Rental prices are outrageously inflated out here. I have noticed that Midland has a better selection than Odessa so you might luck out.

If you rent, make sure you stock up on KY.

Rental property is tough to find right now and expensive. Old midland inside A st (east), Andrews hwy/Midlkiff (west), Louisiana (south) and Wadley (north) is a pretty good area to look for rental property. A lot of older homes and are still good neighborhoods. Find a realtor, hit the ground running and be ready to commit when you find one. I had a rent house in this area, sold it last year. Houses on Garfield, Neely, Golf Course and Midkiff are tough to sell because of traffic. They tend to become rental property because of this. A nice 3-2-2 will probably go for around $1200-2000/month depending on location and updates. If you go with an apartment, stay north of the loop. Good luck.

What about good neighborhoods to buy?

Not necessarily relocating...yet. Just trying to get familiar with the Midland area in case I get moved out west (very likely).

Natasha, depends on price range and what you are looking for. As a general rule, west of A st and north of Country Club dr., you can find some nice homes in really good neighborhoods. Newer homes in really good neighborhoods are north and northwest of loop 250.

I mostly just want nice neighborhoods, safe, clean, quiet, etc. and relatively nice homes. Just wanting to get an idea of the area some of more desirable neighborhoods are and what type of cash I'll need to save up haha.

New/upgraded is nice, but based on my budget and the housing market in Midland, I won't hold my breath

Grassland Estates and Briarwood are good neighborhoods

If you haven't purchased anything yet, I would bite the bullet and rent a relatively inexpensive apartment for a few months to see what the price of oil is going to do to home values. No sense getting into this market as the price of oil sinks so low.

Home prices aren't going to change appreciably until there is a glut of supply on the market. They'll stay high until homes are left untouched for weeks/months at a time.