My husband and I are looking to move to the Beaumont area to be closer to his job in Port Arthur. We've been looking at the Nederland, Hamshire-Fannet, and W/NW Beaumont areas. Does anyone have any recommendations on the best areas to live in this area (based on good schools, low crime, pride in the homes, somewhere a good Aggie family will fit in, etc.)? THANKS!

Additionally, we'll be looking for a Realtor in the next several months... any good referrals?

I've lived in Beaumont all my life. If you choose Beaumont, the best neighborhood areas are in the west end. There are several nice areas off of Delaware between Dowlen Rd. and East Lucas. Any idea what price range you will be looking for as that would help limit or expand your choices.

If you are going the public school route, then you want to be in the zone to attend West Brook high school. The best elementary schools are in this zone (Regina Howell elem. and Salley Curtis)

Bridge City, which is closer to Pt. Arthur has a lot of good areas, but I am not familar enough to expound upon them. Nederland is likewise.

As to agent, I would reccomend my nephew, who's also an Ag. He is with ReMax, but I am hesitant to put his name in this post. If you want to post an email address I will try to give you some more info.

Thanks for the helpful insight.

We probably won't be looking to buy for several months, I'm just starting to do my research.

Thanks!

[This message has been edited by HuntingLady (edited 2/2/2008 4:36p).]

Thanks for the info!

I agree with Moses about that area of Beaumont being pretty nice. I am from Nederland and there isn't much difference between any areas of town (only one high school and not a significant difference between the lower grade schools, low crime throughout). Hamshire-Fannet is more out in the country if you like that sort of thing. I would say the HF schools aren't quite up to par with the those in Nederland and Beaumont. There has been a lot of development around Nederland to add new businesses and restaurants, but it's nowhere close to Beaumont so I usually head there if I want to take my gf out to eat or head to the mall. Nederland is about 15 min closer to PA if that is much of a concern. If you have any more specific questions about Nederland, feel free to ask.

I lived in Nederland all my life until I moved to Dallas 6 months ago...my parents still ive in Nederland and will be putting their house on the market very shortly. It is an all brick house ~ 2,000 sq ft, good neighborhood with one and 2 story homes. Let me know if you are interested. I'm guessing it will be in the 200K range.

I agree with what Moses Hall posted. Another school option is Harmony Science Academy which is where my son is. It is a free charter school. We like our house and neighborhood in the West End of Beaumont but we happened to be zoned to an elementary and middle school we don't care for, thus the charter school is a great solution for us. BTW- we just passed a huge bond issue for new school buildings so when you drive around town, keep in mind that most of the schools are going to be re-done. Also, look on Major Drive between Delaware and Folsom, some nice neighborhoods.

[This message has been edited by vin1041 (edited 2/4/2008 9:53p).]

Have lived in Nederland for over 20 yrs now. No crime to speak of, excellent schools, great place for a family. Good friend owns local Remax here. Will help if I can. Stay out of Pt. Arthur at all costs and Beaumont isnt a whole lot better as far as crime and schools. Will be happy to give u my e mail if u like. May be looking to sell ours as we bought a house at the beach 2 yrs ago and would like to move their perm.

Enviroag02 - Thanks for the info regarding your parents' house. We're probably going to look for something in a lower price range though, we just got married last year and this will be our first home. We don't have kids yet, so we don't need a lot of space.... gotta save some money so we can get a bass boat! :-)

hey hunting lady, how about 3/2/2, fireplace, covered deck, walk to elementary and middle school, approx. 1300sq.ft., brick, new central ac/heat, approx.25 yrs old, lowwwwww 100`s ! I really want to move to the beach !

That might be something we're interested in!

if i knew how to I.M ya I would !! Nederland is a great town to start and raise a family. Son is a sr. this year at A&M and we have a place at the beach. Our work is done here ! We`ll talk !

You for sure can't buy a house that cheap in the good parts of Beaumont, I'll be honest with you. 1300 sf is small but in Beaumont that would put you in the bad parts of the North or South End.

cant really buy one here for that either. Plus the school district is much better and dont have the crime like beaumont. I just want to move to the beach permanently !

Nederland is so small that comparing the crime to that in Beaumont is apples and oranges. The crime in the Westend is very low.

and the "flight" from beaumont continues to fuel Lumbertons growth and even mid county`s. If you`re retired, bmt would be fine. If you`re young and starting a family, bmt. is about the next to last place to be. Pt. Arthur being the 1st place you dont want to be, retired or young ! Read all the latest stats and facts. Beaumont was #1 in the state in every major crime. Dont start a school system argument either ! Bmt cant come close on that.

Wow! Lady, do not make your decision based on the last few comments. You have my email, use it for a much more level headed discussion.

facts are facts tho. Yes, bmt has more restaurants, hotels, and a bigger mall and the fair is there every oct and if we ever have to go to bmt., its only 10 -15 min. away !

[This message has been edited by BQDAD08 (edited 2/7/2008 10:49p).]

Because we are not necessarily looking for the house we may raise our family in, resale value is very important to us. More than likely we won't be in this house for more than 5 years. I would guess that the schools plays a big part in the ability to resale a home. However, hopefully we will at least have found the area that we would like to stay in, just maybe upgrading when we do have kids. For now, we would like to be as close as we can to my husband's job in Port Arthur. We have a few friends in the Nederland area, and that's one of the reasons we are interested in living there. In the next few weeks, we'll probably drive out there to start looking for the areas we like. Once we've determined for sure where we want to live, we'll start looking at actual homes.

wise move hunting lady. If we can help, let us know.

Would you be at all interested in renting your home? We're eager to get to the area (the commutes are getting old!)... but we would like to try to save for a few more months so that we can put 20% down. We figure it would be a lot easier to look for homes too, when we live there, versus trying to do everything on the few weekends that we have available?

i`ll ask my wife and get her thoughts.

If you want to be close to Port Arthur without all the issues of living in or near Port Arthur, you should definitely look at Bridge City. Crime is lower than anywhere in the triangle, and you are 15 min. from PA, and about 20 to Beaumont. We've lived here for 3 years and love it. Kids go to great schools, people are very friendly, and you don't even have to lock your doors. There are some really nice neighborhoods in the Bridge City/Orangefield area.

BC is a nice town.Similar to Ned/ Pt. Neches, just a little smaller. Have a few friends that live there. Other than having to drive over that damn bridge twice a day, we`d have looked there yrs ago.

BQDAD08 - I may be driving out to the area this weekend to start looking around. Any chance you could e-mail me your address so I could take a look at you house/neighborhood?

when i hit the e mail thing it throws it to the home page.

Since neither of you have a star, you cannot send private messages to each other. You will have to use regular e-mail.

Yes... I am starless :-( You can send it to EMorgan1125@yahoo.com

Thanks!

starless also ! mail sent.

I recently learned about AgsReward.com Real Estate Services. Has anyone gone through AgsReward when buying their home or obtaining their loan? Did you have a good experience? Thanks!

Yep. Refinanced the beach house using Ags Rewards. Was painless, efficient, and easy. Did u get my e mail ?

I hear Vidor is nice this time of year

lmao water turkey !!!

My wife and I moved to Bmt this past summer. She is a prosecutor with the Jefferson County DA's office, so she has a little better perspective on crime rates than most of the people here. As the vast majority of people have said, if you want to be in Beaumont proper, the West End is very nice and has almost zero crime. Really, PA is the only city in the area that is just bad all over crime-wise.

We live slightly outside of town in Northwest Forest and love it. The area around Major and Walden is also very nice, but maybe a bit pricier. Most of the folks in my office live in mid-county. I would think if you're going to be driving to PA, mid-county would be the place to start looking for homes.

We have a contract on a house in Nederland! Gig 'Em!!!