I may be asked to move down to Corpus area (Portland to be exact) for work at some point later this year / early 2020. It's a good position for me if I get it, but I am pretty limited on my knowledge of the area. I had a good friend live down there in his single years and I would visit from time to time, but a little different spot in life now.

We have 2 kids (currently 3 yrs and 4 mos), so elementary schools will be important decision point. Love the outdoors and I hunt and fish (or I used to a lot before kids), so living near the water would be great, but schools, neighborhood, etc. is going to be more important. I don't expect this to be a forever move - likely 3-5 year type thing if it happens at all. We're currently based in Houston.

As we're just trying to get a read on the area, types of homes we could afford, schools, etc. -- do any TexAg's folks have the list of the right starting point focus areas?

Ideal to live in CC or one of the surrounding towns?

What are the areas or neighborhoods in CC to target and the areas to avoid?

How are areas like Aransas Pass or Port A or even Rockport as a spot to live w a family?

Thanks in advance for any pointers.

Portland will probably be your best bet for nice housing and schools overall especially if you are looking only short term. Rockport has some nice areas as well as Port A but I would rate elementary schools better at Portland.

Port A would be a pain just to commute to Portland. You would have to deal with the ferry or take a helluva loop thru Corpus to Portland. Rockport has decent schools, but is still rebuilding from Harvey. AP is okay, but I don't think the school system is where I would want my kids with the other choices in the area. (I have a home in AP!)

I would look at Portland as your best choice. Over in Corpus, I have heard that London is good, as well as Calallen. They are rebuilding the Harbor Bridge right now, so the commute from Corpus to Portland is kind of a mess.

Thank you both!

Grew up in Portland and agree with posters above that it is the best option in the area in terms of schools. It has several distinct neighborhoods that are fine places to live, but without knowing your price point I can't help there. There's not very many houses actually on the water there I might add, and a lot of the ones that are don't have good access to it or are older homes (not that that is automatically bad). Best bet for being on the water if it is really important to you may be buying out of city limits.

North Shore neighborhood in Portland is pretty nice and is built around North Shore Country Club. Don't know about any of the other neighborhoods.

Portland also has an Academy, nice HEB, Wally World and most of the fast food eateries. Exxon is starting to build their cracker plant there, Cheniere is gearing up to export compressed NG...things are booming. Good and bad for some.

I live in Rockport, and really like it. I cant say anything about the schools, if you need a Realtor try Robin Martin. She can do Portland or Rockport areas.

A few years ago, I would have agreed on Portland. A lot of people are afraid of what Portland will turn into over the next few years. There are several large industrial businesses opening in between Portland and ingleside over the next few years. No one knows what that will do to the school district. Several professional types of people I know have already moved to corpus. Portland as of today is still great. But Could change a lot soon.

The hardest thing I've seen for couples moving to the area is keeping the wife happy. Guys love the hunting and fishing. Girls have a harder time with things to do. So make your wife happy from the start and go with her choice. There are no long commutes to the Portland area (except port a and north padre). So none will be that hard if you are moving from somewhere like houston.

I do not know anything about the rockport schools, but it would be a really cool community to grow up in. But will be a very small town type of life.

I like living in the older part of corpus. Areas between ocean drive and alameda. But we choose to do private schools living here. Good news is these houses are affordable compared to larger cities and private schools are cheaper.
Good private schools
Saint James
Incarnate Word
Annapolis

Older neighborhoods I like
South shores $400k-$900k
Lamar park $250k - $750k
Pope place $150k - $300k
Area south of south shores between ocean and Kentner $200k - $400k
Corpus Christi Country Club $250k - $900k

London is the best public school district and is similar to a very nice farming community. This would be a bit of a commute, but would be mostly highway. And traffic isn't horrible here. Callalen would be similar.

Someone else could chime in on the other schools on the south side. I'm sure for that age group there are some good ones. I just don't know a lot of people that live out there. South side is newer construction and newer schools. So there are probably really good options there. But my wife and I prefer the character of older neighborhoods.

Very helpful, thank you. If you don't mind me asking, what is affordable in private school? I have no data points on this. Can give you my email too if easier to go offline.

I realized saying private schools are cheaper may come across the wrong way and wish I hadn't put that. What I meant was corpus schools are usually cheaper than what my friends in houston and Dallas pay.

$6000 - $8000 per year here

Best public schools are going to be Calallen, London, and Portland.

No Flour Bluff? There's some rough kids there but in terms of actual education it's up there

I'll agree with that.

London ISD would be a great school district and the commute wouldn't be terrible as you'd just jump on crosstown and you're highway all the way to Portland. Personally I would not live in Portland. I would look at London for more "rural" living like houses on an acre. Or south side like Kings Crossing for your more suburban neighborhoods. South side you'd get veterans HS which is brand new and pretty top notch from what I hear.

North side of town you have South shore and Lamar park which have great character in the neighborhoods but I'm unsure of their schools. I have plenty of friends with young kids in those areas though.

Shoot me an email and I can get you hooked up with a realtor for any home specific questions or if you have further questions on places to live.
Lazurasdc at yahoo dot com

I have a friend who commutes to Portland daily and lives off circle dr. /ocean dr. area. Nice older homes with character. If you did private school - st. James , IWA, JCC are all close to this area.

I have kids the same age and my hope is They test into the GT program: Windsor Park/Baker/Ray , it's the best IMO within CCISD.

Will do.. I'll shoot you an email tomorrow.

Thanks everyone for your help so far. Very helpful to be able to hone in on some areas.

I moved to the area six years ago and ended up buying a home in Portland in the Northshore Country Club neighborhood. Reasons I chose this over areas of Corpus was desire to be by the water, wanting a quiet street with no traffic, and affordability. My main positive for Portland is that it is mostly residential and the commercial that does exist is on highway 35. It is very quiet with no traffic. Corpus had no zoning until the 70s so you see a lot of mixed commercial, industrial next to neighborhoods.

Duck hunting is great anywhere in the region, but the public land isn't so great for other game. Fishing is easy access. I can walk from by front door and be in CC Bay in two minutes. That said, I have had the best luck fishing Mustang Island, Packery Channel, and Baffin Bay, not Portland.

If you are going to work in Portland, then I would suggest searching between Portland to Rockport and skip Corpus until the new bridge is complete. I commute into Corpus for work and then night school. With the construction I have seen a lot more accidents and traffic backups. Yesterday it took me about an hour and a half to get from Portland to TAMUCC. The dream would be to both live and work on this side of the bay and only go to Corpus for leisure.

lazuras_dc is good people and has plenty of connections for the area.

Thanks PMD. Do we know each other ?

lazuras_dc said:

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Thanks PMD. Do we know each other ?

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Yep! My wife and I are both patients of yours. I haven't been to a Salty Aggie get together in forever because I made the stupid decision to go to night school for a masters.

Catfish, if you are still looking for opinions on this, hit me up on PM.

I have been living in Portland since September of last year in an apartment, and I just got a more permanent position on the GCGV job, so we are moving to a rental house in the next month or two. We have kids that are 5 and 2, so elementary schools is the prime concern for us as well.

Basically, you dont have a bunch of options if you want your kiddos in the best elementary. You have to go to East Cliff, there isnt another good option. Which basically means you are only looking at the Northshore area. DO NOT MOVE INTO THE NEIGHBORHOOD BY WALMART. It doesnt go to East Cliff even though it is right next to it. It goes to Gregory, which is an awful elementary from what we understand. They dont like to advertise that fact.

More or less you want to live to the SE of the highway, from Wildcat/Broadway to Buddy Ganem where the walmart is. That is your only option if you want to get your kids into East Cliff.

Be prepared, homes are way more expensive than you are thinking they will be. We thought they would be cheap, but they are way more expensive than NW Houston where we moved from.

Good luck, and hit me up on PM if you want more information or make a trip down. Would love to meet you, as we are always looking for fellow Ags with kids in the same age range!

ChrisTheClassic said:

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Basically, you dont have a bunch of options if you want your kiddos in the best elementary. You have to go to East Cliff, there isnt another good option. Which basically means you are only looking at the Northshore area. DO NOT MOVE INTO THE NEIGHBORHOOD BY WALMART. It doesnt go to East Cliff even though it is right next to it. It goes to Gregory, which is an awful elementary from what we understand. They dont like to advertise that fact.

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Wow I didn't know the kids in that neighborhood didn't go to East Cliff. Whenever they were proposing building the new school about 5-7 years back the majority of the pushback was from old people that lived in the old east cliff neighborhood (further down Broadway from the current school past Northshore and towards Corpus' direction) not wanting all the kids in that neighborhood to have access to the new school. And yeah keep your kids out of Stephen F Austin (the Gregory school).

PMD03 said:

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lazuras_dc said:

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Thanks PMD. Do we know each other ?

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Yep! My wife and I are both patients of yours. I haven't been to a Salty Aggie get together in forever because I made the stupid decision to go to night school for a masters.

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Haha ok think I narrowed it down to who it is lol!

Thanks! I haven't been back to this thread in a bit. I don't have PM, but can email. Reply back if you are still watching this one and I'll post an email.

Hey catfish. Yeah I'm still around.

thecatfishTA@gmail.com

Ok got it. You can take it down if you want

We lived in the Northshore area of Portland for 6 years and still own a home there (currently rented) on Augusta Drive.

Loved the area and at the time was closer to downtown (where I worked) than the southside of Corpus. The drive back across the bay was excellent decompression time.