HPISD Familiar Realtors, Questions (University Park, Hillcrest: day care, middle school, university)

[CThopeful]

Following this conversation, as I am super interested in this as well and have similar parameters. What about the blocks south of lovers on the east side of hillcrest? Something like 3008 westminster? I've always wondered if these areas have lots of young families as well.

[Taub201]

South of Lovers and east of Hillcrest: watch for SMU traffic near Airline and Rosedale area or on University/Daniel.

East of Airline and down to University are zoned for Boone. Westminster could have young kids. Given it's one block from Lovers, it will be a bit more affordable than blocks like Milton and Rosedale which are 2-3 streets away.

https://4.files.edl.io/d47c/02/03/20...6af09f6a6b.pdf

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by CThopeful

Following this conversation, as I am super interested in this as well and have similar parameters. What about the blocks south of lovers on the east side of hillcrest? Something like 3008 westminster? I've always wondered if these areas have lots of young families as well.

Yes! Tons of kids. Most of the Armstrong PTA presidents over the last decade live in that neighborhood....which is now mostly zoned to Boone. It was a point of contention during the zoning process that Armstrong will be losing a lot of their parent volunteers to Boone.

[CThopeful]

Very helpful, thank you! I don't want to hijack thread but might be helpful for OP too, what about something like 3525 Rosedale? It seems like a great deal at the current price and checks a lot of boxes but wondering why it's been on the market so long?

[fort.worth.native]

Yes, keep 'em coming CThopeful! Very helpful!

My guess on Rosedale is that the backyard pool taking up almost all of the yard plus having no grass limits the number of potential buyers for that house. Doesn't seem kid friendly enough and it sounds like most people buying at that price point will have young kiddos. Even if you put a safety fence around it, you have no back yard to work with. That's why it wouldn't work for me at least.

[JTC Mom]

Originally Posted by CThopeful

Very helpful, thank you! I don't want to hijack thread but might be helpful for OP too, what about something like 3525 Rosedale? It seems like a great deal at the current price and checks a lot of boxes but wondering why it's been on the market so long?

The problem with 3525 Rosedale is it doesn't have a garage. Someone will buy it for sure, but it's a harder sell.

[CThopeful]

Thank you jtc mom! Makes sense. Also, good point on pool OP.

Last question, what are everyone's thoughts on the $900k-1.2mm duplexes on Binkley etc? In an ideal world, these would have decent front yards where the kids can play because I see a lot of kids doing that even in SFH, so a backyard isn't a deal breaker for me, but do these areas have young kids? I've heard the stereotype of Armstrong being the "snooty" elementary because of its pull from the super wealthy HP neighborhoods. Is there any truth to this? Also, it's the only elementary not rebuil as new, will this be an issue?

[JTC Mom]

Originally Posted by CThopeful

Thank you jtc mom! Makes sense. Also, good point on pool OP.

Last question, what are everyone's thoughts on the $900k-1.2mm duplexes on Binkley etc? In an ideal world, these would have decent front yards where the kids can play because I see a lot of kids doing that even in SFH, so a backyard isn't a deal breaker for me, but do these areas have young kids? I've heard the stereotype of Armstrong being the "snooty" elementary because of its pull from the super wealthy HP neighborhoods. Is there any truth to this? Also, it's the only elementary not rebuil as new, will this be an issue?

I wouldn't worry about Armstrong being snooty. There are nice people everywhere and snooty people everywhere. It's fine. Lots of the families in the higher end 5M+ HP homes don't even go to Armstrong (or Bradfield...plenty of big homes in Bradfield zone too).

As for the SFA homes near the middle school. I personally dislike Asbury. It's narrow and crowded and generally feels like a thoroughfare. But, it's convenient to the middle school for sure and pretty central in the district. If I needed to be in HPISD and had a budget under 800K, I would look there for sure.

There are two in the 900-1.2 range on the 3400 blocks of Shenandoah and Granada. That little area on the other side of the middle school always feels cut off to me, but it's fine. I like the location on the other side of the Middle School better, especially if you get beyond the first block. So the one on the 3700 block of Binkley is definitely a better location IMHO. It feels like more of a neighborhood and there are single family homes on that block too. That's also why the price is higher than the others (plus it's bigger).

There are new construction duplexes in this price range on Glenwick west of the high school. There are tons of young families in that area too, though you also get high school traffic...

[DallasMom698]

We lived in one of the SFAs on Binkley for a number of years. It was perfectly fine. I don't think that's a good stereotype of Armstrong, because the largest number of the duplexes are in Armstrong as well, and honestly it seems like a higher percentage of the students come from Binkley/Granada/Shenandoah/Asbury/McFarlin than the south HP streets. I think the duplexes are a mix of rentals, often to students, and people who are moving in explicitly for the schools - if you are buying a $5M+ house, you probably just buy where you want; if you have $800,000 to spend and you buy an SFA in HP/UP, it's probably because you have a kid you want to send to school. So you will find that lots of Armstrong kids come from the SFAs (maybe even slightly a higher percentage when they cut off Haynie and University for next year and send them to UP).

Westminster is nice. it falls into my category of the quieter streets east of Hillcrest that could be pleasant. E.g., i'd much rather live on one of those than University, which is extremely busy. Not Lovers or Hillcrest, obviously, but busy and people drive too fast.

[CThopeful]

Originally Posted by DallasMom698

We lived in one of the SFAs on Binkley for a number of years. It was perfectly fine. I don't think that's a good stereotype of Armstrong, because the largest number of the duplexes are in Armstrong as well, and honestly it seems like a higher percentage of the students come from Binkley/Granada/Shenandoah/Asbury/McFarlin than the south HP streets. I think the duplexes are a mix of rentals, often to students, and people who are moving in explicitly for the schools - if you are buying a $5M+ house, you probably just buy where you want; if you have $800,000 to spend and you buy an SFA in HP/UP, it's probably because you have a kid you want to send to school. So you will find that lots of Armstrong kids come from the SFAs (maybe even slightly a higher percentage when they cut off Haynie and University for next year and send them to UP).

Westminster is nice. it falls into my category of the quieter streets east of Hillcrest that could be pleasant. E.g., i'd much rather live on one of those than University, which is extremely busy. Not Lovers or Hillcrest, obviously, but busy and people drive too fast.

Thank you so much Dallasmom! Did you have young families on Binkley and was it conducive to kids running around like the streets north of lovers?