Looking for our first place. Suburb living or downtown?

[ClarenceBodiker]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

Hurst and NRH are nice areas. Pretty much all of NE Tarrant is good. There are only a few small exceptions, such as Richland Hills and Haltom City.

I agree with L2R that TCC students aren't going to be a rental market.

I might agree with Haltom City, but what's wrong with Richland Hills? They end up at the same schools as North Richland Hills kids. The homes are just a bit older. I've never heard heard of crime being an issue.

RH is also conveniently located inside of loop 820 and near a TRE rail station. I think the location makes up for what some might see as an older, less charming neighborhood.

[hypocore]

Originally Posted by ClarenceBodiker

I might agree with Haltom City, but what's wrong with Richland Hills? They end up at the same schools as North Richland Hills kids. The homes are just a bit older. I've never heard heard of crime being an issue.

RH is also conveniently located inside of loop 820 and near a TRE rail station. I think the location makes up for what some might see as an older, less charming neighborhood.

I lived in Richland Hills for almost 30 years, finally just had to get out of there! Wish we had done it sooner than we did too.

I could write a book on the pros and cons of the city, but not here. lol It can be a fine place for many people, but for most looking to better themselves, it's not the place to be.

[ClarenceBodiker]

Originally Posted by hypocore

I lived in Richland Hills for almost 30 years, finally just had to get out of there! Wish we had done it sooner than we did too.

I could write a book on the pros and cons of the city, but not here. lol It can be a fine place for many people, but for most looking to better themselves, it's not the place to be.

I would actually love to hear the opinions of a former resident. Granted, I get that it's not the most attractive suburb. What limited commercial zoning it had has long run dry over a decade ago. But I've always thought that its location close to Fort Worth inside of 820 and its good school district made it a great area for eventual gentrification.

[ChristieP]

Problems with Richland Hills:
poorly-maintained streets
high taxes due to lack of commercial property
Old, not well-maintained, homes that are rapidly decreasing in property value
Crime rate that is higher than neighboring areas

[hypocore]

Originally Posted by ClarenceBodiker

I would actually love to hear the opinions of a former resident. Granted, I get that it's not the most attractive suburb. What limited commercial zoning it had has long run dry over a decade ago. But I've always thought that its location close to Fort Worth inside of 820 and its good school district made it a great area for eventual gentrification.

Where to begin....lol

Schools - a primary reason we moved out was because of the schools. Richland Elementary now serves a very large population of transitional families (families coming and going at will and often non-English speaking families) and that is where their focus was when we left. Our daughter, now in 8th, is an advanced student and her educational needs were simply not being met. We saw no hint of that changing even when our son would begin school, now in 3rd. Add to that the turn over in staff was horrendous. When we left the school there were approximately 5 staff still there who were there when my daughter first began school.

Richland Middle school is currently ranked Academically Unacceptable. Due to the atmosphere of the school they are required to wear uniforms. The school and the city have an agreement where any student caught in a fight on campus will be immediately arrested and taken to juvenile court in handcuffs no matter who started it or why. Not an atmosphere conducive to learning for an advanced student.

Jack Binion was recently torn down and a new school built on the opposite end of the property. It's no longer a smaller neighborhood school with 400 or so students, it now can house over 700 students. Many of those come from apartment complexes, but also many come from part of Hurst east of NE Mall, some from the neighborhood between Grapevine Hwy and Bedford-Euless Rd. So, the classmates can be found in Richland Hills, Hurst and North Richland Hills.

All grocery shopping, except for convenience store stuff, must be done outside city limits. The only actual restaurant within the city is El Chico. There is the McDonald's and a couple of burger places and whatever incantation the place right in front of Richland Elementary is now for some fast food type choices and that's about it.

Anything else you want in regards to retail, entertainment or food can be found very close by, just not within the city limits itself.

The library, while improved greatly over the years, holds very little interest for avid or advanced readers. They really need a huge influx of new books.

The city government is definitely lacking. The best thing ever done for the city was to get the TRE rail station, yet people fight against it constantly.
I lived in the city for 27 years and had exactly ONE candidate show up at my door to chat about his goals etc. I attended numerous city events and on more than one occasion had interactions with one particular mayor that were not pleasant ones. It's very much a clique versus clique city and if you don't fit in either...too bad.

On the retail side they lost Sam's club and have never been able to recoup the loss in taxes. That building has occasional temporary occupants, but nothing that even comes close to replacing that lost revenue.

They also encouraged/allowed Albertsons to push people to sell their houses, then they demolished them and the empty building at the corner of Rufe Snow and Grapevine Hwy. That still sits empty since Albertsons backed out of building a new store there. People were forced out of their homes and have nothing to show.....and more lost tax revenue.

Many other smaller businesses have left the city for better deals elsewhere. Some new ones have moved in, but you will find many empty commercial buildings.

You can drive down streets throughout the city and find several vacant houses an most streets. Many are due to foreclosures, abandonment and the elderly dying which the city cannot do anything about for years. Our last year there before moving away, we rented this one house. (had owned a different one prior) The house next door to that one had been vacant from years and as a result had a horrible termite infestation which spread to the grand old trees. One had fallen on the power lines before we moved in causing the meter and everything around it to have to be replaced. Two more trees fell while we were living there, one on the fence bending the top rail quite a bit.

Drainage/flooding is still an issue in some places too. Just ask the poor folks who live near Rosebud Park.....

Speaking of Parks....they tore down the permanent bathroom structure at Rosebud and had only a port a potty the last time we ventured there. Unacceptable for a large family park. Kate Baker park had a nice, although old, community building that was torn down with the promise to replace it with a newer, better version. Never happened.

If you want a home with a large lot and lots of trees, you can certainly find it in RH. If you have horses and want a place where you can have them with you, RH may be your place. If you want to find an existing mother-in-law building on the back of your house lot, RH may be the place for you. Just understand that most of the homes are well over 50 years old and so very many of them are not in good repair.

Houses tend to be passed down in the family or growing families share the same house, which causes quite a few additions built over the years. Some are nicely done, others just don't fit in well with what is already there. Often it makes it look like two separate houses were glued together. haha

Having said that, you can find some amazingly large and beautiful newer houses as well. Some in a newer development, some scattered here and there amongst the older existing houses.

I can't say that crime is all that worse there than anywhere else, but it certainly does exist. We saw a drug raid down the street from us a couple of times. It was in a house where the elderly lady had passed away and the house was either taken over by squatters or good for nothing relatives.

There was the homeless guy living in the wooded area near the train tracks who attacked a homeless woman and then raped a nearby resident and stole her truck. I believe that was last year.

The most common crime while there was domestic stuff, stolen cars and burglary. We've had far worse than that where we live now which is in a much higher income area with far less crime in general...just a couple of isolated bad instances.

The street maintenance has greatly improved over they years, with quite a bit of replacement of old sewer lines, drainage upgrades and street replacements. It just depends on who is in office as to whether or not it gets done when it needs to get done. Same for where we live now.

Interestingly enough, somehow with the city budget as low as it's been, they managed to find enough money to purchase and install nice holiday banners along Baker Blvd this year. I just drove down that street Tuesday and can't say I recall ever seeing banners in that city.......

[ChristieP]

Thanks, Hypocore. I worked in the RH area for 3 years, and I have friends who bought an old house on Bridges and are restoring it. You truly speak the truth about RH. It does have its advantages, but the disadvantages are huge.