what is the deal w/mansfield??? (Dallas, Fort Worth: for sale, real estate, foreclosures)

[loves2read]

I will post this in Dallas forum as well--but what is the deal with Mansfield--my husband and I drove through there during Memorial Day weekend looking at some homes we had caught on MLS search--there were SO MANY homes for sale--some in newer neighborhoods like King's Mill, some in older neighborhoods--some in area with new construction where there were lots for sale and home started--I know of one home in King's Mill that has been up for sale for almost a year(and think there are a couple of others) and it is a nice home-attractive, well-built, maybe a little expensive but in Colleyville or Southlake, it would have sold long ago...
seeing all those homes for sale make us very leery of the stability of the area...
frankly we are little afraid to buy a home in an area where we see so many up for sale...most of what we have read about Mansfield in the paper has been positive in sense that it is growing with new commercial and retail construction--new hospital--stuff that would make it seem very desireable place to live...
so what is going on with all the houses for sale--can't believe that it is just people who are being transferred--would mean that almost any

[loves2read]

saw new article in FTW paper today about foreclosures in Tarrant co and Mansfield was up 196%---so I guess that explains part of the problem

Azle was up 118, Southlake 56% -- actual numbers--681 foreclosures in Mansfield fron Jan-June 07 compared to 230 same time a year ago, Southlake went from 18 same time in 06 to 28 current--Grand Prairie went from 671-841, Burleson from 138-178, Fort Worth went from 2396 to 2840, Keller from 77 to 102, Bedford went from 89 to 132, Azle went from 40 to 87, Saginaw from 65 to 101---some places dropped...White Settlement went from 68 to 2, Colleyville from 50 to 40, Hurst from 106 to 93, Denton from 240 to 207...

[drjones96]

This isn't unique to Mansfield.

4 years ago we bought our house in a neighborhood that seemed promising and it became overun with people that looked like they would have a hard time financing a trip to the zoo much less buy a descent priced home. I make a good income and bought what I thought was a moderately priced home. Yet somehow somebody that make much much less money can somehow buy a nearly identical house as mine. Well guess what....they really can't afford those houses. I'm still there whereas they have been forclosed on. This really drives up the value of your home too let me tell you! (sarcasm in case you couldn't tell) Because these losers buy houses they can't afford sometimes they end up moving out of them and renting them out....to....pretty much ANYBODY! Yeah I've got some gang banger looking MF's in my neighborhood now....freaking perfect. One of them sits out there drinking a 40 sometimes. This is a place I felt like would have been great for my kids to ride thier bikes up and down the street and now I've got to deal with that crap.

Some people are STUPID enough to buy a house with one of these balloon interest deals where they don't have to pay any interest for the first several years. Yeah. They do that for a reason. It's because they can't afford the freaking monthlys. So are they saving the money for the massive interest payment that's coming in 2-5 years? Hell no. Forclosure time!

[loves2read]

we had builder who tried to get us interested in new development in North Richland Hills a year or so ago--we liked him but were not sure about the area even though it is not that far from where we live now...
we drove through the new subdivision at different times of day/night/week to get idea of who was buying homes already built===that is what stopped us--the large lot we were interested in was on short cul de sac--we went into it one night and saw about 5 "rice rockets" as my husband calls them parked in front of one of the two houses already built/sold with teenage boys in hoodies standing around talking---might be very nice guys but we did not want to take a chance that they were harbingers of things to come...
that was enough to make us back away--at that time you could get cheap entry level mortgage for 350-450,000 house (in that neighborhood and plenty of others) w/no real down payment or sustainable income---it was enought to make us rethink buying there...
it that sounds prejudiced I guess in some ways it is--because we did not want to buy in area that would be ghettoized in three to four years---
our neighborhood is 20 yrs old but neighborhood standards are high--we have Hispanics and African Americans, Asians and Anglos who live here--but it is very stable--maybe 2 foreclosures in all time we have lived here...
we just though a new house (at least in that spot) was not worth the hassle...and I sympathize w/u...home builders don't care about anyone but their own bottom line--they did same thing in Keller/FT Worth over in Villages of Woodland Springs--market is saturated w/homes that people bought at low interest--could not refinance when rates went up because their incomes had not appreciated...so that market is full for pre/forclosures...
my realtor was talking about it today--she had listing she was able to sell because house has large lot and trees, attractive property, that another realtor plans on living in--not investment property...so he was looking long term and has no small children (looked like an empty nester when I saw him this morning)...
Instant gratification is what that is called and it is terminal illness for some people--way too much credit is extended--when even a dog can get a credit limit of 2000 or more, everyone should realize that something is really wrong w/the economy...

[msdee]

I am looking to relocate to the Arlington area and I thought Mansfield was a very nice area for me to raise my children. However, after reading these posts about Mansfield, I am somewhat discouraged about buying a home in Mansfield. I am an attorney who will be working in the Arlington area and did not want to have too long of a commute. Also, I am not inclined to move to a neighborhood with a lot of gangbangers where I would be concerned about my children playing outside. Originally, I saw that Mansfield had pretty good schools, so that is what lured me to that area. Any suggestions as to very nice areas would be appreciated. Thanks in advance

[loves2read]

there are some areas of Mansfield that are good and safe --but there has been lot of building and the easy-mortgage money has allowed people to get into some homes that they really don't qualify for...there are several gated communities in the Mansfield area and one like King's Mill would not have any gang activity from people who live there---
If you are working in Arlington, you might consider Dalworthington Gardens which is small town surrounded by Arlington just north of I-20...
there are areas of Arlington that are lovely and if you buy with the Martin HS zone you should be ok for schools...
You could live in FTW and drive into Arlington on 30--or live in colleyville or Southlake and use 360 or 157 ...
all depends on your price point...

[queen26]

im lookn to move to fort worth..how close is mansfield from there..are there any good nursing schools? and besides the real estate issues is mansfield i also heard the schools were good there..any opinions on just the school district?

[RhondaElkins]

Hi there,

I'm new to this forum and read your interest in the Mansfield area. I admit that the lenders have been too laxed in their lending practices, thus all the foreclosures in the Arlington/Mansfield area, just to name a couple. But, I live in Mansfield and love it. It's booming as far as restaurants, shopping and city services are concerned. There is no room for Arlington to grow so they are going south (Mansfield). The commute to Dallas/F.W. is a breeze with Hwy. 287 and I-20 so close. I hope you will reconsider. By the way, the schools are excellent.

[MansfieldMom3]

We have lived here for 4 years. We live in the vicinity of Matlock and Country Club. I will say that the schools in Mansfield are excellent. I have three children who are enrolled at Mansfield High, Willie Brown Elementary and J.L. Boren Elementary. The parents here are very active in the schools. My neighborhood is very good. However, none of the homes that were for sale in our subdivision sold this past summer. We are moving out of state in a couple of months and are faced with leaving our home sit empty until the spring in hopes that the housing market will be better. We will not rent our home out because we KNOW it would get trashed and we would not do that to our neighbors.

The one thing I love about Mansfield is you don't have to go to Arlington anymore to go shopping. Arlington is a NIGHTMARE!!! Once they get the Shops at Broad Street open, it will be fantastic! I'm sad that we are leaving. I highly recommend Mansfield if you have a family. It is very much a family-oriented town. It also has great parks with miles of paths to walk, ride bikes or rollerblade on.

Keeping the bad element out, no matter what race they are, is always a problem in any town that is growing. Eventually they will find their own niche and get out of the good neighborhoods.

[R.B.]

There are so many investors buying houses in new communities and rent them out. My husband and I recently moved to one of them when we relocated from East Coast. There are many empty lots around our house, red-tag sale by the builder, and so many other houses for sale. We don’t know why people are already selling their new homes… We just drove by a small luxury community in Arlington last week. The Builder is still building the houses, but we saw 2 empty houses for sale and one foreclosed house. It seems like all brand-new communities have same issue…