Nice neighborhoods in SBISD, north of I-10 (Houston, Spring: best neighborhoods, crime)

[blueplanet248]

I am interested in moving into the area of Spring Branch ISD that is north of I-10. I don't know the area well and was hoping for comments of the area. I've heard some positive things about Hilshire and Brykerwoods off Wirt Rd. Any feedback would be appreciated

[Lost_In_Translation]

what's your budget. The two villages north of I-10 (Spring Valley and Hilshire Village) both are zoned to Memorial and have excellent reputations. Some of the other areas zoned to Memorial have been improving (Bellewood, Afton Village). However, you really need a 350K+ budget to get into something decent zoned to Memorial. A rule of thumb would be to look between Silber to the east, Blalock to the west and stay south of Westview road to stay in the Memorial zone areas and in the best neighborhoods.

West of the beltway, you have a couple much cheaper options zoned to Stratford. One is Sherwood Oaks, where the price per sqft for a decent house can be as low as $80. The other is a small neighborhood called Westwick, which is slightly more exspensive than Sherwood Oaks, but much newer houses (80's vintage as opposed to 60's).

[EasilyAmused]

Hilshire and Brykerwood are very nice, but only a slight discount from the south side. It's never had out of control appreciation because of the freeway separation from other Memorial families.

My only beef with the north side is that the neighborhood can go from fab, to eh, to uh-oh very quickly.And for the same price as a Hunter's Creek home, many don't want to deal with that.

[elnina]

I would not recommend anything in Sherwood or Westwick - lots of crime there. The area outside belt is nice, but not safe.

[blueplanet248]

EasilyAmused: Yes, I've noticed that about Hilshire and Brykerwoods! It seems that the prices are not really all that much lower than on the south side of the freeway? Maybe those two areas on the north side are not that great of value then?

I noticed that also about north of the freeway...in no time you can go from nice to almost ghetto-ish in a matter of seconds!

Lost_In_Translation: Thanks for the input! We'd really like to stay much closer in than the Beltway. Afton Village seemed nice but I'm a little concerned with that Walmart just finished on Silber. I wonder if they've experienced cut-through traffic since the store has opened.

Thanks everyone for your replies! Keep 'em coming!

[blueplanet248]

Lost In Translation: We're looking to stay under 800k.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Originally Posted by elnina

I would not recommend anything in Sherwood or Westwick - lots of crime there. The area outside belt is nice, but not safe.

??? really? the sheriffs report doesn't show much crime, certainly not any that i would think would warrant major concern and certainly no more than what you might see in the non-village areas of SB south of westview.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Originally Posted by blueplanet248

Lost In Translation: We're looking to stay under 800k.

Look in Spring Valley or south of I-10 outside of the villages. Fonn Villas, Frostwood, Memorial Bend, etc. You'll find what you want there. Alternatively, if you're OK with being zoned to Stratford HS, you could get some of the new builds or nice renovations in Nottingham or Wilchester.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Originally Posted by blueplanet248

EasilyAmused: Yes, I've noticed that about Hilshire and Brykerwoods! It seems that the prices are not really all that much lower than on the south side of the freeway? Maybe those two areas on the north side are not that great of value then?

I noticed that also about north of the freeway...in no time you can go from nice to almost ghetto-ish in a matter of seconds!

Lost_In_Translation: Thanks for the input! We'd really like to stay much closer in than the Beltway. Afton Village seemed nice but I'm a little concerned with that Walmart just finished on Silber. I wonder if they've experienced cut-through traffic since the store has opened.

Thanks everyone for your replies! Keep 'em coming!

For your budget, I think being slightly farther out, but south of I-10 will make you much happier. If you're commuting into town, being at Silber or being at Gassner getting on to I-10 won't make alot of difference. Traffic between BW8 and 610 is not where the bottlenecks are.

[elnina]

Originally Posted by Lost_In_Translation

??? really? the sheriffs report doesn't show much crime, certainly not any that i would think would warrant major concern and certainly no more than what you might see in the non-village areas of SB south of westview.

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