An opportunity has come up that might bring Mrs. REL and I back to the RGV. We both grew up here, I lived in weslaco and she lived in Pharr. We are returning now (about 15 years later) with 2 preschool aged kids. I would be working in Harlingen and Mrs is determined to work in McAllen/Mission/Edinburg. Anyone have good advice on a good neighborhood to move to? Has anything sprung up between McAllen and Harlingen, or is one of us destined to commute the distance?

I am not familiar with Weslaco but I would bet that there are some nice subdivisions in Weslaco. I wouldn't buy a house at either McAllen or Harlingen because it would mean someone has a long drive in the traffic.

Why don't you rent an apartment for a while to get your bearings?

Congratulations on your opportunity back in the RGV!

I think your best bet would be to live in that area and make the commute. If I moved back it would definitely be to the Mission/McAllen area. If you have an easy commute to Interstate 2 (US 83) then you should be okay in my opinion.

With kids in the mix I think I would also research the school zoning of any area you are interested in.

Oh and the interchange at US 83/US 281 has gotten worse with the traffic over the years. If you decide to live north of there.

Good luck.

My choice because of our young kids was NE McAllen. I can get to the shrine area of San Juan in about 15 minutes in the morning. Its not terrible.

Her commute to UTPA is 20 minutes. We are off of 6th and Nolana btw.

Schools, property taxes, quality of life composition, and commute are all items I would take a look at before settling on a community. I doubt any community between Mission and Harlingen is going to rank at the top of all of those so you have to decide which are the most important.

I live in Harlingen, work in Weslaco, and travel frequently to the McAllen area. I think the biggest advantage McAllen has over western Cameron County is the retail segment. Because I like to fish and the old lady likes the beach, Harlingen is a great option due to proximity to SPI, Arroyo City and Port Mansfield.

I think schools are a situation where you get out of it what you put into it. Go sit in a couple of recommended campus' end-of-semester recognition ceremonies and see how many parents show up. If the auditorium is empty, the parents of the kids don't care and you'll want to avoid that school.

Property tax rates are easy to find so you can take a look at potential communities and determine what the rate will be. I know Weslaco has one of if not the highest property tax rates in the Valley. The WISD rate is $1.14 per $100 and the total rate is well over $3.00 per $100.

I would consider La Feria, cool little city to live in and an easy 30 min commute to the McAllen area, about 10 to Harlingen. Very affordable and it used to have some decent schools. OVR can probably confirm or dispel that.

Weslaco has some nice areas as well, but according to my wife's thousands of relatives the schools are not too good for the most part.

Not really in a position to give positives and negatives based the fact that I work with all the school administrators in the valley.

I would say that schools should be something that you look carefully at if you have kids. You should have no difficulty in determining what schools are the ones you want your kids in by asking realtors, parents etc. I certainly wouldn't shy away from Harlingen, Weslaco or McAllen. By walking around in a school, you can generally get a pretty good feel for how the place is running. You might be interested in the fact that there are probably more big high schools in the McAllen-Pharr-Edinburg-Mission area than there are in the San Antonio Independent School District!

Like I said before I would rent a nice apartment for a year and get the lay of the land, traffic, schools...and you and your wife's new job before buying a house and then wishing you were in a different town.

This was from 2005.

According to Federal guidelines:

Gonzalez Elementary in McAllen is the only public school (any level) in the valley where less than 50% of the students are from households defined as economically disadvantaged.

A quick look at the web shows that:

Texas average is 45.1% of students come from economically disadvantaged homes.

Brownsville ISD: 90.9 percent are economically disadvantaged, and nearly all the students, 97.3 percent, classify as a traditionally under-represented minority group.

Edcouch/Elsa: 85.1% economically disadvantaged. 98 percent Mexican-American and almost 1/2 of them are classified as migrants.

Donna: 90 percent are economically disadvantaged

Point Isabel ISD: 84.5 % Economically Disadvantaged, yet considered "property wealthy" and has to give a good portion of it's money back to the state. Very unique situation.

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I would consider La Feria, cool little city to live in and an easy 30 min commute to the McAllen area, about 10 to Harlingen. Very affordable and it used to have some decent schools. OVR can probably confirm or dispel that

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Also, you'll have carcinogens in your tap water. So there's that.

If you end up in Hidalgo County, we'll expect you to show up to Aggie HH and our other monthly shenanigans.

Having moved to the valley from the central Texas area I would recommend Harlingen. The schools and access to decent healthcare are as good as you will find here. Retail is ok, the town has everything you need otherwise. Just an outsiders perspective but Harlingen seems a little more sheltered from the onslaught from Mexico, I'm talking about the nationals. Rudest people imaginable. There are quality neighborhoods well. Welcome back.

I'd live in Harlingen and send my kiddo to BETA or MedHigh

live on the west side of harlingen towards la feria (south of highway is better than north) and get your kids into stuart place elementary. its arguably the best elementary school here. you have two minute access to the highway and you're on the side of town where most of the retail is.

side note: having gone to scitech, i would never send a kid of my own to an stisd school.

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live on the west side of harlingen towards la feria (south of highway is better than north) and get your kids into stuart place elementary. its arguably the best elementary school here. you have two minute access to the highway and you're on the side of town where most of the retail is.

side note: having gone to scitech, i would never send a kid of my own to an stisd school.

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Those schools are rated highest in the state and high across the country. So tell us why you wouldn't?

the schools are good, there's no doubt about that (rankings are gamed but that's another discussion) but unless you have extraordinary circumstances or means then paying for college will be difficult. stisd schools are college prep. the curriculum weeds out the ones that can't hack it and you generally get a very smart crop of kids. on paper, this makes the schools look fantastic. high percentages of students going to college, more kids going to top tier schools than most valley districts send in a decade, high number of passing AP scores, etc... all of this makes the schools look fantastic. the downsides are what the students get in return. they are generally college ready, that is true. but you when you have that many bright and driven kids competing, the ones at the top reap most of the rewards. to me, the end goal is college and paying for college. a bright kid is going to get into college, that's the easy part. you have a better chance at money at a public school. a sharp kid at a non-magnet school compared to an stisd peer will generally have a higher ranking percentage, better dual enrollment opportunities, more extracurricular/co-op opportunities, and a shorter day. almost any kid from my graduating class could have been top 10 percent at their home school but they toughed it out. unfortunately the ones with the lowest rankings ended up at panam/utb/tstc/stcc just like everyone else. i was near the top of my class and had scholarship offerings.

tldr -> the juice isn't worth the squeeze imho

Thats exactly what ive always thought about the subject.

I get what you are saying. I guess I look at it differently. We will be facing that when my kiddo will be going to Westwood here in Austin. Something like 40 percent of the kids have a 4.0 GPA. The difference is that the top 10 percent of kids who go to school there don't go to A&M or tu. They go to Yale, Harvard and Columbia.

Don't send your kids to South Texas ISD or BETA.

Granted those are excellent educational institutions they are also a magnet for maladjusted weirdos. If you don't mind screwing with your kids social skills just go all out and home school them

Unfortuately we sorta got off the track regarding a good place to live. You aren't in need of any school yet since your two kids are pre-school. I know I am really old fashioned but I would not move to Harlingen and make my wife drive to McAllen every day. Your kids are probably will be in day care and she would have to drive back to Harlingen if they get sick at school, or you would have to take that responsibility, as well, as taking them to school everyday and picking them up.

I still think that you should rent a place for a year somewhere in the middle and see how things work out. If you just have to buy something now, I would suggest in the McAllen area. I have lived in Harlingen (taught physics at the Marine Military Academy) and found it to be the most unfriendly town I have ever lived in.

[This message has been edited by oldvalleyrat (edited 5/3/2014 4:28p).]

If I moved back I would probably live in Harlingen. The healthcare and schools are great to good respectively and it's closest to SPI but not Brownsville. The community is sheltered the most of all the RGV and it has everything you would need.

McAllen has more stuff to do and definitely more like a city, but I like the geography of Harlingen better. I'm a bit biased since I grew up there, though.

Walter, when did you graduate from Sci-Tech? I'm '01 and my aunt taught physical science. If I had to move back, I'd look at Harlingen, Weslaco or Edinburg.

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Walter, when did you graduate from Sci-Tech? I'm '01 and my aunt taught physical science. If I had to move back, I'd look at Harlingen, Weslaco or Edinburg.

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3 years after you. i had your aunt's class for my first class there. it was very much "wtf did i get myself into". hahaha

I was raised in Weslaco, if you have any questions ask away.

If you have a lot of money you might consider Tierra Santa. There are some other nice neighborhoods in Weslaco, they are found in between West of S Texas BLVD, east Mile 6, South of Buisness 83, and North of 18th St. I can't think of the name of the subdivisions though.

edit: If I remember correctly, back when Weslaco was segregated, streets named in Spanish were for Hispanics, and streets in English were where the white people lived, and thats where the nicer neighborhoods were found. Plus the way the WISD draws the school lines, they try to keep the kids from nicer neighborhoods together, and eventually Weslaco High School. Every one else will end up in Weslaco East High School. But that's what happens when the entire schoolboard are a bunch of townies who never left Weslaco, and try to look after Weslaco High School.

[This message has been edited by Rev_86 (edited 5/5/2014 1:39p).]

What about down near Progresso Lakes? IMO I'd stick to somewhere around McAllen, Edinburg, maybe some of the nicer parts of PSJA or even South Mission.

I know that the few white kids I went to school with lived in Progresso Lakes, but went to school in Weslaco cause Progresso ISD is aweful and corrupt