Arlington Heights, Fort Worth

Arlington Heights is a west side neighborhood that Humphrey Barker Chamberlin launched in the early 1890s on the prairie west of Fort Worth, with a trolley line, a lake and a planned grand hotel. After developers donated land to the U.S. Army, Camp Bowie trained more than 100,000 soldiers here during World War I, and the area boomed in the 1920s with arts and crafts bungalows and English cottages. Today the greater area takes in smaller pockets such as Monticello, Crestwood, Sunset Heights South and West Beyer, close to West Seventh, the Cultural District and Trinity Park.

The lesson here is to price by pocket and by house, not by the neighborhood name. A 1923 bungalow in the Hillcrest Addition and a remodeled home a few blocks away can sell far apart, and many of these homes are about 100 years old. When I help sellers here, I show which updates buyers actually pay for (foundation, electrical, plumbing and HVAC first), and when I help buyers, I read the inspection with a builder's eye so you know what is cosmetic and what is structural before you negotiate.