Bellaire

Buying or selling a home in Bellaire, Texas

Bellaire is its own incorporated city, not a Houston neighborhood. According to the City of Bellaire, it was founded in 1908 on part of a 9,500-acre ranch, as a residential community and agricultural trading center. City Hall is at 7008 S. Rice Avenue. The principal ZIP code is 77401, but ZIP boundaries and city limits aren't the same, so with every listing we confirm on the Harris County Appraisal District record that the property is actually inside Bellaire.

Why the city line matters when you buy

Inside the city limits, Bellaire handles many services that Houston handles next door. Building work, for example, goes through the city's own permits and inspections portal. If you're planning to renovate, add on or build new, look up the property's permit history there and ask the city about current requirements before you commit to a budget or a timeline.

What we check before you make an offer

• Jurisdiction: Bellaire or Houston, confirmed on the appraisal district record and not assumed from the mailing address.
• Permit history and planned work in the city's permit portal.
• Flood history for the specific lot. We review the seller's disclosure and look up the address with the Harris County Flood Control District's public mapping tools. We don't characterize any home's flood risk ourselves.
• School assignment by address. The city notes that Bellaire is served by Houston ISD. Assignment still follows the exact address, so use the HISD address lookup, then review campus information on TXschools.gov for the reporting year you need.

Selling in Bellaire

Buyers here often ask about permits for past projects and what can be built on the lot, so gather your permit records, any surveys and a complete TREC Seller's Disclosure Notice before you list. Homes in Bellaire range from original houses to recent new construction, so we price against truly comparable recent sales inside the city limits, not a blended ZIP average.

Parks and city amenities

The city says it maintains 15 parks; the park directory lists them. A few anchors:

• Evelyn's Park, 4400 Bellaire Blvd., on the site of the historic Teas Nursery, which closed in 2009. The Rubenstein Foundation acquired the 5-acre site and donated it to the city to become a park.
• Russ Pitman Park, 7112 Newcastle, home of the Nature Discovery Center.
• Bellaire-Zindler Park, 7008 S. Rice, with a neighborhood pool, tennis and pickleball courts and a Little League field.
• Evergreen Park, 4500 Evergreen St., with a neighborhood pool, playground and picnic area.

The city also runs a recreation center, the Town Square Family Aquatic Center and a city library.

For more on Bellaire's civic life and things to do, read the Bellaire guide on our Choosin' Texas Living journal. When you're ready to tour homes or talk about selling, call Mickey and Jackie at (281) 724-3966 or use the market report form below.

Get the Bellaire market report