Difficulty deciding between Frisco & Castle Hills(lewisville) (Dallas, Denton: custom home, neighborhood)

[andy_gr8]

Hi Folks,
We are in our early 30's and have a 2.5 year old son. Have been planning to buy a house for long and have finally started to give some dimensions to it. Almost made an offer at a new house at ElDorado +Teel Intersection in Frisco when someone asked us to look at Castle Hills also. Our budget is ~300-350k. Need you opinion on the following perspectives.
a) School:Which school district would you rate higher
b) Community : Activities, Greenery
c)Value for Money
d)Resale value : We might want to move to another place in the next 4-5 years. Which house would hold value.

Thanks in advance
andy

[nsumner]

Hey Andy,
There is a little different vibe between both areas. Frisco schools are better rated overall. Castle Hills is a "bubble" for the area, a big bubble. It is a master planned community vs. The Traditions, if that's the neighborhood you're referring to. However, the location of Castle Hills is awesome and makes it accessible to several highways within minutes and the neighborhood activities are difficult to beat. You will very likely get a little more house for your money in Frisco since it's still growing. You have to think about how long you may live in the home, will all the builders be out within the time you may move, because you don't want to be competing with them. The same exists for Castle Hills, there are 3 builders that will be there for at least a couple of years but their prices are increasing a lot too.

Naima

[andy_gr8]

Thanks nsumner. I drove down the CH last week and had a much better feel about the place as compared to frisco which still looks barren and empty. The school part left me a little uncomfortable as school to school frisco stood out much better. I saw that CH Elementary had a lot better rating. Do you happen to know if they are still constructing new houses in that school zone?

[AgTeach]

I have been reading that they built/are building another elementary school for the newest zone in CH. I work as an elementary school teacher in Dallas and CH elementary is very well known for its success but I do not think they will be adding more homes to the CH elementary 'zone'. I think CH will just keep growing and growing!

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by andy_gr8

Hi Folks,
We are in our early 30's and have a 2.5 year old son. Have been planning to buy a house for long and have finally started to give some dimensions to it. Almost made an offer at a new house at ElDorado +Teel Intersection in Frisco when someone asked us to look at Castle Hills also. Our budget is ~300-350k. Need you opinion on the following perspectives.
a) School:Which school district would you rate higher
b) Community : Activities, Greenery
c)Value for Money
d)Resale value : We might want to move to another place in the next 4-5 years. Which house would hold value.

Thanks in advance
andy

Andy, as for property values, that is pretty hard to predict. Either area is popular. I think for location and future I would lean toward CHills.

Nita

[txgolfer130]

If it's purely for schools and your kid, I would have to say Frisco. However I think in the bigger picture, the CH will be a better long-term value. CH is a great elementary, the property will hold value better with families, as there is more built-in for community activities and involvement. Frisco is just a good, but much newer and while expanding all the time is still trying to catch up with all the development pace. Either area is a good bet. But I think CH is just a little bit more established and ready to go. But then again, you've got at least 2 years before you have to enroll in the ISD so that may be time enough for the area you're looking at.

It's good to have these kind of problems though huh?

[btheferrett]

I had a couple of clients from CH. I had heard (I am sure you can research this) that they found out after building a bunch of expensive custom homes, that there were major ground problems and the foundations fell apart. They since started building them with huge beams into the ground instead of slab. you might want to check.

[longhornswin]

Castle Hills has major foundation problems due to the expansive soils in the area. Just an FYI.

As far as schools, Frisco ISD >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Lewisville ISD. Not. Even. Close.

At the Elementary level, it's probably a wash, but look out for the middle schools and high schools in Lewisville. Ugh.

[stan4]

What the above poster said is correct. Castle Hills is a home repair guy's wet dream. I've had lots of people who do that kind of work tell me that foundations are creating havoc there secondary to their being no adherence to particular codes of building for county vs city taking in consideration the kind of soil they have there.

[TriumphOfTheSprint]

Originally Posted by stan4

What the above poster said is correct. Castle Hills is a home repair guy's wet dream. I've had lots of people who do that kind of work tell me that foundations are creating havoc there secondary to their being no adherence to particular codes of building for county vs city taking in consideration the kind of soil they have there.

People may have told you that - doesn't mean it's true. The Denton County Fresh Water District (the equivalent of a city government for Castle Hills) has strict codes around soil testing for home building sites in CH. I've lived here for 3 1/2 years and don't personally know *anyone* that has had foundation-related issues, so it is apparently not as widespread an issue as "people" say.

Most of the rumor-mongering about Castle Hills dates back to a problem that occurred 10 years ago with one of the custom builders that did not do proper foundation preparation for the local soil composition. A water main break nearby caused the soil to heave and those foundations could not adjust. Other builders on the same block had no problems. The builder at fault is long gone from CH and was never a major builder here.