Possible relocation to Irving from Japan!

[kittyhox]

That is a gorgeous house!

I can't get over how much house money will buy a person in the Dallas area. I live in West Seattle and that would buy a condo. And not a great one.

Where is Allen, I wonder. I'll have to look it up on the map.

We are thinking of moving to the DFW area.

[DFWMike]

ditto what far north said. I thought that was cookie cutter as well. If you're good with that house, no worries. There's plenty of custom home developments in Irving for that matter, I would still look towards Flower Mound but thats just me, lots of trees up that way on the west side.

[artsymom]

We, my family and I, are relocating to work in Irving, Texas. We were in Japan last spring. We love the green lush and humidity-kind of like what we just saw in Texas-we just went out there this last month for the first time.

We DID see one acres within an hour and less. We don't mind driving a little ways either. We are looking for a one acre to build a craftsman style home on. Very "non" cookie-cutter. It's an influence of Japanese, English Tudor, and Indian. It's become more popular in the last 5-10 years. It's been in a revival. It was more popular around the turn of the century...early 1900's.

My family and I live in Utah-many plain cookie cutters here....lots of plain stucco homes, or plain vinyl homes with a simple band/strip of rock along the bottom of the house. There are of course beautiful neighborhoods here with lots of rock/stone...but they still look cookie cutter to me.

I'm originally from Pasadena, California. A cookie cutter is hard to find there. It's an older town with lots of beautiful custom homes, both small and large.

While in Texas, we visited freinds in Allen. There were many brick/rock homes there...like the one you posted.

Thanks

[Deadmaster200]

So, basically I am getting the impression that regardless of price and how custom the interior is, a cookie-cutter (at least in Dallas) is any house that the exterior is made with what is currently in style---the brick and stone 2-story style.

So, now that I understand what a cookie-cutter is, what makes a house a non-cookie-cutter? Links to pics would be great.

Also, now that I have a better idea, I can say that I have no problem with a cookie-cutter. So, having said that, I would like some more advice on where would be a good place to choose.

Thanks for the feedback so far.

[GibboK]

Hey Deadmaster - why don't you have a look at Keller? I saw a really nice house for my mom and dad in Keller that was $229K, only 3 years old and just really nice. It didn't have a huge yard though - I think it was about 1/4 an acre, but that's a good sized yard and it was in great condition. I'd send you the link, but they won't let you send real estate links. There's a company called DFW Real Estate Group and their website lets you just do MLS searches yourself without you sending them your search criteria. It's great because you can look at all the areas around Irving and check out what your money will get you. Good luck!

[Deadmaster200]

Hey Gibbok,

Thanks for the info. But actually, that is why I first decided to post on this forum in the first place. There are just so many houses in all the different areas. So I was hoping to get some info from the people who really know the areas and could tell me which places to definitely avoid and which places I should look into seriously.

So, don't stop now. Keep it comin'!