Possible Relocation to Dallas area (Plano, Flower Mound: house, neighborhood, high school)

[TurtleCreek80]

Christie- OP specifically said "WALKABLE" which to most people means they can open their front door and easily walk to a restaurant or a pharmacy or the post office within 5-10 minutes. As you said in your own post, even though Southlake has a lovely town center, one must DRIVE there to then walk around. That may or may not be what OP had in mind when they said "walkable."

I don't think I painted the suburbs as "from hell" and I gave OP a short list of great suburbs that meet their school /community/ athletic/ price range criteria.

Also, with a budget up to $750k, they aren't limited to only old homes in Woodrow or White zones. There are a lot of relatively new (less than 10 years) in Stonewall Jackson elementary (Woodrow) or in 75229 (White) in the $650-750k range. And even if they wanted an old historic home, most of the ones in the $700k range have been taken to the studs and rebuilt in the past 20 years- new kitchens, bathrooms, garages, master suite additions, etc. Shopping with a $275k budget and a $700k budget in Lakewood gets you completely different quality of homes, you know....

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

I was just trying to give the OP another point of view from what all of the other posters were giving. I've done the "live in a walkable neighborhood in an old 1940s house in DISD" thing and it just didn't work for me. I like living in the suburbs a LOT more!

To me, safety was the big thing. In Dallas, we heard gunshots near our house fairly frequently. My truck was broken into once, and my husband's car was broken into twice. Husband also walked in on a convenience store robbery (thank God he had his CHL!) in a "lovely" neighborhood. Here in the suburbs, the worst thing that has happened was someone stole our trash can off the curb while I was at work.

And for another point of view, I've lived in the heart of Dallas for 5 years and NEVER ONCE heard gunshot at my home. Nor have I been the victim of crime.

Stay in the burbs Christie....but don't push them on someone who may be looking for something other than what YOU prefer.

[Macbeth2003]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

As someone pointed out, OP's price range and need for good schools is not going to allow them to live in a "walkable" neighborhood. So, if they are choosing among non-walkable neighborhoods, and commute time is irrelevant, then the suburbs are a logical choice.

It really will. IF that is what they want. Depends how much space they need, etc. Plenty of 3bed 2 baths in good school areas, walkable areas, in that price range. I live in a 3/1 that cost WAY less than that. Great school, very walkable. Never heard a gunshot either now, the three years I lived in an apt here, or the time a few years before that I lived down here.

Te tell them they can't do walkable with good schools for that price is just flat out not true.

[ChristieP]

Like I said, I was just giving another option...We'll see if the OP even responds back and tells us what he/she thinks of our suggestions.

[brandnewtexan]

Homes near Midway and Parker in west Plano have Golf Club, Arbor Hills Nature Reserve, Barksdale Elementary, Local park, Willow Bend Mall, Hospital, library, CVS, pizza, Kroger, church, spa etc. Within minutes of walk. they do come under PISD and neighborhood is very nice. You are minutes drive away from two major highways.

[skids929]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

Christie- OP specifically said "WALKABLE" which to most people means they can open their front door and easily walk to a restaurant or a pharmacy or the post office within 5-10 minutes. As you said in your own post, even though Southlake has a lovely town center, one must DRIVE there to then walk around. That may or may not be what OP had in mind when they said "walkable."

I don't think I painted the suburbs as "from hell" and I gave OP a short list of great suburbs that meet their school /community/ athletic/ price range criteria.

Also, with a budget up to $750k, they aren't limited to only old homes in Woodrow or White zones. There are a lot of relatively new (less than 10 years) in Stonewall Jackson elementary (Woodrow) or in 75229 (White) in the $650-750k range. And even if they wanted an old historic home, most of the ones in the $700k range have been taken to the studs and rebuilt in the past 20 years- new kitchens, bathrooms, garages, master suite additions, etc. Shopping with a $275k budget and a $700k budget in Lakewood gets you completely different quality of homes, you know....

I will never forget the first time I rolled up on SL Town Center..All the pictures I had seen up to that point made me think it was this Main St. USA type of town center. Boy was that wrong! It's basically the equivalent to what we call an outdoor Mall here in the Northeast (with a few Municipal buildings sprinkled in) due to the fact it is located directly off of a major road.

Don't get me wrong it's an incredibly well executed Town Center, so successful SL managed to completely swamp Kellar's aspirations of a similar town center. But a place you can walk to? Nope..Not even from Timarron or any of the other adjacent neighborhoods, since you would have to traverse SL Blvd. which is almost always busy. Like FND said about the Burbs in general, there are few places I would walk to in Southlake outside of the actual neighborhoods. When I am there and I go for a run in the AM I always have trouble finding safe places to run on the roads outside the neighborhoods thats how unwalkable SL is in general. Unless it's a very large master planned community like SBR or Castle Hills, lack of walkability is basically what I have seen in all the other burbs I have looked at in Tarrant and Collin Counties.

[nsumner]

I don't think the OP necessarily is saying that she wants to walk to do her shopping. She may be looking for a neighborhood with walking trails and sidewalks. Having moved from Chicago myself, we had many neighborhoods that didn't even have sidewalks.

Anyway, if that is the case, there are many neighborhoods that would fit the bill and a master planned community might work better for them since they have kids and can be around other families and have local activities.

May be she'll chime in again and elaborate more.

Naima

[5stones]

People just can't walk out their front door and head down the street to a neighborhood restaurant, for instance. It's just not done and usually not even possible.

Sorry but you are wrong. I live in Keller, I can walk to the Keller Pointe rec-center, Town Hall, Town center (resturants and shopping) and acess Bear creek Trail ALL from my suburbian neighborhood HOA run front door.

Tons of people in Keller walk to the Pointe and trails from thier homes. Lots of people walk to Nikkis from the neighborhoods right around there as well.

Now I usually don't, just due to the nature of our busy lives it's quicker and easier to just drive. Plus with the 100 degree weather, I doubt many in Lakewood or Park cities will walk several blocks to dinner or shopping.

yes, this area as a whole is not very walkable as little towns and hamlets. I lived in PA and our small township was not walkable AT all, HILLS, no sidewalks and houses on 1/2- 5 acre lots etc...
Yes suburbs are spread out and usually don't have "town center" etc...

Grapevine does and I always see alot people walking to resturants and old town etc....

So please think before stating declaritives like CAN'T and IMPOSSIBLE etc...

AND re southlake:

since you would have to traverse SL Blvd. which is almost always busy

There are alot of neighborhood behind Towncenter off of Carroll St that you can walk to without having to cross 1709.
TONS of people wlak to towncenter when there is an event, they cross 1709 by the droves... Arts festival, 4th of july etc...

[Lakewooder]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

One HUGE advantage of living in the suburbs vs. Dallas is that you will not have to pay for private schools for your children. Schools in the suburbs are extemely competitive in athletics, and much better-rated academically (in most areas) than DISD.

In athletics Woodrow has finished very high in the Dallas Morning News All-Sports awards for many years - from Wikipedia*:

" In 2007, Woodrow's athletics program was ranked No. 6 out of all 4-A high schools in the Dallas Morning News All-Sports competition. The Wildcats' score of 81 was better than 95 other local 4-A and 5-A high schools. That year, seven Woodrow football players made the state all-academic team: Thomas Simpson, Sam Ashbrook, Ian Mackinnon, and Jared Muston on the first team; and Ryan Gunter, Jack Hlavaty, and Preston Richmond on the second team.[21]


In 2010, Woodrow placed 19th in 4-A All Sports Award competition sponsored by The Dallas Morning News - out of 62 4-A schools. Its score of 74 was higher than that of 88 4-A and 5-A schools. The girl’s volleyball team and the boys basketball team went deep into state playoffs with the basketball team being ranked 7th in the state"

This year Woodrow's Basketball team was ranked as high as number 5 in the state this year and lost to the state championship team (also from DISD) by five points after leading through most of the game. The Wildcats won an international tournament in Canada and and a national tournament in Miami.

As far as soccer goes, the boys were 18-6-0 and went to the quarterfinals while the girls were 14-4-0 and went to state sectionals. Here's a story preceding those games: http://eastdallastimes.com/2011/03/2...teams-advance/

As far as academic rankings Woodrow beats most suburban schools:

Texas Schools - Ranking America's High Schools 2011 - The Washington Post

This is based on AP participation and ACT also awarded the school The College Readiness award - only the top 5% of all high schools are considered.

In addition to AP, Woodrow has been recently certified as an IB World School offering the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. IB Diploma grads earn 24 hours of college credit in Texas and up to 30 at universities world-wide. J. L. Long Middle School is in the candidacy stage but has access to IB MYP (Middle Years Programme) curriculum on September 1st.

Lakewood and Stonewall Jackson are both Blue-Ribbon, Exemplary elementary schools.

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodrow...(Dallas,_Texas)

[mSooner]

I wouldn't really call anywhere in Dallas "walkable"--heck, we live in what is probably the most "walkable" area (MStreets between Greenville & Henderson) and we still end up driving the majority of the time. It just isn't the same as cities in the NE and most likely never will be.

If OP wants to be close to downtown, then yes, the Lakewood area would be ideal.

However, there are many pockets of suburbia that can be "walkable" in another sense. In Wellington (Flower Mound), all 5 of us could walk to our schools (mom used to be able to hear my little brother yelling during recess on the playground across the street), the neighborhood workout center and pools, and soon a grocery store. My brother used to walk to Sonic and the library later on...a little further, but still the same distance it would have been in Lakewood.

Consider this, OP--do you really want to walk ANYWHERE when it is 100 outside?

ETA: Just read this above--I totally agree

Plus with the 100 degree weather, I doubt many in Lakewood or Park cities will walk several blocks to dinner or shopping.

We walked a few blocks to dinner on Friday and were disgusting by the time we got to the restaurant. The only reason we did it was because I wanted to avoid those damn Henderson Valets!

Stay in the burbs Christie....but don't push them on someone who may be looking for something other than what YOU prefer.

Sorry--but this is truly the attitude of many of the Dallas posters on here too. It goes both ways. When I was in high school, we had a teacher who loathed Flower Mound and LOVED North Dallas--he used to say he "got a nosebleed north of 635." Sometimes I see that attitude here...