Park Cities over Las Colinas? (Houston, Dallas: house, neighborhood, school district)

[lh_newbie]

Yes, a $4M home would cost you roughly $90-100K/year in taxes. I figure it's always good to know all your expenses before diving in.

A friend of mine has a house in Lakewood, has a portion of his property setup for horses - so he gets an Agg exemption on ~1.5 acres - saves him something like $25K/year. Something to think about...

Brian

[homewifeev]

I am not interested in the horses, but a nice thought. So my wife should keep working or we need some serious growth in our company!

[rogmatic]

Stay out, we don't want those Canadians in Dallas!

[lh_newbie]

Originally Posted by rogmatic

Stay out, we don't want those Canadians in Dallas!

Eh?

I'm from Detroit, which is about as close as you can get to Canada. I'm also French, by way of Canada over the generations. One of my favorite corny jokes:

Q: You know how Canada named their country?
A: They held a lottery - putting all the letters of the alphabet in a bag. They were to pull out three letters and that was the name of the country. They came in this order: C, eh, N, eh, D, ah.

Bad, isn't it?

[kt2le]

Originally Posted by Marat

Texas is anti-Canadian?

Golly, I had no idea - and I've lived here my entire life. I must have missed the memo.

[kt2le]

If you can afford what you're saying you can for a house, you can afford private school regardless of where you live. I would choose the Park Cities over Las Colinas in a heartbeat. Schools are great, property appreciation is guaranteed and it's full of families. You'll want to fly to Houston out of Love Field, which is convenient, you'll be close to downtown and you'll be near the best shopping areas in town. Las Colinas is a big office park with various subdivisions, albeit big ones. The public schools are either Irving or Carrollton/Farmers Branch (both used to be really good but have suffered in the last decade or two as both suburbs aged and the demographics changed) so many in Las Colinas send their kids to private schools. Plus the soil is terrible out there and many homes have foundation problems.

Lakewood is a lovely area of Dallas and I, personally, like it. BUT (and I'm going to get beat for saying this by the East Dallas crowd) I'd definitely do private school if I lived there. And you better get your child on a list NOW if you haven't already. We have several friends who all live in Preston Hollow and they all - ALL - put their newborns on waiting lists when they were BORN - and 5 years later they got into the schools they wanted. It's very competitive at the better schools.

[intence]

Keep in mind that Texas has no state-level income tax, so counties and schools need to get money from somehwere

It is high compared to other parts of the country, but depending on your situation, it may be tax deductible. I would think of property taxes more as an alternative to state-income taxes here.

[lh_newbie]

Originally Posted by kt2le

Lakewood is a lovely area of Dallas and I, personally, like it. BUT (and I'm going to get beat for saying this by the East Dallas crowd) I'd definitely do private school if I lived there. And you better get your child on a list NOW if you haven't already. We have several friends who all live in Preston Hollow and they all - ALL - put their newborns on waiting lists when they were BORN - and 5 years later they got into the schools they wanted. It's very competitive at the better schools.

With the lower price in Lakewood, you could certainly put your child in any private school of your choosing. You also may be able to get your child in TAG - which has been rated the BEST school in the country for two years running. That would be paid by your property taxes. Just trying to ensure your options are open.

I go to church in University Park. It is a beautiful area. I personally wouldn't live there. But I have a very different outlook on things. If I were able to afford a $4M home, I simply wouldn't. My wife and I are perfectly happy in our Lake Highlands home. It's plenty big enough at 2576 sq ft and meets all our needs (and then many of our wants). I personally would pump all that extra money into investments and retire early - traveling, managing my investments and volunteering my time with causes like Habitat for Humanity and such rather than going into an office. But I totally respect your ability to afford such a home and willingness to go for it. This world is made of many different personalities. If everyone did the same thing - geesh, it'd be boring!

Brian

[homewifeev]

I am back. The houses were okay. We drove around Las Colinas. It seemed very 1990's. My wife liked it. We saw the canal system which looks like moat made by a kid. The house there was very nice. It was a mediteranian style. The yard was decent. Irving seems to lack culture and vibrancy. The house we looked at in Highland Park was very nice. It was an older renovated home. It had a nice garage and kitchen. The space was very well thought out. My only complaint is that it lacked a yard. Highland Park seemed to have that culture I was looking for, a well established, old money neighborhood. Highland Park is also close to where we live now and I think that this location is to die for. Our realtor told us that it was on the best street "Beverly Drive" which runs right past the Dallas Country Club. I did not see very many minorities in Highland Park. There was a fair amount of traffic on Preston Road as usual. I saw little in the way of pedestrian traffic. I saw a nice mix of people in Las Colinas. I was doing some research and found some nice places for around $2,000,000 in both University Park and Highland Park. One had a condominium like garage in the basement. The lot once again was very small. I am used to open space because I grew up in Dublin, OH. We had a 1 acre lot with a small creek at the edge of the lot. But I understand that it is imposible to find close to the airport. We would like to close before September as I am going to Houston to oversee the arrangement of our new Houston office. Houston is such a dreadful city. I wonder if all that water will be gone by then!

[homewifeev]

I would prefer not to send my son to private school. The ideal schools would be similar to Mamaroneck High School in Mamaroneck, NY or New Trier High School in Winnetka, IL. Both are in wealthy suburbs and have test scores to back up all their hype. Elementary and Middle Schools like Crow Island in Winnetka, IL and Wilmette Jr. High School in Wilmette, IL. All very famous for their talented students and sucessful alumni. One reason we are so eager to purchase a home of this price is we are able pay for it in full with no loans.