Work in Richardson, Live in Murphy? (Dallas, Plano: environment, property taxes, trip)

[canuckmom]

Thanks to everyone for the great input - I am flying out to DFW for Labor Day Weekend to look around.

Another poster thought I was a bit off on Property Taxes, but for a 375K to 450K house, woudn't an estimate of 10K to 12K/ per year be on track? (collin county)

FYI...I have checked out all the school sites and think I am on the right track with looking at Allen, Frisco, McKinney (although my husband thinks McKinney might be too long of a commute - he works for Samsung in Richardson).

In fact, Stonebridge Ranch in McKinney was developed by the same people who developed the subdivision that I currently live in (Windward in Alpharetta, GA). Our subdivision here is about 2O years (our house is about 15 years old) so hubby wants newer this time. That is why he has kinda ruled out Plano, Richardson etc...

What about Murphy? A coworker suggested it is the next "up & coming" Metroplex suburb. But not sure how much "infrastructure" is in place - recreation, shopping, entertainment etc.....

Any views/news on Murphy would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[bricor]

Your tax estimate is about right.
I work in Richardson (right behind one of the Samsung buildings) and lived in Mckinney until last month. The drive is usually 45-55 minutes to Richardson.
We are moving to Allen next week and that should cut my commute by 15 minutes.
Murphy is growing but I don't think it's got the infrastructure just yet to compare to Allen. It would be an easy commute though to Richardson. Same for Sachse.

[FarNorthDallas]

I was just out in Murphy yesterday and there are a lot of new houses out there. I was surprised to see the new Murphy Middle School and a huge stadium for Plano ISD right next to each other on a TWO lane street! Yikes on that. I wonder of roads will be expanded there. There was some retail. To me it had a more laid back feel to it than McKinney or Friso. Traffic wasn't as bad. Maybe a two lane road in front of a middle school and a high school stadium is enough.

The one drawback I saw was Williams high school (9-10 grades) was all the way near downtown Plano and then Plano East Senior High (11-12th) was on Los Rios. Not exactly close but I guess that's not a big deal.

[canuckmom]

Just Checked out Murphy

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I just returned from a neighborhood scouting trip and wanted to share my impressions of Murphy and other nearby areas. These are just my personal views based on my family's needs - So pls. don't shoot me!

FYI......I am moving from Alpharetta, GA (north of Atlanta - rolling hills, lots of trees, good schools). Husband now working in Richardson. Two kids - 8th grade & 5th grade. Looking in the 350K to 450K range in a newer neighborhood that has some amenities - community pool, hiking trails, bike paths etc...Good schools important.

FRISCO - flat, flat, flat - you can see for miles. Rows & rows & rows of similar houses. Toll highways make commute "doable" and lots of attractions like Pizza Hut Park, Dr. Pepper Stadium - but did not like "feel" of city - Stepford Community, too much of the same. Seems like they'll be building Frisco out for the next 20 years!

ALLEN - liked it, especially Twin Creeks area, Waterford Lakes etc...Lots of resales and still some new construction in the area we were looking at. Schools good - but I am not comfortable with one high school for the entire town - 4400 kids!!!! I have a child who needs to be in a smaller environment - I was worried about high school here with 1800 students.

MCKINNEY - liked it - several large master planned communities - Southbridge Ranch is nice, a few hills here, schools good, but figure commute might be too far for hubby - hear 75N can be a nightmare!

MURPHY - "true" bedroom community where people live, but work, shop elsewhere. We liked Murphy and found several neighborhoods, that fit our criteria. Kids here, for the most part, attend either Wylie or Plano schools. Houses we were looking at fell into the PISD side. Elementary schools look good, new Murphy Middle School is good, but NO local high school! Kids bussed into Plano - older schools, split grades 9 & 10 (one school) then grades 11& 12 (different school). Why is there not a Murphy High School?

FAIRVIEW/LUCAS/PARKER - too rural for us.


NORTH GARLAND/EAST RICHARDSON - some nice newer areas around Firewheel & Breckenridge Park but had a harder time finding planned communities/neighborhoods - with amentities. Schools "hit & miss" depending on where you live. Perception is that you don't want to live in Garland and that Richardson is too old, but we found some nice areas.


Hubby is going to continue to look in Murphy, Allen, N. Garland areas. I am flying out again in October to hopefully make offer on house in one of those areas.

I appreciate any suggestions on places, neighborhoods I may have overlooked. I am thoroughly enjoying and appreciating all the information and opinions I have found in these forums. Thanks so much!

[KantLockeMeIn]

There are a few new neighborhoods in Sachse that are in Wylie ISD that are in your price range as well.

FYI, Murphy is growing fast. When we looked there a few years ago there wasn't much of anything. Now they're building a Lowes, Sprouts, and a 24 Hr Fitness. It's in a great location.

[unexpected]

Murphy doesn't have it's own high school because its entire school system is controlled by PISD. As we just paid for the building of Murphy Middle School and the Murphy Stadium, I'd expect this arrangement to remain for the foreseable future.

Some notes on the schools: Allen is big, but they have a separate 9th grade campus for all of their students.

Plano has all of their high schools in the 9/10th, 11/12th fashion. As you live in Murphy, you're 9th and 10th school would be Williams. Williams is really, really ghetto.

You're 11th and 12th grade school would be PESH. Clark and Williams feed into PESH, so PESH turns out being all right.

I think Frisco has the smallest school system, as most of their schools are still 4A, as that could change.

Also, PESH class sizes are huge. Expect your class size to be around 600 -700 at Williams, and then around 1200-1300 at PESH. When I graduated from PESH in 02, we had the largest graduating class in the state!

[socketz]

Murphy isn't even a real commute to Samsung in Richardson. THis should be no problem whatsoever.

To be honest, even Stonebridge is doable to Richardson if you stay on the west side and take Custer down. Using the 75 adds 3-4 miles. Stonebridge to Dallas proper would get old fast though.

I like Stonebridge alot better than Murphy, but I like Murphy as well for sure. Stonebridge just has a much nicer overall feel to it. The commute however is much worse than Murphy, which like I said, is almost a non issue into Richardson (I work with a couple of people that commute from Murphy to Richardson and it's a breeze).