the colony??? (Dallas, Frisco, Little Elm: real estate, rentals, houses)

[gettinout]

I just found a great house in my price range in the colony but I don't know much about the area. My kids will be in lewisville isd and scores look good but I would like info from people who have experienced it. Thanks!!

[momof2dfw]

There is a MULTITUDE of info on here about The Colony. If you use the search feature on the Dallas page you should be able of find any and every thread where the mention of The Colony came up.

First off, have you visited The Colony? If not then you MUST do so. Do I recommend it? No. The Colony has many issues that may never be resolved because of the way in which it was developed and now the way it has been developed around it. The Colony was started back in the 1970's by Fox & Jacobs (aka Centex). They built their lower end line homes here at a much lower price point than in other areas. Back then to get to The Colony you had to go past the "massage" places (read: brothels) on 121 along w/ the one on Main St in The Colony all in run down trailers minus the one in the purple house. It was "way out there" and the nearest "business" of any kind were the ones located in the old trailers. Then a few liquor and beer/wine stores popped up. Up on into the 80's Fox & Jacobs was still the only builder in The Colony building a very low end home that was never built in any other area of the metroplex. Drive down the streets around Nirven to get a good idea about this era. Since Frisco started to explode from a sleepy small farm town to a suburban sprawl that wants all brand new the "trailers" are all gone but the liquor and beer/wine stores remain on the side of The Colony. In the 1990's a few other builders started building in The Colony but it still has the stigma attached because of the lower end F&J homes. Some of the areas in The Colony are home to a lot of investors for rental property (they are not sinking large sums into these houses either to dress them up - the people I know w/ rentals up there barely clean them up for the next tenant as they know it will get trashed again but in their homes in other areas they will replace carpet and all). A few builders a couple of notches above Fox & Jacobs built in a few areas there but never really did prosper nor do the kinds of things they did in other surrounding burbs. The money was just not there for them to do it.

Then you have the traffic issues. There is basically one way in and one way out of The Colony and it is mostly on small roads that can not handle the amout of traffic it does. You have the people coming from Little Elm and points on along w/ a few on that side of Frisco that all have to use the same road to and from work everyday.

A couple of months ago I was notified that I'm somewhat of a "celebrity", YIKES, over on a forum for The Colony. One of the posters was mad I had said such things about The Colony then others that all lived there chimed in saying I was dead-on right. I may not live there but I grew up just south of there when between where I lived and The Colony was nothing but farm land and knew a TON of people that moved there when the first homes were built. Had a relative that moved there in the 1980's and lived there up until about 6 years ago. I've seen enough of it to know along w/ meddling in the real estate a bit and the people I know w/ rentals up there and in other areas.

[USA_Mom]

We lived in Little Elm for a few years and my son still has friends there. My mom went there a few times to bring our son to visit friends this past summer. It took her 60 MINUTES on a Sunday to get from her house (Preston/Lebanon area) to Little Elm, and she said the traffic wasn't bad until you got past the tollway (technically still Frisco) but with only one way in and out of The Colony, I'd have to have a really great reason to move there. It used to take us 20 minutes to get from our house to hers. The traffic issue is IMO a huge reason NOT to move there if you work outside of the house at least at this point in time.

But also...and this probably will sound bad, while there are some very nice looking homes in The Colony (Stewart Pennisula and the ones they were building off 121 near the SuperWalmart) there are a LOT of well icky ones. I mean a LOT. One of our friends (not the brightest bulb) decided to invest in one and he can't rent it and hasn't been able to in a few years (mom2dfw this is NOT the investor friend I've mentioned before)...YEARS.

Anyway I'd take a drive through there at different times during the day and week to see what you think about the surrounding area and traffic issues and go from there.

I can't speak for the schools because my kids didn't attend them.