Can we buy a home in castle hills (Lewisville) (Plano: for sale, real estate)

[Namita_1200]

Hi ,

We are trying to buy a home in Castle Hills (Lewisville) .We have 15 months old son..
so school district is important...so Can you guys share some knowledge about the location...and also
resale info..kids activities etc.We are looking from 300-400 range..I work in plano and my husband works in Lascolinas...so what do you guys recommend.

Thanks

Namitha

[Rice&Curry]

Its doable.

[Squirl]

Find a realtor who has alot of listings in that area to help you select your home. Just look on realtor.com to see. Great location for your jobs!

[Pama]

Location is workable for your commutes. Here is an old thread about the area.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/dalla...ographics.html

[aznkobee]

Castle Hills North is zoned to Independence elementary which has bad ratings. It is very hard to find a house in the rest of castle hills for 300k ish unless you want to buy a garden home. But for 400k thats definitely possible

[racehorse]

There are homes available in the older part of the neighborhood in that price range. Those homes will be zoned to Castle Hills Elementary.

I live in CH and commute to Richardson. My husband commutes to Irving. The commutes are both very doable from CH.

[Back2Texas]

We have good friends who live there, who work in Las Colinas. Very doable commute.

They are zoned to Independence Elementary. Their oldest is starting kindergarten in the fall, and they've visited the school and think it'll be fine. One downside they've found is that there aren't many families with kids nearby, probably because they were all scared off by the school rating

On the flip side, Castle Hills Elementary is pretty overcrowded. There was a movement a few years ago to rezone some parts of Castle Hills to Independence, but that met with a ton of resistance, due to Independence's rating, and ultimately, the rezone initiative failed.

Hard to say what the school situation will be by the time your 15 month old is entering kindergarten. I wouldn't eliminate CH due to the schools, but I'd definitely keep a close eye on the situation if you do buy there.

[chvelo]

Ch is a great neighborhood for kids and kids' activities. There are many organized activities (see castlehills.com for events), 20 or so parks and playgrounds, 4 community pools 3 of which have lifeguards during the summer. The Village Shops has an art shop with art lessons, a Tae Kwon Do studio and a dance studio both of which are very popular with kids from the neighborhood and surrounding areas. Many kids are on sports teams with other neighborhood kids and practice at the youth sports practice fields in the neighborhood.

The schools have been fairly covered above: CHE is very highly rated but is a bit crowded. Independence is not rated well but it seems to do well for CHN students. Killian MS and Hebron HS are both ranked well and seem to be well liked by parents.

The commute to Plano is definitely doable. The commute to and from Las Colinas is probably also doable.

There are homes in your price range in both the Independence ES and Caste Hills ES zoned areas. Here are 5 zoned to CHES:

2520 Avalon Dr Lewisville TX - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #11912529 - Realtor.com®

2509 Avalon Dr Lewisville TX - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #11922307 - Realtor.com®

2373 Salisbury Ct Lewisville TX - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #11916830 - Realtor.com®

1205 Holy Grail Dr Lewisville TX - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #11907723 - Realtor.com®

2234 Stonehenge Ln Lewisville TX - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #11929091 - Realtor.com®

Resales have picked up in the last 6 months and probably prices, too, but it's a bit too early to tell if prices have fully recovered from the downturn. Recent resales have been in the $100 to $113/sq. ft. range.

[racehorse]

Of those homes, the ones on Avalon are probably your best bets. The Holy Grail house is very close to me and needs some exterior work. Plus, it's a 3/2, which is a major downside in the neighborhood. I am not as familiar with Stonehenge and Salisbury.

[Rice&Curry]

Why not buy in Plano? At least one person can avoid hassle/expense of commute and be available for emergencies with home and children, schools are top tier, nice and established neighborhood and good access to whole DFW.