Moving from Maryland to Dallas (Plano, Frisco) Area (Garland, Irving: apartment complexes, rental)

[badr]

Hello to all;

I hope you can offer me some advice. My wife and I are moving to Dallas, pretty much next week. I am thinking we will rent for the first 6 months so we dont rush into buying/renting something in an area that doesnt fit us.

We are moving from Maryland because it is expensive, so the cheaper cost of living in Texas called my attention. There is also a lot of crime and drugs in the Baltimore region, ugh...

This being said, I asked for information to some of my friends that have lived in Dallas for 15yrs or more, and some of them told me, "Stay away from anything east of 75 in plano"... So I have been looking in the West Side of Plano. But I would like to know if there is anything of concern.

We are looking in the range of $750 - $850 in rent, and I would like a nice place, good neighborhood, preferrably where new apartments have been built and I would like to stay away from the busy life in downtown.

In Plano, we have been looking at Riachi at One21, Estancia and a couple of other places.

I will be working in the Plano/Richardson area most likely, and I am willing to have a commute of 30mins if necesary... My field is Computer Engineering, and I have been told there is a lot of work in that field in Richardson, Plano and Dallas.

I hope you can enlighten me, because my wife saw a couple of places she liked but because they are on East Plano, I haven;t looked at them.

I would like to find a nice place, she likes, so we can have a happy life in Texas.

Thanks!

Gilbert

[Grainraiser]

I am not sure why your friends said stay clear of east Plano. It's a slightly older part of Plano but there is nothing wrong with it at all. In fact with your budget I think you will find a better deal in that part of Plano. Take a look around when you come down but I certainly would not rule out east Plano.

[Big G]

+1 on Granraiser's advice. There are decent parts of east Plano, and there are some very expensive neighborhoods over there.

It is true that the (very few) complexes you should avoid are all on the east side, but you shouldn't paint the whole area with a broad brush.

[tycobb2522]

badr - Grainraiser and BigG are exactly right. As someone who has spent much of their life in Plano, I can tell you that there are nice areas on the east side of Plano. I would direct you to the Spring Creek/Jupiter area for starters. There are some bad apartments on the east side, but there are plenty of good ones too.

There are also some nice apartments near the Richardson/Plano/Garland borders, specifically in the Jupiter/Renner/190 areas that may be closer to your job.

Bottom line, please don't discount East Plano.

[momof2dfw]

Look at Parker........... only because this small town is part of the Plano ISD and is on the FAR EAST SIDE of Plano. You will find some MULTI MILLION dollar estates. High level execs living in this area. All in EAST PLANO! It is a BEAUTIFUL area as well. Now, your not going to find anything to rent in Parker as there are no apartments and even a rental house is going to be MUCH MORE than that. Just giving you this area to look at to get an idea of how nice and UPSCALE it is over on the east side. As for those that tell you to avoid it...... ask them if they have PERSONALLY ventured out that way. Chances are they have not and are only going by hearsay that has been repeated a million times over without any actual knowledge.

As someone else pointed out there are some great apartment complexes around 190 on the east side of 75 that will fit your budget that are VERY NICE! Some of the ones to check out are:
Stoneleigh at Spring Creek
Seven Oaks
Parkway at Firewheel

Once your friends from the west side visit you over on this side of town and get a better glimpse of it they will be envious

[badr]

Could you tell me which Complexes I should avoid or PM me? Thanks.

Originally Posted by Big G

+1 on Granraiser's advice. There are decent parts of east Plano, and there are some very expensive neighborhoods over there.

It is true that the (very few) complexes you should avoid are all on the east side, but you shouldn't paint the whole area with a broad brush.

[badr]

Originally Posted by tycobb2522

badr - Grainraiser and BigG are exactly right. As someone who has spent much of their life in Plano, I can tell you that there are nice areas on the east side of Plano. I would direct you to the Spring Creek/Jupiter area for starters. There are some bad apartments on the east side, but there are plenty of good ones too.

There are also some nice apartments near the Richardson/Plano/Garland borders, specifically in the Jupiter/Renner/190 areas that may be closer to your job.

Bottom line, please don't discount East Plano.

This is why i decided to ask here. I have been reading a lot of plano, and the area around it and as usual if you hasve a friend you ask for a recomendation... well im glad this was cleared. =)

So which places are bad.. so i dot look there... and define your definition of Bad too.

I read somewhere that plano had a huge problem with heroin, what is the drug situation down there... this was old news it was from 2004-2005... In Baltimore where i used to live it was disgusting how bad it was. I'm trying to steer clear of all that.

[badr]

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

Look at Parker........... only because this small town is part of the Plano ISD and is on the FAR EAST SIDE of Plano. You will find some MULTI MILLION dollar estates. High level execs living in this area. All in EAST PLANO! It is a BEAUTIFUL area as well. Now, your not going to find anything to rent in Parker as there are no apartments and even a rental house is going to be MUCH MORE than that. Just giving you this area to look at to get an idea of how nice and UPSCALE it is over on the east side. As for those that tell you to avoid it...... ask them if they have PERSONALLY ventured out that way. Chances are they have not and are only going by hearsay that has been repeated a million times over without any actual knowledge.

As someone else pointed out there are some great apartment complexes around 190 on the east side of 75 that will fit your budget that are VERY NICE! Some of the ones to check out are:
Stoneleigh at Spring Creek
Seven Oaks
Parkway at Firewheel

Once your friends from the west side visit you over on this side of town and get a better glimpse of it they will be envious

My friend lives in Irving and is a realtor, which might explain the deference, currently im not looking at isd's i know plano has a lot of nice ones.




thanks...

Do

[tycobb2522]

Originally Posted by badr

So which places are bad.. so i dot look there... and define your definition of Bad too.

You know, you really need to come down and look. My idea of bad and yours might not comport, and I can't tell you every area to stay away from. You need to stay away from Jupiter/18th ST, Jupiter /14th St, you need to stay away from anything on 14th St, also Shiloh just north of 14th.

Again, you need to come down and look; the point is, if you think you might work in Richardson, you would be cheating yourself if you didn't look at East Plano.

[kaykay]

Yep, like most of the other posters have indicated, I would not rule out East Plano. We lived in East Plano for about seven years. Never had an incident of crime at all happen while living there. There are parts of East Plano I would not choose to live in, but overall, I wouldn't avoid it. It's just an older part of Plano, less affluent generally. (A lot of it is not as nice and well-maintained as west of 75.) In all frankness, I consider west of 75 to be a better area to live, but again, spent some years living in East Plano without a problem at all.