Sleeping on Frisco (Dallas, Austin, Plano: cheap house, buy, school district)

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by HeSaySheSay

-Safety
-Schools
-Kid Activities
-Adult Activities
-DIVIRSITY
-Target (I kid... I kid! )

I'm a homemaker.. my husband can work from home or rent/buy an office anywhere.
My budget is 800k-1.5m

I would 100% absolutely NOT spend that kind of money in Frisco. Big mistake. The only neighborhood that makes sense for that budget is Starwood and I believe most if not all of those homes are zoned to Lewisville ISD, not Frisco. Everyone I know who lives there sends their kids to private school anyway. The average home price in Frisco is around $300k; I would think long and hard about spending 3-5 X the average becaus it just means a small pool of buyers whenever you sell.

For your budget, the following parts of DFW are a far better investment and offer better schools (YES!! There IS a huge difference between Frisco ISD and Plano ISD, despite what you tell yourself):

West Plano
Southlake (Carroll ISD)
Park Cities (Highland Park ISD)
Colleyville (Grapevine - Colleyville ISD)
Live in Preston Hollow or Lakewood and use private schools

[HeSaySheSay]

Originally Posted by BigDGeek

Go look in west Plano or Southlake. Don't waste your time in Frisco; the schools aren't all that great.

According to great schools the whole school district is great and most of their schools rate distinguished.
Schools in Frisco Independent School District - Frisco, TX | GreatSchools

In the area I'm looking in all of the schools rate a 10/10 besides FH which is 9/10. The schools seem perfect.

What exactly is it that turns people off of Frisco.

[CMC_TX]

Originally Posted by HeSaySheSay

According to great schools the whole school district is great and most of their schools rate distinguished.
Schools in Frisco Independent School District - Frisco, TX | GreatSchools

In the area I'm looking in all of the schools rate a 10/10 besides FH which is 9/10. The schools seem perfect.

What exactly is it that turns people off of Frisco.

Have you heard the saying "never buy the most expensive house on the block?" I think folks are trying to say that your budget is so much higher than the average home price in Frisco that there'd probably be better areas to invest that kind of money in.

I feel like 75093 (west plano) is best for you because you mentioned the diversity aspect. Not saying it's the most diverse place ever, but more so than Frisco ethnically and 75093 is a sought after area where many those kind of home prices will most likely be sustainable.

If you're OK with less diversity, I agree with other posters that Southlake - Carroll ISD and Colleyville would be much better options for that kind of money.

As far as great schools, I'd pay more attention to the ACT/SAT scores and where high school seniors are matriculating to college than the ratings for Frisco on greatschools.

Frisco is a nice area, there's just no compelling reason to choose it for your situation when there are better options...

[frenzyrider]

There are some great communities coming up in east frisco as well and I am amazed at the diversity of people moving in. There are a lot of transplants from east and west coast. I never considered Allen, Mckinney or Richardson. I am sure they are great places to live but just not my taste. I think you will love Plano and/ or frisco if diversity is big on your list. Add coppell to your list as well. Southlake, UP and HP may not offer much on diversity.

Good luck!

[HeSaySheSay]

Originally Posted by CheerBeer

I agree. Look into HP, UP, SL, WP, WL, Coppell. Your budget is decent, why compromise?

I've looked up those places and the diversity is very much lacking... My children's school is 95% white and that doesn't settle well with them or other "ethnic" people who I've talked to that grew up in predominantly white schools.

I crave diversity and the Dallas area seems to be the only place where you can get a diverse neighborhood in a great school district.

Toll brothers Avignon is nearly sold out I believe they only have 3 plots left. That is why I started looking in Frisco for fun.

Then this caught my eye.

8080 Oak Point Dr, Frisco, TX 75034 is For Sale - Zillow

And I started doing more research on Frisco.

I can't deprive my children of diversity... that's the one thing I can't compromise on.

[CheerBeer]

My only comment is about schools, you'll get a better idea by looking at lists of Duke TIP, US Presidential Scholars, National Merit Scholars, SAT/ACT, Academic competitions and top college admissions.

If you crave diversity that much then go with Plano. Look at existing homes or build a fancy custom house in Normandy Estates.

[Aceraceae]

Link To Data Below

Public, non-magnet/charter school scores:

1. Highland Park - 1792
2. Carroll (Southlake) - 1723
3. Plano West - 1715
4. Coppell - 1700

5. Plano Senior- 1695
6. Flower Mound (LISD) - 1687
7. Coppell New Tech - 1669
8. Lovejoy - 1650
9. JJ Pearce (RISD) - 1636
10. FM Marcus (LISD) - 1631
11. Grapevine (GCISD) - 1639
12. Centennial (Frisco) - 1623
13. Boyd (McKinney) - 1619
14. Liberty (Frisco) - 1613
15. Colleyville Heritage (GCISD) - 1613
16. Keller - 1607
17. Frisco - 1606
18. Celina - 1605
19. Hebron (LISD) - 1604
20. Sherman - 1602

21. Plano East - 1596
22. FW Paschal - 1592
23. Allen - 1589
24. Rockwall - 1587
25. McKinney - 1586
26. Arlington Martin - 1584
27. Argyle - 1577
28. Wakeland (Frisco) - 1572
29. Melissa - 1559
30. Prosper - 1557
31. Garland - 1553
32. Heritage (Frisco) - 1550
33. Newman Smith (CFBISD) - 1549
34. The Colony (LISD) - 1542
35. Rockwall Heath - 1536
36. Denton Guyer - 1517
37. Keller Central - 1513
38. Creek view (CFBISD) - 1510
39. Mansfield - 1505
40. Keller Fossil Ridge- 1504
41. Northwest Byron Nelson - 1500

42. Richardson - 1492
43. McKinney North - 1492
44. HEB LD Bell - 1492
45. Arlington Lamar - 1488
46. Lake Highlands (RISD) - 1484
47. Arlington - 1483
48. Mansfield Legacy - 1483
49. Wylie - 1480
50. Sunnyvale - 1478
51. HEB Trinity - 1476
52. Rowlett (GISD) - 1475
53. Lewisville - 1466
54. Aubrey - 1465
55. Ranch view (CFBISD) - 1463
56. Princeton - 1450
57. Denton Ryan- 1445
58. Frisco Lone Star - 1442
59. Mansfield Summit - 1435
60. Forney - 1429
61. Naaman Forest (Garland) - 1425
62. north Garland - 1420
63. Mesquite Poteet - 1420
64. RL Turner (CFBISD) - 1416
65. Mansfield Frontier - 1409

66. Mesquite Horn- 1397
67. Anna - 1394
68. Arlington Seguin - 1377
69. South Grand Prairie - 1373
70. Arlington Bowie - 1368
71. DISD Hillcrest - 1361
72. Little Elm - 1352
73. North Forney - 1348
74. Grand Prairie - 1345
75. DISD Woodrow - 1343
76. Mansfield Timverview - 1343
77. Duncanville - 1340
78. Mesquite - 1333
79. Irving MacArthur - 1325
80. South Garland - 1320
81. North Mesquite - 1318
82. Lake view Centennial (Garland) - 1310

83. Irving Nimintz - 1296
84. Desoto - 1288
85. DISD WT White - 1283
86. West Mesquite - 1283
87. DISD Skyline - 1282
88. Cedar Hill - 1281
89. Arlington Sam Houston - 1265
90. DISD Bryan Adams- 1250
91. DISD TJ- 1246
92. DISD North Dallas - 1228
93. Irving - 1215
94. Lancaster - 1215
95. DISD Seagoville - 1211

96. DISD Conrad - 1193
97. DISD Kimball - 1192
98. DISD Molina - 1188
99. DISD Sunset - 1184
100. DISD A Maceo Smith - 1167
101. DISD Adamson - 1161
102. DISD Carter - 1158
103. DISD Spruce - 1148
104. DISD Pinkston- 1118
105. DISD Samuel - 1111
106. DISD Wilmer Hutchins - 1104

107. DISD Madison - 1086
108. DISD Roosevelt - 1074
109. DISD South Oak Cliff - 1051

[CMC_TX]

Visit the neighborhoods and see! It won't hurt to visit some Frisco neighborhoods and see if you like it more. All I'm saying is you can't go wrong with Avignon. There's a reason there are only a few lots available and they can't make more once they're gone.

The house in the link you posted reminds me of something you can probably find in Lakeside on Preston or Willow Bend Polo Estates and still be in an awesome location with some diversity in west plano premier schools.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by HeSaySheSay

According to great schools the whole school district is great and most of their schools rate distinguished.
Schools in Frisco Independent School District - Frisco, TX | GreatSchools

In the area I'm looking in all of the schools rate a 10/10 besides FH which is 9/10. The schools seem perfect.

What exactly is it that turns people off of Frisco.

Do you want your kids to go go college? If so, you're better off looking at the best indicators of college preparedness-> SAT scores! Not state standardized testing & attendance records (the large basis for Great Schools ratings).


Notice all 3 Plano HS's, along with HP, Coppell, Southlake Carroll, etc outrank Frisco's schools by a condsiderable margin. Frisco's best high schools are about 100+ points behind Plano West and almost 200 points behind HP. The difference in scores is worth about 1/2- 1 full grade letter of GPA in college, FYI.
Dallas, Texas Area School Information: 2012 - DFW High Schools ranked by SAT scores


This list highlights the GREAT difference in quality of top students in the two districts: Plano has 78 NMSF this year; Frisco has only 8. Plano has 3,577 seniors so 2.2% of the senior class received this honor (over 4X the national average). Frisco has about 3,000 seniors so .2% of the senior class is NMSF (a fraction of Plano and below national average).
Dallas, Texas Area School Information: September 2013



Just a snapshot of the quality of top graduates and certainly more directional than scientific, here are the colleges where the top 2 graduates from each district's high schools have matriculated over the past few years:

Frisco ISD: Colorado State x 2, Georgia Tech x 2, Wash U- St Louis, Arkansas, UT-Austin x 11, UT-Dallas, Notre Dame, UPenn x 2, UC-Berkely, Stanford x 2, Duke, Alabama-Huntsville, Texas A&M

Plano ISD: Harvard x 4, Yale x2, Columbia, Princeton x 3, UT-Dallas x2, Duke x 2, Stanford, UPenn x 2, NYU

I assume you can tell the difference in these two lists. Plano ISD sends 67% of top grads to Ivy League schools and 83% to the Top 10 ranked universities in the US. Only 2 of 18 enrolled in a state school. Frisco ISD sent only 2 of 27 to Ivy and less than 20% to Top 10 schools. Not even 1/3 went to Top 25 ranked schools. A full 70% of Frisco's top 2 graduates are enrolled in public schools...and not even UVA, UNC, etc on the list, only 1 to a strong UC school. If the top graduates are any indication of the student bodies as a whole - and I think 27 students is a good sampling- this list of matriculations is neither competitive nor compelling.....

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by CheerBeer

My only comment is about schools, you'll get a better idea by looking at lists of Duke TIP, US Presidential Scholars, National Merit Scholars, SAT/ACT, Academic competitions and top college admissions.

If you crave diversity that much then go with Plano. Look at existing homes or build a fancy custom house in Normandy Estates.

Yup, Plano and Coppell both offer outstanding public schools AND significant diversity.