How come Carrollton is not considered a "desirable" town? (Houston: real estate, 2014)

[theloneranger]

Originally Posted by nawvtanzi09

From what I've been reading it seems like Hebron HS is comparable if not better than Frisco HS / Prosper / McKinney. Also Castle Hills Elementary is rated exemplary and I'm sure its comparable to the schools in Frisco / Prosper / McKinney.

If i had a choice between these master planned communities I would not hesitate to choose Castle Hills over any comparable communities in Frisco / Prosper / McKinney. Even the location of Carrollton is better in my opinion compared to the other 3 cities.

Castle Hills isn't what most people are thinking of when they say Carrollton. It's adjacent to Carrollton, but it's unincorporated Denton County. It's in Lewisville ISD, not C-FB. Hebron High has a Carrollton address, but it's basically in West Plano, about a half mile away from Willow Bend Mall.

Castle Hills is an excellent place to move if you're looking for a new or recently built home. It's got great school.and amenities, though the place personally reminds me too much of Agrestic in "Weeds" to be appealing to me. If you're looking for the exurban-transitioning-to-suburban lifestyle, though, and don't mind paying tolls on 121/Sam Rayburn and then sitting through the construction on I-35 to get to downtown, it's not a bad place to look.

Most people, though, I think are referring to Carrollton proper, especially the C-FBISD and probably specifically the Dallas County portion. It really does come down to schools as well as the age of the housing. In general, CFB schools decline in quality as you move from North to South. Creekview is pretty good, Smith isn't bad, and Turner is mediocre (similar demographics to WT White in DISD but lower performing). The housing farther south tends to be older, smaller, and not well-maintained. However, the advantages of location tend to come as you move south toward 635. It's also important to remember that Carrollton is a large and diverse suburb of around 250k residents.

The schools are really the key, though. If you want to go public, there are better public school districts with both newer homes and less crime, as well as closer to downtown (Richardson and some parts of Irving and DISD). If you're planning on private education, the best private schools are generally in North Dallas proper, and there are nicer homes in better locations closer to Love Field and downtown.

It can be a good fit for some people-you can get good value for your dollar in some parts of Carrollton, but in general there are better values elsewhere.

[CMC_TX]

I don't think the issue with people who are anti-Carrollton is that it's not "new & shiny." That's kind of assumptive to say.

I don't care about new. I care about clean, well-maintained areas that are generally high income, because those areas tend to be desirable long-term. If it's new, great, but if it's older, that's fine, too.

What I don't like about Carrollton is poor execution and city planning has developed the city as a whole into a smaller version of Garland. Their tax base is industrial and low end retail. Check cashing, payday advance, abandoned strip malls, "beer and wine" stores, and fast food establishments. A "high end" restaurant within the city limits is honestly going to be Chili's.

Nicer restaurants are in neighboring Plano or South in Addison. Nicer shopping is also in Plano. The price point for the entire city (minus a few pockets) seems to all be sub-300K. Which, there's nothing wrong with that, but a lot of the subdivisions are definitely showing their age. Cheap construction, bad zoning, decaying.

Carrollton also seems to have a large # of apartment complexes, many of which appear to be built in what looks like a ditch when they carved out the George Bush.

CFB-ISD is meh. Creekview is the best HS option within the district. Hebron is the best within city limits, but it's in LISD in the "new" section of Carrollton. The population trends moderate to heavy Hispanic in pretty much all schools.

The positive is the location. It's definitely convenient to almost anywhere on the Dallas side of the metroplex. However, I don't think people with a west Plano or Coppell budget would ever consider Carrollton.

I think for certain price points the right neighborhoods are probably good options depending on your priorities.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by CMC_TX

I don't think the issue with people who are anti-Carrollton is that it's not "new & shiny." That's kind of assumptive to say.

I don't care about new. I care about clean, well-maintained areas that are generally high income, because those areas tend to be desirable long-term. If it's new, great, but if it's older, that's fine, too.

What I don't like about Carrollton is poor execution and city planning has developed the city as a whole into a smaller version of Garland. Their tax base is industrial and low end retail. Check cashing, payday advance, abandoned strip malls, "beer and wine" stores, and fast food establishments. A "high end" restaurant within the city limits is honestly going to be Chili's.

Nicer restaurants are in neighboring Plano or South in Addison. Nicer shopping is also in Plano. The price point for the entire city (minus a few pockets) seems to all be sub-300K. Which, there's nothing wrong with that, but a lot of the subdivisions are definitely showing their age. Cheap construction, bad zoning, decaying.

Carrollton also seems to have a large # of apartment complexes, many of which appear to be built in what looks like a ditch when they carved out the George Bush.

CFB-ISD is meh. Creekview is the best HS option within the district. Hebron is the best within city limits, but it's in LISD in the "new" section of Carrollton. The population trends moderate to heavy Hispanic in pretty much all schools.

The positive is the location. It's definitely convenient to almost anywhere on the Dallas side of the metroplex. However, I don't think people with a west Plano or Coppell budget would ever consider Carrollton.

I think for certain price points the right neighborhoods are probably good options depending on your priorities.

I confess I oversimplified, but if I'd had the desire to elaborate on my comments it would have been pretty similar to what you just said. Good job.

[WorldKlas]

I think Carrollton is great. I like all the close in burbs..... Carrollton, Richardson, Irving

[nawvtanzi09]

My thoughts are between the new master planned communities of Frisco / Allen / Prosper / McKinney...Castle Hills would be right up there near the top between these choices. Not comparing to Plano / Coppell since these areas are much higher priced.

From what I've noticed when people are looking in the Frisco / Allen / Prosper / McKinney areas they are looking for a newer home - which is why I'm comparing against newer neighborhoods in Carrollton. Most of the newer developments all fall under Hebron HS which is why I'm using this as a comparison.

[L.A.2Orlando2Dallas]

I'm sure I mentioned this in another thread but we chose N. Carrollton last year in part because of it's great location and the price point, similar homes in the "Hot" suburbs aren't as centrally located and demand a higher price. I refuse to pay what amounts to a second mortgage in property taxes each month.

The funny thing is we're close to everything but most places aren't in Carrollton, malls, Restaurants etc....(as others have mentioned)

[frenzyrider]

Originally Posted by nawvtanzi09

My thoughts are between the new master planned communities of Frisco / Allen / Prosper / McKinney...Castle Hills would be right up there near the top between these choices. Not comparing to Plano / Coppell since these areas are much higher priced.

From what I've noticed when people are looking in the Frisco / Allen / Prosper / McKinney areas they are looking for a newer home - which is why I'm comparing against newer neighborhoods in Carrollton. Most of the newer developments all fall under Hebron HS which is why I'm using this as a comparison.

Unless you mention "original" castle hills zoned to castle hills elementary, nothing in new castle hills compares to frisco, Allen or mckinney. Both independence elementary (zoned for castle hills new construction and CHN) and killian middle are sub-par and not even close to any elementary and middle in frisco, Allen or Plano. By the time the kids from these schools are in Hebron high, they are far from average in negative standard deviations away from the mean!

[Vicman]

Originally Posted by theloneranger

Hebron High has a Carrollton address, but it's basically in West Plano, about a half mile away from Willow Bend Mall.

Hebron High is in the Carrollton city limits, but on the edge of it.

[Brookside]

On the positive side, downtown Carrollton is cute, and there is good access to public transportation. DART green line, and and express DART bus to downtown Dallas.

[MckinneyOwnr]

We considered Carrollton briefly back in 2010 when home shopping. However, we could only find ONE home in our price range at the time that had a 3 car garage, and that was a must for us. Older homes were typically two car. It didn't make sense for us to spend $250-300k and not have a 3 car garage when we could get that in all the other suburbs we were looking in, so it got crossed off the list quickly.