Potential Relo To Work in Richardson... Where to Live?

[martowski]

Thanks for the great suggestion TheColonyATT! I would love to be that close to work, but need to make sure all the other factors come together. If there's the "right" house on the market at the time we are looking, then I'll definitely keep my eye out on this area!

[MurphyPl1]

Actually, most of the area right around Renner and NorthStar is pretty family friendly. All are HOA neighborhoods and are active socially. All 3 elementaries are very good, but I would say Stinson, is the most active, Schell next and then Miller. But all are great areas to live. And all close to Breckinridge Park. Miller feeds to Murphy middle and McMillen HS and the other two feed to Otto MS and then to Williams.

I live in Murphy and it's amazingly community focused. All of the neighborhoods are active with social events, and school activities, even the few older neighborhoods that don't have HOAs. I just found out that a friend from another neighborhood is moving into my neighborhood. That makes the 14th or 15th person I know who has sold one house in Murphy for another. Heck our former Mayor is on his 4th house in Murphy. But I only counted him once

The city puts on community events and you will absolutely run into people you know there. you will also run into people you know every time you go into a business here. Which sometimes makes for longer than expected errands

[Ralph_Kirk]

Originally Posted by martowski

Hi All,

I'm in a position where I may be relocating to the Dallas area from the Midwest; the office would be in north Richardson (right near where 75 and the George Bush Turnpike meet).

As a family, we have two elementary age children and one pre-school age child. We would be looking to stay in areas with very strong schools that offer gifted/enrichment options and an area with a strong sense of community. Looking to stay at or below $350k in home price, which appears to provide a number of options in the McKinney/Wylie/Frisco/Rockwall/Murphy/Plano/Garland areas. Would like to keep commute to around 30 min or less... but 40 min on average isn't a deal breaker. From what I see, it appears all the areas noted above meet the requirements (although it seems like certain parts of Garland may not).

What differentiating factors can you help me understand between the areas above other than the obvious (i.e., where they reside on a map)? Do certain communities seem to distinguish themselves vs. others, or are they all pretty much the same in terms of "suburbia?"

Thanks for all your help.

Hmm. Sounds like you'll be working in the building we're moving to early next year . Right now I'm working in the Lakeside building in Richardson, we're moving to CityLine in July or so.

Pay attention to BigDGeek's advice.

Our people who are white-knuckling from the north on 75 or from the west on George Bush are hating it. We took six months to find a house in Garland just a block over the border from Richardson, and I'm loving my 8-minute commute. I discovered that going east or west on Renner Road in north Richardson is also a pretty placid drive any time of day or year, so a house that puts you on Renner would be a reasonably easy commute.

George Bush east of 75 isn't a bad rush hour drive--which makes the Firewheel area (25 minutes) reasonable, and Plano Parkway east of 75 (25 minutes) isn't a bad drive, which makes Wylie reasonable. You do get a lot more house for your money in Wylie and Firewheel, although those areas are not yet as commercially built-up as the towns out west.

The areas of Richardson, Plano, and Garland close in to CityLine are older construction. They're not bad areas, just older construction. On my balance sheet, the short commute made up for it. But I also rather like an area that has so many more small businesses and restaurants and fewer grand malls.

From southern Richardson, going east on, say, Campbell or Arapaho and then north on the 75 service road or Plano road wouldn't be too bad. Stoplights and heavy traffic, but it mostly runs smoothly.