Young, non-high-earning couple looking to buy in the Dallas area -- is it possible? (Greenville: condo, how much)

[Annikan]

If that link didn't work, search 6318 Richmond avenue. There's one 2 bedroom for sale there now, but I would imagine different floor plans come up for sale throughout the year. The whole complex is only 1 and 2 bedrooms though.

[Annikan]

If schools don't matter much to you, I can recommend a particular townhouse development close to downtown--public schools aren't good, but prices and space are great. If you are only planning on living there for the next 5 years or so (before a future kid would be in school), it would also be great.

[Hawekeye2011]

I'm in the same situation as the OP I can find homes that range from the 170-210K range between E Campbell Rd and Arapaho Rd is that a good area of Richardson? what are the better areas of Richardson?

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by Hawekeye2011

I'm in the same situation as the OP I can find homes that range from the 170-210K range between E Campbell Rd and Arapaho Rd is that a good area of Richardson? what are the better areas of Richardson?

You have to go pretty far east of 75 to find residential areas between those two roads. Basically you'll have to go east of Plano Road. The desirable neighborhoods on that side of town won't be in your price range.

The better areas are a lot of 75082 if you like new houses, and most of 75080 except for the area bound by Arapaho/75/Campbell/Waterview and some streets adjacent to Richardson High School, mainly west/northwest of the school and a little bit north of it. Canyon Creek, The Reservation, Waterview Preservation, and Heights Park Estates are the nicest but there will be little to nothing sub-$210k in any of those areas.

[dannaflemons]

Yes it's possible! There are plenty of neighborhoods to choose from in the Greater Dallas area. You can exhaust yourself trying to figure this out (and may possibly miss a lot of great neighborhoods) without doing a couple things first.

You should go to a mortgage lender and get a basic pre-approval and Good Faith Estimate done so you'll know exactly what loan amount you can afford. If you don't do this you're only guessing and guessing at this stuff is going to cause you stress. You don't have to go through the credit check part until you're ready to buy.

Once you know the exact budget you're dealing with find a good, accurate home search resource and plug in the details of what you want in different areas you like and allow it to feed you listings. For your purposes now you should find a searchable map so you can highlight areas rather than zip codes. A good map tool will allow you to input criteria and look at a map to see where listings pop up. Then you can look closer at those areas you like. This will give you a good idea of where to search without missing anything.

Hope that helps.

[mrsclark]

Originally Posted by baylorbear09

Yes, I was hoping for mortgage, taxes, and insurance to add up to $700-800/month. I guess that was naive.

Not in the least niave! A year and a half ago, I bought a house in Lancaster. Paid &72,000 for 1600 sq. ft. 3 bd 2 bth with attached garage and laundry room. Livingroom, eat in kitchen. Built in the 50's with a nice little back yard. Walking distance to a decent elementry school. Our neighborhood is decent, clean, quiet, families and lined with big shade trees. Neighbors are friendly. My mortgage all in is $550. We did have 20% down, but even with a little less it would still have been under the $700 budget you mention.

Lancaster is still very affordable for working class couples/families and IS growing. You can still get a bargain. Lancaster is south of Dallas and is an easy commute to downtown, I work downtown myself. I dont even get on the freeway, just cruise right through south Dallas to get to work. Its not a pretty drive, but I dont have to sit in traffic and it takes about 30 mins. Going to SMU, it would be best to take I45 to I75 instead of I35E.

My husband are not high wage earners, he is retired and works and I work full time. We could have paid 200k for a house and been house poor, but we wanted the same as you, if one of us is out of work, we want to still pay all the bills. We have always planned things that way and it works great for us.

You could also try Desoto which is just on the other side of 35E, but then you dont have the easy access to I45.

[J800]

Cedar Hill/Desoto/Lancaster works for couples without kids, or couples who are willing to spend the money to send the kid(s) to private schools.

I absolutely love the scenery in Cedar Hill.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by J800

Cedar Hill/Desoto/Lancaster works for couples without kids, or couples who are willing to spend the money to send the kid(s) to private schools.

I absolutely love the scenery in Cedar Hill.

Cedar Hill has some good elementary schools and the magnet high school, Collegiate, has some of the highest scores in the DFW area for white students....up there with the top north Dallas suburbs.

Desoto & Lancaster....not so much on the school front. And not a lot of quality private schools down that way either. It's pretty much Bishop Dune or bust.

[Acntx]

Originally Posted by J800

Cedar Hill/Desoto/Lancaster works for couples without kids, or couples who are willing to spend the money to send the kid(s) to private schools.

I absolutely love the scenery in Cedar Hill.

The communities south of Dallas - Cedar Hill, Lancaster, DeSoto - could be viable options if the OP is open to living in the suburbs and expanding their search area. Despite the blanket generalizations often applied to area schools on this forum, decent public schools with quality academic programs can be found in the southern suburbs. This isn't a situation where every public school is unsafe and failing to such an extent that charters or private schools are the only options available. I just wanted to make that clear to anyone who may read this thread in the future without derailing the discussion.

That said, I believe that Richardson or the other areas mentioned earlier in the thread would be the best match for the OP.

Best of luck with your home search, baylorbears09

[rantanamo]

Originally Posted by bencronin04

87K seems low for these boards, but well above the national average OP. You're doing just fine! On the other hand, wanting to stay under 700 a month for your mortgage taxes and insurance in the metroplex in a safe area is going to be near impossible.

I bet its pretty normal for these boards. Anyone can say they make anything on the internet.