Workplace-Irving...best neighborhood to live...with access to good school district (Dallas: fit in, house)

[Pagusas]

Originally Posted by happycrow

If your bottom tier of acceptable starts at $350, you're far too wealthy to bother with middle class places like we're talking about.

I dont think so, I mean we were looking in the exact same price range and found a great home with all the features we wanted in West Frisco, we just gave up some on location (at least the wife is a lot closer to her work in North Plano!). $300 in that area got us into a much newer home, in a nice sub division with lots of property space.

All the houses we looked at in flower mound for that price and higher ($350 cap) gave you no where near as much sqft, newer build, land or features. Comparable houses in Coppell were just out of the park expensive. Same goes for the Castle Hills area, where $350 basically gets you in the door.

[4Movingeast]

A $250K house in Grapevine would have the most potential from what I saw from listings. The homes in that price range in Coppell were very very small and not updated, although there might be exceptions. The other issue is you are competing with investors who have the cash to plunk down especially in Coppell and the cash offer gets picked most often.

[Finessee]

Thank you all for your suggestions,...any thoughts on Valley Ranch area? We prefer a culturally diverse area. Are all these areas suggested comes under a good school district? I have heard of Coppell ISD being good...is that so? His workplace will be near 183 and Grauwlyer Rd.

[ChristieP]

$250-350k is plenty for Grapevine, but not enough for many of those other areas, especially Coppell.
FloMo to 183/Grauwyler will be a long commute...

[Pagusas]

Originally Posted by Finessee

Thank you all for your suggestions,...any thoughts on Valley Ranch area? We prefer a culturally diverse area. Are all these areas suggested comes under a good school district? I have heard of Coppell ISD being good...is that so? His workplace will be near 183 and Grauwlyer Rd.

We currently rent in Valley Ranch, and overall I would not recommend a home here (but renting is ok)

the problem is Valley Ranch is almost all apartments or zero-lot looking homes. My wife and I never felt this area could "feel" like a home, it always feels like you are surrounded by apartments. The canals are nice, and lots of great walking paths though. Its a fine area for a temporary base while you look around the better areas for a home. After 9 months of being here we are more than ready to leave it behind and find a real home.

Also I wouldn't call this area diverse really, its feels predominantly south asian, not balanced or well mixed.

Also I'd dare say the walmart and Kroger in the Valley Ranch/Las Collinas area are the worst of any in Dallas, especially the wal-mart. Always insanely crowded, never stocked correctly and overall just a frustrating experience shopping at. Kroger might have gotten better with the expansion they just did, but for the last few months its also been hell to shop at.

[stubbornpride]

Brand new housing alongside Valley Ranch, Riverside Area ranges from $300k+ - what part of Irving?
Coppell is pricey but great schools and close to Irving also. Irving ISD is a good district, very diverse too.

[Allison81]

Originally Posted by happycrow

If your bottom tier of acceptable starts at $350, you're far too wealthy to bother with middle class places like we're talking about.

It's not that $350 is bottom tier in general, but it's bottom tier for COPPELL. And yes, I would agree with that. My sister bought a house in Coppell for $220K. It was built in 1981 and very dated. Needs a lot of work (foundation issues, the A/C unit went out one week after closing, etc).

[happycrow]

@Stubbornpride
Irving is very diverse, and I like my hometown, but there's no serious voices I know of calling our ISD good. Irving's ISD is half the reason people working here live in Coppell even when the area has some very nice homes. (aside from gate-me-please upper-class people who can't walk through a middle-class community without being terrified about getting mugged in broad daylight).

@Allison81: heh. My little box was built in 1963 has needed lots of TLC too. But fair warning, anybody who tells you that a house built on Las Colinas tufa, now matter what its age, will be immune to foundation issues is lying to you. I've known several people in the area with six-month-old houses suddenly finding themselves with foundation repair bills (the worst in Lewisville, a huge 5-digit repair, not a concern for you thankfully) as builders cut corners all over.

[MyDallasMove]

Hi. For schools, there are profiles of all the Independent School Districts (ISDs) in that area at | DFW Relocation & Newcomer Guide (the districts self reported). That might help you. There is also lots of good info on there about the different neighborhoods, which might help you self select.

[Allison81]

Originally Posted by happycrow

@Stubbornpride
Irving is very diverse, and I like my hometown, but there's no serious voices I know of calling our ISD good. Irving's ISD is half the reason people working here live in Coppell even when the area has some very nice homes. (aside from gate-me-please upper-class people who can't walk through a middle-class community without being terrified about getting mugged in broad daylight).

@Allison81: heh. My little box was built in 1963 has needed lots of TLC too. But fair warning, anybody who tells you that a house built on Las Colinas tufa, now matter what its age, will be immune to foundation issues is lying to you. I've known several people in the area with six-month-old houses suddenly finding themselves with foundation repair bills (the worst in Lewisville, a huge 5-digit repair, not a concern for you thankfully) as builders cut corners all over.

True. Foundation issues are a major deal in this area, regardless of location or age.

In HS I lived in Coppell. The house we lived in was around $160K (granted this was in the mid 90's). Now, that same house is probably priced in the high $200's. And for what? To me, Coppell has gotten "too big for it's britches." It's nice and all, but someone should be able to pay $300k and get a nice house...not a dated fixer. When we moved back here this summer, I was thinking we'd move to Coppell. But the more I looked at homes, the more frustrated I got. IF I actually found something that I liked that was ACTUALLY in my price range, there would be multiple offers immediately. I got fed up and gave up on Coppell. But I'm not bitter! I promise! LOL.