Honest Opinion of Farmers Branch/Carrollton Area (Dallas, Fort Worth: houses, neighborhoods)

[ais4apple]

I would be interested in some unbiased opinions of the North Dallas area. What are the communities, people, ammenities and schools like? Is this a good place to live?


Thanks.

[photogirl]

If you are looking at only Farmers Branch and Carrollton, stick with Carrollton. The schools are better, and overall, the atmosphere is better. Both are full of amenities since they are near the Dallas Tollway, so no problem there. Farmers Branch tends to be older, and, in my opinion, a little dirter. However, I don't know what kind of price range you are looking for. Carrollton, especially the closer you get to both the Dallas Tollway and the George Bush Tollway, gets on the expensive side. With the expense also comes congestion and more probability of snobbery.
Where you coming from? If you want to give more specific details, I'll be glad to answer what I can.

[ais4apple]

Hi Photogirl,

Thanks for the reply, I really appreciate the input.

We would be moving from central Canada. The job is located in Farmers Branch so I think anyplace within a 20 minute drive would be OK (coppell, irving, farmers branch, carrollton). A public transit option would be nice as well.

We would be looking for a house in the $200,000 range. We really want to live someplace with a sense of community. We would also like to be able to walk to local stores are restaurants. We have 2 small children so we also need to be close to a good primary school. (I've been to the TEA site so that gives me some idea.).

What are the down sides to moving to this area?

Thanks.

[photogirl]

Well, the downside is the traffic! The Farmers Branch/Carrollton area is right in the middle of north dallas, surrounded by three major roads: 635, and the two already mentioned tollways. You're not going to be able to locate too far from your job and still have a 20 minute commute.
Coppell is a great place to look, although I'm not sure what the median housing is there. They have a great re****tion for schools and a better feel of community. I'd start there first, if I were you.
Public transit should not be too difficult. Most of the metroplex has access to Dart buses. There is a Dart train, also, but you are unfortunately on the wrong side of Dallas for that. It runs more even with highway 75.
As far as walking distance to stores, just pick a housing development close to the ones you like. There are stores everywhere around here. That's another downside (in my opinion) of the area. Most of the north Dallas metroplex is overboard spend, spend, spend. As far as resturants go, we have more per area and po****tion than most big cities. You won't be able to turn a corner outside of a neighborhood subdivision without seeing some store or resturant. The area is BIG on convenience, so you shouldn't have to search for anything.
Other downsides--I don't know if you come from a small town or big, but the area is HUGE! Okay, so not as big as LA or NYC, but still very crowded. If you like wide open spaces, you're in the wrong place. The Farmers Branch area is probably the dirtiest of all north dallas, but that is not saying too much, because most of north dallas is ritzy. Because of the size of the cities, community really suffers. You may have to look at the word in a different way. Some housing developments have associations, and they can be "community" driven. But "community" as a whole city is not as likely.
Oh, look out for the weather here. Canada will seem like the north pole to you! We finally had some rain yesterday, but that was the first in a long time. In fact, we were previously under fire warnings because things had gotten so dry. If you like seasonal weather, you are in the wrong place, too. The only major change we get is in the summer when it gets massively hot. We are talking multiple days of 100+ weather and ozone alerts. The rest of the year, it pretty much stays consistently moderate. You have to be prepared for cold and warm weather. For example, we got freezing weather one day this last winter followed by highs in the mid 70s later in the same week. We rarely get snow or ice, but when we do, most everything shuts down. You don't want to go out then, anyway, because people here don't know how to drive on it and do stupid stuff.
On the bright side, there is never a lack of things to do around here. If you are into art, Dallas has an alright museum (Dallas Museum of Art) and a pretty good sculpture museum (The Nasher). The zoo is pretty good. There is also an area called Deep Ellum, which has a night scene. You can check out local and some big name bands there at one of the many clubs. You can ride a train from Dallas to Fort Worth to check out that city's offerings, too. Their zoo is even better, they have some better museums (The Amon Carter and Museum of Natural History are great), and they have the Fort Worth stockyards (if you are interested in getting in touch with your "cowboy" side!). Some of the suburbs have annual festivals: Richardson has a wildflower festival, Plano a hot air balloon festival, and Addison an art festival. Plus, if you are into either hockey or basketball, we have great pro teams. The Mavericks are currently tied for first in the western conference and the Stars are having a good season. You can get tickets for games to either for fairly reasonable prices. Nose bleeds for hockey, for instance, start at $10. You are up in the rafters, but there really isn't a bad seat in the house at American Airlines Center (I speak from experience). Our football team had it's ups and downs this year, but they are generally well loved regardless of their season.
I hope this helps and will be glad to answer any other questions. I know what it is like to move so far, so I can understand wanting to know all you can before!

[photogirl]

I don't know why the system starred out those two words in my last post, but they were r-e-p-u-t-a-t-i-o-n and p-o-p-u-l-a-t-i-o-n. (Where's the harm in that???)

[ais4apple]

Wow!

Thanks photogirl. Let me mull things over a bit and I'll see if I can come up with any more questions. It's great to have contact with someone who is has some first hand knowledge of the situation.

One thing comes to mind...what are your thoughts on Irving?

Better watch your language, you just never know what words might offend some people

[photogirl]

Hummm, not much for me to say about Irving. The area around 635 looks okay, but that's about all I can say. It's not that it is bad or anything, I just don't go there that much. It is close to DFW airport, so you would hear/see planes frequently. It is also one of those cities where you are not sure where it stops and the next begins, because it is so crowded around there. You would probably do fine, though, looking for houses there, because most of it is reasonable. About the main thing it has had going for it was Texas Stadium (home of the Cowboys football team), but they are building a new stadium in Arlington, so they will be leaving soon.

[hl1967]

Welcome to Texas, or at least whenever you make the move from Canada. I currently live in Valley Ranch, which is what the north part of Irving is called (along with Las Colinas which is a bit farther south).

Both are considered higher strata areas of Irving and Dallas in general. This is the neighborhood where the Dallas Cowboys are headquartered, and until about a year ago, where the Dallas Stars called home. Trust me, this is nearly as nice a neighborhood/part of town you can live in without living in a place like Colleyville or Southlake. Homes range in Valley Ranch range in price from ~ $190,000 to $450,000 or so. It's also very close to Farmers Branch...less than 10 minutes.

Anything north of HWY 114, east of Beltline Road and west of I-35 will generally put you in a nice area. There are some very small pockets of sketchy areas, but they are isolated and it's not hard to avoid them.

Coppell, which is also very close to Farmers Branch, is even nicer. Homes are a bit pricier, but the area is the same...clean, nice, modern, etc. Traffic is a bear, but no matter where you live in the entire metroplex, it is bad. That's what happens when you have an area about the size of Rhode Island as a metroplex. Not literally, but it is a freaking HUGE area.

Traffic at midnight is almost as bad as it is 3 p.m., so just come prepared. That and this area has one of the hottest climates in the country outside of the desert southwest. We are normally at about 96F-99F from late June through Sept for a high. Throw in roughly 10-20 days of 100F + days and it you get the idea. What will throw you off is at 10 p.m. it's usually still right around 90F...buy lots and lots of shorts

But the area in general is decent enough.

[ais4apple]

Thanks hl1967.

We are coming down for a look early next month. Hoopefully we will be able to narrow the potential list of neighborhoods at that time.

I would really like to live somewhere with a high level of sustainability. It would be great to have schools, shops, restaurants, public fitness facilities and parks all within walking distance. I'm a bit worried about being isolated in the burbs and being forced to jump in my car if I want to do anything.

Everyone mentions the heat. So, is it a dry or humid heat or maybe something in between. We do get stretches of 100+ days here but it tends to cool rapidly once the sun goes down.

Is it windy? Here the wind is relentless.

[richkat]

Originally from California we're now in Florida but may be relocating to the Dallas area. How does the heat/humidity/insect population compare to Florida? I notice there doesn't seem to be screening like there is here - is it because it's not as bad?

Thanks,

R&K