Moving from CT to Dallas - need info on schools/where to live/buy a home

[aquablue999]

Thank you everyone .. this gives us a good head start. We are researching apartments in these areas now (on trulia, Zillow), looking up school assignments and ratings as we go.

While reading about DISDs, I also came across that school assignments can change sometimes. Is this true? I didn't quite understand that concept. So if I rent an apartment assuming a certain assigned school with a good rating, can the school change the next year?

@OkieSoonerGuy - We are currently in Manchester, Connecticut.

[BLDSoon]

Originally Posted by aquablue999

Hi,
My husband got a job in Dallas (Addison). We are a family of three (4 year old son) and will be moving from Connecticut very soon - on June 15th!!! We've been in CT for about 8 years now so its going to be a big change for us.

We are initially considering renting for a few months at a decent apartment complex (rent range $1000 to $1300, minimum 2bed 2bath) until we get familiar with the place. But we wish to buy a house soon. Budget $200K to $300K or max $350K.

1. Would appreciate any recommendations on places with moderate commute to Addison, good public schools (preK and elementary) and low crime rate and close to some family friendly activities?
2. Getting a short term lease apartment for 6m or mth to mth - how common is it to get one?

Thanks in advance!

Hey OP,

I noticed no-one has mentioned this but you may want to up your rent range. For a decent complex in an area close to addison you will have a hard time finding 2bed/2bath or larger units for $1000. Your range should be more like $1200-1600 to avoid surprises.

You could find units in the lower end of that range but many will fall in the middle to the higher end of that range especially for a short ( less than 6 months) lease.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by aquablue999

Thank you everyone .. this gives us a good head start. We are researching apartments in these areas now (on trulia, Zillow), looking up school assignments and ratings as we go.

While reading about DISDs, I also came across that school assignments can change sometimes. Is this true? I didn't quite understand that concept. So if I rent an apartment assuming a certain assigned school with a good rating, can the school change the next year?

@OkieSoonerGuy - We are currently in Manchester, Connecticut.

DISD is Dallas Independent School District......I assume given the other responses in this thread that you are asking about all Texas ISD's, not DISD specifically.

Your ISD will never change. However, to accommodate growth (think new suburbs) or changing demographics (ie, an empty nester neighborhood becoming full of young families again), the K-12 schools assigned to an address *CAN* change from year to year. This is pretty rare in established school districts - ie, in my K-12 years in Highland Park ISD, there was only 1 rezone of the elementary schools to ease an over-crowding issue at one or two of the elementary schools. In fast growing new districts, like Frisco ISD (which has gone from something like 6 to 60 schools in 15 years), many neighborhoods are rezoned multiple times in a family's K-12 stint as the land is filled in with new subdivisions.

In the districts mentioned in this thread so far (Richardson, Coppell), it *COULD* possibly happen, but the chances are extremely low.

Also - one important thing to note - DO NOT EVER, EVER, EVER TRUST ZILLOW OR TRULIA FOR SCHOOL INFO. NEVER. Zillow often just lists the closest schools, geographically, to an address. If you live near an ISD border (like on the Plano ISD/Dallas ISD border), the address might be zoned to one school district even though there is a school that's closer in another district. ALWAYS VERIFY SCHOOLS VIA THE ISD'S WEBSITE. Do not trust what an apartment leasing manager says either.

[WorldKlas]

Many elementary schools that feed into Hebron High School (Carrollton) are highly rated and for the short commute to Addison you will get the most bang for your buck as far as house size and neighborhood quality & safety in the Hebron High School attendance zone. Do an advanced search on a local real estate website for Hebron High School.

Here in the DFW area, school districts are not always zoned to the town names so its important to always verify that your residence is served by the school you desire.

[pistisan]

Welcome to Texas! You mentioned your son is 4 years old, so 2 more years before starting school. Are you planning to put your kid into school already? Plano ISD and Richardson both good school districts, but under $300K range in Plano, though not impossible, due to rising prices selection is less than other areas.