Southlake or Highland Park? (Plano, Bedford: new home, university, place to live)

[MissMee]

Yay! How exciting!

[aeh]

We got it! Thanks for the positive vibes! Southlake and the Park Cities both look like great communities. We would be happy in either one. In the end, the convenience for DH's commute, the charm and character and the "feel" of the Park Cities won out.

[aeh]

I would also be remiss not to thank everyone on this board for all the endless advice offered over the last few months. Not only on this forum, but Colorado, Georgia and Seattle's forums, too. What a wealth of information you have been! I can't wait for our upcoming move. We'll be in Dallas in one month!

[lh_newbie]

FYI: If you're looking for a church home, my wife and I go to University Park United Methodist (we enjoy the very traditional style of services and the medium sized congregation - we're not into mega-churches). It's at the corner of Caruth and Preston. PM me if you'd like to check it out, we could meet you somewhere before for breakfast or just meet at the church.

Welcome to Texas!

One of our favorite restaurants are in Highland Park - Patrizio's. It's at Mockingbird and Preston in Highland Park Village. They have one of the best patios for eating dinner - very intimate feeling. My favorite dish is the chicken and mushroom lasagne - favorite appetizer is the crispy goat cheese. Definitely worth checking out - and if you have any friends/family in town that are vegetarians, they offer several options for them (the open face ravioli is one that is great, and you can add chicken or shrimp to it for non-vegetarians... I love adding the shrimp). Mmm.... food.

There are a ton of restaurants that are must try's in your general area - if you have any questions, I know there are several of us on this forum in your area that can certainly make suggestions.

Brian

[Spree]

Congrats A! I see you're coming from Canada .... no more shoveling snow for you :-)

[aeh]

Thanks Brian and Spree. Soooo helpful. Brian, we just may take you up on the church thing! Did you know I grew up in Lake Highlands (White Rock Elem area)? And, I do know Patrizio's! It's one of my favourites. (I'm a hybrid Texan-Canadian!) And you guys have no idea how happy we will be to not shovel snow anymore. We are expecting wet snow tomorrow and the day after. Yes, that means in May! It is nice here today though. We're so happy to be coming home. BTW, does UPUMC have a good youth group for middle school aged kids?

[lh_newbie]

Originally Posted by aeh

Thanks Brian and Spree. Soooo helpful. Brian, we just may take you up on the church thing! Did you know I grew up in Lake Highlands (White Rock Elem area)? And, I do know Patrizio's! It's one of my favourites. (I'm a hybrid Texan-Canadian!) And you guys have no idea how happy we will be to not shovel snow anymore. We are expecting wet snow tomorrow and the day after. Yes, that means in May! It is nice here today though. We're so happy to be coming home. BTW, does UPUMC have a good youth group for middle school aged kids?

I didn't know you grew up in Lake Highlands - very coo! We are in the Merriman Park Elementary boundaries.

Since I'm not a youth and my wife and I don't have kids - I'm not very versed in that side of things (does a 16-year old cat count?). I do see the youth around the church and they are quite active and seem like a tight knit group, but that's about all I can offer. We have a couple youth pastors that I've recently had the opportunity to spend some time with on a trip to Juarez, Mexico. Very nice folks and quite passionate about their calling.

(I'm a hybrid Texan-Canadian!)

That makes you a Texan, eh? Sorry, couldn't resist. I grew up in the Detroit, Michigan area, so I am very familiar with the Canadian accent.

Drop me a PM when you get settled in and want to meet up on Sunday - my wife and I typically go to the 11am service (my wife isn't a morning person).

Brian

[GoldBus]

If you are looking for TEXAS with large lots with easy access and a Top school district, I'd go North to Collin County to Lucas or Fairview both in Lovejoy ISD. Highland Park ISD, Carroll ISD (Southlake area) and Lovejoy ISD (Lucas/Fairview area) all take turns being the #1 in the TOP 3 school districts in the State of Texas. They are the only three districts in the state that continually have all exemplary schools as well as the entire school district all rated within the states highest measure. Lucas/Fairview aren't too far from anything, but it's small! Lucas has a population of 5100 while Fairview has about 3600 citizens. As far as shopping, it's almost there. Under construction now in 2008 are the Villages of Fairview at Stacy Road & 75 (Central Expressway) and directly across the street is the Villages of Allen to compliment the Fairview center, and the sales tax in Lucas & Fairview is only 7.25%. These two developments are modeled after Southlakes' Town Center. There are no strip malls, wal-marts, Home Depots or Lowes located within the city limits of either Lucas or Fairview as well, but you can find these other types of retailers in nearby Allen and McKinney. Both towns are very nice, quaint, friendly with lots of new development, but it is a very custom community centered around a mutual school district which strives to be college preparatory for all children who wish to excel. Lucas and Fairview have tons of Highland Park transplants and now the over crowded Southlake folks looking for air are coming as well. There is nothing cookie cutter about Lucas/Fairview. Most homes are custom designed and built mostly on 1-2 acre tracts. The thought is if you are going to build a big TEXAS size home, you might as well have a lot that the house can actually fit on. Additionally, Lovejoy ISD borders the entire northwest shore of Lake Lavon, so there is a lot of Lake Activity in the community. Most of the neighborhoods allow you to build garages large enough to keep your boat, RV, Hummer and in-laws.

[aeh]

Thank you for the recommendation. We had orignially been set on Fairview but after throrough research (9 months) we had many many reservations about the area--the issues with the school, resale (homes are on the market a LOOOONGGG time and many people were taking losses on their homes--at least of those we looked at), it was far removed from a lot of things we liked to go to and the development looks like it could go "either way". We wanted to like Fairview desperately (see my other posts on Fairview) but in the end had too many doubts about whether we wanted our kids to be a part of an experiment with the education (pre-AP and AP) at this time in our lives. We did love a few of the areas but Fairview has also developed a little differently than we hoped. In the end, my favorite house was in Fairview (second choice Southlake house, third choice UP house). It was my dream house. However, the people were taking over a $150,000 loss on the home and it's been on the market for over a year, maybe two, still sits on the market...Also, the airport that might expand just north of there in McKinney might bring airport noise right overhead. It was a gorgeous lot though and we loved the house. Also, IMHO the community just didn't offer things we were looking for.

Southlake we really loved--it was very nice and had a lot of shopping, was very clean, nice, large houses, big lots. The commute, in the end, did us in since all of our family is in Dallas. UP was our third choice house (80 years old, smaller than the other two at 5000 sf) but UP offered a great community and proximity to what mattered and big trees. Our lot is a city lot (we are coming from 2 acres) so that is a big difference to us. They are all nice areas, but IMHO Fairview was the easy one to leave behind--even if it was my all time dream house.

[RE Diva]

Originally Posted by Grainraiser

The best description I every heard for Highland Park is "The Bubble". They live in the center of Dallas but are isolated from all the bad things that happen in the inner city. It's a really good description of the place.

When I was growing up as a teenager, I had some really good friends who lived in HP. One night I was driving one of my girlfriends to her HP home in my car my dad got me to "learn how to drive in." (ie less than a knock-out.) An HP police officer pulled me over and never did tell me why. I'm looking all over for vehicle registration and license, ma'am. My girlfriend just hands him her license and he says "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you lived in The Bubble. Carry on." and he walked away. I was pretty surprised at the time as things didn't go down quite that way in Richardson where I lived.