Top 3 Dallas Suburbs for a Young Family (Coppell, West: public schools, zip code)

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by svillechris

Why does Colleyville not get mentioned as a great place for a young family? Looks to be quite a wealthy town, but are public schools not known as being among the best? Thanks

I usually don't suggest anything west of DFW airport for people who live in Dallas. Colleyville is really a Fort Worth suburb- it's about 15 miles to downtown FW vs almost 30 miles to downtown Dallas.

[ChristieP]

There ARE nice homes in Grapevine for under $350k. It just depends on what your definition of nice is. Do you want a 3000 sf home built in the last 10 years? If so, then you won't find it here. Do you want a late 1980s 2000 sf home that's been updated? There are actually several of those on the market, including a brand new listing just down the street from me that had a crowd of cars in front of it last night!

I agree with TC80 that commuting to Dallas from the west side of the airport isn't the best. 183 is about to be torn up and rebuilt, so it's going to be a bumpy ride for a few years.

[WorldKlas]

Sooo.....I am going to focus on your budget, commute and school needs. The crunchy thing is not universal by area (although you would be a good fit in that regard to the Lakewood section of Dallas but your budget not a fit at all). The community thing is hard too. Most of our burbs do not have a clear town center (there are exceptions but your other needs are much more compelling)

My top choices (for commute and schools)

The Bear Creek area in Euless (zip code 76039) in the Grapevine/Colleyville School District
Valley Ranch in zip 75063 zoned to Coppell Schools
Las Colinas in zip 75063 zoned to Las Colinas Elementary School


A word about school districts. It is pretty common that school attendance zones don't follow the actual name of the city. (Example, the 2nd & 3rd recommendation above are in irving but zoned to other school districts)

My 2nd group of choices (for type of community & schools)

Grapevine
Carrollton - zoned to Hebron High School


My last group of choices which is a much further commute but more house for the $(for budget and schools)

Roanoke
Arlington in the Martin HS attendance zone (zip 76016 and much of zip 76017)
Mansfield -- only houses zoned to the original Mansfield High school (NOT Mansfield Legacy or Summit HS)

[GinaVol]

Originally Posted by svillechris

2 - You're right that the job would NOT be downtown. I would be west of downtown, near the medical center. I've mapped it from this location to the above houses in FM, and it looks like with traffic it's about 45 mins at 4:30-5:30pm. I'm not here to tell the locals that they're wrong about the commute time, but from what I'm seeing, commute time seemed to be within my desired parameters.

I work in the Park Cities area of town (north and east of your office) and only drive to Coppell and it easily takes me 45 minutes (minimum) to get home in the evenings and I am 9 miles closer than your 1st listing. I have driven to Flo Mo right after work in that same general vicinity and it would take over an hour to get there. A co worker lives a little north of your 1st listing and her drive is over an hour in mornings and almost 1.5 hrs in the afternoons.

I suggest before you put offers on any houses to actually drive it in the morning and the evening and draw your own conclusions. Flower Mound is a great place with lots to do but no way would I want to have to drive that day in and day out into Dallas.

[caicai]

Originally Posted by svillechris

Thanks for posting this. 2 other comments:



1 - It seems like the suggestions thrown out didn't normally include Flower Mound, but it appears these few houses would fit the bill, within the $350k budget.



2124 Columbia Dr, Flower Mound, TX 75022 - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - realtor.com®



3631 Appalachian Way, Flower Mound, TX 75022 - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - realtor.com®



Those 2 are built a little longer ago than I had put in my original wish list, but still within reason for me for sure. Perhaps FM wasn't included since it's a bit longer drive than the 45 mins? Which leads me to #2...





2 - You're right that the job would NOT be downtown. I would be west of downtown, near the medical center. I've mapped it from this location to the above houses in FM, and it looks like with traffic it's about 45 mins at 4:30-5:30pm. I'm not here to tell the locals that they're wrong about the commute time, but from what I'm seeing, commute time seemed to be within my desired parameters.

I live close to this. I work west of downtown off of 35 (Stemmons) and Inwood Road. My work hours are 7-4. I leave my house in Wellington at 6:25 am and get to the office at 7:00 am. I leave the office at 4:00 on the nose and usually make it home in 50 minutes to one hour. I use Waze to find best route home. I will pay tolls if it means faster route.

Coming in is a breeze however the afternoon traffic leaving at 4:00 is VERY heavy. A coworker of mine lives in Lewisville and leaves at 5:00. She works 8-5. She says I am lucky to have 7-4 hours because the commute at 5:00 is gridlock and takes on average of 1.25-1.5 hours for her to get home. She comes in around 7:15 to avoid the morning commute which gets heavy after 7:00 am from what she tells me. She lives on the Flower Mound/Lewisville border.

If my hours changed to 8-5 for any reason, I would find another job closer to home for sure. One hour commute home is about max for my tolerance.

[svillechris]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

I usually don't suggest anything west of DFW airport for people who live in Dallas. Colleyville is really a Fort Worth suburb- it's about 15 miles to downtown FW vs almost 30 miles to downtown Dallas.

That makes sense. I suppose I just see a place like Colleyville on a map being less than 30 miles to Dallas and personally would absolutely consider that a Dallas suburb. I'm used to suburbs being essentially any town within 50ish miles from downtown Chicago and probably 90 mins commute or less. I appreciate the feedback.

Originally Posted by caicai

I live close to this. I work west of downtown off of 35 (Stemmons) and Inwood Road. My work hours are 7-4. I leave my house in Wellington at 6:25 am and get to the office at 7:00 am. I leave the office at 4:00 on the nose and usually make it home in 50 minutes to one hour. I use Waze to find best route home. I will pay tolls if it means faster route.

Coming in is a breeze however the afternoon traffic leaving at 4:00 is VERY heavy. A coworker of mine lives in Lewisville and leaves at 5:00. She works 8-5. She says I am lucky to have 7-4 hours because the commute at 5:00 is gridlock and takes on average of 1.25-1.5 hours for her to get home. She comes in around 7:15 to avoid the morning commute which gets heavy after 7:00 am from what she tells me. She lives on the Flower Mound/Lewisville border.

If my hours changed to 8-5 for any reason, I would find another job closer to home for sure. One hour commute home is about max for my tolerance.

Thanks so much for posting this. Incredible how close you are to both the listings of the homes I posted links for that I like, and my potential work location. It's interesting to me how different the traffic patterns are leaving work at 4pm compared to leaving at 5pm. I'm used to Chicago area rush hour where almost every expressway within 20 miles of downtown is basically a parking lot from 7-9am and 3-6pm or so. My commute for 8-430 work shift currently is about 75 mins each way. Of course I'd prefer to cut that down some. I'll be sure to ask my potential employer about the expected work schedule as I'd prefer to do the 7-4 schedule like you. Thanks again!

[TheOverdog]

You could consider Colleyville a Dallas suburb, except that Dallas has a sister city in Ft Worth (population 800k) that is about 30 miles away, and as such the commute patterns for Colleyville to downtown Ft Worth is 15 miles vs 25 miles Colleyville to downtown Dallas.

[little_thirsty]

We live in Highland Village which is a 5 mile long city that sits one side of Flower Mound, the edge of Lewisville, and along the shoreline of Lewisville Lake. We have a great school system, shared with Lewisville and Flowermound...the LISD. Our kids go to Marcus High School from this city. This entire area is fantastic for kids and families. There are a large number of churches in the area, everything from The Village Church, to Trietch UMC, to Rockpointe...there is no shortage of places to try! Now we are not in walking distance to much. But we do have an extensive walking trail that takes you all 5 miles of the city and even has a part of the path that goes up to the Walmart bike shop in the event you need some help on the trails. When you move in, the police come to visit you and welcome you to the city. We have very low crime. I did not want to move to Dallas when it first happened 4 years ago, but could not be happier with the little Village we ended up in. At the end of Sellmeyer Road and on Highland Village Road on the lake is the YMCA Summer Camp called Camp on the Lake. The city has great parks and takes a lot of pride in events for citizens. I also think Flower Mound is a terrific city. A lot of these smaller towns really have created great environments. Welcome to the area!

[svillechris]

I first wanted to say thanks to everyone who took some time to share their opinions to try to help me out. I have one other question for you all:

What zip code/suburb do you feel real estate prices will rise the most in within the next 5 years? And why? Thanks

[MobiusStrip]

For what it is worth, my crunchy vegan progressive Christian cousin, who has two small children, loves Flower Mound. They moved back to Texas from NYC.