thinking about tx ,need help deciding.. (Dallas, Arlington: fit in, apartments, rental)

[sweetlilmama]

Hello everyone,

hey, im a 24 (soon to be 25) yr old female from nj. im REALLY wanting to get out of jersey BAD, after some research texas seems like me.alot diffrent from jersey but i think i can deal with it. i'm looking at the dallas county area ( desoto tx).right now i live in the suburbs of south jersey. now mind you i dont know anyone in the state of tx , so i hope i can make friends a little easier down there. auto insurance is sooo high , as well as the cost of living in general. so in tx i'm want to live in the suburbs thats close to downtown for shopping, malls, dining, jobs etc. so if anyone has some advice on places to visit etc.. please let me know.

[stargazer]

I don't know what your maritial status is or if you have a family. Your name indicates that you could be. If you are looking for a hip place to live, I would look at Addison, some areas down town and Knox Henderson area. If you are raising children, I would look at Greatschools.net to get a grasp of the better school districts are. I used to live in Cedar Hill and Duncanville and actully looked at living in Desoto some time ago. If you decide to live in Desoto make sure to live west of Hampton. That tends to be the better areas to live. South Dallas and the southern suburbs are very pretty places to live but they tend to be the most depressed socio economicly with Duncanville leading the pack it seems. Our home we left for a out of state job at the time we ended up losing money on it because we could not sell it what it was worth... and it was a beautiful home in a very quaint, treed area. Once upon a time they were the HOT place for families to move too but most families are making the decision to move north because most companies are north. Desoto has beautiful neighborhoods there, my favorite is Windermere and Frost Farms 2. Have you considered looking into Cedar Hill? They have Lake Ridge which is very beautiful too. Where would your job be as well? That could make a difference as to where you would live.

[sweetlilmama]

thanks. no i dont have any kids i'm single. im not sure where i'll be working b/c my move to tx wont be a business move its a personal one. if i find a few town that i like i'll visit and the i'll start looking at the job markets.alo i am black so i would like to find a place that has a mix race of blacks and whites. because thats what im used to here in jersey

[stargazer]

Hey there, You will find that DFW is a diverse place to live regardless of what side of town your on. The south tends to be more diverse than north however as I said, Dallas is pretty diverse. If you are single though, Desoto might not be your cup of tea. It tends to have more family neighborhoods. Cedar Hill has nice apartments on Joe Wilson and that might be where you might want to look. They also have some nice neighborhoods on that street as well. I don't recall Desoto having alot of apartments.

[Texan#1]

Singles live in Dallas. Families live in the suburbs. Live in Dallas lol. You should try downtown or anything north of it. I'm sure you'd like Uptown too.

[aydensmommy]

Hmm Texas is nice. Dallas is nice, south and east dallas have high crime rates though. North Dallas is a bit pricey also. Mesquite (suburb of Dallas) is nice.. Plenty of shopping, restaurants, etc.. The west part of Mesquite is so close to east dallas that right on the border between the two there is a lot of crime. Kind of the "suburb slums" I guess you could say.I have lived in Mesquite all my life (in West Mesquite) and the cost of living here is pretty reasonable I suppose. Forney, Rockwall, or Rowlett are very nice cities, even Sunnyvale. Richardson is very nice, lots of shopping and everything, not much crime. Addison, Plano, Irving, Arlington, and Grand Prarie are the "Richey" neighborhoods. Well, for the most part they are. Garland is in between.. some parts are crime infested, and some parts are very nice and quiet...peaceful living.

[socketz]

Originally Posted by sweetlilmama

thanks. no i dont have any kids i'm single. im not sure where i'll be working b/c my move to tx wont be a business move its a personal one. if i find a few town that i like i'll visit and the i'll start looking at the job markets.alo i am black so i would like to find a place that has a mix race of blacks and whites. because thats what im used to here in jersey

You will fit in just fine here. The ethnic makeup of the entire DFW area is very balanced. Lots of socio-economic snobbery, but I've yet to experience much racial segregation. As a single, I'd go towards Lakewooder's area (check his posts) and be near the DART and downtown scene. While I like Addison, all that really seems to be there is places to eat. I like it, but being young there is more to life than eating.

The burbs are textbook, mowed lawns, kids being pulled in wagons, middle aged guys washing cars and chilling in their home theatres, may bore you stiff. Stick to those up and coming gentrified parts of Dallas and you should be ok.

[sonnybunny]

Originally Posted by sweetlilmama

Hello everyone,

hey, im a 24 (soon to be 25) yr old female from nj. im REALLY wanting to get out of jersey BAD, after some research texas seems like me.alot diffrent from jersey but i think i can deal with it. i'm looking at the dallas county area ( desoto tx).right now i live in the suburbs of south jersey. now mind you i dont know anyone in the state of tx , so i hope i can make friends a little easier down there. auto insurance is sooo high , as well as the cost of living in general. so in tx i'm want to live in the suburbs thats close to downtown for shopping, malls, dining, jobs etc. so if anyone has some advice on places to visit etc.. please let me know.

Hi New Jersey,

I too am moving to Texas. I'm single and coming from Miami. I've built a house in Forney (20 miles east of Dallas). I did a GREAT DEAL of internet research ahead of a visit. I "quizzed" people everwhere I went...including a couple of DART Police (DART.com). (That's the very sophisticated train system out there) They all said one thing "Stay away from anywhere south of downtown Dallas". I'm sure you could view Dallas County crime stats over the internet. The auto insurance (State Farm or Farmers) & cost of living is less than Miami and the salaries are the same if not better. (Salary.com) Take a look @ Plano, Richardson or Allen...I don't know whether your going to rent or buy, but I saw lots of very nice rental apts. & brand new starter homes around there. There is a website called Eight at Eight that has a chapter in Dallas. It would match you up with 7 other people (3 girls & 4 guys) for a group dinner based on your interests/hobbies. Good Luck! I know for a fact that Dallas will be a vast improvement over Miami!

[HeadingtoTexas]

"The burbs are textbook, mowed lawns, kids being pulled in wagons, middle aged guys washing cars and chilling in their home theatres, may bore you stiff."

Gosh, my kind of place.

[socketz]

Originally Posted by HeadingtoTexas

"The burbs are textbook, mowed lawns, kids being pulled in wagons, middle aged guys washing cars and chilling in their home theatres, may bore you stiff."

Gosh, my kind of place.

Me too. But I need to warn, you will need to get in your car to sip $5 latte at a hard steel table. Some may not approve. We also lack homeless people sitting on the corner playing a hormonica for dollars in a hat. You'll also be hard pressed to find a $50 steak joint with a nightclub on the bottom floor.