Moving to Dallas. Need advise (Plano, Irving: house, neighborhoods, to buy)

[andromed77]

Will be working in Uptown , middle class

Need..
Good Public Schools
Shorter Commute Times(~20 mins) to Uptown
Diverse Neighborhood


Can someone please suggest some decent areas
Plano seems to come up a lot but I hear that commute is going to be a problem

[qwerty14]

Originally Posted by andromed77

Will be working in Uptown ,well to do Indian Family

Need..
Good Public Schools
Shorter Commute Times(~20 mins) to Uptown
Diverse Neighborhood
Cannot afford to buy a Million Dollar House

Can someone please suggest some decent areas
Plano seems to come up a lot but I hear that commute is going to be a problem

Coppell might be a good place, has great schools, commute may be about 30 mins depending on traffic.

[aexchange]

Lakewood

[WorldKlas]

You are not well to do if you cannot afford a million dollar house. Sorry, that's just the truth. You are middle class so consider yourself like everyone else and you will have a better experience living in the Dallas area.

Richardson has good schools K-12 and is the best commute for your location. Coppell is a good suggesion but plan on 45-55 min commute in rush hours.

What is your housing budget?

[andromed77]

Sad Truth...
Agreed and corrected original post
550K is the budget

[JTC Mom]

Your best commute with good elementary schools would be M streets or Lakewood, zoned to Stonewall Jackson or Lakewood elementary. Some people are ok with the middle and high schools there, others disagree.

Lake Highlands area of Dallas zoned to Richardson schools would be a good good option and 20-30 minute commute depending on how close in you are.

Richardson itself would he a good option but would usually be at least 30 minute commute during rush hour.

Coppell has great schools but the commute would probably be at least 40-45 minutes during rush hour.

[andromed77]

Thank you

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by andromed77

Sad Truth...
Agreed and corrected original post
550K is the budget

If you truly want a 20 minute commute, these are your ONLY options:

1. East Dallas neighborboods zoned to Lakewood, Lee, and Stonewall Jackson elementary schools (all feed into Long MS and Woodrow HS). With a $550k budget, you're looking at around a 2000sf home.

2. Lake Highlands (RISD schools, city of Dallas). Bigger homes than East Dallas, but not a consistent 20 minutes to Uptown

3. If you only need K-8 schools, North Oak Cliff neighborboods zoned to Rosemont school. HS is a mess and you would need private or magnets. Housing stock similar to East Dallas

4. If you only need K-5 schools, look for anything zoned to Withers Elementary in 75229. It's getting difficult to find anything below $550k these days.

All are diverse (economically & racially) and family-friendly.

Another option would be to find a $250k range house (still possible in some neighborhoods east of White Rock Lake) and enroll in Catholic private schools which tend to be < $10k/yr in tuition. Several good Catholic options in East Dallas.


Anything beyond the 635 loop is going to increase your drive time beyond your 20 minute preference.

[WorldKlas]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

If you truly want a 20 minute commute, these are your ONLY options:

1. East Dallas neighborboods zoned to Lakewood, Lee, and Stonewall Jackson elementary schools (all feed into Long MS and Woodrow HS). With a $550k budget, you're looking at around a 2000sf home.

2. Lake Highlands (RISD schools, city of Dallas). Bigger homes than East Dallas, but not a consistent 20 minutes to Uptown

3. If you only need K-8 schools, North Oak Cliff neighborboods zoned to Rosemont school. HS is a mess and you would need private or magnets. Housing stock similar to East Dallas

4. If you only need K-5 schools, look for anything zoned to Withers Elementary in 75229. It's getting difficult to find anything below $550k these days.

All are diverse (economically & racially) and family-friendly.


Anything beyond the 635 loop is going to increase your drive time beyond your 20 minute preference.

Do you need all grades of school? Because for all the recommendations, the elementary levels are great. For residences zoned to the Dallas School District (Lakewood, Oak Cliff) you have some schools that are not as highly performing as Richardson or Coppell schools. And sometimes that's just because those schools in Dallas serve some populations of students who are not well-prepared for school but may have fine classes for good students. You just need to be aware that the ratings for middle and high schools in the DISD are not as high as in the 2 recommended burbs.


North Oak Cliff is more than 20 min. In rush hour.

Do you care about diversity as far as having many other Indian kids, or just a mix. Richardson and Coppell ISD (especially homes in Irving zip code 75063 zoned to Coppell schools) have a significant Indian demographic.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by WorldKlas

Do you need all grades of school? Because for all the recommendations, the elementary levels are great. For residences zoned to the Dallas School District (Lakewood, Oak Cliff) you have some schools that are not as highly performing as Richardson or Coppell schools. And sometimes that's just because those schools in Dallas serve some populations of students who are not well-prepared for school but may have fine classes for good students. You just need to be aware that the ratings for middle and high schools in the DISD are not as high as in the 2 recommended burbs.


North Oak Cliff is more than 20 min. In rush hour.

Do you care about diversity as far as having many other Indian kids, or just a mix. Richardson and Coppell ISD (especially homes in Irving zip code 75063 zoned to Coppell schools) have a significant Indian demographic.

I disagree about the high schools serving East Dallas (Woodrow Wilson HS) and Lake Highlands (LHHS). When you only look at the performance of white students at those schools (the white students tend to be from the higher income, more educated families), Lake Highlands white student have the 13th highest SAT score in the entire DFW area and Woodrow's white students have the 30th highest score. Lake Highlands' white SAT score is higher than the almighty Plano East Sr High's as well as all but 1 Frisco HS. Woodrow's is in the same range as Richardson HS, Prosper HS and many other suburban schools that are recommended without hesitation on this forum. These schools just have a much bigger population of lower income and minority students than their suburban counterparts. I can promise you that has no impact on the academic experience of the students whose families are involved and value education.

Re: NOC being more than 20 minutes in rush hour; it's not. Traffic currently showing 19 minutes from The Crescent to Rosemont Elementary. You would *never* get on a highway to do this drive. Side streets and bridges are the quickest route.