Advice needed for a first time buyer (transplants, real estate)

[Abdelkhalek13]

Thank you all so much for your advices. I drove today to Allen and Mckkinney and I agree. It wasn't easy commute but the can use to it if I had a good deal. I visited couple of neighborhood there and I felt in love with what I saw especially in Allen.
Now, I'm revising my requirements to fit with more options. So the home can be up to 25 years old and I increased my budget to $400K and luckily I have already obtained pre approval with this amount.
I saw a lot of homes in both cities in mid and late $300s. I'm not looking for a crazily big house. in sq 2Ks should do the purpose.

I did not like Dallas homes as they are old and feel like they are just open to the road and I would feel less secured there. Add to that them being in average neighborhoods and low rated schools. cost per sqf is high for what I get.

Lets narrow this down between Allen and Mckkinney. regardless of the commute, which of them you would choose? I heard from some that Allen is more expensive per sqf for the comparable homes. I also heard that Allen home won't appreciate in value as Mckkinney.

Finally to clarify, I'm not in assignment, I'm currently on L Visa and my company filed a green card petition for me. So I'm staying at least for the medium term if not long term.

[ChristieP]

Why are you placing the 25 year old restriction? Many older homes are actually built better than new ones, and if they have been properly maintained (or completely remodeled) will be just as energy efficient. You are going to be making a horrible commute when you will be driving right through Richardson which meets all of your criteria except the home age one. Our really should go take a look at some houses there. There are even a few newer infill developments and some tear-downs that might be lucky finds!

[Abdelkhalek13]

I wish I could fine something similar to west Allen's homes quality in Richardson within the same price range. That will be perfect.
I'm driving yoday to Richardson to see some neighborhoods. Thanks for the advice

[Lere]

Driving from Dallas to Allen/McKinney in the morning is not the same as driving from Allen/McKinney to Dallas. You have quite a bit more traffic going from suburb to Dallas in the morning than Dallas to suburb. Between McKinney and Allen, I recommend the older homes in Allen. McKinney is hit or miss as far as schooling goes. Allen is more consistent.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by dhakaia

<10 years is not realistic with the other two factors.

Check out 75081 in Richardson. it will be an older home (60s-70s), but very good schools and definitely diverse.

75080 will get the OP into the best schools in Richardson (Pearce & RHS feeder patterns). I've always thought a lot of 75081 was a little gritty...reminds me of how Garland looked 30 years ago. Makes sense I guess, since it butts right up to the western edge of Garland. That said, there are some gorgeous neighborhoods in 75081.

75082 will get the OP into Plano schools but I'm not sure he'd find something in his budget that he'd like. Plus...get far enough from the highway and you might as well look in Murphy too.

If the OP wants 2k square feet on the west side of Richardson AND a house that's been renovated, he'll need to bring his checkbook open WIDE. I'm seeing houses around that size selling for $375k-$425k depending on exact location and condition. Some larger lots are being scraped for big new houses but those would definitely be out of the OP's budget. In this area those are $500k-$700k....and higher in some parts of Canyon Creek & Prairie Creek.

Housing stock in 75080 is mainly from the 50s and 60s; it gets newer the further north you go but that's not a hard and fast rule.

You see occasional newer homes (25 years or less) where the original house burned down. There are a few of those in Richardson Heights. Heck, one was built only 5 or so years ago. That fire was devastating. There's an empty lot in Arapaho Heights where a house blew up due to a gas leak years ago.

People likely wouldn't give the OP a second glance around here, though 75081 is definitely less white than 75080.

[dhakaia]

^^ Yes, I agree with most of that.

We lived in a townhome in Richardson (75080) for 10 years and it was a great experience. It was off of 75 & Campbell area and we loved the close proximity to everything. When we started looking for a house... Richardson was our first choice, and we looked at both 75080 & 75081 extensively. But soon we realized that close to $150 per sqft. for a house from the '60s with investor grade upgrades & garage conversions made to look pretty... was not gonna work for us. Keep in mind, there were no shortage of buyers for any of these houses... racking up 'super duper multiple' offers almost everyime. This was a specially apparent in 75080 (JJ Pearce zone).

75081 was not as hot and was closer to 'reality'. We saw a bunch of houses in that zip, some of them meeting most of our requirements, of location, schools, diversity etc. But in the end none of those worked out... got outbid on all of them. 75082 was a bit out of our budget, but I do recall seeing some houses there. Keep in mind that even though some of 75082 is zoned to PISD... the elementary school could be Mendenhall, and has one of the lowest ratings that I have seen.

In the end we settled for Plano 75075. We looked at far north Plano and Allen, but just couldn't fathom the daily commute... and my office is @ 635 & 75... no where close to Downtown! I value time with the family too much than to look at the 'ass' of the car in front of me for 2+ hours a day

[lpepping]

Originally Posted by dhakaia

^^ Yes, I agree with most of that.

75082 was a bit out of our budget, but I do recall seeing some houses there. Keep in mind that even though some of 75082 is zoned to PISD... the elementary school could be Mendenhall, and has one of the lowest ratings that I have seen.

The elementary school for most of 75082 (PISD part) and a small part of Plano are zoned to Stinson which is one of the best elementary schools in PISD. If anyone is looking for a house in this part of town, a simple address check on the PISD website will let you know which school you are zoned to.

[MurphyPl1]

Actually 75082 is also served by Schell, Miller and Aldridge.

[stan4]

You want a new house with good schools that's readily accessible to downtown for $300k?

Would you also like a unicorn?

I say drop the "new" part and decide now to be very flexible about your commute.

If you're really willing to do the $400k, there a couple of homes in West Plano you could look at.
Pretty tiny, though.

[Rakin]

Originally Posted by stan4

You want a new house with good schools that's readily accessible to downtown for $300k?

Would you also like a unicorn?

I'd like the same thing with a pool and room for a horse.

Sounds like one of my out of state buyers moving to TX because the houses are so cheap and TX is so big.