Moving to Dallas area - Burleson or Waxahachie? (Austin, Fort Worth: house, to buy)

[Javagrind888]

My wife and I have pretty much decided that we're moving to the DFW area from Pflugerville. One of the biggest reasons is to be closer to her sister who lives in downtown Dallas. We want her to come out to our place for weekends and to meet her downtown sometimes for happy hour. We are both school teachers with no children who can work near where we live, so the biggest issue we think is hoping to find what we're used to when we move. We've grown sick of the excessive traffic in Austin, it has seriously gotten so bad that we feel we can't even get out anymore.

As the cook in my house who hits the grocery store 3+ times a week, my non-negotiable is to be near a real H.E.B. It seems that constrains us to Burleson and Waxahachie.
We have a 3000 sqft. home that's 17 years old we could sell for around $250,000, so we are hoping for something around that there too.

So a few questions:
-Is this feasible? Are these places too far from downtown with traffic and such for fun get togethers?
-Is one heavily preferable to another? Are they both nice places to live? We'll have to visit I know, but just want to ask before taking days to tour.
-Can we buy a home comparable to what we have for that price?

Thanks in advance.

[Stevehanrahan41]

I live in Waxahachie so here’s my take on your questions:

In non rush hour Waxahachie is 30-35 mins to downtown. Right now at 5:35pm is still says it’s 34 mins to downtown. Burleson is going to be further away, and you have to drive through a lot more traffic to get to downtown from there as well. Burleson is more of an exurb of Fort Worth, Waxahachie Is more of an exurb of Dallas.

I don’t know if either is desired over the other, they’re both nice middle class exurbs with good schools. Burleson is more white, Waxahachie has a little more diversity.

Both cities you will be able to buy a very comparable home to what you’re in now. You can probably get a brand new build for 250k around 26-2800 square feet depending on finishes.

And lastly the HEB in Waxahachie is very nice. It’s already pretty big and they’re getting ready to expand a bit as well. And I know what you mean, I don’t know if I could move to a city without an HEB now! Lol

[TurtleCreek80]

Burleson is really a FW suburb, I don't know much about it. It looks like the median home price there is under $200k so you shouldn't have an issue matching your current home. It is FAR from downtown Dallas though - about the equivalent of driving from Salado to downtown Austin. I think you'd be hard-pressed to ever do that drive in much less than an hour.

Waxahachie is a cute little Texas town that became a suburb. It has an active historic downtown square and is a much easier / faster drive into downtown Dallas. About 30 minutes, straight shot up I-35. Looks like $250k is the median home price there so I would recommend checking out the listings online to see what you get for that. Southside of Dallas is definitely less congested/ less sprawl than northside so sounds like a good match for what you're seeking, plus easier drive to downtown.

[loves2read]

You act like you won't have a problem getting a job teaching
Are you willing to work in any district
Some are pretty competitive and unless you have special skills don't usually make it easy to get a teaching job...

[Javagrind888]

Thanks for the input. It is actually very helpful. I'll focus on Waxahachi then.
I have certifications in three areas and my wife is a counselor. I'm sure with patience we'll be able to find something. If we don't find something in one year, there's always the next year.

[WorldKlas]

Also visit Costco, Winco, Aldi's, Trader Joe's, Sprouts....... you may find other desirable areas with access to other food stores that you also like and make your HEB trip among them.

Also check out Midlothian and Ovilla --a little closer in to Dallas, but not far from Waxahachie. And there's Midlothian, Desoto, Duncanville, Grand Prairie and other school districts nearby.

[Javagrind888]

Awesome, thanks!