Declining neighborhoods in Dallas (Plano, Richardson: crime rate, house prices, buying)

[vorsprung]

With all the news about the Dallas housing market heating up, increased house prices, and once neglected areas of Dallas proper experiencing growth and new life, are there any areas that are going in the opposite direction? Let's say areas that were considered desirable within the last 20 years, now sliding down hill. I'm not including areas like Fair Park that have been considered bad for several decades.

[TheOverdog]

With all the news about the Dallas housing market heating up, increased house prices, and once neglected areas of Dallas proper experiencing growth and new life, are there any areas that are going in the opposite direction

The extreme limitation of new housing is mitigating that effect, but south central Plano was on a pretty strong downturn before 2008 and much of Richardson and Allen were too, outside of a small number of neighborhoods. Basically anything built pre-1995 or so was slowly sliding downhill.

The shift into less housing being built mitigated that effect to a huge degree- once sub-par neighborhoods are now moving upscale, but there maybe a few places like Keller or cities farther north that used to be more upscale, but are moving slightly more downscale (not bad, just more economically inclusive, like Prosper for example).

Any place in a relatively affluent suburb where houses haven't been majorly remodeled, you can tell that was a neighborhood in decline.

[Gone Again]

Originally Posted by vorsprung

With all the news about the Dallas housing market heating up, increased house prices, and once neglected areas of Dallas proper experiencing growth and new life, are there any areas that are going in the opposite direction? Let's say areas that were considered desirable within the last 20 years, now sliding down hill. I'm not including areas like Fair Park that have been considered bad for several decades.

I may be mistaken about this, as it's just based on what I can see driving through the area, but - Farmers Branch. I grew up there, 1970's through 1989, and my parents remained there until the mid 90's. I hadn't been back there for about fifteen years. Decided to visit the old neighborhood, and have re-visited many times in the last few years. In spite of the new higher end homes being built there, and other attempts at improvement, Farmers Branch seems dumpier and more run down than I ever remember seeing it. We considered buying a house there, when we bought our home last year, but were so put off by the many seeming signs of decay, that we decided against it.

I'm sure many may disagree, and I could be wrong, but FB seems run down.

[skyline122]

I'd say a good example of this is the Mt. Auburn to East Side neighborhood. In the 1970s, these areas were known for being historically safe and relatively wealthy. Around the 1980s the white people moved out to larger houses in the suburbs and the the neighborhood became almost 100% Hispanic. Mt. Auburn still remained safe and was even a desirable destination for travelling Hispanic families. But in the late 90s crime rate started to rise and houses became boarded up and gangs and drug dealers started to come.

I live nearby in the Fair Park area, an area well known for being dangerous and decrepit, but Mt. Auburn East Side has risen to levels that I never thought it would reach!