Potential relocation to the Metroplex (Dallas, Arlington: for sale, real estate, affordable house)

[montee88]

Hello!

Our family is in the process of looking at relocating to the DFW area from Indianapolis, IN. Long story, super short, a toxic family situation with the in-laws has prompted us to cut ties with them, and move on with our lives.

Looking at real estate in the area, the prices are much higher than they are here, which is understandable considering the DFW area is 4 times the size of Indy. And the cost of living is lower here, but for us, remaining here is not an option.

I've been to the Metroplex several times myself; however, my wife has not. We're concerned about finding an affordable house in a decent school district. Currently, we live in what is considered an affluent county and school district. My wife is a stay-at-home mom and I own an IT consulting business, and have over twenty years of experience as a IT network engineer. At this time, though, I am looking at full-time positions in DFW, and may or may not continue my consulting business.

Our top concerns are:
Affordable housing in a decent school district
A house with at least a 1 acre lot (we live on .85 acres now, and love it)
Commute is not a huge deal breaker, I am willing to drive if getting a house with a nice lot requires it.

The company I have a couple round of interviews with is in Irving. I flew down last month for an interview.

We like DFW because of the options of stuff to do, an airport that can fly pretty much anywhere--my family is in California and flights from DFW to LAX are stupid cheap compared to flying out of Indy.

Thanks for any advice you can give!

[ChristieP]

What’s your budget for this house?
1 acre lots are VERY rare in DFW...

[TurtleCreek80]

Irving is smack in the middle of DFW and it's almost 8 million residents. Just to put your 1-acre lot request into perspective, 85% of the homes on the market are on lots smaller than 1 acre. Now, you need to be within driving range to Irving (I know you said commute is no big deal but I assume you would like to spend less than 2-3 hours a day commuting), plus needing good schools, plus I assume you're not a billionaire and have a budget of some sort...

If your home budget is around $400-500k, Midlothian is going to have the most 1-acre lots available. It's probably about a 1 hr,15 min drive to Irving and schools are good. If your budget is much less than $400k, best of luck. If it's over $500k, Argyle and Colleyville could be good options.

[mSooner]

Yeah, budget will be where we tell you it's doable or hell no. But yes...finding an acre is going to be very expensive or very far out.

[WorldKlas]

Double Oak and Argyle are the closest to Irving with homes with one acre lots and good school district. But lowest prices are going to start about $400K and most are going to cost much more.

[Rakin]

You'd be wise to adjust your lot desire down to .4 or .5 of an acre. Even that can be tough but much more doable.

[tcualum]

Actually Dalworthington Gardens is the closest place to Irving with 1 acre lots. It's in the middle of Arlington which is SW of Irving. The problem is that the town is tiny and the homes with 1 acre lots rarely come up for sale. Also, a lot of agents don't know about the town and thus fail to search for homes there. If the job is in Irving you're probably going to have to choose between commute and lot size. I used to work in Irving and the commutes to Irving were horrendous from the combo of people commuting to Irving and through Irving to get to Dallas.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by tcualum

Actually Dalworthington Gardens is the closest place to Irving with 1 acre lots. It's in the middle of Arlington which is SW of Irving. The problem is that the town is tiny and the homes with 1 acre lots rarely come up for sale. Also, a lot of agents don't know about the town and thus fail to search for homes there. If the job is in Irving you're probably going to have to choose between commute and lot size. I used to work in Irving and the commutes to Irving were horrendous from the combo of people commuting to Irving and through Irving to get to Dallas.

Dalworthington Gardens isn't in the middle of Irving; it's 30 miles away on the southwest side of Arlington. Basically the same distance as Argyle to Irving/ Las Colinas.

[WorldKlas]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

Dalworthington Gardens isn't in the middle of Irving; it's 30 miles away on the southwest side of Arlington. Basically the same distance as Argyle to Irving/ Las Colinas.

I didn’t recommend DG because of the Arlington middle and high schools zoned to it — they are not as well rated as those in Argyle or Double Oak and not a better commute to Irving.

[Katana49]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

Dalworthington Gardens isn't in the middle of Irving; it's 30 miles away on the southwest side of Arlington. Basically the same distance as Argyle to Irving/ Las Colinas.

He didn't say it was in the middle of Irving, he said it was in the middle of Arlington.