Small Towns outside the Dallas-Fort worth Metroplex (Tyler, McKinney: fit in, for sale)

[jlove3596]

I am moving from Southern California (Corona, a suburb outside the LA Metroplex) to Dallas- Fort Worth Metroplex area and need some help. Firstly, I do not want suburbs...


1. I'm looking for a small-town county vibe where the house are not right next to each other (no suburbs). I don't need a big ranch but I'm looking for about 1 acre property with a 4 bedroom house where I can park an RV and a Boat with no HOA/City restrictions.

2. I'm looking for a safe area with decent schools since I have children in middle school and high school. I am also a teacher and will be looking for jobs in the local surrounding school districts.

3. My husband will be commuting to Dallas/Rockwall/McKinney for work but he's willing to commute up to an hour. Need to stay close enough to commute in for work but far out enough to get away from the new development/suburbs where the lots are only 5,000 sq ft.

4. I really love the water and love all the Lakes and Rivers in the Dallas area. I don't need to be lakefront but do want to spend my weekend on my boat. I'd want lake/river boating access within a 30 minute drive. Was looking at Cedar Creek Lake area but have heard a lot of posts that these are drug areas and not safe.... thoughts?

5. I also want trees ..... thus have been looking at the east side of Dallas heading into East Texas/Pinney Woods area.

6. My budget is under 200K

Please give me any suggestions that will work and any tidbits about the areas would be greatly appreciated. I do not know much about the surrounding areas and have been looking in a big U around Dallas so any help narrowing it down would be greatly appreciated. So far I have been looking at Sherman, Greenville, Wills Point, Canton, Van, Athens, Kaufman, Corsicana, and Ennis and the surrounding countryside. (Please no Suburbs)

Please give me new towns to look at ....... or why one I listed is a good option or a bad one.

[turf3]

Well:


1) Have you looked at a map?


2) Dallas, Rockwall, or McKinney? And where in Dallas? From Red Bird Mall in southwest Dallas to McKinney could be a solid hour of driving. From Harry Hines and Walnut Hill in northwest Dallas to Rockwall would probably be 45 minutes average.


3) If you want real "Piney woods" East Texas you're going to have to get past Athens/Tyler, which is a solid hour and a half from Downtown Dallas. Athens and Tyler are nice, but definitely not an hour from "Dallas" whatever that means or McKinney. Maybe you can get from Athens to Rockwall in an hour if you drive like a maniac.

[FalconheadWest]

Originally Posted by jlove3596

6. My budget is under 200K

Honestly, you should have said this first so we could stop reading... price point isn't anywhere close to something realistic...

[stephwin]

A 1 acre property with decent schools under $200k that is an hour from DFW and isn't a suburb? I don't usually use the word "impossible", but I think this situation warrants the use.

[jlove3596]

Thanks .... My husband will be traveling between offices at all three of those locations... Rockwall, Downtown Dallas, and McKinney. We know we don't want suburbs since we want about an acre of property for under 200K so looking at a map I was looking to the east of those areas hence, Athens and north of those areas, hence, Sherman. When I do a google maps driving directions from Athens to Dallas it shows about 1 hr and 12 minutes but I know those can be wrong. Athens seemed a little far but I need help narrowing down some towns that fit in my parameters since I am not familiar with the area.

Do you have any suggestions of towns that would fit? Any help is appreciated

[jlove3596]

Which of those parameters do I need to adjust? I have seen several properties for sale on Zillow in the areas I listed so is it more about the towns themselves or schools? I really don't want suburbs and would be willing to commute a little farther if needed. Suggestions?

[ChristieP]

Are you willing to live in a doublewide mobile home? That's the only way you are going to get a home that size, with 1+ acres of land, for under $200k. And to find land that cheap, it's going to be way out in the country!

The commute will also be a problem since you state you don't want suburbs. The DFW area, which is home to over 7 million people, covers a land mass the size of the entire state of Connecticut. Your husband is going to be driving all over about 1/3 of that land mass, so there's not a single place that will be less than an hour away from all of those locations, especially downtown Dallas. Even if you lived in Rockwall itself, his commute to McKinney would be an hour.

Cedar Creek Lake (near Gun Barrel City, Eustace and Mabank) is well known for meth problems. Lake Tawakoni (near West Tawakoni and Quinlan) has the same issues.

And then you want good schools...

[DitsyD]

Doesn't tick all of your boxes, but here is a double wide mobile home on 1.5 acres in Leonard, TX.

https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sal...33_rect/10_zm/

About an hour commute from downtown Leonard to downtown McKinney, Rockwall, and Dallas with no traffic. Rush hour will increase those times.

Schools. Not good. In the new Texas academic accountability system, Leonard schools scored a "D."

Don't know about HOA, and there aren't any close lakes, but Lake Lavon and Lake Texoma aren't that far.

The price is just under $200,000.

[WorldKlas]

Impossible budget for any place with 1 acre and good schools

[jlove3596]

Lets assume my budget is 250K .... any suggestions?