Kessler Park area (Dallas, Irving, Richardson: apartment, crime, houses)

[noname]

I am all over the map (literally) on my upcoming home purchase. I didn't care for most of the areas that we looked at in Coppell, Grapevine, Irving, Flower Mound, and Colleyville. I really want a nice older home with mature trees in an interesting area (i.e., like what I'm leaving in the Midwest), but I can't afford $800-1 million to get into UP/HP.

How about Kessler Park? Is it safe? How close is it to bad neighborhoods? Are their grocery stores, doctors offices, etc. nearby? Is it better or worst than the M-streets area or the area between Love Field and UP/HP?

It seems too good to be true -- mid-$200s to mid-$300s for a 1920s bungalow or cottage with hardwoods, built-ins, etc.

[giftplanner]

My secretary used to live somewhat close to the Kessler Park area. Indeed, it's a very historic and scenic part of Dallas. However, like many Dallas area neighborhoods, it's also not that far removed from neighborhoods with crime and poverty so that can be an issue for some. KP is sort of sandwiched between a number of poorer areas of West Dallas and Oak Cliff.

You could look at Oak Lawn, East Dallas, M-Streets, the Lakewood area or Lake Highlands and still get some of the same things you are looking for but you'd also have the issues of those areas being relatively close to other neighborhoods that may not be quite as attractive or desirable.

Are you particularly wanting to live in the downtown Dallas area? Have you thought about looking for some of the amenties you want out in the suburbs? There were some good deals at one time in old town Frisco which is quite a distance to the north. On the south side, Waxahachie is becoming quite popular and has some quaint neighborhoods in its downtown area. Again, proximity to the Dallas business district may be an issue and both of these places are at least half an hour to 45 minutes away.

While you can certainly find grocers, doctors, restaurants and other amenities within the 635/Loop 12 circle, you will not be able to escape what you would call "bad" neighborhoods nearby and you may not have the level of safety that you're used to up in the Midwest. You simply have to determine what your trade-offs are and make your choices accordingly.

BTW, you don't mention if schools are an issue for you or not. While there are some very good schools in the Dallas ISD, I, personally, would not put my kids in a DISD school. It was bad enough when they went through public high school out here in the burbs. If I lived in the DISD zone, I'd go private school for sure. That's my personal preference, though.

Hopefully some others will give you feedback.

[GoPadge]

I'll add that the commute from Waxahachie to downtown Dallas is around 30 minutes in the mornings. Traffic will move nicely along I-35 NB (assuming no accidents) up to around loop 12. From there traffic will slow to an average of 30-35 mph.

[momof2dfw]

If your liking the older homes with the large trees and close to downtown and easy access to get just about anywhere in the metroplex then I'd suggest Lake Highlands. There are areas of Lake Highlands that are in the Richardson ISD so you can avoid the Dallas ISD if you so choose. If your interested in private schools then there are TONS w/in close proximity that are very good. We have several friends that live in the Lake Highlands area and they all love it. I have posted before some more detailed info on the area, let me find it for you.
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Here is an excerpt from one friends emails that I got for someone else that was looking in that area.

"We live in Lake Highlands (Abrams/Royal area). We LOVE our neighborhood (otherwise we would not have torn down our house and rebuilt to get to stay). We go to public schools (Richardson ISD). The beauty of our area (other than the nice people and small town feel) is that we are in Dallas proper (close to downtown-15 minutes by highway and 20 minutes by backroad for days when the highway is backed up) yet Richardson ISD (much better than Dallas ISD).

Although all the Junior Highs and the High School are very good, since they have small children, they will want to shop elementary schools because some are much better than others. Merriman Park and Moss Haven are the best (always recognized on the TAKS test, lots of parent involvement, etc). Plus if you move into either school district, the principals have an agreement that you can choose which school you want. We made sure that we moved into one of those areas. The others are all good with the exception of Sky View. The Sky View neighborhood all goes to private school so the school is basically left with all the apartment kids. However, the houses that feed to Sky View are beautiful and cheaper. So that is definitely a choice if they are going to do private school. But I would recommend trying the public schools."

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Since you did not like the new burbs but you want the older feel then I'd check out this area.