Just how bad would it be (McKinney) (Dallas, Austin: insurance, house prices)

[scyogi]

I live in Mckinney--and no way would it be worth it. I can not stress how bad traffic is from 75 to Dallas. 75 may develop into something great in the future but if you had to drive 75 every day for 30 days I am pretty sure you would be in tears. Plus gas is so high--I posted yesterday it was $3.30--wrong it was $3.44 for regular. That would be a huge chunk of your take home pay plus if you opted to use the tollway that is another couple of bucks DAILY. The burbs do have a great appeal becuase everything is 'shiny and new looking' but there are some really nice towns closer in. I was in Firewheel yesterday--loved it. There are great sections in Plano. Plano has been around so you have the advantage of established trees (in you yard) which I do miss up here in Mckinney. Good luck finding YOUR perfect spot!

[5stones]

we did the NOVA DC area commute as well before living here and let me say...I am so glad we choose to live CLOSE to work. hubby can swing by in hte middle of the day for school functions, take off 30 minutes early to go to school activites. etc...

Yes, I could have gotten a bigger, newer houses with all the bells and whistles for less $$ but Having my husband active in our kids daily school life again is wonderful!

Being a "weekday" single parent is not fun!

so, my advice....look for places that are around a 30minute commute time. That way on really good days it could be 20 minutes, on real bad days it could be an hour.

Plano would be the furthest I'd go.
Garland for your price and wants probably has the best options, I agree the Firewheel shopping area is beautiful.
Richardson and Mesquite might work too.

[CallMeLaura]

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

LOL!!! Riding in the car w/ my husband on the way to hockey games at the AAC a few times a month is bad enough. Already had to do that TWICE this week (playoff games). Both times were BRUTAL and we were going the OPPOSITE way of the "heavy" traffic. There is NO WAY either of us could deal w/ having to do a commute like that on a daily basis. No wonder people have health issues like high blood pressure.

Yeah, not commenting on the significant other's driving... lol

What amazes me is how downright aggressive people get. Riding on your tail (no, I can't go faster, there's a physical object in front of me), constantly changing lanes (it's funny when they end up *behind* you), driving on the shoulder (can we say nails in the road?), etc. I have podcasts and books on tape, my Starbucks, and just go with the flow.

It is really hard being gone all day though. I wake up at 6 to start getting ready and don't usually make it home until 7pm. (Tried a few ways back. They all suck.)

[angram73]

You should look into Sachse. I am buying a home with Parkmont Homes in woodbridge. It is affordable and minutes from George Bush (I-90). During rush hour it takes me about 30 minutes to get down town.

[Babyneedsahome]

Thank you all for the honest feedback. We were originally interested in the Firewheel area, but had to cut back on our housing budget and thought we could get a lot more in McKinney. However, it sounds like it's not worth all the "extras". I will be a SAHM for at least a year, but don't want to never see my husband again because of the commute. It sounds like even an early day won't help with that. It looks like we will probably go back to focusing on the Firewheel area again.

[lpepping]

Originally Posted by angram73

You should look into Sachse. I am buying a home with Parkmont Homes in woodbridge. It is affordable and minutes from George Bush (I-90). During rush hour it takes me about 30 minutes to get down town.

What route do you take? I am not familiar with Sachse?

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by lpepping

What route do you take? I am not familiar with Sachse?

Sachse is located along Hwy 78 between Garland and Wylie. It is its own city but in two different counties (Dallas & Collin). Those on the Dallas County side attend the Garland ISD schools and those on the Collin County side attend Wylie schools. Getting out of Sachse in rush hour and back into it after work is a PITA!!!!! Maybe someday they will widen 78 to 6 lanes thru there.

FYI, I'm in the Firewheel area of Garland which coming from Sachse one must travel thru. There is NO WAY one can get from here to downtown Dallas in 30 minutes during rush hour. NO WAY!!! Let me put it this way. We attend most all of the Stars home games. This puts us traveling the OPPOSITE direction of MOST rush hour traffic. My husband has a high performance sports car and somehow feels the need to "test it" (or rather, "not hold it back", whatever). He does not like creeping and moving along. We check traffic reports like mad people before we leave and I do if something comes up along the way on my cell phone. We can NOT get to the AAC in 30 miuntes going the OPPOSITE way of rush hour traffic.

[okie1954]

look at lewisville, highland village, highland shores lantana, double oak, I think we have an easier commute here.

I live in Highland Shores and it about 20 easy minutes to the airport and about 13 minutes from dart at frankford. Well, years ago they had a dart at frankford. I imagine its still there.

[MountainPharmD]

I live in Allen and commute to North Dallas daily. After 7 months I am still amazed at all the traffic. It boggles the mind sometime how there can be so many people on the road. Fortunatly I will be able to move jobs in a year or so to Allen. If I had to do this commute forever I would go insane.

My wife commutes from Allen to Parkland Hospital everyday. There was no other choice for the type of work she wanted to do. She works 7-3:30. On a good day it takes her 45 minutes to get to work. Unfortunatly there are not many good days. Seems some idiot always manages to crash their car and screw things up.

[jpeagle21]

I haven't checked recently, but wouldn't it be hard to find a nice home in a nice community (ammenities, HOA, parks, etc) in McKinney for $175,000? I have always though of homes there being pretty pricey.