Family of 6 relocating to Dallas - Need Guidance (Plano, Richardson: fit in, transplants)

[jurce9]

Hello all,

First, I would like to say thank you to everyone who is willing to respond to my questions on here as I know I am not the only post about relocating and questioning where to live and what schools are the best. So thank you for taking the time to offer me some advice. I've read through the forum and am more confused than before I started!

We are a family of 6 moving from the Boston area. Our oldest will be entering 8th grade in the fall, twins entering 5th grade and our youngest entering 2nd. My husband will be working in Dallas and I will be at home. Things that are important to us are strong schools, sense of community, youth hockey (mites, squirts, bantams, all girls team), access to nature (hobbies like fishing, hiking, biking) and manageable commute for my husband.

We're trying to figure out where we fit in. I'd say our housing budget is up to $1.25M but that could have some flexibility to it.

Where would you suggest we start our search? Some places that I have been told to consider are Frisco, Plano, Richardson and Lakewood. After scrolling through the forum I'm also seeing places like Allen and Flower Mound. What are the schools like? What would the commute be like from these towns? Are there YMCA's around? What is daily life of running errands and shuttling kids to and from activities like? Is one town more friendly than another? Where would newcomers feel welcome?

I'm open to any suggestions and guidance and any other questions you may have for me that might help you make a recommendation.

Thank you!

[Watchful]

First thing might be to narrow down what you mean by working "in Dallas!" If you can narrow the geography then the folks are who really knowledgable about the area will be able to be more helpful.

Also prepare yourself for the variety of opinions among those who are pro-city and those who are pro-burbs. Both groups will be helpful to you in seeing the big picture!

Originally Posted by jurce9

Hello all,

First, I would like to say thank you to everyone who is willing to respond to my questions on here as I know I am not the only post about relocating and questioning where to live and what schools are the best. So thank you for taking the time to offer me some advice. I've read through the forum and am more confused than before I started!

We are a family of 6 moving from the Boston area. Our oldest will be entering 8th grade in the fall, twins entering 5th grade and our youngest entering 2nd. My husband will be working in Dallas and I will be at home. Things that are important to us are strong schools, sense of community, youth hockey (mites, squirts, bantams, all girls team), access to nature (hobbies like fishing, hiking, biking) and manageable commute for my husband.

We're trying to figure out where we fit in. I'd say our housing budget is up to $1.25M but that could have some flexibility to it.

Where would you suggest we start our search? Some places that I have been told to consider are Frisco, Plano, Richardson and Lakewood. After scrolling through the forum I'm also seeing places like Allen and Flower Mound. What are the schools like? What would the commute be like from these towns? Are there YMCA's around? What is daily life of running errands and shuttling kids to and from activities like? Is one town more friendly than another? Where would newcomers feel welcome?

I'm open to any suggestions and guidance and any other questions you may have for me that might help you make a recommendation.

Thank you!

[jurce9]

My understanding is he will be north of downtown in the Design District.

[TheOverdog]

Things that are important to us are strong schools, sense of community, youth hockey (mites, squirts, bantams, all girls team), access to nature (hobbies like fishing, hiking, biking) and manageable commute for my husband.

Allen has youth hockey though the community centers (and has a community center (like the YMCA) skating rink). Plano and most other suburbs do not, they have youth hockey though the Starcenters. (IE: Dallas Stars hockey outreach). They also have club high school hockey teams. They have several locations so you can google and see if any are adjacent to an area you like.



There are not that many YMCAs, but most cities have the community rec center version with pools, exercise centers, sports grounds, classes, etc. You have to pay some fees yearly. Most have many locations spread thoughout the city limits.



Biking is ok in DFW. Trails riding for fun is fine and expanding yearly. For commuting unless you can ride almost all bike trails is dangerous.


Fishing is via lakes. IMO you need a boat to do well, but you can fish from the docks. Some planned neighborhoods stock small fishable ponds.

[stephwin]

Lakewood or maybe Lake Highlands. I live in the northern burbs (Frisco) and like it, but there is no way I would live in Frisco, Plano, Allen, Flower Mound, McKinney, etc. if one of us worked in Dallas.

[rabbit33]

OK, "Design District" is the old industrial area northwest of downtown. (You'll have to get used to the Dallas penchant for re-naming everything for marketeering reasons.)

The following would be reasonable areas to live and commute:

Lakewood (1.25M will probably get you a 3-4 BR house) - three reasonably decent elementary schools (Lee, Stonewall, Lakewood), a crummy junior high (Long), a reasonably decent HS (Woodrow)
Park Cities (1.25M is probably bottom end there, a 2-1 built in 1940) - great schools
"near lakewood" - north of Lakewood, northeast, west and east side of the lake. Schools are kinda meh (Bryan Adams, etc.)
Richardson - 1.25M can get you a hella nice house in Richardson, schools are very good (but I think it depends), much longer commute to Harry Hines area

And then we have the boonies:

Plano - almost unbearable commute
Allen - ridiculous commute
Frisco - even further out than Allen
Flower Mound - absurd commute

I lived in the Boston area for 15 years (Lexington and Concord); ask me any questions you want. The way cities and school districts are laid out here is very different. The surface area of the city of Dallas itself would include everything inside the 128 loop, at least. In Boston metro there are, what, 30 different towns within 128? And in Dallas, all one city.

[75214Dad]

I’m a big Lakewood fan, but we don’t have hockey over here. If that’s a must have I’d look at Coppell and Flower Mound based on work location.

[DFWGuy422]

Originally Posted by jurce9

Hello all,

First, I would like to say thank you to everyone who is willing to respond to my questions on here as I know I am not the only post about relocating and questioning where to live and what schools are the best. So thank you for taking the time to offer me some advice. I've read through the forum and am more confused than before I started!

We are a family of 6 moving from the Boston area. Our oldest will be entering 8th grade in the fall, twins entering 5th grade and our youngest entering 2nd. My husband will be working in Dallas and I will be at home. Things that are important to us are strong schools, sense of community, youth hockey (mites, squirts, bantams, all girls team), access to nature (hobbies like fishing, hiking, biking) and manageable commute for my husband.

We're trying to figure out where we fit in. I'd say our housing budget is up to $1.25M but that could have some flexibility to it.

Where would you suggest we start our search? Some places that I have been told to consider are Frisco, Plano, Richardson and Lakewood. After scrolling through the forum I'm also seeing places like Allen and Flower Mound. What are the schools like? What would the commute be like from these towns? Are there YMCA's around? What is daily life of running errands and shuttling kids to and from activities like? Is one town more friendly than another? Where would newcomers feel welcome?

I'm open to any suggestions and guidance and any other questions you may have for me that might help you make a recommendation.

Thank you!

I would look at Lakewood or Richardson if you’re working in or near downtown Dallas. The commute from Plano is doable, but definitely not great, and Allen and Frisco would really be stretching it. Flower Mound would be very difficult. $1.25 million would get you something decent in Lakewood and would go very, very far in Richardson.

The schools are good in all of the places you listed save a few in Richardson (Berkner and I think Richardson high are the iffy ones). However, most of the houses above $500k or so in Richardson are zoned to the better ones (JJ Pearce and a sliver in Plano). Allen and Plano have massively large high schools where sports can be very competitive, although I have no idea about hockey specifically.

Hiking is pretty iffy here, as is fishing (mostly limited to stock ponds in neighborhoods), but there are some good bike trails.

I’m not sure if one town is “friendlier” than the rest, but there are some differences. Richardson and Lakewood are very diverse and seemingly have a more tight-knit sense of community than the others. Frisco and Allen are brand new suburbs, and Frisco especially is very flashy; Plano is more of a mix — very diverse overall, but the nicer parts in West Plano can be similar to Frisco. Everything except Lakewood is overwhelmingly transplants to Dallas, so zero issues with being a newcomer.

[jurce9]

Thank you for all your comments. The hockey thing is pretty big for us. All four kids play and that's where they've made some really great friends and we're hoping that will help them make some new connections down there. They're at some tough ages to go through a move right now, especially my soon to be 13 year old.

rabbit33 Yes! The spacing and how spread out everything is in Dallas is so different than Boston. The size of the school districts are confusing. I think that's why I'm having a tough time figuring out locations.

We will be making a long weekend trip down to explore and just get a lay of the land. I'm hoping that helps!

[stephwin]

Originally Posted by jurce9

Thank you for all your comments. The hockey thing is pretty big for us. All four kids play and that's where they've made some really great friends and we're hoping that will help them make some new connections down there. They're at some tough ages to go through a move right now, especially my soon to be 13 year old.

rabbit33 Yes! The spacing and how spread out everything is in Dallas is so different than Boston. The size of the school districts are confusing. I think that's why I'm having a tough time figuring out locations.

We will be making a long weekend trip down to explore and just get a lay of the land. I'm hoping that helps!

There might be other places to look, but check out https://www.nhl.com/stars/starcenters. The closest Star Centers are in Richardson and Farmers Branch.