Where are you now? Opinions? Thoughts? (Dallas, Flower Mound: mineral rights, sales, appliances)

[momof2dfw]

Just wondering how all of the posters that have relocated to the Dallas area that came to this site for info are doing? Where did you end up relocating to? Is it what you expected? Have you found an area that you like better since moving? Was the info you received on here beneficial? Has it lived up to your expectations? Have you been able to make new friends? Maybe how did you make new friends so that others can know? Have you been out and about around the metroplex exploring all it has to offer? Found anything neat? Or something that you question?

Anyway, just wondering as it seems a lot get on here when they are getting ready to relocate but never hear back from them.

[Guingirl]

Well...so far, we have moved my Mom out here and as of January 1st, she is thrilled to be a Texan. This site has been so very helpful with expectations and true understandings of the area. Thank you Momof2, you have been a big part of that.

I also think that during my period on the board, you can really get an opinion and idea of who the people are that are posting and what motivates them and that helps parse through all the information as to how it will be important to me.

I am hoping that we will be able to sell our house soon so that we can be on our way out here as well!!

[GoPadge]

I found this site very helpful. I stick around to pay back the help I got.

[dfwtx]

We are still looking...and looking! This site and particularly you- momof2dfw, socketz and gopadge have been very generous with all the helpful information that you all share with ppl like me. Thanks you guys!
I'll sure let you all know where we end up buying!
Hope everyones keeping warm and safe this week.
Take care.

[socketz]

I've definitely learned alot here....reading online, talking to people in the community/work and randomly calling Realtors (on signs of homes I like) to chat has been invaluable.

I actually learned the other day that Flower Mound and the areas above have oil underneath and that it has now become a big deal to sell/lease your mineral rights. Only in Texas. This stuff fascinates me, so I enjoy collecting info and sharing it with everyone.

[kmegibow]

I posted a couple of weeks ago looking for areas to search within 30 minutes of DH's work. We are still looking, but are now focusing on the Lake Highlands and Prestonwood areas. We actually found a home in a new David Weekley development in Lake Highlands but the neighborhood is in the early construction phase (although this home is completely finished) and I'm having a very hard time with the idea of living in the middle of construction. In the meantime, our search continues....

[jjsnyder]

Hi its not that bad living in a place that under construcation. Do your homework with the community if your buying a David weekly. Make sure you going to be it in 5 to 7 years if not and they are still building when you sell they will under cut your price even when they are building near by. I had this happen to me. They are very nice home. I would say they are one of the top builders.

[kmegibow]

Thank you about the warning regarding competing with the David Weekley builder. We did go ahead today and signed a contract to buy the home - so we'll be living in what seems to be the one new housing division in the Lake Highlands area. We'll be moving at the end of March. Thanks so much everyone for your advice and guidance so far! Kerin

[socketz]

David Weekley is pretty good about not blowing things out to move them.

For example, in Frisco they have specs in Giiffin Parc and Cheyenne crossing that have sat for a long time because they are loaded to the gills with upgrades. They always get lowball offers on these specs, but never take them. David Weekley is good for the community because they only build in good areas and don't blow out prices (don't have to).

What other builders are in there ?

Also, if you have kids, living in a community with no other houses may be lonely. THis was something I was concerned with as well.

[KantLockeMeIn]

We built a home with Paul Taylor homes. It was a dreadfully painful process... one of these days I'll create a thread to archive the experience for anyone else looking to build with them.

In the end, it's a very well built home. The neighborhood offers PT and Sotherby as builders, and the Sotherby homes look cheap, but are $20-40 sq/ft more expensive... so we feel we got a good deal @ $72 sq/ft.

This was the 3rd home that we built in the past 7 years, so it wasn't my first time around the block. I was frustrated to learn that we had to select options from a design center, but the selections were extremely limited and very overpriced. From past experience builders get a nice discount on any materials for the home (lighting fixtures, plumbing fixtures, tile, appliances), and any upgrades should be based upon a discounted price as well. We found they were charging more than MSRP for our appliances plus they wanted to charge a surcharge because it's easier for them to scratch stainless steel appliances, as well as way overcharging carpet and padding. We got them to give us reasonable prices on appliances... and we nixed all other upgrades other than tile.

We made changes to the plans which never made it to change orders due to our sales person... so we're still dealing with the builder to get everything fixed. Thankfully we had most everything documented and could point out that they had all of the documents and the sales person wasn't doing his job.

From the homes we saw when we were looking, I wasn't crazy about Grand Homes, Sotherby, or Toll Brothers. David Weekly seemed like a good home, but it was pretty vanilla... nothing exciting... but some people like that. The builder we liked the most was Dave Williams in Prosper, but we didn't want to move that far out and he wasn't building elsewhere at the time.