Buying a home in Balch Springs (Plano, Mesquite: 2013, crime rate, school district)

[Grainraiser]

Thats a nice little place for the money.

[ChristieP]

Originally Posted by killer2021

What about this place?

4030 Rustic Trail, Balch Springs, TX, 75180 - Single Family Home Real Estate - REALTOR.com® (http://www.realtor.com/search/listingdetail.aspx?sby=1&pg=3&srcnt=286&sid=9edc26 600deb402087cf0b57ae091903&fhcnt=8&loc=balch+sprin gs%2c+tx&fhpg=1&lid=1104787495&lsn=22 - broken link)

The only problem I see is that it has no garage, so your car will sit outside in the hail, ice and summer sun. But yes, it doesn't appear to need a lot of work.

[jpeagle21]

Sorry if I offend, but I am not one to sugar-coat, or use wink-wink language, but here goes. Many of the people who consider Balch Springs and other similar towns to be "high crime" are basing their opinion on the racial make-up of the town and nothing else. Drive through Balch Springs or stop at the Home Depot and you will see more hispanic people and african americans and less caucasians. For some uninformed people, that automatically means "high crime".

You rarely ever see news reports about major crimes in Balch Springs. In fact, I can't remember the last time I saw one. Balch Springs may not be the latest and gratest craze like Allen or Frisco, but that doesn't mean it is not a nice place to live.

To the OP......you have family there and you seem to feel comfortable in the area. I say go for it. The added plus is that Balch Springs kids go to Mesquite schools, which is a good school district.

[jeffari-al-texani]

Good post jp...

The only thing I would add is that part of Balch Springs is zoned to the Dallas ISD...

[kaykay]

Originally Posted by jpeagle21

Sorry if I offend, but I am not one to sugar-coat, or use wink-wink language, but here goes. Many of the people who consider Balch Springs and other similar towns to be "high crime" are basing their opinion on the racial make-up of the town and nothing else. Drive through Balch Springs or stop at the Home Depot and you will see more hispanic people and african americans and less caucasians. For some uninformed people, that automatically means "high crime".

You rarely ever see news reports about major crimes in Balch Springs. In fact, I can't remember the last time I saw one. Balch Springs may not be the latest and gratest craze like Allen or Frisco, but that doesn't mean it is not a nice place to live.

To the OP......you have family there and you seem to feel comfortable in the area. I say go for it. The added plus is that Balch Springs kids go to Mesquite schools, which is a good school district.

That's not true of me. I lived in neigboring Pleasant Grove (we were right on the border of Balch Springs) for 8 years and was in and out of Balch Springs shopping and at a good friend's home constantly. Now...my information is old. I have not lived there in about 15 years. So things may have improved, but while we were there, Balch Springs was plagued by many of the same things we experienced in Pleasant Grove--crime, drugs, gangs etc. If this has changed, then certainly go for it. But this was clearly my experience and perception of Balch Springs when we lived there. Based on that, I would certainly not buy a home there and my opinion is most definitely not "racially based." I would still advise someone thinking about it to check the area out carefully. Speak to the police and see what they would tell you etc.

[little elmer]

I'll speak for Pleasant Grove as well - I lived there for 25 years (moved away in 2001) and I wouldn't go back if you gave me a place rent free.

[caligurltotx]

OP I think you are on the right path to becoming a real estate investor/mogul. If it is an area that you feel comfortable buying in then go for it. Even at that price it may be rentable when you decide to move up and out and that's something to consider.

Good luck!

[kaykay]

Originally Posted by little elmer

I'll speak for Pleasant Grove as well - I lived there for 25 years (moved away in 2001) and I wouldn't go back if you gave me a place rent free.

My sentiments exactly, and I'm not trying to be offensive here~~it was just very, very bad.

[jpeagle21]

Originally Posted by kaykay

My sentiments exactly, and I'm not trying to be offensive here~~it was just very, very bad.

Do you have specific examples to why you consider it "bad"? And, I'm not talking about "there is crime and gangs." You will find gangs everywhere, even in Plano and Frisco *gasp!*. Were you or someone you know ever a victim of a crime? Did you see a large amount of gang activity? (just because someone has baggy pants and a tatoo doesn't mean they are in a gang). What specific reasons do you have for considering Pleasant Grove and Balch Springs bad places to live?

[kaykay]

Originally Posted by jpeagle21

Do you have specific examples to why you consider it "bad"? And, I'm not talking about "there is crime and gangs." You will find gangs everywhere, even in Plano and Frisco *gasp!*. Were you or someone you know ever a victim of a crime? Did you see a large amount of gang activity? (just because someone has baggy pants and a tatoo doesn't mean they are in a gang). What specific reasons do you have for considering Pleasant Grove and Balch Springs bad places to live?

Well, yes, I do have personal experience with crime in Pleasant Grove. (My experience with Balch Springs is less direct since I visited there, didn't live there.) I hardly even know where to begin. Our cars were consistently vandalized. (Windows broken out, radio stolen etc) They were attempted to be stolen twice.( My steering column was cracked open but they were unable to get it apparently.) Many of our neighbor's houses were broken into including one while she was home. My husband actually spotted someone breaking into one of the neighbor's house and called the police. It was pretty much assumed at some point that unless you either got a security system or burglar bars, you were going to be a target eventually. (We had a security system on the house.) Police helicopters hovering over the area looking for someone was a common occurrence and random gunshots etc. Gang graffitti was all over the place. My son lost 5 bicycles to theft even though we were not careless with them. You couldn't leave your garage door open for even a few minutes or it would be hit. I stupidly left my purse in my car for a few minutes and when I came back out, the contents were all spread out and any money I had was gone. You had to watch your back constantly.

The final straw, however, was when a group of youths (I won't call them a gang) attempted to hold me up at gunpoint at the local Kroger's parking lot. (I well intended to give them my purse, but I was so stunned that I ended up getting in the car and locking the doors without giving them my purse.) About a month before, in Balch Springs a similar incident had occurred and police surmised that the lady refused to give up her purse and they shot her to death.) Thankfully, in my case they only kicked the car door and ran off.

But that was the last straw. We would have moved before that but our house was "upside down" meaning it had negative equity. We didn't want to sell it by allowing someone to "assume" our loan, but we did. We moved within 4 months. We reported it to the police that night and they came out and they basically said, "the crime is so bad here we can't control it. Lady, if you don't like it, you're going to have to move." So we did. Within 4 months we sold our house and moved to Plano.

And yes, Plano has crime, but in the 15 years we've lived here, I can assure you it is nothing like living in Pleasant Grove where the crime was relentless. Again, this was about 15 years ago. I only know what our experience was. I can't speak for how things are now, but I seriously doubt they're much better. And maybe Balch Springs is better and maybe it never was as bad as Pleasant Grove, but just being in that close of proximity to Pleasant Grove would be enough to mark it off my list.

Again, I'm not trying to be offensive or snarky here, just trying to warn people about buying in an area based on our experience. Maybe others' mileage will differ so to speak, but this is what we experienced. This is not about me being racist here, and I am familiar with current youth trends. I wouldn't label someone as being in a gang just based on fashion. My son, as a teen-ager loved the baggy JNCO jeans etc and would have gotten a tatoo himself if we would have allowed it! In other words, I don't think I'm being reactionary about the area. Balch Springs is probably better than the Grove, (maybe!) but I would still advise someone to proceed with extreme caution before purchasing a house there.