Flower Mound: Young Married Couple Needs Advice (Dallas, Carrollton: daycare, houses)

[DallasGuy]

My wife and I are in our mid to late twenties and we are looking to put down roots in the area and start a family shortly. As such, we are looking to buy a house in 6 months or so. Our main priorities are good schools, newer homes (probably 1995 or later), ~2200 sq. ft., 3-4 bedrooms, and under 250k. We have primarily been looking for homes in the Flower Mound, Valley Ranch, Coppell, and Carrollton areas; however, we both really like Flower Mound for a variety of reasons, but the primary reasons being great schools, great community, decent home prices, and low property taxes.

That said, my wife works in north Dallas (near the Galleria) and I split time (about 50/50) between an office in Las Colinas and downtown Dallas. At this point, our primary concern is that the drive from Flower Mound to downtown Dallas would be sheer torture - perhaps over an hour each way.

Does anyone have experience making this drive? Are there alternate modes of transportation that we could consider? We have considered Carrollton due to the DART green line expansion, but neither of us like Carrollton as much as Flower Mound.

Does anyone have any suggestions for other communities to look at?

[renlouis]

I live in FM and have worked downtown, but fortunately, no longer do. When you drive to downtown, does it have to be during rush hour? If you can go "off hours", then it would probably be about 45 minutes, but you're right - during rush hour a good hour to downtown from FM. Las Colinas should be much better. I know alot of people from FM who work from 7 - 4 or so to avoid traffic (including my husband). He works near the galleria as well and it is about 30 min. door to door at that time.

[FarNorthDallas]

I know folks who work downtown and live in Flower Mound. In rush hour it's an hour, more if there is a wreck. Off rush hours is better, but if you leave too early in the afternoon you end up having to deal with lane closures from construction. (Which is really true on a lot of freeways - daytime road construction). But if you leave your house by 7am and then leave work by 4:30 the commute is not that bad.

[DallasGuy]

I currently leave around 8 am and return between 6 and 7 pm, so, unfortunately, I am on the roads at the wrong time.

[renlouis]

Well, Flower Mound will be about an hour commute to Dallas at those times, maybe a little less if you're at the late end coming home. You might look closely at neighborhoods in Coppell. That would save you 15 - 20 min. each way. There are plenty of neighborhoods that would meet your specifications and the schools have a great reputation. My favorite neighborhood there (Northlake Woodlands) is older, but has beautiful old trees and many of the houses have been very nicely renovated. There is a broad price range in that neighborhood due to a diversity of sizes and renovations - anywhere from 200 - 1 mil.

[FarNorthDallas]

Oh, and once you have kids in daycare, it's a mad rush to get to a Flower Mound area daycare before it closes. One woman I know needs to leave her desk by 4:45 to make sure she gets to the daycare before 6:30 - leaving time for walking to the car, getting out of the parking garage, potential wrecks and lane closures, weather issues, etc.

[ChristieP]

As everyone has said, commuting into/out of Flower Mound is awful.

Have you considered Grapevine? We've lived here 6 years now and it is a great place for families and has everything you're looking for in a home including lots available in your price range. (We just bought the exact same thing you want!)

[DallasGuy]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

As everyone has said, commuting into/out of Flower Mound is awful.

Have you considered Grapevine? We've lived here 6 years now and it is a great place for families and has everything you're looking for in a home including lots available in your price range. (We just bought the exact same thing you want!)

We have but I don't think that the commute from Grapevine will be any better. We currently live in Coppell and the commute isn't too bad for either of us (30 minutes or less most of the time), but the houses are quite expensive in Coppell. We would likely only be able to afford about 1800 sq ft in Coppell; whereas, we could get 2200 sq ft or so in Flower Mound.

[ChristieP]

You'd be surprised. Grapevine has VERY easy access to the highways, unlike Flower Mound. There are really only 4-5 ways OUT of the town, and they all get very backed up at rush hour. Also, with the 121 being totally redone around Sandy Lake Rd, the traffic southbound from Flower Mound is really bad. There are reasons why Flower Mound is gives you more home for the money...

[GHJohn]

I live in Carrollton and it would still take me an hour to get to down town dallas.