Moving from the DC Area to DFW (Dallas, Plano: real estate market, rental)

[DC2DFW]

Originally Posted by FarNorthDallas

Frisco to Love Field is pushing it a bit. You would be dealing with more traffic. Our traffic is not what you are describing though. I have relatives who used to live in NOVA and their children's private school actually stopped taking field trips into Wash DC due to traffic. It was too much of a hassle and took too long to get there and back. How sad is that? So close to so many neat places to go and hassle factor wins out!

But there is traffic in Frisco. It's all new. It's where a lot of people from far away places end up. They buy there without any thought to their commute. Frisco is a destination place as it has great new shopping, a professional soccer team, Pizza Hut park which is the sports and concert venue, a minor league baseball team - all of these things mean additional traffic. The major roads to get out of Frisco are toll roads. Some of the surface roads have not kept up with population growth and some are under construction. I got stuck out there on a Sunday morning trying to get through one intersection. It took 20 minutes to get through it. I think it was El Dorado and Teel maybe? I can't remember. West Frisco and it was just residential all around. Not even any businesses.

In Frisco, most of the housing is new. Most of the schools are new. The school district is in flux trying to figure out which schools to build, which schools to open or delay opening, and where the attendance lines are going to be changed to. Some schools are overcrowded and some underenrolled. The hospitals are new and I have known health professionals to go to work out there and then come back to Dallas hospitals because the Frisco hospitals just weren't that busy yet.

Having said all that, many people love Frisco because everything is new.

Plano is more established.

I thought Frisco might be "pushing a bit" as you described that it would be. Not trying to take on big long commute in the DFW area, as I already have a long enough one here.

I also see there are areas to the west of the Love Field area --- Tarrant County. Bedford, Euless and a few others seem close by ---- at least on the map anyway. What about the traffic traveling to/from those areas (or even up near the DFW airport around Grapevine) to the Love Field area for AM/PM commutes?

[vseale]

Lakewood is the 75214 neighborhood.

[DC2DFW]

Originally Posted by vseale

Lakewood is the 75214 neighborhood.

Great! Thanks a lot

[vseale]

I just did a quick google search on autism dallas independent school district and was surprised to not get any good links. I did a search on richardson independent school district autism and found a couple good links. It may just mean DISD doesn't have a good website.
Hopefully, someone will jump on that's got firsthand info on autistic programs in the DISD and RISD.

I recommend looking at the following zip codes - 75214, 75218, 75231, 75225, 75238.

.

[CGGirl]

Small world - I'm also originally from NYC! Went to college in DC and stayed there until 2 years ago (except for 3 years of grad school). To me, Waldorf and Germantown were the COUNTRY, i.e. almost rural...lol.

All of the people that I know here in Dallas live relatively close to work so traffic has never been an issue for them. Although I do remember a few times where a friend who lived 5 mins away from work had about a 30 minute drive home b/c of something going on at Woodall Rogers and all of the dang construction going on everywhere. THAT is what I noticed about Dallas when I first moved here. No matter where you go in the city, it seems there are cranes and construction everywhere.

Living in VA, I imagine the bridge issue is also what causes backups and traffic. I know that having lived in Bethesda, even though on a map, Tysons Corner Mall was a short drive away, my then BF thought it was like another world having to drive there! He could not stand having to get on the Beltway.

Originally Posted by DC2DFW

Hello CGGirl!

Most of the homes in my particular NOVA subdivision were built in the 80s (some late 70s; some early 90s), and they have nice sized lots (for the mid-Atlantic states, anyway). They are not the "cookie cutter" communities that I suspect you might believe most everyone in NOVA lives in. In fact, most of our closest friends in this area live in the MD suburbs (Waldorf, Germantown, Gaithersburg) and they've commented on how they wish their homes, although newer homes than ours, had the larger-sized yard that we have.

I guess since you don't drive, I can understand the culture shock. I can TOTALLY relate to you! I am originally from NYC, so when I moved to the DC area in the early/mid 90s, I experienced the same thing. That is, I didn't own a car at the time I first moved to the DC area, and had a harder time getting around town relying on the DC area's transit system vs New York City's. I've since become more "car dependent," so I suspect my transition to DFW area (as it relates to driving around) may not be too difficult. My concerns are the traffic volumes in DFW vs. the DC area. Not uncommon here to have a backup on I-95 on a Sunday morning at 11am. Anything like that there? From what I've gathered, there seems to be more hwy choices in DFW (I-20, I-30, the side/surface streets, etc) vs. everyone piling up on I-95 here, because there are not as many viable hwy options to bailout on (sorry, Rt 1 is not much of an option). As I'm sure you recall, when there is a road incident on I-95 in the DC area (e.g., a truck overturns OR a multi-car pile up OR someone threatening to jump off a bridge, etc), it can back up and affect all the other major highways that connect to I-95 (e.g., I-495, I-395, I-66, etc) and you are way on the other side of town. What gives? Why is that? From what I see on the DFW road/hwy systems, it seems like you have more, viable hwy alternatives to use in case of a major accident. Just seems like it's a better road infrastructure there that has seemed to try to keep up with the population growth. Just don't want to no longer risk being stuck on one of the DC area hwys in case of a catastrophe.

Thanks again, CGGirl. Your response was very helpful; I do appreciate hearing from someone from the DC area!!

[CGGirl]

That is INSANE about the field trip. Heck, we took a field trip (2 day) to DC back when I was in elementary school in NYC. My friend's kids live in West Texas and they would take trips with classmates to Dallas all of the time it seemed.

Originally Posted by FarNorthDallas

Frisco to Love Field is pushing it a bit. You would be dealing with more traffic. Our traffic is not what you are describing though. I have relatives who used to live in NOVA and their children's private school actually stopped taking field trips into Wash DC due to traffic. It was too much of a hassle and took too long to get there and back. How sad is that? So close to so many neat places to go and hassle factor wins out!

[DC2DFW]

Originally Posted by CGGirl

That is INSANE about the field trip. Heck, we took a field trip (2 day) to DC back when I was in elementary school in NYC. My friend's kids live in West Texas and they would take trips with classmates to Dallas all of the time it seemed.

Unfortunately, I have heard this before, CGGirl. My 2 kids have had school trips into DC (we live in NOVA, 10 mins from Potomac Mills Mall), and I just remember what a big ordeal it was in just trying to plan the trip to avoid the traffic. The classmates couldn't really fully enjoy the trip --- nor could the teachers --- because there was so much focus on "making sure they got back on the highway before the traffic backups began."

[DC2DFW]

Originally Posted by CGGirl

Small world - I'm also originally from NYC! Went to college in DC and stayed there until 2 years ago (except for 3 years of grad school). To me, Waldorf and Germantown were the COUNTRY, i.e. almost rural...lol.

All of the people that I know here in Dallas live relatively close to work so traffic has never been an issue for them. Although I do remember a few times where a friend who lived 5 mins away from work had about a 30 minute drive home b/c of something going on at Woodall Rogers and all of the dang construction going on everywhere. THAT is what I noticed about Dallas when I first moved here. No matter where you go in the city, it seems there are cranes and construction everywhere.

Living in VA, I imagine the bridge issue is also what causes backups and traffic. I know that having lived in Bethesda, even though on a map, Tysons Corner Mall was a short drive away, my then BF thought it was like another world having to drive there! He could not stand having to get on the Beltway.

LOL!!! I know all too well about the Tysons/Germantown commute. I used to work in Tysons area, and a few of my co-workers lived in Montgomery County, and they would talk about the same thing your ex-BF did. Fortunately, our employer at the time started a "flex work schedule," so people could come into work as early as 4:30/5am (they could work a 4:30am-1:30pm or 5am-2pm shift) just to avoid traffic.

[DC2DFW]

Originally Posted by vseale

I just did a quick google search on autism dallas independent school district and was surprised to not get any good links. I did a search on richardson independent school district autism and found a couple good links. It may just mean DISD doesn't have a good website.
Hopefully, someone will jump on that's got firsthand info on autistic programs in the DISD and RISD.

I recommend looking at the following zip codes - 75214, 75218, 75231, 75225, 75238.

.

vseale -- thank you VERY much!

[DC2DFW]

Originally Posted by littlewmn

While researching NOVA for a possible move (we ended up moving to Dallas instead), one thing I noticed realated to the schools was the huge amount of support for the excellent public school system. I have only been in Dallas for about 6 mos but I noticed right away that many in Dallas send their children to private schools.
Just a heads up to really check out your school- some neighborhoods really support their neighborhood schools (like Lakewood), some are starting to (like Lipscomb) and many don't support them at all.
If you do not like traffic, you might wanta neighborhood closer in, like Lakewood, so you don't have to worry about the suburb to city commute but still have a suburban feel (trees, houses, parks, etc)

The schools here in NOVA do have a very good reputation. In the Dallas area, I am hearing the same level of praise for Plano ISD and a few others. This is good information to know!