What about Longview? Tyler? Palestine?....relocating...HELP!!! (Dallas, Austin: crime rate, loans)

[alegna007]

Originally Posted by calimom5

If you have gone to other Texas posts I am all over the place! Because we are not sure where to move (from So Cal). We want good schools...friendly people...low crime....cheap houses (who doesn't want all of this right?)...good church...my in laws are pretty set on Palestine or Rusk. I hear that is in the boonies. I am a real estate appraiser and need to be near a semi-big city...i don't mind driving but I am not sure I can come from So Cal and go to the middle of nowhere, no matter how green it is!!!! Any suggestions would be great. Here are some specifics...we don't care about the heat...we live near the desert and are used to 100 degree summers for 3 or 4 months. We want the demographics to be different than California (even if that sounds racist...not meant to be, but we are both teachers as well and know what bilingual education does to drain the Cali schools of $$$$)...anyway...we have three teenagers who don 't like the idea of moving but will settle wherever we decide...daughter wants horses...are there stables or riding clubs or somewhere she can ride if we get a house with a teeny lot? Just trying to make everyone happy.

Great schools and safe community are most important to me. And we would IDEALLY like to spend under $300K for a house...I know the taxes are higher...that is shocking...but we can adapt I am sure!!!

For the asking price you will get a lot of house in East Texas, but as teachers, I don’t know if the country will meet your income requirements. RUSK is out of the question… your kids would be real mad at you if you move to Rusk; they have a prison and a state hospital. You’d have to drive to Jacksonville to hit a town of population 10K. Tyler is good and south Tyler (over 100K) is growing with new homes and lots of new development. If you want to be close to I20 Longview is ideal but I don’t know anything about that town. You have 2 high schools, Robert E Lee (the elites) & John Tyler (a little rough) but both good schools seeing they only have 2 that I remember. I would not do Palestine. I spent over 20 years in East Texas, and move to Dallas County 15 years ago. Depending on how you like to travel, stay close to I20 (20-30 minute drive is good) in either direction. There are lots of great places to live, but with kids that age, pick wisely. Good Churches in Tyler... horses for the kids on the right side of town, you can have the greenery in the back and the city lights just a piece down the road.

[banker]

Longview is nice - I grew up there and have family that still live there. Beautiful setting in the Piny Woods. Pinecrest is a great church on the west side of town.

But why not move down to San Antonio? Has everything that a big city has to offer - but with a small town feel.

[melissa75926]

Hello,i Live In Deep East Texas.i Am About 30 Minutes From Lufkin Texas.which Is A Major Town.my Daughter Attends A Very Small School,which Is Awesome By The Way.our Community Is Not Full Of Crime.our Taxes Are Cheap.almost Everyone Has Horses.for Your Price Range In Housing You Could Buy A Very Large Home.great Churches.lots Of Friendly People.there Is Many Schools In Minutes From This Area And I Hear Their Pay Is Competitive.check Out The Small Town Of Apple Springs,or Nogalus Prairie.as A Matter Of Fact It May Not Be On Any Of The Maps.but It Is Awesome.this Is In Trinity County.we Are Getting Lots Of New People!!!!

[ChristieP]

Palestine has 3 or 4 large, maximum security prisons, and that is the main industry there. I worked at a summer camp near Palestine all the way through college in the 90s, and it was not a nice town then. Now, the mall has shut down, and the town is dying...

Honestly, look at Tyler or Longview. MUCH better quality of living.

[destin04]

We are moving from a suburb north of Dallas. We are in the Lewisville ISD. I've worked in the Lewisville ISD for 9 years. We love the lower grade schools...k-8th but the HS in our town...The Colony...isn't the best. Our oldest graduated from there but there is no school spirit and the parents are the most uninvolved group I've ever met. Lindale Schools are one of the tops in the state. That's where we are headed.

[kwiley1221]

Originally Posted by Lakewooder

Whatever you do, don't listen to this tommyrot!

Dallas has more good schools than many of the suburban districts. Check out Newsweeks' Best Schools, Texas Monthly's Best Schools and DMagzine's ratings.

Opinions vary on that. You can choose to listen or not, it's your choice. My OPINION, as bad as you may deem it to be, is that DISD is mismanaged, has a bad rep (fair or not), and not a healthy school district, OVERALL. Of course DMagazine is going to give Dallas good pub. DUH!!! Are there good schools, teachers, facilities there? Yes I'm sure there is. If you CHOOSE to live in the DISD area, CHOOSE wisely...that's all I'm saying. And you can't argue with the FACT that the DISD has a very bad rep, much of which is deserved. Ask any real estate agent what ONE of the top selling points for the very hot North Dallas suburb market is (Plano, Allen, Frisco, Lewisville, McKinney) and they will mention the schools.

[GoPadge]

Originally Posted by kwiley1221

Opinions vary on that. You can choose to listen or not, it's your choice. My OPINION, as bad as you may deem it to be, is that DISD is mismanaged, has a bad rep (fair or not), and not a healthy school district, OVERALL. Of course DMagazine is going to give Dallas good pub. DUH!!! Are there good schools, teachers, facilities there? Yes I'm sure there is. If you CHOOSE to live in the DISD area, CHOOSE wisely...that's all I'm saying. And you can't argue with the FACT that the DISD has a very bad rep, much of which is deserved. Ask any real estate agent what ONE of the top selling points for the very hot North Dallas suburb market is (Plano, Allen, Frisco, Lewisville, McKinney) and they will mention the schools.

Oh, I can think of at least one who'd disagree. I believe Lakewooder's an agent/realtor/broker, (sorry if I used the wrong term). Although I'd wager his argument would the it's not the schools, but the perception of them. Especially since Newsweek also rated one of the Townview schools as the best high school in the nation, and another showing in the top 10.

That is one school out of roughly a dozen. But it does show that the potential is there. You may be correct that some of the district has been mismanaged. Hopefully the Board will get the right Superintendent to fix the issues. (And that wasn't intended as a slight against the current Superintendent, I've not followed DISD's personnel or issues other than the occasional Dallas Morning News story.)

[loves2read]

lake texoma is resort more than residential--not much business going on there--
tyler is pretty insular town--has had building surge and houses are expensive --pretty has nice lake close to it where the HGTV show did one of their more recent Dream Homes--college is growing

Athens is lovely as well--has more historical atmosphere than Tyler---

would think your job situation would be most important qualifier--
if you want horses--might look into Weatherford--cutting horse fans love it--plenty of places where you can have acre plus and a horse...but the prices for new construction are rising as we type....

Southlake is EXPENSIVE--even if you get a deal on a house, the taxes are usually more than people want to pay

might try Argyle-Bentonville-Ponder area off I-35 N around Denton----
I don't like Denton as a town but it is growing pretty quickly--has decent school system (although there are multi-cultural elements)
If you want white bread try one of the smaller towns like Pilot Point or Argyle..

[loves2read]

PS--about good schools in bad districts--normally it comes because of who lives and feeds into the local zoning or possible magnet school designation which allows the school to choose the most qualified students based on merit, not location---some schools do great work in simply brining low-level students who are 2-3 years below grade level up one step---that can require the most talented teaching of all--yet is it almost never recognized except by the students who care and their parents...

Paschal HS in FTWISD had more National Merit semi-finalists listed in the paper last week than any other single school in Tarrant co--including Carroll HS in Southlake -- the had 18 and Carroll had 13 although Paschal has a more ethnically and economically varied student body and has parents from all over FTW who choose a transfer to Paschal instead of their local hs

http://www.paschalhs.org/

but I don't think it is ranked Exemplary by TEA--I looked at TEA site--ranked Acceptable (which is 3rd place) for 05 and 06

As a retired teacher, I have always thought that a student who wants to learn can succeed in almost any school, but a student who is unmotivated can't succeed anywhere--as a teacher, I don't assume all the responsibility for having a student succeed and many students and their families (and some districts) want want little responsiblity for failure but much credit for success...

[Lakewooder]

Good assessment Loves2Read. People persist to somehow believe Frisco's schools are the best in Texas even though Paschal and other schools in Dallas blow them away on NM Semifinalists and Scholars and Newsweek rankings. Do you think it's just because it's new and white?

D Magazine does not give Dallas schools good PR - have you ever read it? It should be called HP Magazine IMO. But D did not arbitrarily rate the schools, see here: http://www.dmagazine.com/april2006/b...sapril2006.pdf