Horses & Twin Girls (Houston, Dallas: homes, movie theater, middle school)

[Twin Hearts Ranch]

Hi Eyeryone,

What do you know, another San Diegan (Rainbow Area) looking to move to Texas! Seems like it's the trend based on the posts we have read here.

Question, we are looking for 10 acres + or so for our horses (our daughters are very competitive in barrel racing/Gymkhana here in Calif), a reasonable size home (not McMansion) with good schools and a "reasonable" drive to services.

We have been looking in Fannin & Hunt counties as our research shows the taxes are less than Grayson, Collin etc. We also want to try to get an AG exempt property to lessen the tax burden.

We have seen homes in these counties in our criteria for $250K or less which is ideal for us.

I may need to drive to Coppell once a week so don't really mind the longer commute time in order to get the better home pricing.

Can anyone at ground level share with us the particulars of these area's?

Can anyone offer alternative locations?

Thanks,

THR

[stargazer]

My brother lives in Greenville and has a daughter in the high school there. He doesn't like it but they put up with it. His daughter has been thriving in FFA and actually raises rabbits. They want to move to Wolfe City area where the land is cheap and the schools are supposed to be better but extremely limited with programs. Have you thought of Princeton or Farmersville? My son's pre school teacher lives in Princeton and has horses. Likes it. I would look at greatschools.net for info on schools. It has parent reviews which are really the tell taling of the story of the schools in the area. Ratings can say one thing but what is important is to get the scoop from the parent. Someone mentioned to me the other day that Van Alstyne has some terrific homes going up and lots of land with it. Also Prosper is another area as well as Anna, Melissa, and Celina. You might also want to research Murphy, Lucas, Wylie and areas that would be in the North Eastern quadrant of Dallas. Those areas are equestrian areas mainly as well that have beautiful estates on acreage. Some of the kids go to Plano, some to Lovejoy Schools( which are excellent), Allen and Wylie.

[Twin Hearts Ranch]

Stargazer,

Thanks for the reply.

We have been looking at Greenville, Wolfe City, Famersville & Van Alstyne but not the other towns you have mentioned. We will look into those based on your suggestion.

Just curious, what about Greenville does your brother NOT like?

It is SO helpful for the little details that you mention...thanks again.

We are familiar with GreatSchools.net, and we agree that scores don't tell the whole story.

Regards,

THR

[stargazer]

Well my brother was a pretty wild boy in his day and actually went to Greenville High School about 20 years ago. I think he was more of a prankster and got in trouble for those things. He will tell you that school was bad back then because of all the drug activity that went on. He saw it first hand and most of the kids there love to party, the biggest thing to do back then was cruise Wesely Street and go by the Royal and end up in the old movie theater parking lot. I was told that many teens still cruise around Greenville. I too as a young girl going to visit my father and spending all summer, I would see first hand how wild many of the kids were compared to the tame suburban town I lived in near Houston. We did not have hang out spots like Greenville has.
Because my brother knows what can go on, he is very protective of his only child. My niece is in honors classes and they tend to be very good and the kids a pretty good crowd. I know that he complained alot when she went to middle school saying the kids were getting rough there and he looked into private for her however due to their finacial circumstances, they could not. It was all ok though because she got into honor classes and those tended to have other kids in there that were and are likeminded. Tame in other words. So far so good for him. My niece is going to be a sophmore next year there. She is surving and seems happy. Just beware that there quite a bit of drug activity there from what I gathered from my sibling. I think sometimes the only way to conqueror that is by making sure as a parent that you are ontop of where your kids go and who they are with. My father was very niave and did not check into who he was hanging with. I think too racing horses is a wonderful thing for them to be into. I think many kids there and anywhere for that matter, when they don't have anything to do, it can lead to them getting into trouble or into the wrong crowd. Seems like you have things most covered with their activites.
Good Luck.

[johnmarg]

My suggestion is to go to the above web site. It has every city in every state described. It has all the important demographics. I can now tell at an instant if a town is good or not and to be considered for further investigation. Some of the towns you mentioned dont stack up well. YOu can tell by the percentage of the town that graduated high school, college etc, plus the income average etc. Any town with less than 90 percent high school and less than 10 percent college is suspect. Just a thought

[krabby]

Hi,
We live about 70 miles east of Dallas in Sulphur Springs and love it. Big time horse lovers out here too! We moved here from another city 8 years ago and have found a home in a town with alot to offer, filled with good solid citizens.