Grapevine, Coppell, Lewisville, or Flower Mound (Dallas, Irving: low crime, new house, neighborhood)

[dex1234]

My wife and I have been planning to purchase our first home around DFW area and needed some suggestions. My work is located in between 75 & 635 and my wife's work is at south of DFW airport. Our budget is between $250K and $300K. Coppell seems to be our ideal location with a good school district, but the home price seems to be either on the higher end or over our budget. So, we are expanding our selections and open for suggestions, could anybody help? Any suggestions are welcome. We are basically looking for somewhere it's still convenient to go to work, but it's also afforadable with a good school district. Thank you in advance!

[ChristieP]

Honestly, for commuting, you'd be better off in Dallas County. You wife's commute going south will be easy, but yours will be through HEAVY traffic. As I've said in other posts, all of the highways in the "Grapevine Funnell" 121, 114, and 635, are about to undergo a major reconstruction that will last 5 YEARS. I would not make a choice to drive through that if I could avoid it.

Have you looked at Valley Ranch/north Irving? The southern part of Lewisville might be good, but I know some of their schools are just OK.

[loves2read]

mu suggestions--Google a map for your job site--then look at the cities around it--
run a search on Dallas/FTW board for those names--
I guarantee you there will be posts about living there with info about the ISDs and travel and other info
read some of the posts and get an idea of what people think before you ask for info that is already out there--it saves you time in the long run--

the work on the 114/121 funnel will be long, frustrating, and probably prove eventually to be overly expensive and poorly conceived...I would suggest looking at strong surface streets for commuting/travel...there are some that work well IF you know something about them...you or your wife might need to travel them...

[$DFW8$]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

Honestly, for commuting, you'd be better off in Dallas County. You wife's commute going south will be easy, but yours will be through HEAVY traffic. As I've said in other posts, all of the highways in the "Grapevine Funnell" 121, 114, and 635, are about to undergo a major reconstruction that will last 5 YEARS. I would not make a choice to drive through that if I could avoid it.

Have you looked at Valley Ranch/north Irving? The southern part of Lewisville might be good, but I know some of their schools are just OK.

He will not have much traffic at all if going eastboound on 635 in the morning as all the traffic is heading the other way.

Also, just because they are starting construction soon on, according to you, "The Funnell" (which I have never heard it called that and I know a ton of people in Grapevine and Southlake), doesn't mean that people can't drive on those roads. People are still going to drive through there!

[BigDGeek]

I would look closer to work if you are going to be working near 75 and 635 (they intersect, they do not run parallel to each other). All of the places you mentioned would be a rough commute I think.

[$DFW8$]

Originally Posted by BigDGeek

I would look closer to work if you are going to be working near 75 and 635 (they intersect, they do not run parallel to each other). All of the places you mentioned would be a rough commute I think.

Like I said BEFORE, traffic is not bad at all heading east on 635 in the morning. And from the places mentioned by the OP, he would be going EAST! Geez, I thought everybody knew this! I know it and I'm not even a native Dallasite.

[ChristieP]

Here's TxDOT's website for the project:
DFW Connector Project
The problem is that driving THROUGH the construction is going to be bad. Remember how it was while the High Five was being redone? This is going to be BIGGER and last FIVE YEARS. Personally, I wouldn't want to drive through it every M-F for 5 years...

There IS traffic eastbound on 635, though it is not as heavy as westbound UNTIL you cross I-35. Then, both sides are very heavy, especially around the Tollway. The OP would have to go all the way to 75, and THAT would not be fun! In the evenings, 635 backs up at the 121 interchange all the way back before Royal Lane, and it is a parking lot. You can get off on Bass Pro Drive and take 26, but it's solid, too.

If they are willing to drive through construction zones for 5 years and put up with a long commute on 635, then do look at Grapevine. It is a wonderful place to live with excellent schools, low crime, and plenty of nice, newer houses in that price range.

[dex1234]

Thanks for the suggestions and nice insights on the highway construction. We'll put everyone's comments into considerations. Again, thank ya'll for the inputs. =)

[adixyz]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

Honestly, for commuting, you'd be better off in Dallas County. You wife's commute going south will be easy, but yours will be through HEAVY traffic. As I've said in other posts, all of the highways in the "Grapevine Funnell" 121, 114, and 635, are about to undergo a major reconstruction that will last 5 YEARS. I would not make a choice to drive through that if I could avoid it.

Have you looked at Valley Ranch/north Irving? The southern part of Lewisville might be good, but I know some of their schools are just OK.

Valley Ranch is currently in a flux between a Builder asking too much for their new houses and the existing homes sellers looking for more due to the high asking price from this builder. Both of them are taking time to sell. Those who are pricing it right are getting sold quickly.The builder is cutting smaller lots (6000- 7000 Sq.ft)and throwing out more Sq. Ft (mostly 3500 Sq. ft plus..) to make money .They were successful in the first few phases when their prices were lower or equal to the per/sq ft price of existing homes. In their new phase they increased the asking prices by more than 20% (everywhere else in the country the home price is coming down) but i have see only 2-3 homes being sold in the last few months and the only buyers were those who wants to stay close to their friends in valley ranch/ community. . You will find a lot of homes in Valley Ranch between 325 - 400 K sitting in the market and they are fairly new homes (2000 and later). Again most of these are above 3000 Sq.Ft houses. Most of the valley Ranch sub-divisions have no community pools or facilities.
To get a home under 250 -300K in Coppell ISD you will have to look for lesser sq.ft and older homes.

[caligurltotx]

I would say based on what I have seen that Grapevine is really nice for a family. Not sure about the commute for you but if someone has said that going east on 635 is not that bad then go for it. I know the home my friend has near the lake there is older but nice neighborhood and the prices were under 200k back in Sept. Also it will def be an easy commute for yr wife and if there was traffic she may not even have to get on the freeway.

Just had a thought that going east on 635 in the morn would be the way everyone is going to get to 35 and into Dallas so I would think that would be a mess. Wouldn't it?