Choose what area we should look into to live :) (Dallas: transfer, neighborhood)

[itellyouthetruth]

Rockwall is the best!!!

Also consider rowlett,garland or forney .

[theloneranger]

I would suggest Richardson or North Dallas. Particularly look in the area which feeds into J.J. Pearce High School--Pearce is probably the best high school in the Richardson ISD, and is also the smallest, at less than 2000 students. It serves many parts of norhtern Dallas that border the city of Richardson, and a few areas in the city of Richardson. You also might want to look in the north Dallas area in the Dallas ISD (zip codes 75229 and 75244 are the northernmost parts of DISD)--these have affordable housing in your price range, especially with the economy like it is, but the public schools aren't great, so you'd have to add the cost of private school to your housing costs and property tax. I'd also suggest Carrollton and Farmers Branch--there are some very nice areas in these suburbs, at your price range, but also some areas which aren't as nice as well.

There are a lot of Christian schools in the area, including Trinity Christian Academy in Addison, Prestonwood Christian Academy in far west Plano, and Canyon Creek Christian School in Richardson. Christian schools tend to be cheaper than Catholic schools and the large, prestigious Protestant schools, and are also smaller, but they aren't considered to be as successful academically.

[loves2read]

I would suggest plotting where the stores are and trying for something in the center of that circle if possible...
frankly I would not want a commute of an hour or more and if he has to go to more than one store in a day it would be a really long day for some drives...

[SCFriend]

What about Keller? There is a new subdivision, Saratoga. with a new elementary in the subdivision and the kids will be zoned for the new Byron Nelson High. It meets her price requirements and community requirements. It is about the same distance as the other places she is looking too. This subdivision is in the Northwest ISD.

[CarolAnn64]

I vote for Flower mound. You can get a great house for $200K, there is the Y and the new community center, it is only 8 mins to DFW and though many will disagree, I don't think the FM-Dallas commute is all that bad. I don't know much about the Christian schools in FM but the public schools are excellent and there are numerous churches in which I am sure you can find a church home. Grapevine mall is 5 mins away and it's only about 12 mins Vista Ridge. The shops in Highland Village are also adequate. It is a small community that is strict on building which is a plus in that it is not overrun with nothing but strip malls.

I don't care for Frisco because it is always under construction somewhere. If you don't mind that, it was our second choice and only lost out because of the yearly versus semester based school academics in HS. Bigger community and I am sure, alot more family activity options but again, the negative for us was the abundance of construction and traffic.

Allen is also nice, particularly the west side, but Allen has only one high school. My oldest attended a mini-mall HS in IL and I didn't want my younger ones doing the same. However, I have freinds that live there and love it.

Mickinney is lovely but yes, far from Dallas.

We also considered the west side of Plano but it was too large of a town for us.

And yes, I am going to through this out there--how diverse of an area do you want to live in? We moved here after having lived in Oakville, Ontario 4 years which had a very diverse population--middle eastern, eastern european, south american, asian, indian....and then we moved to FM which is 96% white. It was a hard adjustment for my kids. So there is another consideration for you.

As for the schools, if you choose Christian I can't help you but if you are thinking public, be sure to check out the individual schools. You can have one great school and one not-so-great school all in the same district. And don't let testing schools be your only tool for deciding. Look at the extra curriculars (drama, band, sports, clubs) as well.

[kaykay]

I'm not sure if this would meet every requirement, expecially smallish schools, but Allen is what came to my mind.

[5stones]

What about Keller? There is a new subdivision, Saratoga. with a new elementary in the subdivision and the kids will be zoned for the new Byron Nelson High. It meets her price requirements and community requirements. It is about the same distance as the other places she is looking too. This subdivision is in the Northwest ISD.

Saratoga is in NW Ft Worth not Keller. Out in Alliance not convieneint to Dallas AT ALL.
near 170 and I35W.

Coppell is in a great location but i don't think your price will get you what you want there.
Lewisville, Carrolton, Richardson etc...

Most of the schools esp hte HS here have large enrollments, you are either going to have to go out ot the smaller towns or go private to get a HS with under 2000 students.

[lovinlife04]

THANK YOU for all your advice. We will be down there the week of the 22nd and have two days to look, so wish us luck!

I'm not a fan of big high schools, so Allen is probably out of the question. I want my kids to have a good chance in participating, and with smaller high schools there will be more of a chance.

I'm sure it will be hard to keep our house price, but do not want to marry my house. We could go more, but I do not want to be stuck with a more expensive house later that may not sell. Not sure if or how long we'll be in it.

If you have any more ideas, keep them coming! I'm excited to get our trip in gear!

Thanks again!
Therese

[Pfhtex]

Give this a try....or not.

Bent Tree. or Bent Tree West. You MIGHT find a steal of a house. Believe me, there are some foreclosures in there that can get you a tremendous deal, and put you in a great central area.

Mitchell is a smaller grade school, but you also have TCA nearby, and they would go to Plano West (I think).

[loves2read]

just remember what I wrote---
there are very few 3A districts (high schools) in this area and the ones that are really do not have top-quality academics...for whatever reasons...

so if you want better than average academics you are pretty much looking at a 5A district--
there are a few around that have one smaller enrollment high schools within their district mainly because the schools are new and not fully attended...and I am not referring to magnet schools which have qualifications for enrollment but general attendance schools...