Thinking of moving to Collin County..... (Dallas, Austin: sale, apartments, foreclosure)

[txgolfer130]

Originally Posted by CravenClan

Hi I was wondering if anyone can give me info on Collin County, McKinney area, am considering a visit there in the next month, and wanted to get some info before hand....

Best schools (public) as we have 3 little kids that would be attending.
Safest areas
weather
easy to adapt and make friends.
nice housing at affordable pricing

We are in Southern California, and have said for the last 4 years we are outta here, and now we are more ready. We are in the desert area, so we are used to HEAT, but not really humidity. If anyone has any views on the market there, for housing, that would be great. Are people pretty friendly and outgoing? Do you see kids outside in the summer or after school? Is there a lake for boating? Not fishing, but to take our boat out and enjoy a summer day?

Also i am wondering about Spring TX, i know it is closer to Houston, can anyone tell the major differences? Which is better for schools? Housing?

We are normal down to earth people, just lloking for the same, not pretencious attitudes, just want a better place to raise our kidos....

Thanks so much..

We visited Austin about 2 years ago, i just was not ready to get out of here then....

Mckinney is an awesome town. It combines mid-size "feel" w/ all of the amenities of big-town living. There are several really nice areas in McKinney, it really depends on your price point and what you want close to you. There is Stonebridge Ranch which has something like 20 different sub-divisions (50,000 homes) with in it's development ranging anywhere from $230k all the way to 15M+ spread out over several miles. There is Winding/Hillside Creek area which is much smaller (1000 homes) but is a neighborhood built around an Elementary and park. The Eldorado Country Club area which is real close to I-75, but you would never know it.

ALL of the McKinney schools are great, and that's what made it hard for us to chose an area. We just moved to McKinney about 8 months ago, and finally bought a home just last month. In my opinion the top elementary schools in McKinney are:
1. Valley Creek
2. Walker
3. Eddins
4. Glen Oaks
5. Wilmeth

Just to give you another idea on how big Stonebridge is, 3 of the 5 are in Stonebridge Ranch.

People are really friendly in McKinney, overall it's a real safe city. The biggest problem seems to be with minor infractions (teenagers and some bad seeds) but not a whole lot of violent crime. Mostly car break-in's and crimes of opportunity. Right now even in Stonebridge or some of the other areas there are real opportunities right now to get a great, great deal on what I'm sorry to say is someone else's misfortune. Homes in McKinney are just now starting to really sit on the market (6 mo's.) and depending on your price range deals are had every day. My neighbor just sold his home in 15 days, to someone from California who wanted a 10 day close! They settled on 15, but he got full-price. The nicer areas, keep their prices a little better, but there are a lot of deals.

As far as boating, well I'm afraid you won't be in much luck, but there are a couple of lakes that are about 45 minutes to an hour away.

Oh, and as far as the commute, don't let a lot of these guys scare you. Yes, if you're working S. of downtown, it's gonna be hell. But if your up to downtown it really not that bad for a city the size of Dallas. I leave the house at 6:30, get to work at the High-5 in 45-50 minutes on average door-to-door. At 5pm getting back to McKinney is at least 50 minutes up to 1:10 depending on how bad it is.

But to live an a great city, and a great area where there is a lot for kids to do, and that has not only a great feel but great schools is more than worth it for me to drive that distance. Coming from S. California I'm sure that an hour drive in traffic is no big deal to you guys. I think you should make a quick visit out if you can, to actually see the area, and make the decision yourself. If you want the name of a great realtor just DM me, and I can give it to you. She has 3 small ones of her own, and knows exactly what you're saying, as she did w/ us and our 3 small ones.

Hope this helps, and welcome not only to Texas, but McKinney!

[FalconheadWest]

Originally Posted by $DFW8$

I have never heard of this so called trend of people moving there because it was so cheap and then selling their homes and moving to other Dallas areas.

You don't sell many houses do you?

If you read everything I wrote, I was talking about the drive to anywhere south of 635. Someone else mentioned south of 190. 190 isn't that bad as it's still under 30 minutes, but going further could mean an hour or more into Dallas.

$400k is definitely not considered "Affordable" in the Dallas area as the average price is only in the $170's so I was definitely thinking you were talking about a different kind of neighborhood which is the "box" feeling I was saying. If you can go up to $400k, there are tons of other areas I would consider than McKinney, mainly Murphy or Parker, or West Allen if you're not wanting to get into Plano.

Again, the Dallas area pricing is considerably different than California, and the place to buy $400k is different than the place to buy $200 on resale. You're going to find McKinney is harder to sell the higher prices on resale as people rather spend $400k in Frisco as it's the name and prestige.

As for school name, McKinney only has like 2 schools, so they shouldn't be hard to find... McKinney High and I think the other is North McKinney High?

[FarNorthDallas]

McKinney, McKinney North and Boyd, I think are the 3 high schools.

[txgolfer130]

The OP was asking about great schools-elementary schools, as they mentioned they have small kids. McKinney has multiple elementary schools.

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by txgolfer130

As far as boating, well I'm afraid you won't be in much luck, but there are a couple of lakes that are about 45 minutes to an hour away.

Oh, and as far as the commute, don't let a lot of these guys scare you. Yes, if you're working S. of downtown, it's gonna be hell. But if your up to downtown it really not that bad for a city the size of Dallas. I leave the house at 6:30, get to work at the High-5 in 45-50 minutes on average door-to-door. At 5pm getting back to McKinney is at least 50 minutes up to 1:10 depending on how bad it is.

?????? What lakes took you that long to get to? I realize you would be coming from McKinney and it would take a bit longer to get to some of them but it is not THAT far. Lake Dallas or rather Lewisville Lake is not an hour away. Neither is Lavon nor the lakes to the north. To the east then yes it will be an hour or more. Then again, one needs to factor in the traffic congestion of McKinney and getting in/out of it as well.


That commute is not to downtown. Add in another 20-30 minutes to get to downtown. My sis lives in McKinney. Her husband had two job offers w/ one being north closer to Oklahoma and one being in Richardson. He did several days of commutes to both and he found out he could be in Oklahoma practically a lot quicker than he could get down to Richardson. This was from Stonebridge.

If the OP does not have a job lined up then sending them to live in this far out burb w/ a LOT of traffic would be insane. There is a poster that has been on here a little that took the advice that McKinney was the place to be and moved there. Thank goodness they rented as the job they got was in Midlothian

[dper11]

I moved from Plano to Spring. Plano has alot of new growth whereas Spring is more established. I prefer Plano. Spring is surrounded by Houston. The schools are great in Plano. The area is a bit pretentious. You might want to check into that. You will certainly get more house for the money in either city.

[FarNorthDallas]

Lake Texoma is 45 minutes or so from McKinney and it's a great lake - very big, multiple marinas, islands you can camp on, national parks, cabins and condos to rent. It's on the border with Oklahoma not too far from the casinos.

[momof2dfw]

Okay, to the OP, please check out other areas and RENT RENT RENT first. If you don't know where your job is going to be and how bad the commute will be........... RENT!!! Especially if your going to concentrate on a burb this far out. Let me put it this way. Only until the last few years has McKinney even gained the title as a "suburb" of Dallas. It has always been a small town to the far north that was a "day trip". Now that it has grown and the growth has been explosive it is still a "day trip" because of the traffic congestion. I'm not kidding when I say it takes a good 10 minutes to get from Hwy 75 to my sisters house in Stonebridge and NOT in rush hour traffic but the middle of the day. Traffic is HORRIBLE! You do not have to live somewhere in this area that has traffic this bad at all.

I have to also agree w/ Falconhead. The houses in McKinney are NOT moving. Sorry folks, some areas might be but they are not moving THAT great. My sis lives in Stonebridge and she has had 5 houses on her street alone in a mid level area sitting on the market for sale for OVER A YEAR! People are finally seeing that they don't have to move that far out to have a "quality" life. Now I will say that when you get in these areas w/ all of the new construction and all of the people coming in from areas of the country where they could not afford a brand new house the only thing they want then is a brand new house. So the existing homes are sitting on the market because Bob & Susie from California can finally buy a BRAND NEW HOUSE as they never ever thought they could do that back home. There might be the existing home that someone can turn quick but that is not a common practice in some areas that are still growing and new builds are a dime a dozen.

I know I'm going to get a lot of flack for this.............
Okay, I don't know what schools were like where most of the people in McKinney came from but I will say they are not all that great. I'm sorry, my sis teaches there and has been at some of the "better" schools there. She has no plans of putting her own children in the schools there at all. If she could sell her house they would move right now before they start school. One problem I have w/ the schools is the grading system in elementary school. I want real grades for my kids. Not this 1, 2 or 3 stuff. I also want my kids to suffer the consequences if they don't do their work. Some teachers might have a principal that will let the teachers be strict on the students but if the parent comes up to the school or calls and complains about the teacher then the teacher has to back down. This has happened to my sister in the 3 elementary schools she has been at in MISD and two of them were on that list someone else posted. She tried middle school for one year and FLEW back to elem as fast as she could. When she found kids smoking pot in the bathrooms and went down to the office to inform them she was told, "we know but don't have time for it". Within the first week of school the office sent out a note to the teachers to stop sending kids to the office for dress code infractions as there were just too many of them and they did not want to deal with it. One student was allowed to wear daily a big huge blinged out necklace that said, "B I T C H" on it and no penalty at all. Too many of the "leaders" of the schools don't want to "rock the boat" or cause trouble. I will say that ALL school districts do have their fair share of problems and no school district is immune. Imho, the worst are the ones where parents are allowed too much control of the schools because they want their little johnny to be a straight A student and he "never" gets in trouble. I'd rather be in a school where it is run tight as a whip and the kids DO get in trouble. So what if the school gets lower "test" marks (which I don't rely on the TAKS scores to tell me about a school) but if the kids are actually learning and being held responsible for their actions....... I prefer that. Again, not all schools & districts are perfect.

[CravenClan]

I thank you all for th egreat posts, and am taking it all in. My husband drives FAR to work, anyone who knows the 91 freeway in CA, knows what hell it is. This is not by choice, our field of work dropped to nothing in the city we live, we live in Southwest Riverside county, and it is HORRENDOUS to say the least, we bought an existing established business, in LA, Palos Verdes, his communte 1 way is well over an hour, and today if he does not leave LA by noon or so, he will be in hell traffic, with a 3 hour commute home. So i do not know of many places anywhere that it is that bad!!

He stays gone 2 nights a wekk, to help with the driving, but again this was not our plan to raise our kids. So we are looking for a BETTER quality of life, obviously he will still have to work, especially in this economy, so we are looking into a business, already establiched in his field, OUT of CA.

Still i think $400k is alot, especially if the taxes are that high, so we would look to rent first. My only thing is i wouls want to rent BEFORE we buy in the same area, so we would not have to change schools for our little ones. We have a 2nd grader and a kinder, and a 2.5 year old. So i am a busy mom, i like to be involved in my kids school stuff, my son plays baseball here, and now wants to play basketball. My daught did a tumbling class, but i have not found a sport she likes she is more of a "cheerleader" haha...

Can you tell me a little about the schools, and what not? Like a typical day, start time/end time? DO they offer art & PE or music within the school day? We have NONE of that here, because our system is all jacked up....They are cutting MOST of our afterschool programs as well. Our kids day is from 8:53am to 3:23 pm, except kinder is basically 9-12 every day. I read online that the student ratio is small, 14-1 i think, is that true?

I appreciate all your info...Also what type of shopping is there? Regular stuff like grocery store, tartget, pharmacy, anything specialty? Or a mall? If so where, or how far away...

Thanks again!!!

[momof2dfw]

So your husband is needing to find an established business to buy for a job? Don't go to the far suburbs then like Frisco or McKinney. This would NOT get your family a better quality of life at all. Stay closer into Dallas. Look at even Richardson as it is more centrally located and closer to many more highways to get across town. It would fit in your budget, you could find a rental and still good schools and a great family area to raise kids.


We have all of the sports here for the kids to get involved in. Soccer, basketball, baseball, softball, hockey (roller and ice), lacrosse, gymnastics, dance, cheer, etc. Every city has a local sports league for each sport so that is not a problem at all. The rec centers in each city even offer some form of these on a lower competitive level. If your daughter wants cheer then look into something like Cheer Athletics (competitive cheer). We have done the rec cheer w/ the peewee stuff and I'll take this competitive cheer any day over the mother run stuff at the peewee level, lol. And she can do it that young too. .

As for the school day. Kindergarten is full day now in all of the state of Texas. Most elementary schools go from something like 8:00-3:00. Wylie changed theres and they now go at 7:45-2:45. High schools typically start earlier like 7:30 or 7:50 and get out around 2:30-2:50. Except in Wylie where their high school starts later and gets out later. Some districts stagger start times so that they can use the same buses twice. For instance in the Garland ISD elem is 8:05-3:05, middle school is 8:50-3:50 and high school is 7:30-2:30. The buses that do the high schools will then make a run for middle school. As for the ratio of 14:1....... uh, no. It is more like 18-22:1.

We are required to have so much "movement" or physical activity during the school week as well. The kids do have a day or two of PE in elementary school and then PE or athletics in junior high and high school. Music and art are hard hit for funding. Some schools have them and they are supported by the district. Other campuses don't or they have them only because of fundraisres by parents to pay for that teacher and the supplies. This varies from district to district and school to school.