Duncanville Going Down? (Dallas, Garland, DeSoto: low income, crime, houses)

[missymae]

I'm a newbie and read that Duncanville is going down. How so?

[stargazer]

I use to live there and my inlaws have a home there that they bought in the early 80's. Have you been down there and looked around? Many of the business's that use to be in town are no longer and it is getting run down. At Christmas we went to the local Walgreens to get some bread for my mother in law and was not surprised to see the front boarded up, tire marks going into the store and a temporary door. Someone had run their car in and stole what they could and got out. They did not catch the crook. This Walgreens sits just next door to my in laws neighborhood. Crime is getting pretty bad in the neighborhoods due to the promixity of a dallas neighborhood called The Woods that borders the town that is low income.

We built a beautiful colonial in Thoroughbred Hills for 258,900 and after 18 months of it being on the market there and no choice due to corporate moving us, we sold it for 241,000. The house was appraised at 290,000 and we are very fortunate because corporate did pay for the payments on the home till it sold and paid the difference based on the appraisal. So we were fine.

It is ashame it is like this because Duncanville has some beautfiul, well built homes that were built around the 80's. The kind of fixer uppers that most young middle class couples want to redo in current colors. Those homes are one of kind as well, with the high ceilings and tons of square footage for reasonable but the facts are, that it is just going downhill in the area. My inlaws are very depressed about the whole thing. They saw a town that was the jewel of southwest dallas county, had a great mall( red bird at the time) and good schools. It isn't like that anymore. It is a total shame. Somehow Duncanville failed to keep everyone there and attract new progressive business to the area.

[HockeyDadof2]

I am not that familiar with Duncanville so I can't really address whether or not it's going "down". However my sons have on occasion had hockey games at the ice rink in Duncanville and they have had a lot of car break ins at that rink. As well the convenience stores around the rink are pretty rough looking.

[momof2dfw]

Back in the day Duncanville HS had the BEST marching band around. Everyone in the entire metroplex feared them if they were in a competition. We used to go down there all the time as they were in the same region as us to play for all sports. As Stargazer said, during the 80's there were some beautiful custom built homes down there being built. Over the years it has lost its luster and I think what is around it has been creeping into Duncanville. I know several people here on the other side of Dallas that grew up there and only a few of them have parents still living in Duncanville. The rest don't even go back. Last fall there was a big bru-ha-ha going on at Duncanville HS. The school district and the school were having problems w/ people coming onto campus to cause trouble or to just hang out. So they put up a HUGE chain link fence around the perimeter. This upset many of the neighbors but it was the only solution to keep unwanted people from hanging out and having easy access to the high school campus and parking lot.

[Lakewooder]

I think they have made a mistake to make Duncanville High a mega-school where you are just a number. Too large to control, also it seems.

[Guerilla]

DeSoto and Cedar Hill are a little better, but not by much. I hope that side of the metroplex gets help. Lancaster-DeSoto-Duncanville-Cedar Hill are all not doing to well.

[GoPadge]

At least Cedar Hill has some decent shopping off Hwy 1382.

[shaunnol]

As someone who has lived in the DeSoto/Duncanville/Lancaster area for 21 years (I'm 22), but now moving to the Minneapolis/St. Paul area in a few months (thankfully!), you will be making the worst decision of your life moving to that area of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Crime has gone up, businesses have left, and the schools are awful now. The towns then and now are like two totally different towns. Arguably, Cedar Hill, which is in the area, is not doing as bad as the other towns in the area, thanks to booming retail, but sooner or later, it will join the other towns also. Avoid anywhere south of Dallas generally, and try somewhere around Frisco or The Colony. I hope that helps.

[seaunmaine]

Run as fast as you can to some place north of Dallas or better yet move out of state where you will be safe.

[DWB]

Originally Posted by Guerilla

DeSoto and Cedar Hill are a little better, but not by much. I hope that side of the metroplex gets help. Lancaster-DeSoto-Duncanville-Cedar Hill are all not doing to well.

By you saying "to well"; what do you actually mean? DeSoto is very nice, and so is Cedar Hill; I know very little about Duncanville other than there is a large population of African Americans buying there because of the affordability & square footage of houses. And most of the people that I know in that area would never use "to" for "too". Where do you live? Most likely the "Garland" area, I'm sure!!!! And to shaunnol & seaunmaine; there are no "SAFE" areas; this includes Frisco & The Colony; DON'T YOU LISTEN TO THE NEWS OR READ THE PAPERS? I'd rather doubt you do being 22 and naive enough to think that someone could run fast enough to escape CRIME!!!