small town feel-places to live... (Dallas, San Antonio: transplants, low crime, houses)

[CravenClan]

Ok i know these posts have been done before, probably even by me....But we visited Texas early in August this year, we went from Keller areas all the way to Rockwall, i guess the top half of the Dallas suburbs...We really liked Rockwall. BUT, while we are trying to decide where to relocate, i have had a couple posts/dm's sent to me, about that area, and that it is more "transplants" and snooty.

Here's the deal, looking for GREAT public schools, small town feel, more people that are actually likely to stay living there, way less diversity than CA, nicer more polite people than CA, anything but CA. We are a family, with 3 small kids, we are easy going, but have strong values and actually excpect our kids to behave in restraunts and so forth, i am a stay at home mom and my husband is self employed.

Does anyone have any suggestions or comments? About Rockwall or any other areas that may fit what we are looking for? When i say small town, i mean like 50k or LESS people. We liked Rockwall because it seemed small enough, great schools, and we would be looking for a house on an acre or so, in a planned community or a little further out.

[blueiis]

Coppell is less than 50k with a small town feel and great schools but unfortunately I don't think you can find acreage here. Rockwall is nice (I used to live in Rowlett--don't go there) but I wouldn't consider it "small town feel"--used to be for sure but not anymore.

[Cha Ching]

I used to live in Rowlett, just across the lake from Rockwall. It used to be cuter, but several of the downtown businesses I patronized went under (The French Pear was a neat little gift store and tea room).

I really like McKinney. You're not that far from the Metroplex, but the square there is full of little shops and restaurants. There are loads of beautiful old Victorian houses, and Saturdays loads of shoppers come to antique.

[itellyouthetruth]

Have you looked at Fate or Royse City or even Greenville

[escanlan]

Originally Posted by itellyouthetruth

Have you looked at Fate or Royse City or even Greenville

Royse City, Josephine, Caddo Mills, Nevada, Copeville, Union Valley, Munson, Blackland, McClendon-Chisholm. All of these are smaller places within good school districts. All have various acreages and developments if you prefer. All are a hop, skip and a jump from Rockwall.

If you want to live among Real Texicans, born and raised here then come on over to Josephine! Another nice fact about Josephine is that there is a low crime rate for such a small town. Of course it helps that the locals take theirs, and your, safety seriously. Nobody messes around here because we have plenty of open and farm fields as final resting places for the troublesome crowd!!

[LAnative10]

You could try Forney or Terrell. Those are great areas.

[davi78239]

come to San Antonio instead. We always have that "small town feel" cliche linked to us that gets pretty damn annoying if you ask me.

[scyogi]

IMHO it is VERY hard to find a 'small town' vibe in the DFW metro. Prior to living in Dallas I lived in small town USA, SC. We also wanted to keep the small town feel when we moved out here. We ended up purchasing a home in Mckinney. Went to downtown Mckinney last night for dinner (side note:Spoons was closed last night??) and I really thought ahhhh this is such a lovely downtown. Unfortunately it is also surrounded by congested streets and highways. Plano....ditto. Grapevine....ditto. If a small town in the metro exist I just have not located it. Now I will say....I am happy in Mckinney, I have minor school issues that I am sure I would have in any other place, people are nice, housing is affordable,shopping is great, etc. Good luck on finding your perfect spot!

[CravenClan]

Thanks all....

McKinney was too crowded for my taste, it reminded me of home (CA) and Steiner Ranch in Austin, i did not get a good vibe there....

San Antonio, funny you say that, as before we made our trip to TX, i had put a few posts about schools and suburbs of SA, and got the most negative comments left on my reputation, from the SA forum!! In all the years i have been on this board, they were the rudest, also there are only a FEW great school districts (which i gathered from responses to the posts) and the housing was OUTRAGEOUS for something really OLD......so it was not what we were looking for.

I think i may still stick with Rockwall, McLendon-Chisolm, was actually where we were looking, we liked it..I really just wanted to make the very best choice, for our family, and it is hard to do when you haven't been somewhere else, for a long period of time...

Thanks

[nmnita]

What did you think of Keller? Did you look in Argyle? It is or Roanoke? Both those areas and Double Oak have the large lots. double Oak is Flower Mound schools I believe which are rated very high.


Nita

ps: I was wondering how your trip went? By the way, I love Coppell but I am afraid it is just another burb of Dallas and runs right into the metro area. It certainly isn't what you were thinking.