Dallas/Fort Worth best place to live with family (Arlington: best neighborhoods, real estate market)

[marinersfan]

I am a teacher with a masters in special education. My husband has family in Texas and wants to move to the Dallas/Fort Worth area. I have read a lot of great information about best neighborhoods to live in, etc. My husband will be looking for a network computer support job, and I will be looking for a special education elementary position. Does anyone have any recommendations about employment opportunities for the both of us, good neighborhoods to raise a family and purchase a house for under $200,000. Obviously, Dallas/Fort Worth is a rather large area and purchasing a home prior to securing employment might entail an extremely large commute, but any information you can provide would be appreciated. The housing market there seems fairly reasonable from where we currently own a home, but obtaining a quality education for our children while at the same time securing jobs for the both of us is very important.

[FarNorthDallas]

Yeah, DFW is pretty spread out, so you might just target one area and then only look for jobs in that one area and ignore job openings in other parts of the metroplex or land the teaching job first since I'm thinking it will be the harder job to land and then based on that location pick an area.

The most obvious areas that out-of-state people target are Plano, Allen, Frisco, McKinney, Keller, Grapevine, Coppell, Southlake. Southlake may be out of your budget, but you can probable find something in the other places. They all have good school districts.

[marinersfan]

Thank you sooo much for your comments.

Teaching jobs are difficult to find in our current community. Is there a lot of competition in the Keller, Grapevine, North Richmond Hills area?

[getmeoutofhere]

Originally Posted by marinersfan

Thank you sooo much for your comments.

Teaching jobs are difficult to find in our current community. Is there a lot of competition in the Keller, Grapevine, North Richmond Hills area?

Yes.

You just named 3 of the most desirable districts in the area.

[cecilsav]

I might suggest Rowlett too. It's a bit far from downtown Dallas but that might be a good thing. Safe and not too bad on the eye and the homes have bang for the buck.

[Grainraiser]

DFW is so spread out I would suggest you rent for awhile until you land jobs. Nothing worse than having a hour and half commute each way to work. It turns a normal 9hr day into a 12hr day. I can promise you it wears on you after a while. Like every city the best education is in the area with the highest per capita income. Don't fall into the trap of thinking these places are the only ones your kids can get a quality education from.

[TXRebel]

Grapevine, McKinney, Allen, Arlington, Carrollton. I believe the highest concentration of computer-type jobs would be found in Collin County, but nowadays computer jobs are all over Dallas Ft. Worth. I would definitely not look at Southlake. Southlake is rich. Keller might be a little bit expensive also.

[KW-Sheila]

Actually renting is not a terrible idea. Many of the cities you are looking at have great programs for Teachers/Firemen/Police to buy homes. But, most require at least a year of working in the school district.

You can get a home very reasonably in Keller (under $150k) and in Frisco & Mckinney. All have really great schools. The big difference in Keller & Frisco is property tax. Keller is considerably higher (approx .8% higher).

Sheila Goff

[pappy97]

Originally Posted by cecilsav

I might suggest Rowlett too. It's a bit far from downtown Dallas but that might be a good thing. Safe and not too bad on the eye and the homes have bang for the buck.

I don't know why someone would suggest Rowlett and ignore Wylie. Wylie's got great value, better schools than Rowlett (which feed to Garland by the way), and is also known as a safe family friendly area.

I just find it funny that Rowlett would get suggested over Wylie. Don't know why the consensus of this forum has it out against Wylie: great schools, family friendly, bang for your buck, the historic downtown Wylie on Ballard St still has that small town feel. It's tough to beat, especially considering this family is trying to get a sub-$200k house.

Some people here actually mentioned Plano, when the reality is $100-200k doesn't buy much in Plano. Or Carrollton. Especially if you want something built this decade as I did, the newer the better, right? I know about this because I just completed a home search. Could get you something in McKinney, but I wouldn't even consider McKinney to be in the DFW metro.

Wylie, Allen, and maybe Grapevine (don't know about their schools) are your best bets. Just do some realtor.com (or whatever RE website you like) searches and you'll see how much you like Wylie/Allen prices, and you'll love the schools and family friendly nature.

Representative example:
http://www.movoto.com/real-estate/ho...2_11304067.htm

$150k for home built in 2001 with 1700+ sq ft, 4 bdroom/2 bath. Try finding that in Plano (price, year built, and size all put together).

[ChristieP]

My husband and I have lived here for 8 years now and we LOVE it!

You can get a 3/2 house for under $200k in Grapevine, but you will have to have a good Realtor and be able to go look as soon as the houses come on the market. The real estate market may be in a slump other places, but it remains hot in Grapevine!

Here's Grapevine-Colleyville ISD's website:
Grapevine Colleyville Independent School District
And the City of Grapevine's website:
City of Grapevine, Texas > Home