Family and acreage wanted (Dallas, Plano: crime, custom home, high school)

[rach924]

We will be moving to the Dallas area soon due to my husband accepting a job.

Where do we start looking, considering what is important to us:

School system, safe, and we want an acre or two.

He will be working in Dallas.

From what I've read, Plano and Frisco seem more of what we want, but for acreage, that seems to be a problem...

What about Royse City?

[txtoal]

If you want an acre you are going to have to go pretty far out. Your husband will have a commute no matter what and it won't be pretty. I don't know anything about Royse City so maybe someone else can answer that for you. The only thing I can think of is south of Dallas and by that I mean south of I-20 and then east on I-30 past Lake Ray Hubbard or I-635 towards Forney or north of Dallas towards McKinney. Forget about going west. You might be able to find a few areas that have acreage that are closer but it will be few and far between. Good luck!

[FarNorthDallas]

I know someone who lives on a couple of acres in Royse City and they like it there. One of them commutes into Lake Highlands for work. They had a couple of kids go through the Royse City schools and one is now a doctor. I don't think there is a lot in Royse City as far as stores.

[escanlan]

Originally Posted by rach924

We will be moving to the Dallas area soon due to my husband accepting a job.

Where do we start looking, considering what is important to us:

School system, safe, and we want an acre or two.

He will be working in Dallas.

From what I've read, Plano and Frisco seem more of what we want, but for acreage, that seems to be a problem...

What about Royse City?

There is still acreage available in the Royse City and surrounding area. Depending on your price range, and requirements, you can even move closer into the Rockwall area and obtain acreage. There are a number of developments in those areas that do offer 2+ acres with city utilities, but many have septic systems. Nothing wrong with septic as they are reliable.

Can't tell you much about school systems other than they appear to be good. Royse City did build a new High School that is fairly impressive with a massive stadium, and box seating.

As for safe, the Royse City area is safer than areas closer to Dallas. Mostly because the crime opportunities are obviously more available in more highly populated areas. Additionally there are many "Real Texans" and long time residents in the area. Most don't care for trouble and work to prevent it. Royse City has a full time Police Department, and you will regularly see County Sheriff and State Police in the area. Other than a few "Wannabe Dealers" with their small Grow Ops (which get shut down quickly) there is not really a drug issue here. Most of the crime here is comprised of "Mailbox Murderers" (High School kids killing mailboxes), "Cow Tipping", and tagging old barns with graffiti. Royse City is a fairly quiet town, but it is growing.

[escanlan]

Originally Posted by FarNorthDallas

I know someone who lives on a couple of acres in Royse City and they like it there. One of them commutes into Lake Highlands for work. They had a couple of kids go through the Royse City schools and one is now a doctor. I don't think there is a lot in Royse City as far as stores.

Yes there are few stores in Royse City, a local Drug Store (not a chain) is one as well as a meat/grocery market, a few restaurants, gas stations, auto mechanic (No not Goober), and a new AutoZone store. There are other smaller store front operations as well. Fifteen miles to the West is Rockwall which has most everything you need, as well as 15 miles to the East in Greenville.

About five miles North of Royse City is the small town of Josephine. They have had one full time Police Officer for quite some time now, real nice guy too. Kind of ironic but Josephine is reminiscent of Mayberry RFD and the previous Police Chief's name was Mayberry.

[jtrichel]

Partly depends on what you want to spend. Easy to get an acre or even more in Southlake. Commute will be 30-40 min downtown, depending on when you drive it. If in the peak of rush hour (I avoid that) could be up to an hour. Older homes out here in the $500k range on multiple acres. Brand new custom homes on 1+ acre $750k-$2MM+

[ETex2]

Royse City would be a good choice. But for a larger selection of existing homes on 1-2 acre sites, try the Forney area. Similar commute time and it's growing by leaps and bounds with some decent restaurants and shopping. Not far from Mesquite where shopping and restaurants are even more abundant.

[rach924]

Thanks for the responses so far.

Does the Royse City area flood? Any of the other areas flood when there's lots of rain (like Frisco, Plano, etc)??

[ETex2]

Very few areas around Dallas are known for flooding, except for some low-lying areas in the flood plain. None of the cities allow development in a flood plain and I know of none that have been mentioned that are really prone to flooding. Not really a big concern around here.

[escanlan]

Originally Posted by rach924

Thanks for the responses so far.

Does the Royse City area flood? Any of the other areas flood when there's lots of rain (like Frisco, Plano, etc)??

As for general flooding (not related to flood plains) many of the areas sit on expansive black clay soil. When it is dry it takes some time to rehydrate it. When it is saturated the water will run off quickly. When you look for your home make sure that it sits higher than the surrounding ground to assist in controlling runoff away from the home. Also look at the grading around the property as well to ensure it is graded to add to runoff problems. Since you are looking for acreage property, also look at surrounding properties and areas to see how they are graded as well, and the general lay of the surrounding land.

You can access the FEMA flood plain maps at FEMA Map Service Center -. It has a very nice function to search by address of the property, or any significant part of the address. You should be aware that local counties might also extend these map zones and apply for changes to the FEMA maps. These changes might take a little while to have the FEMA maps updated with them.