Colleyville vs. Southlake (Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth: houses, neighborhoods, buying)

[loves2read]

Getting into FTW is probably easier/shorter commute than going into Dallas...that being said--it all depends on where you live...

Yes there is difficulty in freeway access but real problem is in mapping sites----like Google or Mapquest-- where they give drive time based solely on distance @50 mi an hour--not very real world assessment --no idea of traffic at certain times or ongoing construction or how easy it is to get to the freeway....

Hwy 26 which is Colleyville Blvd--main drive N/S --is going to have extensive widening efforts in a month or so--will make driving that road a real mess---local people will have some alt routes planned out--will make getting into local retail much more difficult---there is tremendous # of autos which use that corridor to go back and forth from Southlake/Trophy Club/114 into the Mid Cities for just local business/personal driving as well as commuting---know 2 businesses that have relocated to avoid that hassle...

Colleyville's east boundary is 121...city roads (most 2 lanes, more 4-way stop signs at intersections--some lights) give access to 121 and Hwy 26 and Precinct Line Rd. They feeds into 114--121--183 freeways into Dallas and FTW---Some subdivisions are fairly isolated from anything but a two lane road w/stop signs for morning drive to freeway or a larger divided road...some subdivisions are pretty close to Hwy 26 or Precinct Line or 121 so there is easier access....just depends on where you are in Colleyville...

Using 114 to go into Dallas/Irving area for morning commute is not that great--looks like it should be but there is really bad hwy interchange--lots of traffic just to DFW airport which is additional interferance--and just lots of cars...once past Irving things get a little better....

Using George Bush Turnpike was pretty fast a couple of years ago but then people found out about it so it is pretty crowded, especially going home time...
Using 183--Airport Frwy-- is a hassel almost any time of the day--No HOV lane there --
Just many people-- usually 1 person-1 car --which makes for very crowded roadways....no public transportation and not really any attempt at car pools although the 635 and Dallas freeways do have the HOV lanes which is supposed to make traffic easier but is just scary to me ...

Southlake has 114 running through it but city limits also go further north past 114.
1709--4 lane divided road w/lights goes E/W through Southlake and turns into Keller Parkway and continues to 377 (which is a real mess under construction now as well) and then meanders over to I-35...1709 has lots of retail fronting hwy--so you have people who want to drive fast to get to frwy and people who are using it for corridor to Einstein Bagels or to drop off kids for school--have to watch out for cars running lights at intersections...

There are city streets (2 or 4 lane) like Central/Kimball/White Chapel which give N/S access from Southlake into Colleyville or N. Richland Hills/ Hurst/ Bedford and vice versa...

If you are looking for houses--check the subdivisions on a map--right now in Colleyville--Glade, Hall-Johnson, Cheek-sparger are e/w streets which use mainly stop signs for traffic control unless there is a large rd intersection...easier to me than lights...but sometimes makes it difficult for people to get out of subdivision going way they want to go becuse traffic flow is steadier--no large timing gaps...just have to know options...

Some roads-- like McDonwell School Rd--are pretty isolated from any good through street--very rural...nice but makes driving a little more difficult...

Being north of 114 in Southlake is a real hassle to get out to me--because there is really only 1 or 2 roads to use--really boxed in so to speak...and using 114/121 to get into downtown FTW is very congested in normal drive time...

Not trying to discourage you frm moving to either town--but the info from Google Maps is reliable in "the best of all possible worlds" and that is not the real world...
once you get idea of where you might like to live--people can give more specific help regarding drive time...

[subslug]

As much as I love the Southlake, Colleyville, Grapevine areas I don't envy anyone who has to commute from there to Dallas and back everyday.
I suppose it depends on what part of Dallas you have to commute to as well, if you are able to jump on the 161 tollway then life might not be so bad but via 635 everyday would make me think twice about my living arrangement.
Spending hours a week sitting in traffic isn't my idea of the good life.

If I was in your situation I might learn whether I was going to work in Dallas or Fort Worth first and then choose where to settle.

Having said all of this though, I live in Fort Worth and drive to Dallas and Plano both, except I do it at night, when it's much less congested.

[loves2read]

SUBSLUG--that is exactly what I thought--some people count Irving as Dallas or Lewisville as Dallas when they are not--going into Downtown Dallas instead of N tollway by 635 or into Plano or Fisco are all totally different driving situations--
better to decide where you are working, then decide on where to live--unless you will be working out of home alot...

[5stones]

ok I am really confussed here.

I am willing to pay more for colleyville. But some of the houses in Colleyville go to HEB school district. What's up with that? I thought they all fed into Grapevine HS or Heritage HS.

Also am I better off to buy in Grapevine (less money) than a house in Colleyville that feds to Grapevine HS?

From what I read some of Colleyville MS goes to Grapevine HS and some go to Heritage HS. Why is it split?

I am just thinking if I spend 20-40k more on ahouse to get a colleyville address I want my kids to go to the schools.

And whats the deal with the HEB school district? whjy does it not rank as high (parent reviews, scores etc...) as others in hte area...Northwest, keller, Grapevine etc...

[jehnifer]

My recommendation is to buy in Colleyville WITHIN the GCISD school zone. You will then have the best of both worlds. Property that will appreciate more quickly AND great schools. Yes the middle school kids get split in to the two high schools Grapevine and Colleyville. BOTH are great top rated high schools. Its just how the population numbers and zoning worked out. You can petiiton for your child to go to Colleyville HS if you are in Grapevine HS zone. and vice versa if its improtant to you..that is what we did. But both schools are great. Do you have a real estate agent who can help you identify the Colleyville neighborhoods that feed GCISD schools?

[loves2read]

5 stone--sent you a PM about good realtor MLS site

school district boundaries and cities are not tied together in TX--do not go by counties either--so you just have to make sure where house is zoned...part of Colleyville mail address also has Keller ISD and part of Keller ISD is really in FTW itself even though there is Keller mailing address--don't think people would have been so eager to move there with a FTW address--and those developers would not have had such an easy selling job...

within a district--apportionment is done based on local/close elementary feeding into middle and high schools but sometimes rezoning occurs because of growth in one area which makes a shift to another school necessary....people are usually notified before it happens...
if you don't like where you kids need to go you can apply for inner-district transfer--usually before the current school year is up---plenty of people do that in FWISD to go to Paschal hs when that is not their zoned school...

depends on slots open and other factors like do you already have children who got that transfer...why do you want it...

[5stones]

thanks so much!!! y'all are great.

I am just concerned that my kids will make good friends at school and then have them split to different HS.

But it's confusing...and abit maddening that you have so many GREAT neighborhoods and good schools...A good problem though. ( simuliar to here in VA , you have to search for the bad schools instead of search for the good ones!!) with the housing prices in DFW I am like a kid in a candy shop! My needs are very easily met....now I am getting very picky about my WANTS! (a good problem to have!)

[subslug]

5stones
you never really mentioned the Southlake area, is that an area you've considered as well? It's just in the middle of most of the areas you've mentioned but if you're in it for the schools I'm sure anyone from here can tell you that, the Southlake Carroll school district is second to none in all of Texas.
Granted you'll probably get more home for the money elsewhere but for schools I doubt any city can compete.

[loves2read]

I get really tired of hearing how superior Southlake schools are...they don't pay their teachers that well and some of their infrastructure is really outdated (like their computer technology for students)...the greatest thing Southlake has going for it--and something the school board has no control over is that there are NO APARTMENTS in Southlake--and there won't be any from everything I know about the town...just as there are no apartments in colleyville itself...and relatively few rental properties in either town...towns w/no apartments usually have higher property values which mean that they maintain a high-income resident ratio...that pretty much guarantees good school scores...

Carroll schools are great not so much because of their system but because of their raw material--any district that could not do that well with what they have--no apartment children, few single parent families, almost 0 low-socio-economic population, committed parents and engaged students who are high achievers....should be embarrassed...they are getting the credit for just keeping the status quo....
they have a rapidly shrinking pool of student material which few other districts (think Highland Park) can dip into...most other districts are getting flooded with rising numbers of students with less-than-desireable attachments which make them so much more difficult to teach....
Northwest ISD for example is going to have to improve its standards and quality or they will be swamped by all the new students going in there--

I taught for 20 years and have plenty of friends who taught and were administrators--it may not be PC to say some of the things I did--but it is the truth---there are problems associated with teaching kids from uppwardly mobile, middle class and above households--there are problems teaching period--but not the same problems that come with lower-socio-economic and minority/ESL, single-parent households, apartment-dwelling children...to get decent scores in those districts, there has to be really GOOD teaching and that often goes unremarked and unrewarded....

[subslug]

Umm.... Okay

I didn't know I needed to qualify *why* Southlake had good schools.....I'm just saying that the *do* have good schools.

Weird, teachers complain when they are forced to teach in low income, low resource areas and they complain when they have to teach in high income, high resource areas. The fact that are no apartments in Southlake is a bad thing because......?????

Is it any wonder public schools are always in turmoil?