Southlake? Fitting In?? (Dallas, Austin, Fort Worth: for sale, houses, buying)

[roochclan]

Hello, my husband is considering taking a job in Lewisville Texas so I started looking at Dallas Suburbs. I really liked Southlake after reading many things about it. It just seems like it has what I'm after. But then I started reading these threads and got scared off. I want someone who lives in Southlake and surrounding areas to let me know how bad it really is or isn't, and if there are better suburbs around there as well. I want an upscale suburb, our budget will be 900K-1.3 M. I think my MIL is going to come with us, so we either need a 900K-1M house for us and a 300K house for her, or we just combine budgets and get a nicer house with an inlaw suite for her as she is getting older and managing a house by herself might start getting hard and my husband is her only child. I want good schools, but I don't want my son to be an outcast. Moving him as a teenager will already scar him. This won't be pretty. He is a current HS Soph at a school where he does well academically, plays football, and is a class officer. He is very popular and fits in well with the kids here, but he grew up with them!!! Everything I read about Southlake says he will never play football and won't be able to crack the cliques this late in the game. Sounds miserable for him My other son is in middle school but is so happy go lucky, he makes friends everywhere, not too worried. Then we have a daughter who will be going into 1st grade. She will be fine. We are originally from Chicago, but have been in SLC for 15 years. We are coming from an upscale, nice area where our kids went to private school (public schools in Utah suck) and we had great friends to do dinner clubs, go out with etc. I am older now, and so over the "I live in XXXXX" mentality. If you don't want to invite me over for a BBQ because I'm not in the right suburb, subdivision, etc, then I really don't want to have dinner at your house anyway. I need good schools, but not ones that will ostracize "the new kid" and make his life more miserable than it already will be. So how bad is Southlake? A friend that lives in Dallas downtown says that Flowermound, Grapevine, Highland Village, and Coleyville are also nice and might not be so "mean" to the new kids as Southlake might be and that our oldest might do better going into one of those schools versus Carroll everything is over the top competitive. Also, is there a private school that is around those areas? We aren't opposed to letting him finish school in a private school despite the great public schools because it might be easier to make friends in a smaller school. South lake on paper looks like my ideal destination. But on here, it seems like it will be hell for my children. Thoughts from actual residents?

[synchronicity]

We moved into Southlake a few years ago, from the Chicago area, no less. Our child was (and is) much younger but yes, there has been an "adjustment" period. She appears to be making a good number of friends and generally enjoying school, but there do seem to be a fair number of cliques and some examples of "the Joneses" as it were.

Moving during high school is difficult no matter what. Regarding football, Carroll is EXTREMELY competitive in football, it's one of the perennial "state powers". If he's good enough to make the team that's great, but many of these kids have been playing with/against each other since early grade school, so I can't imagine it's easy to crack the squad. The other areas noted would be better choices as far as being able to make the football team. (And this being Texas, being "on the football team" will go a long way to being accepted/popular, for better or worse).

Colleyville is also an extremely nice area, with a slightly more diverse demographic and very good schools. Some parts of Colleyville are every bit as upscale as Southlake, but it seems a little more "laid back". We assumed we'd wind up in Colleyville rather than Southlake but life throws surprises.

I'll note that at the ~1M+ price point you'll be able to get a very nice home (new construction if you desire) in most parts of Southlake, so you wouldn't feel like the people "just scraping by" in the area (the idea of "just scraping by" in Southlake is amusing anyway, but my main point is that there will be plenty of people in less expensive homes so any judgmental busybodies would have to find something else to be all judgy about).

Note that in general terms, DFW tends to be a bit more materialistic and "status conscious" than many other cities. That's the case throughout the area, not just in the affluent parts.

I'd recommend coming down here and driving around and getting a feel for each suburb. You can't go wrong with any of the places you listed (academically or otherwise), so it'll come down to personal preference. Flower Mound and Highland Village would be shorter commutes but it's not like Colleyville is a long way. You might also add Coppell into the mix - it has excellent schools, is close to Lewisville, and has a very good football team.

Good luck to you (from someone whose household may have the cheapest cars in all of Southlake. :-) )

[txbasedgirl]

We have lived here for over ten years, in both Southlake and Colleyville. Southlake can be a bit pretentious and the quality of schooling is very good, but it is also good in Colleyville and some surrounding areas like Flower Mound and Coppell. The cost of living is good in all of them, based on your interests and your husband's willingness to commute. We've lived in Chicago, San Francisco, Louisville, Austin, and Southlake - all with our two kids. We wouldn't trade living in this area for nothing. However, the Southlake football team trains year round. Moving after sophomore year can be challenging, BUT there are many people in these suburbs that have moved as it's really a transient area for corporate people, so that helps new people adjust and meet others in comparable situations. Good luck to you!!

[4Movingeast]

OP, welcome to TX. Or welcome to planning for TX

For what it's worth, I don't think you will find abundant "meanness" in any of the areas you mentioned, but what you need is a K-12 district for your children. It's just not the Texan way. Now, I'm sure teenage boys do a fair amount of ignoring new people but indifference melts away if your son can put himself out there (which I know is hard). Hopefully all 3 of your children can plug into activities that give them a built in group to meet early and they can build on that. I think Southlake would be great, HV is lovely, and my town, Colleyville, is great too. Your price ranges affords you a nice selection. I will say you might have better luck buying 2 properties by purchasing in Colleyville for GCISD and very nearby Bedford or Hurst for the 300K property. You could do the same thing in Southlake (1 Mil) and Keller (300K). You will have a hard time finding a 300 K property for Mom in Southlake, but I'm sure you could find something with a MIL or guest suite.

I do want to caution you about football since you've never lived in TX. It is just a different animal here. But if your son loves the game and has been a devoted player, he should go for it. That said, if football participation is a real consideration, you might want to seriously consider other areas than Southlake. That team has been playing together since PeeWee. Seriously.

[meechi53]

You might want to look at Grapevine, there are some GREAT high value/high end homes near the lake and also off of a road called Hall Johnson, on the north side of that road. Or just further down is Colleyville. Grapevine/Colleyville has a much lower tax rate than Southlake due to our income from tourism and the airport, and IMO we have more ameities and character It doesn't have that attitude, it's more laid back. Also if you are into the historic kind of homes, downtown Grapevine has some amazing properties right in the old downtown area and some of them have guest houses. They don't come up for sale that often but when they do they are always worth a look, just to see what's been done with these beautiful properties. PM me if you'd like any more info on our area

[synchronicity]

Originally Posted by meechi53

You might want to look at Grapevine, there are some GREAT high value/high end homes near the lake and also off of a road called Hall Johnson, on the north side of that road. Or just further down is Colleyville. Grapevine/Colleyville has a much lower tax rate than Southlake due to our income from tourism and the airport, and IMO we have more ameities and character It doesn't have that attitude, it's more laid back. Also if you are into the historic kind of homes, downtown Grapevine has some amazing properties right in the old downtown area and some of them have guest houses. They don't come up for sale that often but when they do they are always worth a look, just to see what's been done with these beautiful properties. PM me if you'd like any more info on our area

Yes, regarding tax rates - DFW property tax rates are quite high, running from ~2% to 2.75% of property values annually. Coppell is right near the 2.75% mark, Southlake is at about 2.5%, Colleyville is about 2.3%, Grapevine 2.2% Flower Mound is around 2.15% and Highland Village about 2.25%. These are all rough estimates.

Property taxes are a combination of "City" rates, "County" rates and "ISD" (independent school district) rates. Since districts do not follow city lines (hence "independent"), the above could be off if you bought, say, a house in Grapevine that fell into Carroll ISD or whatever.

Obviously, on a million dollar home these would be substantial differences - a Coppell home would have ~27,500 in annual property taxes, while a Flower Mound home would be around $21,500.

As has been noted elsewhere, the area of Grapevine around Parr Park and parts of Colleyville nearby are very pretty. That said, there's lots of gorgeous places throughout Colleyville and really for any of the suburbs noted.

(FYI to Grapevine residents - I am factoring in the homestead reduction to city rates in the above calculations, but am using rates from a couple years ago so they could be off. Southlake now has a 10% homestead reduction to their city rate, so it's taxes are a tiny bit lower than they were a few years ago but it's still not far from 2.5%.

[Houston parent]

Making the football team at Southlake will be tougher than most schools in Texas. For that matter, Southlake seems to be very competitive in most sports and extracurricular activities. If you can afford a $1 million house, then you can probably afford private school tuition. In most private schools, the academics are solid and you can usually make the sports teams much more easily. If your son is not expecting to pursue an FBS football scholarship, he might be better off going the private route. As far as the social cliques go, I cannot offer any personal experience. Things tend to get blown out of proportion on these internet forums, however.

[roochclan]

Thanks for your input, everyone. We really do think we will do private for him. It just seems fair if we are going to do this move. He is coming from a 3A private school setting, 160 kids in his grad class, played RB and LB. I think throwing him into a Carroll will be a disaster. What are some good private schools around the Southlake/Grapevine area? My mother in law already said she would die in Chicago, she has no interest in moving to Dallas to join us, LOL. So it will just be us in a "smaller" house. Thank God. As much as I was giddy at having 300K more in the housing budget, the thoughts of having her actually live with us was totally freaking me out.

Also, what is this Keller like? I found one house I LOVED in my search but it said it was in Keller, not Southlake.

[ChristieP]

All of the good private schools in NE Tarrant County are Christian ones. The local public schools have such great reputations that there is little demand for non-religious schools here. Grapevine has Faith Christian, Colleyville has Covenant Christian, and Arlington has Nolan HS (Catholic).

Keller is the city on the far western part of NE Tarrant County. It would be a long commute for your husband from there to Lewisville.

[4Movingeast]

Grapevine Faith
Colleyville Covenant
Fort Worth Christian
All of the above go k-12 and have football teams. FWC is closer to Keller/NRH area. CCA is in South Colleyville between 26 and 121, and Grapevine Faith is in East Grapevine off Northwest Hwy.