North Keller or Southlake (Dallas, Lewisville: real estate, foreclosure, crime)

[TamiS]

Hello. We are considering a move to North Keller or Southlake. I have two girls ages 4 and 6 and what to create a good educational environment for them.

We would like to keep our home purchase price in the mid to high $300's. We know that our dollars will go further in Keller and that it will be difficult to find something in Southlake that we like at that price.

My delima is...should we spend more money (and have less to live our current lifestyle - basically extra income for trips and investments) or should we take our extra money and put it into a home in Southlake to be able to attend Carroll schools and not have as much extra money to spend?

Thanks for helping me sort this out.

[loves2read]

frankly from what I know about living in Southlake, strapping yourself to buy a home there for the schools is not going to make your girls happy-
you would find yourself caught up in having to tell them no about a lot of things

you might consider home in the area of Grapevine that is in Southlake/Carroll ISD
and frankly I think you would find that Colleyville Grapevine schools are better than Keller

check your stats--

[padcrasher]

Southlake wins hands down. I bought a foreclosure from the bank in the low 300's a few years ago. After 20K in landscaping and remoldling it's worth well over $400K. Zillow has it a $460K. Southlake real estate is taking off. Existing home values went up 12% last year. It's gaining name recognition nationwide, in no small part to the Town Center and High School football team. I can't stress enough how much a SMALL school district in an exclusive area becomes a magnet for high end buyers.

The Elementary school our kids go to is the number one ranked elementary in all of Tarrant County. (As are the middle schools and High Schools). They have a pre-med program in the high schools. This particular elementary posts testing rates higher than Highland Park Schools in Dallas. Our son's scouting troop has forty active members. You're lucky to get 6 boys together in other areas.

Also don't let others here that don't live hear tell you about how snobby it is.
People have been nothing but nice. I have a pickup truck out front and a vegetable garden in back. The guy across the street from me raises chickens.

You will never see the real estate appreciation in Keller that you would in Southlake.

[TamiS]

Please forgive the typo in my above post.....(should be delimma)...Thank you for your comments. I'm going to consider Colleyville-Grapevine more seriously. I noticed the ACT scores were higher than Keller.

[ChristieP]

I've lived in Grapevine for 5 years now and I love it! GCISD is very well-regarded, and you'll have a hard time finding a better community in this area. The city services are excellent! The Parks & Rec department has all sorts of classes for all ages, and a wonderful community activities center. We have 2 huge street festivals each year, and lots of other activities throughout the year, like concerts in the park, etc. The streets here are very well-maintained, and the police do a good job keeping crime low.

As for homes in that price, you will have a lot to pick from. One word of advice: homes here go FAST, even in a "down" market, so when you see one you like, jump on it!

[TamiS]

Originally Posted by TamiS

Hello. We are considering a move to North Keller or Southlake. I have two girls ages 4 and 6 and what to create a good educational environment for them.

We would like to keep our home purchase price in the mid to high $300's. We know that our dollars will go further in Keller and that it will be difficult to find something in Southlake that we like at that price.

My delimma is...should we spend more money (and have less to live our current lifestyle - basically extra income for trips and investments) or should we take our extra money and put it into a home in Southlake to be able to attend Carroll schools and not have as much extra money to spend?

Thanks for helping me sort this out.

Originally Posted by ChristieP

I've lived in Grapevine for 5 years now and I love it! GCISD is very well-regarded, and you'll have a hard time finding a better community in this area. The city services are excellent! The Parks & Rec department has all sorts of classes for all ages, and a wonderful community activities center. We have 2 huge street festivals each year, and lots of other activities throughout the year, like concerts in the park, etc. The streets here are very well-maintained, and the police do a good job keeping crime low.

As for homes in that price, you will have a lot to pick from. One word of advice: homes here go FAST, even in a "down" market, so when you see one you like, jump on it!

We'll you are really making me reconsider here... My husband's office is in Grapevine too. So the big question...do you have kids that go to Grapevine High or Heritage? (As I type this I'm thinking...That is my next search on this board) If we select Grapevine we will want the elementary school to be rated Exemplary.

I've heard good things a/b Grapevine High and Heritage. I'm going to go back and look at the stats more closely. Does anyone have any coments on pros and cons of either school?

Thanks for all of your in put. This is really an awesome forum for sharing ideas and information. I appreciate all of your efforts to share your knowledge.

[loves2read]

i think all the elementary schools that feed into grapevine hs are rated exemplary but I am not sure--heritage middle school was rated higher than grapevine middle--not sure about now
new ratings are out
there was one school in GCISD that did not receive rating because of issues with the principal--she has resigned...
PM an MLS site that has great organization and school rating info on it but think it might be for last year's ratings...

[ChristieP]

Unfortunately for this post, I have no children. But I have a lot of friends here who have kids in GCISD schools and they have no problems. GHS has a lot of spirit, and we love to watch their homecoming parade down Main Street each fall.

If your husband's office is here, then it is a no-brainer...you need to live here!!

[loves2read]

Frankly--if your husband will be working in Grapevine then you have lots of options--Coppell has an excellent ISD and you can find home in that price range--Coppell is very nice area--I particularly like the way the city's had retail/commercial signs at low heights and less obtrusive views===makes for a very pleasant drive through there...
home values are stable and it seems to be very safe area...
also this area is likely have some form of public transport in the future since it is fairly close to Dallas itself...not to Grapevine but probably into Dallas mix...
You could also consider Flower Mound/Lewisville in the Lewisville ISD---some of those areas are older and not what you want but there are plenty of subdivisions
It would be a 15-20 min drive for your husband--same as north Keller probably...

Prices in Grapevine have appreciated probably over 6% this year--competitive market--
but many of the homes on resale market were tract built by Drees or another big builder, lots are .25 or smaller, most have 2 car garages, and many have all beds up (that may not bother you with smaller children) which is a floor plan that is not that popular with most people in this area and makes a difficult resale...

[5stones]

frankly I think you would find that Colleyville Grapevine schools are better than Keller
check your stats--

BOTH KELLER and GCISD are RECOGNIZED districts.

Both Grapevine HS and Heritage HS are ACCEPTABLE.
Keller HS is RECOGNIZED. (Fossil creek and Central are Acceptable and in FT worth not keller)

2 out of the 4 MS in GCISD are rated ACCEPTABLE 1 rated Exemplary Colleyville MS and 1Recognised
Keller has 2 out of 5 rated Acceptable, 2 recognised and 1 exemplary.

So for the upper grades they are pretty even but Keller HS is rated better than either the GCISD HS.
and the elemtary's in central Keller are EXEMPLARY... If you took only the schools in the city of Keller (not the ft worth ones) then the District would be very close to Exemplary.

If it weren't for the elementary schools the GCISD scores wouldn't be so great.

Keller is ALOT bigger with 39 schools versus 19 for GCISD.
I am not saying that GCISD isn't good I think it is but I also don't think it's SOOO much better than Keller. maybe a few years ago but not anymore.