North Texas/Bonham area (Dallas, Plano: for sale, rental, job)

[scootiepie]

Could someone familiar with this area tell me how far it is from Bonham to - Sherman / Denison; Greenville; McKinney; Paris? (actual driving time).
We area exploring a potential job at the VA in Bonham but have to research the area from long distance. I don't want to be TOO far away from a city a little more sizable than Bonham. Thanks!
PS anything you can tell me about this area would be great.

[GayleTX]

You can get to Sherman/Denison in about 20-25 minutes....new Hwy 82, very little traffic, open highway....and all the good shopping/dining is on hwy 82 between Sherman and Denison. Paris takes longer (40-45 min.) to the edge of town but then you have to go around the loop to the residential areas... but there's not much in Paris.....no shopping, not much dining other than fast food. Even tho Bonham is much smaller population-wise than Paris, it has about as much to offer. McKinney takes about 45 minutes to the edge of town but it can take another 30 to get across McKinney to most of the nicer residential areas, and the traffic at commute time is fairly heavy on the highway and worse within McKinney....it's also a much more expensive place to live. However, you can find anything you might ever want to find in McKinney if that's important to you on a daily basis. Most people seem to think the opposite is true......there are many people who live in Fannin County (Bonham area altho not in the town proper for some good reasons I'll share with you if you're interested) and commute to McKinney/Plano/Allen/Dallas every day.) Don't know if schools are an issue....I can share my opinion on that subject, too, if you're interested.

[scootiepie]

Thank you GayleTX... yes I would be interested in your perspective on Fannin County vs Bonham, and schools (although my kids are not in school yet and I'm thinking about homeschooling, you never know). Are there particular areas in Fannin County that are desirable and a reasonable commute to both Bonham for work and other areas for shopping and recreation...?

[GayleTX]

There are eight independent school districts (ISD's....don't know if you are in TX now and are familiar with our terminologies) in Fannin County....it's a fairly large county - goes from Honey Grove on the East to Savoy on the West, from Trenton/Leonard on the South to the Oklahoma border on the North.
Even at that, you can get from anywhere in the county to Bonham in no more than 30 minutes and no traffic at all (very good paved roads all over the county). Most of the ISD's are in or near a little town. There are some very good schools in the county.....all (with the exception of Fannindel) have much better ratings than Bonham ISD (you can verify this thru the TEA website, 'accountability rating' forum) and much better reputations and better financial situations and facilities.

Most of the new homes and population growth in the past 15 years or so has been in the county rather than within the town of Bonham itself (other than some rental type properties - mostly to accomodate prison employees).....both in the rural areas and in the small towns. Savoy ISD and Bells ISD, (Bells is just 2-3 miles over the Fannin Co line), are very good districts and is about halfway between Bonham and Sherman....therefore both work in Bonham and shopping/medical facilities, etc in Sherman/Denison would be convenient for you - about 15 min. each way. Another good option would be Trenton - excellent schools, quite a few new homes, lots of young couples, only about 20 min. out of Bonham and only about 20 min. to McKinney, which is a small city, mostly new everything (fastest growing city in Texas - now about 120,000). Even if you are not interested in the schools for your own family, the school reputation has a big impact on maintaining the value of your home. Bells and Trenton and Savoy are all very small, very safe, liveable towns but are more than bedroom communities - there are tradition and heart to them and they are accepting of newcomers.

One nice area to live is Lake Bonham, just about 10 min. NE of town......lots of nice homes all around it. It's considered part of Bonham and you pay city taxes there.

Every town has good water systems and even the rural areas have very good community water systems - just like living in town. The only difference might be that in a rural area (outside the city limits of a town) most of the houses have septic tanks which, if fairly new, are not any problem at all - septic tanks are well regulated by the state now.

The VA itself is a nice campus and there are some nice homes directly across the street (seldom see one for sale there - mostly older people) from it altho the neighborhoods to the other sides are not 'desirable' areas of town. Between the VA and downtown there are several homes on 9th St for sale right now, mostly older homes but nice.

Hope that's the kind of information you are needing.

[scootiepie]

Very helpful! Thank you!