Introduction (Dallas, Garland, Rowlett: fit in, transplants, real estate)

[yakker]

My wife and I will be retiring next year and are considering moving to Texas. We love the area that we live in on the central coast of California in Seaside, which adjoins Monterey, but simly can't afford to retire here. In order to pay our house off we would have to work into our 70's. Also the notion that a postage stamp sized house and lot should be worth close to $800k is obscene. We choose to cash out and stop worrying about money so much. Wherever we go, we will arrive hat-in-hand, with a desire to fit in and be neighborly and volunteer whenever possible. My wife's sister and family are recent transplants to Garland, and we will probably be bringing my mother-in-law with us, who was raised in Mount Pleasant. We are planning a trip next year to check out different areas and probably rent before we buy to be sure we're not making a mistake.

It's hard to fathom the difference in real estate prices between California and Texas, or the arrogance of some who think the accident of birth gives them the right to lord their fortunate circumstance over others as some sort of virtue. There seems to be a varying degree of anti-Californian sentiment in every other State in the union, and it probably stems from this attitude of superiority that some Californians display. I know Texans could never be accused of that! I don't consider myself better than anyone, just luckier than some and less lucky than others. From all I've read on the Texas forum, there is a genuine attitude of friendliness, which we are looking forward to experiencing. Every State has it's negative and positive characteristics, and from what I can tell, Texas has more than it's share of the positive.

My wife and I are into fresh water fishing from kayaks and canoes, so the North Eastern region of Texas looks appealing. I would appreciate any advice on where to move that would give us the opportunity to live near a lake and get our boats wet on a regular basis.

[momof2dfw]

Welcome. I'm in Garland, Texas and can say the area I'm in (northeast, Firewheel) is home to about 1/2 young, active retirees and 1/2 young families. Plenty to do for sure around here for young, active people with that extra time on their hands since they kissed the rat race good bye. If you like to play golf we have one of the best public courses in the state here, Firewheel (recently held a tournament for those qualifying for the PGA). Not as hectic on this side of the D/FW metroplex as other areas but still convienent to everything there is (we can actually get in our car and go to SuperTarget for a gallon of milk and be back home in 15 minutes barring you did not run into someone and end up talking for an hour or so ). In non rush hour traffic I can be in downtown Dallas in 30 minutes or less. New outdoor mall, Firewheel Town Center (Dillard's, Macy's, etc). Growing but not OVER growing . Lots of walking trails real close. There are TONS of people that walk in the neighborhoods and if you want something more park like then Breckenridge Park is just up the road (1-2 stop signs and your there) to go for a nice walk or ride bikes or just hang out. If you want more nature trails then the Spring Creek Forest Preserve is right here (http://www.springcreekforest.org/) (broken link), great area to see many different species of birds and flora. If you like to ride bikes on nature paths there is another trail that is part of this system real close by too. As for lakes.... with the low water levels some of the lakes closer into Dallas seem to be able to keep their levels up more as they pull water from their other lakes to do so. Lake Ray Hubbard is located in Garland and pulls from Lake Tawakoni. Hubbard stays more constant as it has a power plant so they pull a lot from Tawakoni (finally has 1 boat ramp open since the drought had the water so low they extended it ). Lake Ray Hubbard on the Garland side is home to the new Bass Pro Shop (woo-hoo). Lake Lavon is right up the road and belongs to the North Texas Municipal Water District of which Garland owns part of it. That lake is also pretty low (6' below as of yesterday). If you want to go farther out and possibly buy a lake property try Lone Star and Lake O The Pines. Real close to Mount Pleasant so that may be a good thing or not .

If you have any specific questions on the area feel free to ask.

For this area and homes you can run the whole range. From much older homes in the low 100's to large, new custom homes at $1M and everything in between. There is one development that is zero lot line very nice custom homes located on the golf course called Irongate. If you don't want yard maint. but still a nice custom home this is a nice option. If you do want a yard and like the larger custom homes then I recommend The Retreat at Firewheel and The Hills of Breckenridge Park (not to be confused with The Hills of Firewheel that is adjacent to The Retreat but still very nice - Dress and Standard Pacific homes in there). The Retreat and The Hills of Breckenridge both have a few lots still left available. The Greens is very nice, no mandatory HOA but a very active volunteer HOA. The Greens has older ranch custom homes on large lots on one side and newer homes by builders like Standard Pacific on the other side. The main part of Firewheel has homes that go from the low 200's to the high 300's (no new construction in here but very nice). The Fairways at Firewheel is another area completely built out w/ homes by Drees, Standard Pacific and custom builders, prices in the mid 300's to low 500's. The Provence at Firewheel is the newest w/ homes by Drees and Newcastle w/ prices going from the low 400's to mid 500's. There are some condos being built by the mall but I have not seen a name or board up about them.

Hope this helps some.

[yakker]

momof2dfw,

Thanks, that does help. I've got instructions from my wife that although fishing is important, shopping is a close second (or maybe that's reversed ). As for golf, we have clubs and intend to use them one day. After all, I couldn't be any worse at that then some of the other things I've tried.

I think my ideal location would be lake property east of Dallas. My wife has already made concerned noises about tornados though, as if living with earthquakes isn't worse. At least you can sometimes see a tornado coming and take shelter. Lake Hubbard sounds good, especially the Bass Pro Shop where I'd be destined to melt my Visa card from friction burns.

The areas you mentioned are mostly in our price range of no more than $400k. Property taxes will be a consideration, as will a backyard pool where our (current) three grandkids can visit and play.

[momof2dfw]

Yakker, I totally hear ya on Bass Pro, LOVE THAT PLACE!!! And I'm a female, lol. But they have some really nice clothes. Yes, shopping is VERY important and where we are is great as we have the new mall about 2 minutes away(outdoor so you can sit outside on a park bench or at the play area w/ the grandkids while your wife melts the Visa ). I can be to just about any mall in Dallas in 20-30 minutes but not have to be living on top of them w/ all of the traffic. Northpark Mall is right down 75 and awesome. We go there often and can be there in 20 minutes in normal traffic. Nordstroms is there, shoes did someone say shoes?

As for the lakes, most of the homes on Lake Ray Hubbard are older unless you go out into Heath for the newer construction (east of Rockwall). But this would put you so faaaaaaaaaar from the malls and we know we can't have that, lol. If you are out on any of the lakes east of Dallas your going to find mostly smaller, very rural feeling towns. Not much for shopping or golf courses although Tawakoni's course is supposed to be pretty nice. Being as close to some of the area lakes on this side of town you can always have your boat at one of the marinas and be there in no time or go on farther out of town and it would be about an hour or two away.

Word of caution, though Rowlett does have a few lakefront homes on Lake Ray Hubbard you will want to avoid this place. They have one of the highest property tax rates in all of Dallas county along w/ one of the highest water rates around. I liked to refer to water there as "liquid gold" as they probably charge more per ounce of water than what an ounce of gold would be. And in your price range, NO! You would be at the very top end there and would never recoup any of your money.