Grand Prairie 2 year sentence (Dallas, Fort Worth: for sale, apartment, renter)

[foxy02new]

Hello everyone I am being forced to relocate to Texas from Milford, CT for approximately 2 years according to my company. I will be working out of their corporate office in Grand Prairie. This is a tough move for me because I was born and raised in the north east and have never been to Texas before.

The thought of this move was terrifying before but after scrolling through previous posts and see the amount of newbs who relocate to Dallas usually are actually happy and have some pretty good things to say about it lessens my fear.

I am trying to get as educated about this as possible I have to rent, my budget is between 900 to 1000 a month. A single family house is what I have in mind 2+ bedrooms, must have minimum of a 2 car garage, nice backyard, newer construction and strong preference for a gated middle class community. I am not concerned about schools, my concern is a quality neighborhood and staying away from tolls. Many of the posts speak of horrible traffic around dallas, hopefully my evening work schedule keeps me away from traffic.


Being from the north east you can expect to spend 50 dollars a week on tolls plus gas it gets expensive rather quickly and no matter what time of the day it is there is massive traffic. I don’t want to put myself in that situation if I don’t have to.From what I am reading Plano, Richardson seems to be two places that keep being recommended. I don't mind a longer commute but I did a map quest and see portion of tolls. How much are these tolls are they a big deal? What communities other than these are recommended for my price range and criteria?


I am not picky any advise will go a long way. Thanks for keeping this board informative..

Have a nice weekend.

[Pawdog]

If you're going to be working in GP, it would make no sense for you to be looking to live in Richardson or Plano. Depending on exactly where your employer is located, either I-30, I-20, or H-360 will be close by.

South of I-20, there are many great neighborhoods either in GP or Arlington, where you can find rental houses in your price range. These have easy access to I-20 or 360.

If nearer I-30, there are also many neighborhoods in your range. Arlington, Euless, Hurst, and GP all have great neighborhoods with quick access to I-30, H-183, 121, 360, etc.

You can find virtually anything as far as shopping, dining, nightlife, entertainment, etc. within minutes of GP, without the traffic problems you'd encounter if you tried to commute from Plano or Richardson to GP. Further, you should not have any toll roads to deal with in the above areas.

Good Luck, and you'll find Texas is a great, affordable place to live with mild winters, but hot summer!

[FarNorthDallas]

Since you don't have to worry about schools, there's no need to be in Richardson or Plano. Find a place closer to your job.

Also, there aren't a lot of 2 bedroom houses, the smallest is usually 3 bedrooms. A gated community will cost you more in homeowner's association fees (if you as a renter have to pay them) and most of the gated communities are bigger more expensive houses, with very few if any rentals among them. In fact the HOA may not allow a rental to be in a gated community. (Just from what I hear, I am not a realtor.)

Actually, your budget of 900-1000 may not even be enough for a decent single family house. My friend recently told me she had trouble finding one for $1200 that wasn't totally disgusting, but that was in Plano. You can get a nice apartment for that though.

[occupant]

$900-$1000 may not be enough. To get everything you need (2 car garage, decent yard, newer construction, nice neighborhood) you'd be looking at more like $1200 a month. I would recommend looking around the airport, in Grapevine, Southlake, Colleyville, and all the mid-cities (North Richland Hills, Euless, Bedford, Hurst). You will find that tolls from Plano to GP will run about $50-$60 a week. It would be simpler of you to run across the major arterials through the mid-cities to get to GP. Pipeline Rd, Industrial Blvd, Carrier Pkwy, all good alternate routes to stay off the Bush Turnpike. Avoid 360, it's a crawling mess mornings and afternoons and well into the evening.

I'm thinking you would be quite happy in Mansfield, actually. You're south and west that way, traffic is less difficult, and the homes are priced reasonably. Maybe check out some of the new developments east of US 287 and south of Cooper (FM157). I bet some have already been bought and are being re-rented as we speak! Those homes are 90s-130s and thusly will rent for 900-1300/mo.

[Cowboys fan in Houston]

If youre working in Grand Prarie, I would really suggest looking at Cedar Hill. It has a nice small town feel to it but is right outside of Dallas. It has a really pretty setting. Its very hilly and is located right on a big lake. Its also only 5 miles or so from Grand Prarie.

[Cupcake77]

Originally Posted by foxy02new

Hello everyone I am being forced to relocate to Texas from Milford, CT for approximately 2 years according to my company. I will be working out of their corporate office in Grand Prairie. This is a tough move for me because I was born and raised in the north east and have never been to Texas before.

The thought of this move was terrifying before but after scrolling through previous posts and see the amount of newbs who relocate to Dallas usually are actually happy and have some pretty good things to say about it lessens my fear.

I am trying to get as educated about this as possible I have to rent, my budget is between 900 to 1000 a month. A single family house is what I have in mind 2+ bedrooms, must have minimum of a 2 car garage, nice backyard, newer construction and strong preference for a gated middle class community. I am not concerned about schools, my concern is a quality neighborhood and staying away from tolls. Many of the posts speak of horrible traffic around dallas, hopefully my evening work schedule keeps me away from traffic.


Being from the north east you can expect to spend 50 dollars a week on tolls plus gas it gets expensive rather quickly and no matter what time of the day it is there is massive traffic. I don’t want to put myself in that situation if I don’t have to.From what I am reading Plano, Richardson seems to be two places that keep being recommended. I don't mind a longer commute but I did a map quest and see portion of tolls. How much are these tolls are they a big deal? What communities other than these are recommended for my price range and criteria?


I am not picky any advise will go a long way. Thanks for keeping this board informative..

Have a nice weekend.

Who did you **** off at work to send you here?

[foxy02new]

Thanks for all the advice even you cupcake77. Cedar hills sounds nice and I did a search on mansfield(sounds like my money may go a long way over there) and have decent amount of land for my 2 dogs as well.

Do you have any property management websites with searchable listings for the areas you suggested? The few websites I have from google give the same listings.

Thanks again

[occupant]

I'd just poke around Craigslist myself. That's all I do, 16 hours a day, 7 days a week. If I didn't make money at it, I wouldn't do it! But seriously, it's one place to start. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram classifieds website has plenty of rentals as well. I'd also check out rentjungle.com and even some of the larger realtors. They lease/rent some of their homes.

Century 21 Judge Fite
Re/Max

Both have large databases of homes for sale or for rent.

If you want to play the market, do some research and try to buy a house you think'll be worth more in a few years. Put a small down payment on it, get an interest only option mortgage, pay a little, sell it for more later and recoup the profit without spending all your money on principal.