Why are the Mid-Cities less popular? (Dallas, Fort Worth: section 8, apartments, to rent)

[mirotek]

Why are areas like Arlington and HEB less popular? Is it because of the school districts? It's just my opinion, but I think these areas are some of the best in DFW because of their location. They are close to the airport, and only about 30mins to downtown Fort Worth and Dallas.

Areas like Frisco seem super popular and I'm not exactly sure why. It's really far from downtown Dallas and the airport and even further from Fort Worth.

[Dallascaper]

The mid-cities were very popular in the 70's and 80's, back when nobody had even heard of Frisco. But those cities built-out and are no longer the hot thing to realtors. The HEB schools are solid and are not holding the area down in any way. Not sure about the Arlington schools.

Frisco is the big thing today, but in 20 years it will be like Plano, and everyone will be talking about some other bland, generic suburb north of Dallas.

[Rakin]

Depends on the schools. Bedford, Colleyville and Grapevine are still very popular and have good schools.

Arlington screwed up by letting a lot of those apartments north of I-30 go section 8 and crime has increased. That used to be where the "Rich" people lived 40 years ago. It still sells fairly well.

[ChristieP]

We bought in Grapevine 20 years ago because it was centrally located, and it was very easy to commute to both Dallas and Fort Worth for work. The area is very family-friendly, safe, and the schools remain very solid.

Agree about Arlington. Those apartments really messed up a good place to live. Many of those old complexes are now being torn down and replaced with very nice new complexes which are definitely not Section 8.

[TheOverdog]

Plano has more office jobs and a higher median income than Ft Worth, and Frisco isn't far behind in number of jobs - it's median income is higher than Plano's. That's why it's more popular with people moving to DFW. The midcities are fine, individual cities are great (like Grapevine). Others are terrible, like Arlington that spent all it's tax money on getting stadiums instead of jobs, so it's jobs base is really poor, and it's far from where the job growth is (north Dallas).


Unless you go to the airport a lot, airport access is not a big driver, and due to the G Bush & 121 Tollway, it doesn't take very long to get to the airport from Plano or Frisco, so proximity is not much better.



BTW, even 'less popular' is only in for upper middle class people - Arlington is among the fastest (real population increase rather than percentage which favors really small populations) growing cities in DFW even though it is more 'built-out' then Ft Worth or Dallas, Frisco or other fast growers. In the mid-cities, Euless is growing pretty fast.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by mirotek

Why are areas like Arlington and HEB less popular? Is it because of the school districts? It's just my opinion, but I think these areas are some of the best in DFW because of their location. They are close to the airport, and only about 30mins to downtown Fort Worth and Dallas.

Areas like Frisco seem super popular and I'm not exactly sure why. It's really far from downtown Dallas and the airport and even further from Fort Worth.

They don’t get the flashy National news because they haven’t spent the last 30 years aggressively courting HQ relos like Plano has & more recently, Frisco. Cowboys Stadium and Toyota North American HQ are both job creators, but one created thousands of $100k+ jobs and the other thousands of $10/hr jobs. Big difference.

HOWEVER - have you checked out the price appreciation in HEB in the last 5+ years?! Holy smokes! I think HEB area is great - great location, solid schools, mature trees, etc.

Arlington is more of a mixed bag. From a holistic viewpoint, it’s awesome to have a more affordable area smack in the middle of the DFW metro - that’s good affordable housing for regular workers that isn’t 2 hours from jobs. Arlington is the largest city in the US without public transit. Not opting into DART was short-sighted and honestly stupid. Arlington would be even better with public transit! There are still some mature pretty areas with strong schools south of I-30. I’ve suggested Arlington quite a few times on this forum.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by Rakin

Depends on the schools. Bedford, Colleyville and Grapevine are still very popular and have good schools.

Arlington screwed up by letting a lot of those apartments north of I-30 go section 8 and crime has increased. That used to be where the "Rich" people lived 40 years ago. It still sells fairly well.

"Letting" them go Section 8? Cities are forbidden from outlawing landlords from accepting Section 8 vouchers.

Your neighbor could decide to rent their home to a Section 8 voucher holder, and there's not a thing you can do about it.

There's actually an activist movement to legally require landlords to accept Section 8 voucher holders, or specifically to forbid them to categorically refuse them as they are allowed to do now. (Not saying I support this, as accepting Section 8 also requires paperwork and inspections.)

[Rakin]

Originally Posted by TheOverdog

Plano has more office jobs and a higher median income than Ft Worth, and Frisco isn't far behind in number of jobs - it's median income is higher than Plano's. That's why it's more popular with people moving to DFW. The midcities are fine, individual cities are great (like Grapevine). Others are terrible, like Arlington that spent all it's tax money on getting stadiums instead of jobs, so it's jobs base is really poor, and it's far from where the job growth is (north Dallas).
.

DFW Airport, American Airlines (our biggest employer), Bell Helicopter and Las Colinas Business Community feeds the Mid Cities with probably more jobs than any community except downtown Dallas. Also it's a much better location getting to Dallas and FW than Plano and Frisco.

The homes though are in the 30-60 year old range and many people want newer construction.

You can throw older Irving into this mix which has one of the best locations in DFW just not the schools. Although they have a very good school district with a lot of money.

Throw in Southlake and Colleyville and you have some rich high dollar areas with some of the best schools in Texas.

[Rakin]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

"Letting" them go Section 8? Cities are forbidden from outlawing landlords from accepting Section 8 vouchers.

Yes, Letting them go was a bad choice in wording. That used to be one of the nicest areas in DFW with the trees, hills, schools. Now crime is fairly high in North Arlington.

[LocalPlanner]

Getting white-collar employers to go to the mid-cities - and, honestly, anywhere outside SW Collin County, Richardson, North Irving, select areas of southern Denton County, and certain areas of central Dallas and Fort Worth - is frankly very difficult. They like to gravitate to the most established large pools of higher-income, high-education households, and best-perceived school zones, and traditional "prestige" areas (which is why some still go to Downtown / Uptown Dallas and Preston Center for example) that happen to also be where young college grads like to congregate. By these very constrictive metrics, mid-cities doesn't quite measure up, even if they're perfectly great places to live for most.

It can make white-collar employers seem like "sheep", but from a labor resource perspective, it can make sense. They know it will be easier to attract employees if those employees perceive that they have multiple employment options (job-hopping) available (for spouses as well) plus the school options for their kids.

I did some work in Arlington a few years ago, and there basically is no substantial office market there, which is amazing for a city that size.

If you're not getting the white-collar employers, you're not going to get the visibility and prestige, so the mid-cities remain under the radar.