Possible relocation to Irving from Japan! (Dallas, Denton: apartment, buying a house, neighborhoods)

[Deadmaster200]

Hello everyone.

Grew up in Oklahoma City and lived/worked in Frisco for 2 years before I decided to go to Japan. Been here over 5 years now and now have a possibility to return back working out of Irving.

So, considering the following three conditions, where would you all suggest to live?

1. Working from Irving
2. Budget: 200-250K
3. Do not want a cookie-cutter house. No kids yet, so quality over size for sure.
4. Want to avoid a stressful commute IF POSSIBLE (means I would rather have a nice country drive for an hour than a 30-minute city drive in traffic jams/too many lights/constant road construction, etc.---this is just an example of what I mean, a commute over an hour is not something I would consider acceptable)
5. Would prefer some land (1 acre or so), but this would be my first home purchase, so definitely won't be my last, so I am not sure if having a place like this would fit the 'buy to sell' mindset.

Thanks for any help you guys can provide. If you need information, please ask.

[Deadmaster200]

Hello? Is my thread so dissimilar to the others?

[GoPadge]

One acre lots within a 30 minute commute to Irving are virtually impossible to finds.

[Deadmaster200]

Yeah, I figured that.

But I didn't say that I am looking for a 30-minute commute. Anyway, the land would be nice but not necessary as it would be my first house.

[DFWMike]

It's not that you're so different it's just a little hard to place what you need. From Irving I would think you would have to go about 45 minutes before you could find those one acre lots, and the drive in won't be country whichever way you slice it. It's possible you could look in W. Flower Mound, that drive down would be about as country as it can get, actually driving out 114 looks pretty country but the traffic will tell you otherwise, it's not horrible yet, but it could get that way soon, gets pretty backed up in the Grapevine area every day at rush hour.

All that said I would suggest Flower Mound, because the commute is probably less hectic(not many freeways) you should be right on the bottom of the price ranges out there, but I know you can find some houses within your price range. Ouch, forgot about the cookie cutter, hmm.

Try north Dallas, great homes around there since you don't have kids, the schools are no issue right? But lots of older homes and you will be travelling against rush hour flows so commute won't be much of a problem as long as you stay off LBJ Freeway. But beautiful tree laden neighborhoods and you can get to Irving pretty quick on back streets.

[Willys]

Irving is surrounded by metro on all side and DFW to boot. You're not going to find any part of an acre within an hour unless you go towards Denton. And that's a traffic nightmare. Well, excepting the Inwood area. Take that expendable cash and head towards intown Dallas. It's rebuilding with fine new townhomes on every block. By time you're ready to leave town you'll get your money back. And the commute from intown to Irving is a quick one. I've done it for years.

[FarNorthDallas]

You might look in Double Oak or Highland Village in addition to Flower Mound.

[Deadmaster200]

OK, thanks for the feedback so far!

So, forget having any land for now. Got it. So, let's take that completely out of the picture.

Also, I didn't realize Irving was so close to the heart of Dallas. So I guess having a nice commute is kinda out too.

So, for my price range, am I going to be able to get a nice, non-cookie-cutter house in a nice neighborhood? Or should I forget about buying a house for now until I can afford more (300-350K?) ?

I found this website from another thread:

Tom Grisak Estate Homes Realtors, Inc

and specifically really like this house:

1605 Bryce Canyon, Allen Texas Home Page (broken link)

So, this is kinda what I am hoping to get, maybe not quite as custom and definitely not as big, but I was thinking that if this house is 335K, then I should be able to get something close to this but smaller for 200-250K.

What do you guys think?

[FarNorthDallas]

Well, to me that house in Allen is a cookie cutter house [not that there is anything wrong with that]. It's nice, but it's probably on a street with houses similar to it - two story, red brick, stone accent.

[Deadmaster200]

Interesting.

I thought when you guys were using the word cookie-cutter, it meant that all the houses on the street were exactly the same inside and outside. Especially on the inside. Not looking much different than from the inside of a decent apartment, just bigger.

So, since I am a bit out of touch with things over there, maybe I better have someone explain what is and what is not a cookie-cutter house!

Thanks