Southlake confirmed!

[Squirl]

I started to post several I found on Craigslist, but I think its against the rules........ go there.

[loves2read]

There's no great premium on land, it's not very accessible to Dallas.
dude you are really out of touch about what makes Southlake one of the premium RE areas in north TX--

There IS a great premium on land there--which is why people will spend 400K for half acre to tear down a house on it and rebuild...

You just have to decide if you want what Southlake offers--
it has one of the few public education systems in this part of TX that has ONLY residential homeowners and no apts--
there are also few homes to lease here although that number is increasing because of the slow home sales
Southlake is good and bad--and there are plenty of posts on this forum and the fort worth one about both aspects
but dont say that Southlake does not bring good value for the money--
it has one of the most stable residential price level in Tx--
plenty of people love to buy there and more wish they could--
when people are transferred into this area the two names they know are Highland Park and Southlake basically if they have aspirations of top colleges for their children...and success for themselves...

Personally I like Colleyville which is a little less busy and not as obviously pretentious as Southlake--but you have to watch your schools more in Colleyville--and you usually wind up driving to Southlake for shopping a lot of times anyway

[loves2read]

you can try realtor.com for rentals as well
would not hold my breath for craigs list think that is mostly trying to see you foreclosed property

2500 probably wont get anything in southlake
grapevine maybe but 2500 for nice house in good school zone is not that much really

around here homes that are going into lease vs sale are because house is on market for too long and owners won't reduce price so that it is more than attractive buy--
they lease hoping to cover mortgage and taxes and other expenses so the lease amount is high or higher than someone might pay to buy house--
more high end homes on lease market but more expensive homes as well

[Squirl]

My friends who live in Southlake enrolled both their kids in Liberty Christian School in Argyle and are so pleased with the way the year has gone. They had been fine with the education in Southlake but didn't like the social pressure.

[ClarenceBodiker]

Originally Posted by loves2read

you can try realtor.com for rentals as well
would not hold my breath for craigs list think that is mostly trying to see you foreclosed property

2500 probably wont get anything in southlake
grapevine maybe but 2500 for nice house in good school zone is not that much really

around here homes that are going into lease vs sale are because house is on market for too long and owners won't reduce price so that it is more than attractive buy--
they lease hoping to cover mortgage and taxes and other expenses so the lease amount is high or higher than someone might pay to buy house--
more high end homes on lease market but more expensive homes as well

You should definitely be able to find rentals for $2500 in Grapevine. My good friend lives pretty close to the lake in a 3/2, 1990's model home with probably 1800 sqft for only $1500 a month.

[loves2read]

the area around the lake in grapevine has areas that vary in types of homes in neighborhoods--one house might be decent and one not so much
and I bet that house has not been remodeled--likely still has wallpaper in bathrooms and Formica in kitchens

2500 for 4/2 nice neighborhood off 121 is probably base line

just depends on what kind of house they want

[longhornswin]

Originally Posted by ganongrey

Southlake is nice. I work out there. But I get the feeling that it's overpriced suburbia. There's nothing particularly special about any area or house which is dangerous come resale time IMO. There's no great premium on land, it's not very accessible to Dallas. So what'll put your giant 6000 sq ft house above the other 6000 sq ft house?

The fact that your child will get a private school-like education for free.
The fact that every single lot is a minimum of 10,000 SF.

We just moved to Southlake a month ago and love it. It's like living in a small town in the middle of the metroplex (population is 22,000). Every person we've met is super nice, there are trees everywhere, it's incredibly safe, there's shopping close by, etc.

Those are the many reasons why Southlake real estate holds its value as good or better than every other zip code in DFW. "Overpriced suburbia" it is not.

[adixyz]

Originally Posted by ganongrey

Southlake schools are exemplary. But remember this just means that 90% of the students pass the test.

Exactly. If your child is above average and you are moving from UK/Asia, most likely it will be a cakewalk for your child even in exemplary schools. When we all speak about "Exemplary" its all about academics. Take a look at how the ratings are determined:

Texas Education Agency accountability ratings system - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If you are looking for academics, for a better comparison, look beyond the "Exemplary" ratings in terms of number of National Merit scholars, SAT scores, how they fared in DFW schools / State/ National level competitions, No. and types of clubs, what programs they are strong in...what programs are likely to be abolished due to budgets. With the current budget crisis in different ISD's, unfortunately most schools will cut funding for science and maths programs instead of football.

[NinaN]

We lived in Trophy Club up until about 2 years ago. I really liked the smaller town feel. We didn't have to drive down roads with lots of shops and traffic lights to get home. But Southlake is just across the street with all the shopping we needed. I think schools are slightly better in Southlake but TC schools are also quite good. Your rental budget should probably work for Trophy Club as well.