Relocating to Tx from Mi (Dallas, Lewisville: sales, home, construction)

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by BigDGeek

I agree that Disney Streets aren't a good fit for what she wants, but can you really not get in there anymore for $300k???? Wow.

I hear Sparkman is really nice and there's a lot of community pride there. I didn't even consider it as it's much further west than I wanted to be and I thought DISD schools would be a negative in my price range.

Sparkman is a great little neighborhood! DeGoyler Elementary has been Exemplary for many years and WT White is the other "gem" of a high school in DISD....it's actually rated higher than Woodrow by both Newsweek & the TEA. It is far west (well, for those of us who consider everything between 75 & the Tollroad to be the "honeypot"), but it's great for someone working in Irving- straight shot west on Royal Lane.

Disney Streets are solidly $400k range now for a ranch and $500k range for the really cool updated MCM homes. Yowzas! They're all 1/3 acre lots which is a huge asset to the area.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by BigDGeek

I have met a ton of people from Michigan here in DFW and they have all been very nice and, unlike their California brethren, very positive about the DFW area and what it has to offer. I like them!

Hey, as long as the Michigan polititians don't all migrate to Texas and successfully campaign for office, we should be ok

[TurtleCreek80]

[quote=MiMom2TxMom;18436091]

Originally Posted by jennifw

No one has mentioned Mesquite I don't think??

Becasue it's too far East. You REALLY need to stay in the box between the Dallas North Tollroad, 183, 114 (or a bit north of 114) and 377. You are not picking up on how AWFUL traffic is here. Mesquite would be about a 50-60 minute commute each way. Plus, the schools aren't great there.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

Sparkman is a great little neighborhood! DeGoyler Elementary has been Exemplary for many years and WT White is the other "gem" of a high school in DISD....it's actually rated higher than Woodrow by both Newsweek & the TEA. It is far west (well, for those of us who consider everything between 75 & the Tollroad to be the "honeypot"), but it's great for someone working in Irving- straight shot west on Royal Lane.

Disney Streets are solidly $400k range now for a ranch and $500k range for the really cool updated MCM homes. Yowzas! They're all 1/3 acre lots which is a huge asset to the area.

Wow, the Disney Streets have really come up in price!

You're right, if the OP wants to consider DISD then Sparkman sounds like a great fit for a commute to Irving.

[racehorse]

We live near the south Lewisville/North Carrollton border. You should be able to find something that fits your requirements in North Carrollton, zip codes 75007 and 75010. My commute to Irving, near 114 and 161 is about half an hour. Last night, some co-workers of mine came over for dinner and were at my place from the office in about 25 minutes.

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by MiMom2TxMom

Turltle..Also- don't forget the cost to heat and cool a home that is "BIGGER & BETTER"....we run our A/C about 6-7 months a year in the Dallas area and the bills can be $500-1,000/mo in the summer depending on how large & well insulated your home is and how many A/C zones you have.


Wow..that caused some serious sticker shock!! Another person in my husbands office mentioned gas cooling and that it is less expensive? Is anyone familiar with this? Is it like cooking with gas vs electric?

Another thing one of his co workers mentioned was looking into foreclosures and short sales..now here in mi there are 3 on my block alone has anyone had any experience or advice about this? Again..time isn't really on our side in the sense that I honestly don't want to rent and move my daughter a 2nd time.

Again, thanks for any advice or insight =)

You want gas heat and I love my gas stove
Gas heat is a LOT cheaper to heat than electric. As someone else pointed out, you do NOT want an all electric home.

I have that BIGGER house, right at 5000 sq ft. Pool, gas heat, gas stove, fireplace, etc. Our summer electric bill can easily hit $1000 a month. That is with 2 kids (and their posse of friends) and 2 dogs constantly going in and out and a thermostat sat at 72 and all ceiling fans in the house going 24/7. Thankfully, we usually only have 1 shocker of an electric bill each summer with the rest being lower, either because it's not as hot as the months before/after or we were gone for 2 weeks for summer vacation. Our house is pretty well insulated and efficient too. I don't know of anyone w/ gas cooling nor any builders that do that.

As someone else mentioned, keep in mind those property taxes.
Our yearly tax bill is right around $10K for that "BIG" house in a desirable area. And I go and protest our value every single year at the tax office to keep our market value at the tax office way down. It could be a LOT WORSE!

As for foreclosures, in the more popular areas you might be interested in, there are not going to be many if any at all. If you go to the far flung burbs in developments that were hit hard is where you are going to find plenty of foreclosures. You don't want in those developments for MANY reasons.

Originally Posted by BigDGeek

I have met a ton of people from Michigan here in DFW and they have all been very nice and, unlike their California brethren, very positive about the DFW area and what it has to offer. I like them!

There are LOT of Michigan people living here in the Dallas area. If anyone doubts that there are one just needs to go to a Stars game when they are playing the Red Wings. Half the arena is a sea of red. But, I have to say this season and last season the numbers of Pink Wings fans, , in attendance has gone down. Yes, we have to rib them, hence the Pink Wings from Detroilet.

[Alie9604]

The Colony isn't a bad area either, it's off of the 121 Tollway. There are plenty of locations zoned for livestock out there and it's close to the lake and to the city and easy to get to from any location in my opinion.

You may want to try to look at foreclosed homes to get the best bang for your buck. Your real estate agent should be able to help you out with a list of them.

Good luck in your search!

[MiMom2TxMom]

[quote=TurtleCreek80;18437408]

Originally Posted by MiMom2TxMom

. You are not picking up on how AWFUL traffic is here. Mesquite would be about a 50-60 minute commute each way. Plus, the schools aren't great there.

I finally got it =)

[MiMom2TxMom]

We fly Wed night and are staying in Las Colinas for a week..Think daughter and I should just drive to the mentioned areas and look around first? Or plan our trip with the realtor *which is what she would like to do* ?

Also with limited time:
Would you take the 12 year old to...

Dallas Aquarium

or

Ft Worth Zoo

Thanks as always for your wonderful and insightful advice =)

[lh_newbie]

If you go to the dallas aquarium, make a stop off for some window shopping and eating at Knox Street. Take Central Expressway (TX-75) north out of downtown and get off at Knox/Hendersen. Turn left (West). Park anywhere there - maybe behind Crate and Barrel. Lots of good places to eat - Momo's and Toulouse are on the same side of the street as Crate & Barrel. Momo's is Italian; Toulouse is French. Directly across from Crate & Barrell is Wild About Harry's. Probably the best hard frozen custard in the DFW metro - they also have hot dogs which are very good if you want a simple, quick lunch. There are quite a few other restaurants on some of the North/South streets, just a block from Knox. Make a stop at Froggee's, which is just a few shops down from Harry's - it's a great little place with tons of fun gifts; just a little further down the street away from Central Expressway is our favorite furniture shop - Weir's - and they have a great little country shop with sweets and "trinkets". You should be able to grab something to eat, do a little browsing and burn a couple hours to decompress before heading back to house hunting. This is by far our favorite neighborhood area, so I like to turn folks onto it.

Brian