Frisco new construction or Plano older homes? (Dallas, Austin: real estate market, power lines)

[BayTexan]

Thank you all for your input so far.

We are currently visiting the DFW area and also went around Frisco where there seems to be more new construction. We looked at Dominion at Panthers Creek (by Darling homes) and will also be looking at some Highland communities in Frisco.

I have seen several comparisons of schools etc. in the threads here. So, some specific questions:

Is it a good idea to buy new construction in Frisco (in terms of neighborhoods etc.)? The Darling homes are 300-350K. Or should we stick to older homes in Plano (looked at some of them but need updating, not as energy efficient etc.)?

I have read in the forum archives that Frisco schools are a notch below Plano. Specifically, the Dominion maps to Tadlock Elementary, Maus Middle, and Heritage High. Any comments on these?

Any thoughts on Frisco vs. Plano in terms of safety, amenities, commute options etc.?

Thank you once again for your input.

[MckinneyOwnr]

I think you'll find that "real world" experiences of schools in Plano and Frisco are going to be extremely similar for the most part. (I think Frisco ISD outscored Plano on the latest assessment actually.)

I looked at those areas last year and decided to go with newer construction in McKinney. My parents have a home built in 85 in Plano, and their bills are a lot higher than mine, even though my house is quite a bit bigger. (It's at least a $1000 difference in electric bills per year.)

And of course, they've had to spend about $30k to update their kitchen and master bath.

Both areas are very nice. You haven't said where you will be working, I find that Frisco has slightly better traffic than Plano, but not by much. My advice would be to simply find the house that you end up liking the most, as these two areas are very similar in regard to amenities, shopping, etc.

Good luck!

[YouKnowWho]

As a former Plano resident, someone who's never lived in Frisco, I'd probably consider Frisco between the two. Plano is older and more established, which is okay. But, in terms of quality of home and what you'd spend (updates vs newer), I'd pick the newer home over the established. That, of course, too, depends on if the established home has been updated. If the updates are to my liking and the price is less than the newer home in Frisco, I'd probably go with the established, updated home.

Overall, Frisco has many more newer homes than Plano, obviously because Frisco is further out and since the last 10-15 years has seen an explosive real estate market (that is, until the market crashed a few years ago)...

[compSciGuy]

You're coming from the Bay Area where a 50 year (former SF low-income exurb) home is considered 'new', and calling a North Central Plano house that's 15 years old (ballpark figure for Skaggs, Wyatt, Andrew) a "Plano older home"?

From my perspective, newer homes such as in Frisco offer the potential of greater risks (i.e. what are they going to do with that empty field, is potential rezoning going to be bad for my kids social development, etc.) versus greater potential (i.e. it's not really the schools, it's the demographics, so why should I pay $50k/$100k more for something I may not really want as much).

[pappy97]

I'm born and raised in the Bay Area, moved here in Nov 09, and given Bay Area prices on homes and such, what you'll find is that out here you can actually afford new construction at a very reasonable price. To me, that alone is a huge factor to look at a new home in Frisco vs. old home in Plano. This is your one (and maybe only) chance to afford a brand new home. Carpe diem!

But it is important to ask where you or spouse would be commuting to? That matters.

Frisco has just about the same amenities as Plano. It's a straight shot down 121 (Sam Rayburn Tollway) to DFW Airport, which is nice. Straight down the Dallas North Tollway into Plano, Addison, Dallas, Park Cities and then Downtown, also very convenient.

I can't comment on schools since it's not a factor for us...yet. That's why when we moved here from Fremont/Newark in Nov 09, we bought a 3700 sq ft home built in 05, 6 bedroom, 3.5 baths, for $210k in Wylie. My parents who still live in Fremont visited for the first time last night and are staying through Labor Day weekend. After the tour, they were dumbfounded that the house only cost $210k for what we have and still only 25 miles from work in Dallas. They were talking about people who work in the Bay have to buy in Los Banos and do that extreme 80 miles each way or more commute over Pacheco Pass/Gilroy (Hwy 152) just to get those prices, and even then in Los Banos they still aren't getting 3700 sq ft for $210k. They are in complete shock.

[TurtleCreek80]

Plano, hands down. Better schools and more stable real estate market. Frisco is only 50% built out so you'd be competing with new construction for YEARS to come.

As for qualify of life, both are similar- lots of shopping, restaurants, and kids activities. Plano is considerably closer to downtown Dallas, but not sure where you'll be commuting.


Schools- as pp said, the Texas Education Agency rates Frisco ISD "exemplary". The rating is mainly derived from TAKS (state standardized test) scores. Each demographic (white, Asian, Hispanic, economically disadvantaged, etc) must score in the 90th or higher percentile to be exemplary. Special Ed (deaf, autistic, etc) students are now included in whichever "white, black, etc bucket" they fall into, regardless of how well they can comprehend the testing material due to their disabilities.

This positively impacts a district like Frisco- very affluent, few historically low-performing minorities, few special Ed students AND negatively impacts a diverse district like Plano, where it's possible for a school's regular population to ALL score exemplary scores of 90+ but have the special Ed segment drop the school's overall rating down 1-2 levels. This exact scenario happened to the Plano feeder schools which house the Collin County school for the deaf. Plano ISD teaches all deaf students who live in Plano, Frisco, Allen, McKinney, etc. Plano schools bear 100% of the liability (from a TEA rating perspective), while the surrounding districts' scores are falsely inflated because they don't teach their "share" of that demographic.

For this and many other reasons, I don't put stock in TEA ratings and urge all parents with college-bound children to examine the more important test results- average SAT scores, % of students passing Advanced Placement exams, number of National Merit Semi Finalists, and what colleges are accepting that school's graduates. Even if you have a 1st grader, these college prep stats are important because most of that high school's high (or low) performing seniors were once 1st graders in the district and had the same teachers, curriculum, etc your kid will have.


As for Frisco Heritage HS, it opened 2 years ago. I don't think they've had a graduating class yet since districts usually let upperclassmen finish in their original high school.

Here are the Frisco high schools stats as compared to Plano's high schools:
SAT scores, rank in metroplex:
Frisco ISD:
# 24 Frisco HS - 1080
# 26 Centennial - 1075
# 29 Wakeland - 1060
# 34 Liberty - 1050

Plano ISD:
# 3 West- 1183
# 4 Senior - 1180
# 10 East- 1129

BIG DIFFERENCE.
http://dallas-area-schools.blogspot.com/2011/01/2009-sat-scores-ranked-by-average-at.html

National Merit Semi-Finalists as a % of senior class
3.0% 39 NMSF/1320 graduating class size - Plano Sr. #3 public school in DFW area
2.5% 26 NMSF /1020 graduating class size - Plano West #5 rank in DFW
1.5% 21 NMSF /1440 graduating class size - Plano East #7 rank in DFW
2.2% of PISD seniors were NMSF

1.5% 6 NMSF /400 graduating class size - Frisco HS #6 rank in DFW
.9% 4 NMSF / 410 graduating class size - Frisco Liberty
.4% 2 NMSF/ 422 graduating class size- Frisco Wakeland
.02% 1 NMSF / 368 graduating class size- Frisco Centennial
.8% of FISD senior were NMSF

http://dallas-area-schools.blogspot.com/2010/09/2011-national-merit-semi-finalists.html
//www.city-data.com/forum/dalla...finalists.html


College Selection of Top 2 graduates (last 3 years):
Frisco ISD:
20% to Ivy (Columbia - 2, UPenn - 1, Cornell - 1, Princeton - 1)

37% to Top 20 ranked schools (includes above Ivy, plus Stanford - 2, Duke - 1, Johns Hopkins - 1)
37% to schools ranked 21-50 (UC Berkely - 1, USC - 1, and 6 to #45 ranked UT)
26% to schools ranked over 50 (Texas A&M- 3, SMU -1, Baylor -1, #179th ranked Alabama @ Huntsville - 1, and #143rd ranked UT Dallas)

Plano ISD:
59% to Ivy - (Harvard - 5, UPenn - 4, Princeton - 1) 5 to Harvard. F-I-V-E!! That's 29% of top PISD graduates going to the #1 school in the country. That is impressive.

65% to Top 20 ranked schools (includes above Ivy, plus 1 to MIT)
29% to schools ranked 21-50 (NYU -1, UT Austin - 2, UNC -1)
6% to schools ranked over 50 (UT Dallas - 1, SMU - 1)

94% of top graduates to T50 schools vs 74% in Frisco.
29% of top graduates to the #1 school vs 0% in Frisco.


http://dallas-area-schools.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-college-choices-of-top-two-grads.html
http://dallas-area-schools.blogspot.com/2010/06/2010-college-choices-of-valedictorians.html
http://dallas-area-schools.blogspot.com/2009/11/2008-2009-colleges-chosen-by-local-top.html

[stan4]

Originally Posted by MckinneyOwnr

I think you'll find that "real world" experiences of schools in Plano and Frisco are going to be extremely similar for the most part. (I think Frisco ISD outscored Plano on the latest assessment actually.)

I looked at those areas last year and decided to go with newer construction in McKinney. My parents have a home built in 85 in Plano, and their bills are a lot higher than mine, even though my house is quite a bit bigger. (It's at least a $1000 difference in electric bills per year.)

And of course, they've had to spend about $30k to update their kitchen and master bath.

Both areas are very nice. You haven't said where you will be working, I find that Frisco has slightly better traffic than Plano, but not by much. My advice would be to simply find the house that you end up liking the most, as these two areas are very similar in regard to amenities, shopping, etc.

Good luck!

Sorry. We are in complete disagreement on the traffic thing. I think Frisco traffic is a giant nightmare compared to Plano.

I also agree about the HUGE difference energy efficiency can make...though I live in an older house in which the sellers updated all the appliances and the HVAC and radiant barrier, etc...so now it's pretty energy efficient (relative to my parents' older house in this same neighborhood that hasn't been updated).

However, I think the op will get more for his money in the Frisco area. But that is always true as you move farther and farther out from the major city's core.

Oh, and I have two friends in Frisco who are having to move because they have rezoned the schools again and they don't like the school they will be going to.

[rjl786]

Just FYI, I think Frisco schools may be outpacing Plano schools at this point. We had our kids in Plano for a few years, ut have since moved to Frisco. Frisco schools just seem to have nicer staff IMHO, and fewer ridiculous politically correct rules and policies. We hadn't realized how repressed we were in Plano schools! Frisco schools are also smaller (so there are many more schools), which gives kids greater opportunity in sports, band, etc.

Another note on Plano, traffic is very bad at stop light timing is hideous. Most of their parks and trails are under huge power lines, so keep that in mind. We are very happy with our move to Frisco.

[rjl786]

Originally Posted by stan4

Sorry. We are in complete disagreement on the traffic thing. I think Frisco traffic is a giant nightmare compared to Plano.

Completely untrue. I travel extensively in both cities for my job, and Plano stoplights are the worst in the metroplex. It's hideous. It's as if they set 'em and forget 'em.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by rjl786

Just FYI, I think Frisco schools may be outpacing Plano schools at this point.

When Frisco triples it's number of National Merit Semi-Finalists, raises its average SAT score by 130 points, and can get 29% of top students into Harvard.......let me know.

Until then, I'm sticking with Plano "outpaces" Frisco.


There is something to be said about small schools (FISD) vs mega-schools (PISD), but Frisco has yet to leverage the smaller schools to improve performance. If OP wants small AND great schools, I'd point them towards Coppell as a better choice for a sub-$400k home budget than Frisco.