Single Mom to move to Park Cities? (Dallas, Howe: home, private school)

[GreyDay]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

If I had that budget, and didn't need employment, I'd buy an estate in the Hill Country!! NO WAY would I want to be in the traffic, smog and high property taxes of the city when I didn't need to be there!

As long as you stick to HP/UP/Uptown/Knox-Henderson there's not a ton of traffic. You get traffic driving from Grapevine to the city.

Smog?

Property taxes are lower in Park Cities than Dallas proper, but negated with the higher cost of the home.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

If I had that budget, and didn't need employment, I'd buy an estate in the Hill Country!! NO WAY would I want to be in the traffic, smog and high property taxes of the city when I didn't need to be there!

You might if you had two kiddos to educate. The best schools tend to be in large cities unless you want to live elsewhere & board your kids at a Hockaday in Dallas or St Stephen's in Austin or up in the northeast.

[synchronicity]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

You might if you had two kiddos to educate. The best schools tend to be in large cities unless you want to live elsewhere & board your kids at a Hockaday in Dallas or St Stephen's in Austin or up in the northeast.

She's also indicated an interest in getting involved in a large social circle (understandably), which would also make an urban area preferable.

[mami2emily]

Originally Posted by Macbeth2003

There is quite a wait list, but if you end up in or near The Park Cities, GET ON IT. Highland Park UMC (http://www.hpumc.org/files/CDP_presentation.pdf - broken link) has one of the best daycare/preschool programs in the metroplex. Great student to teacher ratios, wonderful staff, and a great curriculum. My wife is a pre-school teacher/ curriculum developer and if it had not been for some insurance issues(I have strange health issues_ would have been working there. When I was a pre-school photographer many years ago this was my favourite of the 100's of pre-schools I ever went to. Wonderful kids and teachers.

I have to plug University Park UMC Weekday School where I work as another preschool option. We just received NAEYC accreditation, have a wonderful program for infants through Kindergarten, and very caring teachers!

Originally Posted by ChristieP

If I had that budget, and didn't need employment, I'd buy an estate in the Hill Country!! NO WAY would I want to be in the traffic, smog and high property taxes of the city when I didn't need to be there!

Like Grey Day, I am also questioning the smog? Where is it? Even my son has noticed the better quality of air here in Dallas than ATL (he has asthma and severe allergies...and would often have to stay inside when we were under code orange alert).

Originally Posted by synchronicity

Heck, we've wound up talking for awhile with several people while shopping at Central Market here.

It's Dallas and folks here are not averse to talking to strangers.

[ChristieP]

There IS smog here in the summer!! Haven't y'all noticed the "Ozone Alert Level orange" days we have during the summer? Remember Rick Perry vs. the EPA about us not meeting their air quality standards? Granted it's not as bad as Los Angeles, or other big cities, but DFW does have smog.

Fredericksburg public schools are OK, and Kerrville's are actually very good. Many of the small towns around San Antonio have very good schools, too. Not as good as HPISD, though.

Granted, HP/UP will probably be the best for her, but as I said, if I had that kind of budget, I certainly wouldn't live in DFW!!

[mSooner]

5. Christ the King is the Catholic church within HPISD. It's on Preston just south of Preston Center (Hyer Elementary zone). Big church with a very good PreK-8 school.

I haven't personally been to Christ the King, but if you find it doesn't "fit" you, I would agree with checking out Holy Trinity and St. Thomas Aquinas. There's also St. Patricks in Lake Highlands. All three have Catholic schools and are close enough that you could decide to make it "your" parish, though they certainly will not be as close as Christ the King. I cannot speak to the quality of the schools at any of these parishes, though.

We bounced between St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Patricks, and Holy Trinity before deciding St. Thomas was the best fit for us It's kind of nice to have so many in the area...the amount of mass times we have to choose from is (awesomely) ridiculous! If you are ever in a pinch, the 7:30 pm mass at St. Thomas Aquinas is a lifesaver.

[Southern1979]

Originally Posted by Squirl

Asheville or Charlotte are southern......(beautiful)
Jacksonville, FL is southern (ocean)
Little Rock, AK is southern (beautiful) also, conservative w/Universities....
Fort Collins, CO
Colorado Springs, CO
Salt Lake City
Provo
Portland.....

lots of better places!

LOL - So sorry to spur the debate over quality of life in Dallas! Just to answer, I want to stay in the south, and I want to live in a somewhat conservative community. Let's rule out GA/AL/MS/TN as "too close to home." FL is southern by geography, but the majority of it is not very "southern." Although beautiful, it snows too much in KY. LA is the obvious choice for being Catholic, but still has Katrina issues. No offense, I have just never really felt any draw to AR. So, that leaves the Carolinas and Texas. I have always felt a draw to Texas, but am open to suggestions.

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions and comments. Makes me smile a bit and think that I am on the right track with Dallas. I am also open to hearing more about the Lakewood area.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by Southern1979

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions and comments. Makes me smile a bit and think that I am on the right track with Dallas. I am also open to hearing more about the Lakewood area.

Lakewood is a beautiful neighborhood in the city- lots of gorgeous old homes and cottages built in the 20's & 30's along with classic 1950's ranch style 1 stories. Obviously close to 2 big Catholic churches with good lower grade schools attached as others have noted. Avg home price quite a bit lower than the Park Cities; you can find a great home for $500-700k there and it's hard to spend much more than the low $1M range. Great community spirit- July 4th Parade and very active Early Childhood PTA for families with kids under 5. Lakewood Country Club is lovely, and much less expensive and easier to get into than DCC.

Those are all the things I think you would appreciate.

Some of the "cons" or "potential cons":
-It is definitely known for being a liberal neighborhood. Voted handily for Obama in 2008 (while Park Cities' still kept about 70% GOP, even with McCain being a weak candidate and Obama being so wildly popular). Don't know how politics figure into your "conservative"-ness, but be aware this is culturally much more liberal than the Park Cities.
-Public schools don't hold a candle to HPISD. Lakewood Elementary is a good public elementary, but the HPISD ones are tops. HPHS is light years better than Woodrow Wilson. HPHS is a true college prep environment with 95%+ going on to 4-year colleges (about half go out of state), top SAT in North Texas, highest % of kids taking AP classes (85%) - next highest % in area is 50%-range. I think you would want to use private schools if you lived in Lakewood and the great private schools are in North Dallas (just north of UP), which is about 15-25 minutes away. The high school is also about 80% Hispanic and over 50% poverty level as it draws from surrounding neighborhoods, too. Most Lakewood people really like the diversity in their schools, but it's something to point out & consider that come 6th grade, the makeup of your kids classroom really changes.
-Dallas city services suck compared to the Park Cities. The police response times (or getting a response at all, as if your car is broken into anywhere in the city of Dallas, don't bother calling the cops as they won't come to write up a report for that....in UP/HP, you'll get the same 1-2 minute response time as you get if granny falls down the stairs!). Dallas picks up trash 1X per week (vs 2 in Park Cities) and bulk trash 1X per month (on call in the Park Cities). The HP and UP pools are much nicer than Dallas' public pools, as are the parks. The schools are also in much nicer condition as HPISD voters continue to pass bond elections as needed to add on to schools or repair/upgrade to keep schools state-of-the-art.

-Tax rate is significantly higher - 2.6% vs 2% in HP/UP. That's a big chunk of change on a $1M range home, around $5-6k annually. There are also fewer deductions which lower your taxable value in Dallas than HPISD.

Less great shopping nearby if that's important- in the Park Cities, you don't have to leave the neighborhood to hit Chanel, Tory Burch, tons of boutiques filled with cute dresses from Milly/ Trina Turk/ Lilly Pulitzer....whereas in Lakewood you'll be driving back to the Park Cities or up to NorthPark Mall (10-12 minutes) which also borders UP.

Lakewood is a charming neighborhood- like the Park Cities, kids actually play freely in the neighborhood and neighbors drink wine on the front porch together. The schools and city services are a big minus for Lakewood if one can afford the Park Cities though.

[jennifw]

Now we can start the Lakewood vs HP/UP debate

I agree with TC80 for almost everything. If you search this forum on Lakewood, you will find lots of debates about schools. There are two camps - public and private with both camps having strong feelings one way or the other. Most everyone agrees that Lakewood Elementary is a great school. The debate starts when you get to middle school. TC80 is right that *most* of the top tier privates are in North Dallas. We drive daily to Preston/Forest and it takes about 20 minutes one way. Just add that into the equation if you end up in Lakewood. I am not sure of the exact numbers, but a good portion of neighborhood kids do attend private school.

As far as police coverage goes, Lakewood proper (Mockingbird/Gaston and Abrams/the Lake) has a private police patrol. We pay for this through a voluntary HOA which runs about $100/annually. Most residents have access to or have the "Lakewood" police officer's number programmed into their phones. I live on a tiny side street and get 1-2 drive-byes per day as the officers just patrol the neighborhood. Not to say Lakewood is crime-free, but I could find an officer pretty quickly if I needed one.

Trash pickup and such is something you have to decide the importance. Dallas changed from 2x week to 1x week pickup about a year ago. It was barely a blip on the radar. Now, my big bins are full once a week instead of 1/2 full twice a week

For shopping, it again depends on what is important. I can get to NorthPark mall, Mockingbird Station or Highland Park Village in about 20 minutes or less. For 'close' stuff, I can walk to Whole Foods and have a number of restaurants nearby.

I do think the price point will be lower in Lakewood. With a few exceptions, it is hard to spend more than $1m. I do love the sense of community we have here. My particular street is full of kids and on nice weather days, you will find them all outside playing and riding bikes. We are very much a "front yard" kind of community. Again, search this forum or search for posts by Lakewooder. He posts lots of photos from community events. Looking at houses - search realtor.com for zipcode 75214

[codytravers]

Her husband must be paying some mad child support!! Wonder if he's in the NBA or something. Good thing it looks like they will be having a season after all.