Job in Mesquite: where should I live? w/dogs. (Dallas: best neighborhood, apartment)

[mfaulk80]

I've recently been offered a job in Mesquite, and I'm trying to decide the best neighborhood to move to. I'm from Salt Lake City and my fiancé is from San Francisco (31 and 28 years old respectively). We're both relatively outdoorsy, and we have two smaller dogs. We're used to being able to go hiking and walking with our dogs, and we try to take our dogs to the dog park every night. I don't mind a mild commute (~30+ minutes). Obviously, we're not going to be able to do the same type of hiking since everything is flat in Dallas, but we'd love to be somewhere that we can enjoy the outdoors with our dogs.

At the same time, we're city people. We love going to artsy neighborhoods with unique restaurants and shopping (i.e. we loved our time in San Francisco).

Also, we're more interested in renting at this point (although we wouldn't mind some type of yard for the dogs), whether it be a luxury apartment, town home, or regular house.

The person who held the position before me lived in Rockwall, and seemed to love it. He said that it's beautiful out there, and there are nice rolling hills more so than the rest of the city. He also said there is good shopping and it's a nice upscale area. He also suggested looking at Heath, Forney, or Sunnyvale. In my search, however, I've realized that we could live as far north as Richardson, as far west as downtown, and....well, I haven't looked south much.

So does anyone know have any advice on what area may be a good fit for what we're looking for? I'm sure nothing will be perfect, but any direction would help.

Thanks!

[ChristieP]

Richardson to Mesquite is a pretty lengthy commute. It's against traffic, but that's still a lot of miles in the car each day.
You don't want to be south of Mesquite. SE Dallas County is a pretty rough area and doesn't have nice homes, etc.
Rockwall is really more of a family area. Yes, it has nice shopping but its not artsy or a city area at all.
You might look at the Lakewood area of Dallas. It's not far from Mesquite and would have that artsy, urban feel that you like. It would also be an easy commute to Mesquite.

[mysterymachinebl]

East Dallas, Lakewood, White Rock Lake area of Dallas would probably be a be a good fit. Plus, it would be a rather easy commute to Mesquite.

[Macbeth2003]

Yep, Though I love my neighborhood in Old East Dallas, I might suggest you check out the West side of the lake. A little closer to Mesquite. Several strips there are getting some really interesting places, and you are close to White Rock (for great walks, and a dog park) the Arboretum, and a fairly easy commute to Mesquite.
If you don't mind an extra few minutes on your commute you might look over here in Old East Dallas (Junius Heights/Munger Place) as well. Should be within your commute time listed, depending on where you are in Mesquite.

[LQQKOUT]

Originally Posted by mfaulk80

I've recently been offered a job in Mesquite, and I'm trying to decide the best neighborhood to move to. I'm from Salt Lake City and my fiancé is from San Francisco (31 and 28 years old respectively). We're both relatively outdoorsy, and we have two smaller dogs. We're used to being able to go hiking and walking with our dogs, and we try to take our dogs to the dog park every night. I don't mind a mild commute (~30+ minutes). Obviously, we're not going to be able to do the same type of hiking since everything is flat in Dallas, but we'd love to be somewhere that we can enjoy the outdoors with our dogs.

At the same time, we're city people. We love going to artsy neighborhoods with unique restaurants and shopping (i.e. we loved our time in San Francisco).

Also, we're more interested in renting at this point (although we wouldn't mind some type of yard for the dogs), whether it be a luxury apartment, town home, or regular house.

The person who held the position before me lived in Rockwall, and seemed to love it. He said that it's beautiful out there, and there are nice rolling hills more so than the rest of the city. He also said there is good shopping and it's a nice upscale area. He also suggested looking at Heath, Forney, or Sunnyvale. In my search, however, I've realized that we could live as far north as Richardson, as far west as downtown, and....well, I haven't looked south much.

So does anyone know have any advice on what area may be a good fit for what we're looking for? I'm sure nothing will be perfect, but any direction would help.

Thanks!

Lakewood/White rock lake area seems to fit your life. Rockwall is nice, maybe even consider Rowlett or North Garland. Those two areas have biking and walking trails. But I think your true fit would be the White Rock area, plus you will be going the opposite in regards to traffic. Good luck to you.

[Squirl]

You will probably find a good deal on a rent house with a yard in Mesquite itself. Mesquite is a pretty typical suburban town with chain restaurants. But, its not a bad drive into Dallas or Lake Ray Hubbard and Rockwall when you want to play and could be an ok solution. Since you don't have kids, you don't have to worry about schools so I'd look in Mesquite first because I hate commuting. However, if you really, really care to be in a more "hip" area look in East Dallas. If you rent in Rockwall you will have the normal commute traffic to deal with, as most of the Rockwall traffic is east in the am and west in the pm.

[Fawnee]

You are going to have pretty big culture shock coming from Salt Lake (beautiful) and San Fran (beautiful) and moving to a suburb of Dallas (Heath, Forney, Garland, Mesquite, Sunnyvale, etc). Lakewood/White Rock Lake is the closest you'll get to pretty here and you'll still be close enough to Dallas proper to do just about anything. It's an easy reverse commute to Mesquite.

[mfaulk80]

Wow! Thank you for all of the quick responses. I'm really glad I posted here, and I'm happy to see that everyone kind of agrees on an area (and an area that I probably wouldn't have come up with on my own).

As for the culture shock, we're actually moving from Las Vegas (for school), but outside of some great friends and the Red Rock canyon, we don't really find many redeeming qualities in Vegas so I didn't want to include it in the OP.

I'm really excited that everyone kind of agrees. Thank you again!

[DFWgal]

Originally Posted by mysterymachinebl

East Dallas, Lakewood, White Rock Lake area of Dallas would probably be a be a good fit. Plus, it would be a rather easy commute to Mesquite.

I was going to suggest these areas as well. You have the Arboretum, White Rock Lake (ideal for outdoorsy people) and easy commute to Mesquite. You'd be even close to Uptown/Downtown if you have to go there or you want to have fun.

[mfaulk80]

Does anyone happen to know any good rentals that I should check out in the Lakewood/White Rock area?