Seeking Guidance On a Possible Relocation from NY to DFW (Houston: cul-de-sac, transplants)

[tkmclaughlin32]

Hello! I am a brand new member of this community. I have spent a fair amount of time reviewing the wealth of information about all things related to the DFW area contained in prior posts and have learned so much, but I still feel a little overwhelmed since I know very little about the Dallas metroplex aera. I wonder if anyone would be able to help guide me and my wife as we consider a possible relocation to the DFW area from the suburbs north of New York City.

By way of background, my wife and I are in the 35-40 age bracket with three young children ages 6 (G), 2.5 (G) and 1 (B). The position I am considering would be located at 222 W. Las Colinas Blvd., which I believe is in Irving, Texas, northwest of downtown Dallas. Google maps shows it to be located between 114 and 348/W Northwest Highway. Here are some of the questions my wife and I are grappling with:

1. Where to live?? We have been eying Southlake, which seems to have an exemplary school system, a fairly high population of transplants (which might help us in assimilating into a new community of similarly-situated transmplant families) and somewhat larger lot size. We would be looking for something in the .5 acre plot ideally. Our home budget would max out at about $800,000, which seems to be viable for Southlake. Does that sound right?

2. What should I expect in terms of the commute down 114 from Southlake to Las Colinas Blvd? It looks like 114 goes right past DFW airport, so my hunch is it would be a heavy traffic route. It appears to be only about 10-20 miles distance, but could anyone wiegh in on what the actual travel time would be? I currently have a 1-hour-15-minute commute into New York CIty, but most of that is on a commuter train, which is not the same thing as being in a car in the Dallas heat.

3. Does anyone have a view as to whether Southlake vs. another community would work best for an office located on Las Colinas Blvd. in Irving? We have three children ages 6, 2.5 and 1. Primary considerations for us (in terms of priority) are: (a) quality of school system, (b) a child-friendly community with lots of activities for children and for parents of children to get involved and meet people; and (d) a "neighborhood feel" (not sure I can explain this, but where we currently live the area is beautiful but people tend to stay in their own houses and you don't really see kids out in the neighborhood riding bikes, playing etc., so sometimes we feel like we are isolated on our own property. We'd love a neighborhood where you see people walking around, children playing, etc. )

Sorry for this very lengthy post. I would gladly welcome any feedback that the members of this community might have! Thanks in advance!

[jennifw]

Hi and welcome!

I think Southlake will fit the bill for you BUT, as you have noted, the commute might be long. The section right north of the airport is under construction and likely will be for a while. Maybe someone else knows how long but I think it is a mess. The section right from Grapevine towards Southlake is always packed (thankfully, I am usually going in the opposite direction!)

You also look at Coppell. I think your budget might be high for that area, but the lot sizes will be smaller, Good schools and great parks.

Good luck with your move!

[tkmclaughlin32]

Thanks Jennifw! Coppell is on our list too! There seem to be a lot of great communities to choose from and we are very excited about the prospect of coming down to Dallas. Thanks for taking the time to respond. -T

[RockyJoe817]

Southlake is excellent as far as a community and educational purposes.
commute with traffic will be approx. 40 minutes.
You could drop off and bypass the airport/114 mess by going north to 26/Northwest Hwy.
through Grapevine by grapevine mills mall/ royal lane or Bass Pro drive to catch 26/Northwest Hwy west back over to 114.
I used to catch Royal lane nearby work and take it all the way to bethel and then cut over to bass pro.


Las Colinas/North Irving has some new development along royal lane and Luna.
You may consider Valley Ranch as well.
I don't care to much for the zero lot line homes though.

Another neighborhood to recommend or suggest would be that of a coworker parents who behind the 360 and William D. Tate area of Grapevine.
It was off the freeway in a nice neighborhood. If I remember correctly our Grapevine contributor
mentioned they live in that area and love it.
The area is behind the Boys ranch by the Trinity Catholic School.


In addition, I have not seen to many kids playing or bicycling on the streets like when I was younger. Now; everything has to be organized and everyone uses the parks and bike trails, soccer clubs, baseball clubs, football practices at the school or park, recreational leagues. Its just not the same anymore.

[tkmclaughlin32]

Thanks RockyJoe. I think you are right about times being different. When I was a kid, my aftershool free time and summertime was spent constantly on my bike with my friends or playing ball on the street or in someone's back yard (note, I grew up on a cul-de-sac so through traffic was never an issue). Nowadays, it seems everything has to be an organized and choreographed play date, etc. Perhaps its just the way things have evolved. At any rate, it sounds like Soutlake would be a community with plenty of families with children. We are also looking at Coppell and Grapevine. My sense is we would be very satisfied with either of the Carroll, Coppell or Lewisville ISDs -- not to suggest they are identical, just that either of those would provide our children a great educational experience I'm sure. Though our kids are young and who knows what interests they may develop, we plan to enroll our kids in sports and dance classes and the like. So we are not turned off by the idea of a school that has a good sports program and strong school spirit in that regard, which seems to be one of the common knocks on the Carroll ISD that I have seen in these threads and elsewhere.

Thanks again for taking time to respond.

[txgolfer130]

Southlake would be awesome, but also check out Castle Hills neighborhood, Coppell. But after helping a buddy don't overlook the Preston Hollow area. Under $800k is a little sparse but there are some MAJOR deals to be found. Although most in these areas are sent to private schools, so that should be considered as well into your budget/scenario.

[Johnhw2]

I live in West Plano and commute to Irving, west of the location you noted as your work location. My drive is about 18 miles and takes 30 minutes just off rush hour which I am able to do with my schedule. Plano schools are excellent as some of those mentioned by others, west plano has a good number of homes in your budget and is a nice city to live in from my 1.5 years experience here. There are a lot of options in DFW area... welcome we hope you enjoy it as much as we do. We moved to Houston after 6 years in the N. NJ suburbs of NYC so know from where you come to some extent.

Again welcome and let us know if we can embellish or answer follow up questions.

PS I should have mentioned my commute is via toll roads so factor that into the plano location. I leave home for work around 6:45 to 7am for my 30 min commute and either leave work at 4:45 or after 6pm to miss evening rush traffic slow down.

[goodtymes70]

Try living in Las Colinas. The commute from Southlake would take about 1 hour+ in heavy traffic.

[DFWtransplant189]

Originally Posted by goodtymes70

Try living in Las Colinas. The commute from Southlake would take about 1 hour+ in heavy traffic.

Las Colinas offers a lot of options - in terms of new or older developments. For new, take a look at Lakes of Las Colinas off of Riverside Dr. Builders there are Sanders, Huntington, and Darling...there may be another one. Homes there range from 500K to 1 mil +. Riverside Village is another nice neighborhood down the road 400K+.

The schools that are zoned to those neighborhood are in the C-FB ISD and the elementary I believe is exemplary. There's also North Hills Prep.

We just moved into the area a few months ago and love how centralize the area is to everything. Why not just live close to work?

[ChristieP]

Originally Posted by goodtymes70

Try living in Las Colinas. The commute from Southlake would take about 1 hour+ in heavy traffic.

Definitely not an hour from Southlake. More like 30 minutes, and once the construction is completed in 2013, it will be smooth sailing.

Do consider the Parr Park area of Grapevine. There are really nice homes in your price range. Commute to Las Colinas is super easy by cutting across the top of DFW airport!

Coppell is nice, but the property taxes are quite high. On a $200k home, they were $1200 a year higher than Grapevine (which are the lowest in the area), so on a $600k home, they will be $3600 a year higher. That really adds up over a few years time!