Lewisville or N Garland? (Dallas, Plano: homes, to buy, quality of life)

[reginasmu]

In my quest to find a place to buy a home, I have explored a couple of options. As background, I'm single, early 30's, work in N Plano (Tollway/Legacy) and attend church several times a week in the southern sector (67 and Wheatland). I've been researching alot to find areas that won't make the commute too gruesome to either work or church and have found two that I am strongly considering.

Reserve at Firewheel in N Garland (Meritage Homes) and Carrington Village (Mercedes Homes) in Lewisville. They are both 25 min from work and about 40 min from church. I figure that timing is not too bad and will probably be the best timing I will get in terms of finding places pretty equidistant from work/church that are in nice areas in my price range.

These seem to be both good places, close to freeways, near shopping/restaurants, etc. I just wanted to get feedback on both of these areas/cities and see what your thoughts are as places to live. Any feedback on these builders would be great as well. At my initial look at the info provided during my visits to both properties, it appears that Mercedes is more luxurious and gives you more for your money - but of course, that is without my realtor and I doing a hard core comparison yet. Thanks for the feedback.

[ggolf]

Originally Posted by reginasmu

In my quest to find a place to buy a home, I have explored a couple of options. As background, I'm single, early 30's, work in N Plano (Tollway/Legacy) and attend church several times a week in the southern sector (67 and Wheatland). I've been researching alot to find areas that won't make the commute too gruesome to either work or church and have found two that I am strongly considering.

Reserve at Firewheel in N Garland (Meritage Homes) and Carrington Village (Mercedes Homes) in Lewisville. They are both 25 min from work and about 40 min from church. I figure that timing is not too bad and will probably be the best timing I will get in terms of finding places pretty equidistant from work/church that are in nice areas in my price range.

These seem to be both good places, close to freeways, near shopping/restaurants, etc. I just wanted to get feedback on both of these areas/cities and see what your thoughts are as places to live. Any feedback on these builders would be great as well. At my initial look at the info provided during my visits to both properties, it appears that Mercedes is more luxurious and gives you more for your money - but of course, that is without my realtor and I doing a hard core comparison yet. Thanks for the feedback.

Lewisville would be a snap for your church-35 to 67. For work either Hebron to DNT or Sam Rayburn to DNT. N Garland would be problematic for church- maybe the Bush to 35. Work sounds like Bush to DNT.
Hope you have a toll tag!

[LQQKOUT]

vast differeance in these two cities.... to me Lewisville is so far out of the Metroplex. We looked around that area and it is very nice but the travel on 35E is what nailed that decision. And we moved by N Garland. But- you should contact a realtor and then decide.

[reginasmu]

Originally Posted by LQQKOUT

vast differeance in these two cities.... to me Lewisville is so far out of the Metroplex. We looked around that area and it is very nice but the travel on 35E is what nailed that decision. And we moved by N Garland. But- you should contact a realtor and then decide.

I have a realtor I am working with, I was just trying to get an idea of what it's like living in those areas. and thought some folks on the forum who live in these areas could shed some light. The distance/drives to work/church don't bother me at all (getting to/from work would actually be pretty easy it seems), I'm moreso wondering about what living in those areas is like, considering my "stats". I live in Addison now, and Lewisville doesn't feel far out the metroplex to me. Now, if I worked on the eastern side of the metroplex, I could definitely see how Lewisville would seem far out.

[reginasmu]

Originally Posted by ggolf

Lewisville would be a snap for your church-35 to 67. For work either Hebron to DNT or Sam Rayburn to DNT. N Garland would be problematic for church- maybe the Bush to 35. Work sounds like Bush to DNT.
Hope you have a toll tag!

Yes, that is what I was thinking....the work commute might be better from Lewisville than N Garland...from Lewisville, I could take 121 and just get off at Legacy. I never hear about traffic on 121 when watching the news. Are there any traffic watchouts there? Coming from N Garland, there are potential daily traffic jams at 75 and at DNT. Of course, I could take side streets all the way there, but that would just take longer. In either case, neither is horrible, so I think the quality of life in each city will make the difference to me, aside from the builder quality/experience in general.

Also, the tax rate in Lewisville is lower.

[ggolf]

Originally Posted by reginasmu

Yes, that is what I was thinking....the work commute might be better from Lewisville than N Garland...from Lewisville, I could take 121 and just get off at Legacy. I never hear about traffic on 121 when watching the news. Are there any traffic watchouts there? Coming from N Garland, there are potential daily traffic jams at 75 and at DNT. Of course, I could take side streets all the way there, but that would just take longer. In either case, neither is horrible, so I think the quality of life in each city will make the difference to me, aside from the builder quality/experience in general.

Also, the tax rate in Lewisville is lower.

They don't have cameras. You can go to TXDOT.gov and find out about traffic conditions on 121.
I drove that weekly from Anna to Plano and never had any issues, even during rush hour.

[Haute Mom]

we have lived in both areas and really, they are both comparable in my opinion. i prefer the lewisville area bc we use the toll less! the access road of 121 is much easier to ride than in any other area.

[reginasmu]

Originally Posted by Haute Mom

we have lived in both areas and really, they are both comparable in my opinion. i prefer the lewisville area bc we use the toll less! the access road of 121 is much easier to ride than in any other area.

Really? That's good to know. How would you describe "living" in Lewisville itself? Or, N Garland, since you say they're pretty comparable.

[Haute Mom]

As for the builders, I can't answer for that, but both areas are just as u say...good places, close to freeways, near shopping/restaurants, etc. For us though, we are a family of 4 (early 30's), attend a church in Flower Mound and my husband works in Dallas. It takes him 18 minutes to get downtown, but he has a career that doesn't require him to travel during rush hour. I prefer the Lewisville area bc it is close to various things that we enjoy, like Grapevine which has some neat things, but it is also close to Frisco which has a really great mall. It also has the minor league sports teams if u are into that kind of thing. It's hard though, because the North Garland area isn't bad either. Firewheel is a great little place and we used to enjoy going over to Rockwall to the harbor. I would think if you were working at Legacy though and traveling to Duncanville for church, Lewisville would be much easier to get from place to place. 121 is a breeze to travel! Just my little $.02.

[ggolf]

BTW, Lewisville is close to the airport if you need or want to travel.