600-700K, would you buy a small house in University Park or a nice house in Colleyville/ Southlake (Dallas: low income, real estate market)

[Loveshamee]

Our first home

1. university park, aged (1990s) house, 3000sqf, NO HOA, homestead exemption, small lot

2. colleyville, several nice custom homes, 3000-3300sqf, 1500-2000 HOA, NO homestead exemption, small lot

3. southlake, 3000-4000sqf, NOT custom built, 1500-2000 HOA, NO homestead exemption, small/ large lot depends on location


ANY SUGGESTIONS PLEASE? thanks in advance

[TurtleCreek80]

UP, hands down.

Better schools

Better real estate market, always.

Better location

Better city services, between "concierge" quality fire & police whom you can hook your home's alarm system directly into to "on call" pickup for bulk trash to the fabulous UP pool.

98% sure it's lower taxes, too. Effective rate in UP is just under 2% of home's assessed value. HP's are a bit lower, closer to 1.8%. Plus, HPISD and towns of UP/HP are the only ones in all of DFW offering the full 20% homestead exemption on all portions of taxes, on top of Dallas County's 20%. Some of the lowest tax rates in DFW and yet you get the most for it- that is the sign of a well run city and schools!!



My only comment would be, can you find a 1990's 3000sf home in UP right now for under $700k? Market comps show the answer as "no" and a quick glance at MLS shows none currently on the market. A SFA, yes, but not a single family home. I think the time to find one in that range was last year. You're realistically looking at $850k-$1M in today's market.

[jennifw]

Where is the job? UP is far from Southlake and Colleyville.

[nakold23]

Depends on job site but for me personally, I would definitely chose University Park. TurtleCreek summarized the reasons well

[hbdwihdh378y9]

3000 sq feet is not a small house.

I would choose UP, but you would probably be more comfortable in Southlake.

[synchronicity]

Originally Posted by Loveshamee

Our first home

1. university park, aged (1990s) house, 3000sqf, NO HOA, homestead exemption, small lot

2. colleyville, several nice custom homes, 3000-3300sqf, 1500-2000 HOA, NO homestead exemption, small lot

3. southlake, 3000-4000sqf, NOT custom built, 1500-2000 HOA, NO homestead exemption, small/ large lot depends on location


ANY SUGGESTIONS PLEASE? thanks in advance

TC80 loves Park Cities so take that into account, but I think she summarized the advantages to being there quite well. THBS, she's also correct that I doubt you'll find a 1990's (really, 1990's?) 3000sqft house in UP for 700K.

However, all of this assumes that both areas are convenient for you. If you/SO/both of you are working in downtown Dallas, than UP becomes much more desirable than SL or Colleyville. But if you're working, say, near DFW airport or in Fort Worth or something, then it's a different matter.

All 3 areas, obviously, are very nice, but UP in a much different way than SL or Colleyville.

[mSooner]

I'd base it on your commute.

[cmw2133]

Originally Posted by Loveshamee

Our first home

1. university park, aged (1990s) house, 3000sqf, NO HOA, homestead exemption, small lot

2. colleyville, several nice custom homes, 3000-3300sqf, 1500-2000 HOA, NO homestead exemption, small lot

3. southlake, 3000-4000sqf, NOT custom built, 1500-2000 HOA, NO homestead exemption, small/ large lot depends on location


ANY SUGGESTIONS PLEASE? thanks in advance

Most people here by default are going to say University Park, but you're talking two pretty drastically different areas. Without knowing 1) where you work or 2) what your lifestyle is (for example do you want to be in the center of it all, do you entertain a lot, do you want to be outdoors a lot, etc.) and 3) your general preferences (new home, old home, short commute, etc.), everyone here is kind of just guessing based on the city. I had the same problem coming to Dallas and asking what areas are best--90% of what people recommended did not work for me, not because the poster said anything incorrect, but because after we saw things for ourselves, it just was not right for us. You have to get a feel for what YOU and YOUR family want, not what some people on the internet think...

I also will add that $600-700K will not get anything in UP like what that would do in Colleyville or Southlake.

[padcrasher]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

UP, hands down.

Better schools

Better real estate market, always.

Better location

Better city services, between "concierge" quality fire & police whom you can hook your home's alarm system directly into to "on call" pickup for bulk trash to the fabulous UP pool.

98% sure it's lower taxes, too. Effective rate in UP is just under 2% of home's assessed value. HP's are a bit lower, closer to 1.8%. Plus, HPISD and towns of UP/HP are the only ones in all of DFW offering the full 20% homestead exemption on all portions of taxes, on top of Dallas County's 20%. Some of the lowest tax rates in DFW and yet you get the most for it- that is the sign of a well run city and schools!!



My only comment would be, can you find a 1990's 3000sf home in UP right now for under $700k? Market comps show the answer as "no" and a quick glance at MLS shows none currently on the market. A SFA, yes, but not a single family home. I think the time to find one in that range was last year. You're realistically looking at $850k-$1M in today's market.

UP/HP has the virtual same real estate market as Southlake. The home values rise and fall on the same set of variables. Both cities have zoned out low income housing and have small single high school districts with no low income students. While UP/HP is closer to cultural/entertainment attractions, Southlake is closer to DFW airport and is more removed from declining nearby neighborhoods.

[thebears1982]

Padcrasher, what "declining nearby neighborhoods" do you speak of near HP/UP? Everything surrounding the Park Cities is nice.