South of 20 in Grand Prairie? (Dallas, Irving: apartment complexes, houses, neighborhoods)

[LookingatTX]

Ok, so I have been reading this forum until my mind is numb and I feel like I'm getting nowhere. I've read that one should stay south of I-20 if going to live in Grand Prairie. I've found a few places in Grand Prairie that are a little north of 20 by the Prairie Lakes Golf Course and Mountain Creek Lake. Is this a bad area? I've looked at the P L Golf Course website and it looks nice so how bad can the area around it be?
Now another question in a different direction, I'm also looking at apartment complexes in Addison/North Dallas and the HEB area. I'm going to be working in Irving by the Las Colinas Country Club, so which area would be better for a commute to Irving? I have a friend that lives a few blocks away from the Galleria and he says I could make the commute from where he is at to Irving in 20-30 minutes. Is this true or is he mistaken? Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

[kt2le]

If you're going to live in GP, stay south of I-20. The area around the golf course and lake has lots of decaying tract houses, unkept yards, driveways filled with junky cars, etc. Yes, I'm generalizing but this is true for the most part. Actually, much of GP is like that except for the newer planned neighborhoods south of I-20.

I can't comment about the commute times to Las Colinas from here or the Galleria area - sorry.

[LookingatTX]

Thanks for clearing that up for me.

[blueskies49]

I've lived in Grand Prairie a long time and yes, you want to stay in the newer areas south of I-20. Some areas in the northern part of the city are pretty decent, they are older but nice neighborhoods but for the most part, stay south of I-20.