Suburb of Dallas or Suburb of Charlotte (Plano, DeSoto: chapel, house)

[Youness]

We are planning to move out of NYC within next year. Would love to hear pro and cons as to which would be better for us to move to. We have to toddler aged kids and great schools and safe location are important to us. We are looking to spend around 400K. Thanks in advance.

[westcoastbabe]

Saw your post in the Charlotte thread.....however responding here in the Dallas Thread. Truth-tellers tend to get jumped on in the Charlotte thread. Honestly, pick Dallas. Im a native(but trying to move to Phoenix presently ) Charlotte is great for families, which I see you have one....but you will get bored to "smithereens" in Charlotte. Dallas is great for families as well, but I think Dallas will give you more options as far as a lot things are concerned such as shopping, activities for your kids, a better economy. Dallas workforces is more diversified than Charlotte's and their unemployment rate is way lower than Charlotte's...Just my 2 cents and some food for thought.

[Youness]

Thanks for the you reply. My concerns regarding Dallas suburb (looking at West Plano) is the hot summers and possibly of tornadoes. Also I just read that many homes might of foundation issues especially if the ground around the house is not maintained. The problem is I don't have a good gauge of how hot it is. I sometimes think summers in NYC is unbearable and I prefer hot weather of cold. I have seen pretty bad comments on the summers in Dallas.

[Johnhw2]

It is hot here in summers but great weather most of the rest of the year. West Plano is a great place to live, tornadoes hit pretty small areas unlike hurricanes or Sandy. While we can get tornadoes annually they really arent a big threat due to the limited areas they tend to impact. Foundations can be assessed at the time of purchase and arent a huge issue in west plano in my view. I bought my home 2 years ago and hired a professional engineer to do the home inspection before closing. I had him provide an assessment of the slab and foundation and shoot the slab levels in this 11 year old home. As a PE and home inspector, I feel we have a found home and are pleased with it.

I lived in N NJ for 6 years and the heat is significantly greater here than in NYC area. However, time I spent for work in DC during summers were hot as can be too and they had rougher winters with snow than we have had in DFW thus far. NC is not that far from DC and while the humidity might be less in land like Charlotte is, I can imagine it being fairly warm in summers so the difference between the two might not be that great....but I am certain DFW will feel hotter.

I hope you decide to join us in DFW and good luck with your decision and move. DFW is full of families from all over and is a very diverse place with an economy much more vibrant than most cities.

[Made_it_To_the_Metroplex]

As someone who has never lived in either city (yet!), but visited both fairly often, my opinion is that one is in a more lushly-vegetated area, while the other is a good bit larger than the other. That's it. Other than that, I don't see that much difference between the two. Both are cities that are/have been on meteoric runs for some time

There's not much in either city/metro that you can't do or get if you want it.

[Youness]

Thanks for your inputs.

[yuni0206]

Guys, question = we are planning to buy a house in Chedar Hills, Dallas --- is this area good? please comments if you know.

Thanks,
Yuni

[TexasNC]

lived in both cities, though familiar w/Dallas. attended UNC-Chapel Hill also

Charlotte & NC = more trees than i can count. Charlotte = less concrete sprawl but not as developed infrastructure wise with the roadway system. a bit behind. also, school system vastly different than Dallas w/the busing kids around. not really an option. Charlotte is a growing metro area, bad traffic with the city/county trying to catch up. Shopping is improving. if i had to live in NC again, Charlotte would be my choice. Charlotte has sports team, albeit BAD, but you have options. A miniature version of Atlanta....hopefully it won't become an Atlanta! Nice city, just a much smaller scale to Dallas.

Dallas = concrete SPRAWL...goodness, freeways and expressways everywhere! and still building. more recreational activities. Yes the weather can get hot in July/August. but the heat is more arid, dry heat. not as bad as in NC with the heat index or humidity, IMO. In NC you literally breathe in the heat. suffocating like, lol. But it feels different in both places. Basically in Dallas you can have 110 degree heat & in NC 95 degree heat but it may feel just as bad in NC when you factor in the heat index & humidity and it may actually feels like 102 degrees. Both places get HOT! HOT is HOT i suppose...lol.

Also schools are also better in the Dallas burbs. no busing like Charlotte.

and $400K will get you definitely more in Dallas compared to NC. Housing is too expensive in NC. you can definitely find a nice upscale home w/more sq ft and amenities in DFW. maybe not on as much land but more house for sure. Shopping is 200% better in Dallas, no comparison. you have so many more options from the actual upscale stores, NM, Saks, etc to those upscale store's outlet stores. also more shopping outlets and shopping centers. so many malls.

really there's no comparison. i honestly think there's no fairness comparing the two cities. Dallas is just on a different scale above Charlotte.



yuni- Cedar Hill is on the south side of Dallas. Nice community. Very diverse compared to most DFW Burbs. A sizeable black professional population. Some very nice & upscale communities in that area , "Lake Ridge" planned master community on Joe Pool Lake is beautiful. Cedar Hill, DeSoto are two the most fastest growing southside burbs. Unfortunately, it gets clumped or stereotyped as a southside burb by many folks. Cedar Hill schools may not be as academically "exceptional" like the northside suburbs schools but it's not horrible. I don't know much about CDISD schools in terms of how parents feel or which are better performing, etc. But as for the town, I've always heard it's a nice growing area w/a lot of black professionals who commute in Dallas. Very family oriented & diverse population. Has grown with shopping centers, restaurants, etc but in terms of "major mall" type stores you will likely have to drive into the city.

[Rice&Curry]

Just so you know, Cedar Hill's property tax rate is 2.78%. For a $400,000 house, you'll pay $11,120 every year.

[lpepping]

Originally Posted by Rice&Curry

Just so you know, Cedar Hill's property tax rate is 2.78%. For a $400,000 house, you'll pay $11,120 every year.

Are you taking Homestead exemptions into account?