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Just out of curiousity from a newbie. What is the commute from prosper to the plano area, and the center of dallas. Assume needing to be at work by 830-9.
Prosper reminds me of the hudson valley area of NY. (its about 60-70 miles north of NYC). 10-15 years ago it was the next suburb of NYC. It was more land, low taxes, brand new, great schools and 1/2 the cost. Shoot you could get a brand spanking new colonial with a basement for under 200k and gas was 99 cents a gallong (this was circa 1999). Within a short itme that same 200k home was 400k and everyone sold, moved south. Or when the economy started tanking and the along with the growth traffic became a challenge as there was only two major ways down to the city...and guess what alot of folks who thought they would end up staying in the north part of NYC, ended up back in the city...with a backbreaking commute either by car or train. And the retail outlets and major shopping didnt grow and it was 30 minutes to get to the closest mall and 10-15 minutes to get to a major chain pharmacy, or the like.
So I can see and relate to the concerns prosper may have. We have been there and dont that..and I just dont see us taking that chance again...which is why we would rather buy less house and just live near it all and plan for the worst case of us ending up having to work in the center of dallas if need be. I think frisco would be as far north as we would go.
The commute from Prosper to downtown Dallas would be hell. Even from Frisco I wouldn't recommend it.
That was me. That was my point. I've always felt that I would rather live in an urban area or the country, but not in what Frisco (and soon to be Prosper) have become. What I'm curious about is how people who have been in Prosper for a long time, back when it was a small town, feel about the growth. Do they like it? It's crazy seeing all the land for sale along Preston up there...going well into Celina. It looks to me that many of the farms and ranches are trying to sell.
I don't like it, but my family moved there because we wanted to live in a rural community so I think it's natural that I don't want to see things change drastically. Of course I live in Frisco now on a postage-stamp lot, so my views about rural versus suburbs have changed a bit.
What I don't like is seeing farms of people I used to go to school with being torn down to build $400k houses. Yes I realize those people sold the land willingly (and probably got paid well for it), but change is hard to watch. Or what about the barn that I used to ride at getting complaints from new neighbors about the smell. I know they'll be run out of there in a few years. It's just a matter of time. I don't like seeing my old home that I spent 15 years growing up in getting run down and considered the "poor" part of Prosper because it's not 4,000 square feet or built in this century. It's honestly a bit depressing to drive through there and see buildings or homes gone where I spent a lot of life growing up.
I don't like it, but my family moved there because we wanted to live in a rural community so I think it's natural that I don't want to see things change drastically. Of course I live in Frisco now on a postage-stamp lot, so my views about rural versus suburbs have changed a bit.
What I don't like is seeing farms of people I used to go to school with being torn down to build $400k houses. Yes I realize those people sold the land willingly (and probably got paid well for it), but change is hard to watch. Or what about the barn that I used to ride at getting complaints from new neighbors about the smell. I know they'll be run out of there in a few years. It's just a matter of time. I don't like seeing my old home that I spent 15 years growing up in getting run down and considered the "poor" part of Prosper because it's not 4,000 square feet or built in this century. It's honestly a bit depressing to drive through there and see buildings or homes gone where I spent a lot of life growing up.
I feel the same way about my old street in Preston Hollow, where the old ranch homes have been cleared away to make room for silly McMansions.
The people selling their farms and ranches in burgeoning areas are able to reap a profit few of us will ever know. More power to them.
Yes, this can be sad to see. However, drive any direction from the metroplex and you will have hours upon hours of driving through farming land that won't be developed anytime soon. Prosper and towns like it around the metroplex are still a small, small percentage of the hugeness of this state that has little development going on. If one wants to farm, there is plenty of available land all over that won't see Prosper style development for decades, if ever.
There are TONS of dying Texas towns that would LOVE to see a small percentage of this kind of growth.
FWIW and nothing more here are my 2 bits on Prosper...
We moved to Prosper in June 2007 and left in Sept 2012. I sold my house in LOP in about a month but I priced it right , decluttered, and made it stage like a new house. We sold it for a little more than we bought it so we werent under water but we didn't make money on. I was happy to get most all of my down payment back out of it. We did compete with the builders but we had one advantage in that our house was ready to move in and the builder had a backlog of contracts so we had it timed correctly. It went on the market at the end of June and we had an offer in early August and closed by mid-September. I've seen other resale houses in LOP sit for months to a year or more. I suspect the reason they arent selling is; priced too high, not staged and or bad timing when they put it on the market.
I liked but didn't love Prosper, My wife didnt like it. My son didn't like it, my daughter loved it. I thought the schools were in terms of cliques some of the worst I've ever seen (my perception). Focus seemed to be on sports. The facilities are top notch - spectacular I'd say. I hope the new school management will put the focus more on academics and discipline, there are many spoiled and over indulged kids in that schools and drinking and drugs are not un common (my perception). It was also my impression there were lots of inexperienced teachers at the school which I guess I’d expect given the growth. I will also say there were some great teachers who worked with the kids that were also willing to work. I was happy towards the end of my time at Prosper to see the arts emerge a little more in what I'd call a top heavy sports culture school and the drama department put on some really good plays in the spectacular auditorium. There were some very talented kids.
Since I came from out of state and have since returned to that state I'd say I don't have the same perspective as the people who are watching their previous farm lands disappear as I was always somewhat excited at the growth we saw even during the so called recession which started just about the time we moved in. Being back in the midwest they would like a little of that growth here. In the time I lived in Prosper I'd say it always had a rural feeling to me even with the growth we saw but I might feel different if I visit 10 years from now. Also FWIW I was a home office worker and occasionally had to go into Plano, Rishardson, Los Colinas, and Dallas. Since my trips were not frequent and I could usually schedule around rush hour traffic the Prosper location was no big deal for me.
Once again amazed at the number of people that think everyone commutes to the center of Dallas. Prosper is a short commute to the big corporate campuses in West Plano (JC Penney, HP, BoA, etc, etc). Frisco is a burgeoning job center as is McKinney. Not to mention that many work from home these days.
Dallas is a region now, it is not just one central city with bedroom communities anymore. That is a hard pill for some to swallow.....
Agreed! Thousands of people live and work in Collin County and never venture into Dallas. Prosper is not far from anything we need to access....We love living in Prosper
But Prosper is putting pieces into place to assure that it is a distinct suburb and retains some rural character. It has a lot more acreage lot neighbohodds than you will find in Frisco, Plano, McKinney, etc. Growth will definitely come, dense along the major corridors even, but it will not be Plano and Frisco redone up the tollway.
You are correct....Prosper will not be Plano or Frisco.The land is zoned differently.There are no lot sizes less than a quarter acre for single family builds.Prosper will be about 80 percent residential,20 percent commercial at build out.The build out should be right aroud 68,000.Frisco,Plano and Mc kinney (Plano already built out ) will near 300,000 people.
Just out of curiousity from a newbie. What is the commute from prosper to the plano area, and the center of dallas. Assume needing to be at work by 830-9.
Prosper reminds me of the hudson valley area of NY. (its about 60-70 miles north of NYC). 10-15 years ago it was the next suburb of NYC. It was more land, low taxes, brand new, great schools and 1/2 the cost. Shoot you could get a brand spanking new colonial with a basement for under 200k and gas was 99 cents a gallong (this was circa 1999). Within a short itme that same 200k home was 400k and everyone sold, moved south. Or when the economy started tanking and the along with the growth traffic became a challenge as there was only two major ways down to the city...and guess what alot of folks who thought they would end up staying in the north part of NYC, ended up back in the city...with a backbreaking commute either by car or train. And the retail outlets and major shopping didnt grow and it was 30 minutes to get to the closest mall and 10-15 minutes to get to a major chain pharmacy, or the like.
So I can see and relate to the concerns prosper may have. We have been there and dont that..and I just dont see us taking that chance again...which is why we would rather buy less house and just live near it all and plan for the worst case of us ending up having to work in the center of dallas if need be. I think frisco would be as far north as we would go.
We moved to prosper from Greenwich,Ct.Prosper felt like home to is and reminded us off areas of NY an CT.I work in Plano and live in Prosper.I take the tollway to work,I am there in 10 minutes.We spent just under $500,000 for our house a few years ago in Prosper. Prices have gone up since we purchased here.Prosper is not a cheap option,taxes are higher than Frisco and Plano.Prosper is a great option if your price range is $250,000 plus.Frisco and Plano offer lower property tax rates and less expensive housing options than Prosper.Prosper does not offer any lot sizes under a quarer acre.That is an added expense,in upkeep and property taxes.
We thought we were being relocated to DFW a year ago. It didn't happen, but now it seems we may be looking at a transfer again. We are intrigued by Prosper but I'd like to know more about how the schools stack up. One of our kids (sixth grade) is very academic. Very talented in that area. We have considered all the many excellent options Dallas has to offer, from the magnets to Plano West, GT programs, etc.. One caveat is that we all enjoy the outdoors, having space around us, newer homes as opposed to older, and simplicity. My questions are: Does Prosper offer good GT programs? How do their academics compare to other high performance districts? How much emphasis do they put on academics (or are they more into athletics?). How large is the current graduating class? Thank you so much for your input.
I *DO* kind of like seeing the juxtaposition of some of the remaining farmland/barns/equipment with new development, esp. office buildings in parts of Frisco that I've seen so far. It's interesting. My hope is that some of the developers embrace and use some of the barns, silos, etc as visual nods to the origins of the land. Doesn't seem far-fetched to me, and could help alleviate some of the alienation by natives/old-timers in the area.
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