Relocating to DFW Area(DFW Airport) from NJ with kids

[adixyz]

Originally Posted by Squirl

Under 20 minutes from Coppell or Flower Mound to DFW isn't accurate, especially in rush hour traffic. Routes of 2499, Denton Tap Road or MacArthur are slow and congested. I have lived in Valley Ranch (closer than Coppell and it took me at least 20-30 min in rush hour) and now live in Las Colinas; now about 7 mies to the airport and 20 minutes in rush hour is not always possible for the short distance I drive even on back roads due to traffic. Sometimes I make it in 10 minutes, sometimes it takes about 25 minutes. If I had to drive from my house to DFW every day for work, I would plan on 25 minutes to be sure to be there on time, and I am about 8-10 miles closer than Coppell depending on where in Coppell. I like Coppell very much but would rather drive to DFW from Grapevine or Euless than Coppell. If you live locally, it becomes readily apparent that while Coppell is wonderful it is also difficult as far as traffic patterns. Flower Mound is even worse! However if you are willing to deal with a 40 minute drive, both are great.

I live in West Flower Mound and it takes me a max 20 mins to DFW Airport even in rush hour on 2499. During rush hour, I just take the lakeside parkway on 2499 (that bypasses the so called Grapevine funnel) and connects me to 121. Euless is also a good option, I didn't thought about it. Schools might be a compromise.

Agree on traffic in Coppell & Valley Ranch. I lived in VR previously (close to MacArthur, near Coppell), 2 miles away from the 635 and during rush time it took me more than 10-15 mins to reach 635. Likewise we experienced heavy traffic going through Grapevine on a daily basis when we took our son to Karen Dillard in Colleyville. When I go to Plano I find traffic worse than Flower Mound or Coppell. Its hard to get a dream house near to a highway and lot of folks don't want to live near a highway.

During peak hours traffic is backed up all across DFW on major intersections and one has to be prepared for some of the exceptional days or rush hours you described and find alternate timings or route. Traffic is relative. What annoys me is some posters here (not you) exaggerate the traffic/ commute deal to favor their areas and just give general blanket statements, sometime with false information.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by adixyz

What annoys me is some posters here (not you) exaggerate the traffic/ commute deal to favor their areas and just give general blanket statements, sometime with false information.

I've seen this too. Much as I think Richardson is suitable for some, it would be an absolute beating to have to commute to DFW every day from there...so I would definitely not recommend it for the OP.

Even going from Flower Mound to me would be too much; it takes forever to get out of Flower Mound, or at least it has for me every time I've gone up there.

[tripmom]

I am a native Texas currently living in New Jersey. What part of NJ are you moving from?

My recommendations would be Coppell and Grapevine/Colleyville. Southlake is a good community, however, there are no apartment complexes and I don't think that your housing budget is large enough for when you are ready to buy. Also agree that the part of Euless that feeds into Grapevine/Colleyville schools is worth looking into.

There is an excellent blog called Dallas, Texas Area Schools that provides a lot of information about school districts including test scores, SAT/ACT scores, NMSF, etc.

Good luck with your move.

[summermint]

Thank you all for excellent suggestions !

I have added Valley Ranch in Irving and Grapevine to my list with Coppell and Flower Mound.I guess realistically I should be looking at a 30 mins commute, but much better than the 1.20 I do today with a drive to the train station and then 2 trains )

Tripmom - I will be moving from Edison,NJ. Also can you please give me more information on that blog you were talking about.

TurtleCreek80 - I somewhat do have the "moving to Texas, must buy bigger house", but since I currently live in a 20 year old house for the past 10 years, I believe I can compromise.

Thank you again!

[ChristieP]

Keep property taxes in mind, too. Texas is notoriously high on them. Coppell has one of the highest tax rates in the DFW area, and an equivalent, $200k house will cost about $1200 more per year in taxes in Coppell than in Grapevine. (There was a post a few months ago where we did all of the math and comparisons...)

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

Keep property taxes in mind, too. Texas is notoriously high on them. Coppell has one of the highest tax rates in the DFW area, and an equivalent, $200k house will cost about $1200 more per year in taxes in Coppell than in Grapevine. (There was a post a few months ago where we did all of the math and comparisons...)

But you more than get what you pay for -> that $1200 gets kids into a significantly better school district than GCISD.

[Squirl]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

But you more than get what you pay for -> that $1200 gets kids into a significantly better school district than GCISD.

^^agree!

[tripmom]

I learned about the blog on this forum.
Google, "Dallas, Texas Area School Information" and you should find it.
The blog has a lot of posts (titles of them on the far right of the blog) that list or rate school districts by SAT score, NMST. etc. Very useful information if you are trying to research school districts.