Moving from New York to Dallas. Need plenty of suggestions & advice (Plano: 2013, apartments)

[jacobr]

Hello All,

I am planning to move from New York to Dallas with my wife and our 1 year old son by end of July-2013. Since we are looking to make Dallas our home eventually, we definitely plan to buy a house but not before living in a rented apartment for a few months. We both believe the time we spend in the apartment will help us familiarize with the Dallas suburbs and eventually that will help us pick a suburb before we actually start looking for a house.

Since both of us have not really spend much time in Dallas (we plan to visit Dallas in June for a couple of days) we really need some suggestion on areas that we should consider while renting. I am an IT Administrator and My wife is a CPA. I have the option to work from home so I get to keep my job but my wife will have to quit her job her in NY before we make the move to Dallas.

I have heard that there are a few financial companies in the Plano, Dallas downtown, Lewisville areas. If this is the case

1)which suburb should we consider renting?

2)How much will a 2 bedroom apartment rent cost us?

3)How is the job market for CPA's? How easy would it be for her to get a job.

Also, Since we have a one year old son we would love to have a small park or a shopping mall close to our apartment so that we could take him out in the evenings for a short walk . What other activities can we do as a family.

Looking forward for advises and suggestions..

Thanks in advance..

Jango

[Willsson]

North of I-30 (goes through downtown), generally between I-35/183/114 on the west and US75 on the east. Yes, this is something of a funnel into downtown. Suggested rental budget? Urban? Suburban? Most any of the small towns across the northern DFW tier would be suitable. Stand by for other commentary.

I-635 will be undergoing major reconstructive surgery.

Work in Texas dot com > no spaces, the 'dot' is a '.', but you'd know that
> Search all jobs
> use keywords such as 'Dallas', 'CPA', or some specialty

Work in Texas is a function of the Texas Workforce Commission. Most any company planning on hiring will be working with the Texas Workforce Commission.

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

[TurtleCreek80]

Your budget and your wife's job location will dictate the answer to your questions. That, plus your tolerance for commuting.

[jacobr]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

Your budget and your wife's job location will dictate the answer to your questions. That, plus your tolerance for commuting.

@ TurtleCreek, my wife will only start looking for a job once we have relocated to Dallas so the job location currently is unknown.

What we would like to know from folks in Dallas is where do you think most financial firms are located? We would be looking to lease an apartment in an y area within 30 min of driving distance from there. Again I know it is hard to suggest but we are only looking at the probabilities.

[TurtleCreek80]

They are all over; we have quite a few different job "centers" around the metroplex. Biggest ones are downtown & uptown Dallas, Las Colinas, Preston Center, Richardson's telecom corridor, Galleria / Addison, and Legacy area of Plano / south Frisco. It really depends on what her CPA job is; the HQ corporate jobs are spread all throughout downtown / LC / Legacy/ Addison. The boutique finance shops are mainly in Uptown. The major bank offices are spread all over. The big 4 accounting firms are likely downtown and/or Las Colinas. Then, there are small and medium sized business all over the metroplex.

Renting some place like Las Colinas or Uptown is pretty central (or within 30 min of most job areas).

[bencronin04]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

They are all over; we have quite a few different job "centers" around the metroplex. Biggest ones are downtown & uptown Dallas, Las Colinas, Preston Center, Richardson's telecom corridor, Galleria / Addison, and Legacy area of Plano / south Frisco. It really depends on what her CPA job is; the HQ corporate jobs are spread all throughout downtown / LC / Legacy/ Addison. The boutique finance shops are mainly in Uptown. The major bank offices are spread all over. The big 4 accounting firms are likely downtown and/or Las Colinas. Then, there are small and medium sized business all over the metroplex.

Renting some place like Las Colinas or Uptown is pretty central (or within 30 min of most job areas).

This, and a 2 bedroom apartment in these areas can range from around $1,000 a month to north of $2,000. Really depends on what you're looking for.

[GripeWater]

If you pick Plano/Richardson then there are two good options. One is to rent a furnished apartment on monthly lease , keep furniture in storage and start looking for a house to buy. Another option is to lease a house for one year and get your stuff delivered there and do home hunting without too much pressure.

[BeanyMalone]

Not sure what you mean by "financial companies". If your wife is looking for a position at a public accounting firm, they are located all over but most of the ones I can think of are located downtown or in the office buildings up and down the Tollway.

[CGGirl]

It seems that a lot of people new to the area end up starting off at the Village Apartments since they offer short term leases. We have an almost 2 year old and there are so many families with young kids around here. They have the trails where, at around 5pm, you will see many more people with strollers than you do people with dogs or jogging. There are many different apartment styles to choose from in many different price ranges - anywhere from 900/month for a 2BR to 1800/month for a 2BR. (I'm also originally from NY but I moved to TX via DC)

[jacobr]

First of all I would like to thanks everyone in this forum who provided me with valuable suggestions. I just got back from Dallas this Saturday after leasing an apartment in East Plano. I personally liked the place and the apartment. Dallas, definitely has to offer a lot more for the money you pay when compared to NY.

In the coming couple of weeks I will be starting the move process. After reading various post I did contact upack for our moving needs. I feel they are quiet reasonable but if anyone has any better suggestion please do put in your 2 cents. I am moving from a 2 bed Apt in NY to another 2 bed Apt in Dallas.

Thanks again to the community members...

Regards

Jacob