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Old 05-16-2013, 10:33 PM
 
291 posts, read 673,162 times
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So here's the deal. I've gotten awesome information from this site in the 6 years or so that I've lived in Dallas. I still maintain hope of moving back to the Northeast but don't know if that will happen now that I have a child. At the same time, that might motivate me to move back East since I hear that Dallas public schools are really awful. I'm hoping the members here on City-Data can help me yet again!

Here's our story. SO works in IT and currently works in Irving. I am self-employed and work from home although one of my two businesses involves needing access to the city. Our daughter will be 2 this Fall. I don't see buying in our future for 2 reasons - 1. SO's credit isn't that great and 2. I have over 150K in student loans from graduate school (I stupidly bought into the importance of an Ivy League degree). Therefore, it seems that we will still be renting by the time kindergarten comes around for our little one.

To add to the complication of things, I don't drive although I am trying to get over my fears and learn to drive sometime before daughter gets to pre-K age.

So my question is this. Is it actually possible to find a decent 2 BR apartment or house to rent in a good school district that is also easily accessible to DART or that is walkable (near a grocery store, pharmacy, park or green area)? (Our current residence is zoned to Dan D Rogers Elementary) Before living where we live now, I lived in Uptown and Oak Lawn and so these are the only areas I really know.
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Old 05-17-2013, 05:52 AM
 
13,194 posts, read 28,197,831 times
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Budget for that 2br??
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Old 05-17-2013, 07:18 AM
 
291 posts, read 673,162 times
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No budget as of now because that's part of what I'm wanting to know - how much we would need to spend to get what we (or I...lol) want. Right now, with electric, we pay about 1300/month for a 2BR.
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Old 05-17-2013, 07:26 AM
 
Location: Dallas, TX
2,825 posts, read 4,446,622 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CGGirl View Post
No budget as of now because that's part of what I'm wanting to know - how much we would need to spend to get what we (or I...lol) want. Right now, with electric, we pay about 1300/month for a 2BR.
You can find an average 2 bedroom in PISD for around 1300 a month before electric, water, etc.
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Old 05-17-2013, 07:33 AM
 
2,973 posts, read 9,459,119 times
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You might find a small house in Little Forest Hills. Sanger Elem has improved with the ousting of the old principal last year. Perhaps you could take a tour of the school so you can see for yourself. The parents are really nice and welcoming.
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Old 05-17-2013, 08:59 AM
 
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Some ideas:

All of the apartments between Lovers & Mockingbird / 75 to Skillman fall into Stonewall Jackson Elem attendance zone; also Walkable to everything along Greenville, Lovers & Mockingbird. Could be Walkable to school depending on exact location. Some of the apartments along E University and Sandhurst fall into the $1000-1300/mo range and can go up from there.

Winstead @ White Rock apartments (feeds into Lakewood Elem) runs $1150-1450 for a 2 bedroom - Walkable to Lakewood Village & White Rock Park; not Walkable to elementary school but definitely bike able

You *can* find cheap apartments in HPISD along Abbott, north & south of Knox Street (the older condo complexes). They can be found for under $1500/mo for 2br. There are also a few old complexes around the high school that rent at similar rates. Best schools you can find and pretty good walk ability, too.
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Old 05-17-2013, 09:21 AM
 
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^ Good suggestion. There is also Lakewood on the Trail apartments on Brookside and Covingtion across from the Lakewood Country Club golf course (behind J. L. Long and Woodrow) and a couple of complexes on Gaston near East Grand/Garland Road. These are zoned to Lakewood Elementary.
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Old 05-17-2013, 09:23 AM
 
Location: North Texas
24,561 posts, read 40,171,805 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80 View Post
Some ideas:

All of the apartments between Lovers & Mockingbird / 75 to Skillman fall into Stonewall Jackson Elem attendance zone; also Walkable to everything along Greenville, Lovers & Mockingbird. Could be Walkable to school depending on exact location. Some of the apartments along E University and Sandhurst fall into the $1000-1300/mo range and can go up from there.

Winstead @ White Rock apartments (feeds into Lakewood Elem) runs $1150-1450 for a 2 bedroom - Walkable to Lakewood Village & White Rock Park; not Walkable to elementary school but definitely bike able

You *can* find cheap apartments in HPISD along Abbott, north & south of Knox Street (the older condo complexes). They can be found for under $1500/mo for 2br. There are also a few old complexes around the high school that rent at similar rates. Best schools you can find and pretty good walk ability, too.
Good suggestion! Would rep you if I hadn't already done so recently.
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Old 05-17-2013, 09:42 AM
 
291 posts, read 673,162 times
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Thanks for all of the info. That Little Forest Hills area sounds really interesting and like my kind of area. Am not too familiar with that area although, when I looked it up just now, it appears that it's near the Casa Linda shopping area and I have been there a few times but not recently. Is there a DART or grocery store in walking distance from homes in that area, though? I read that it's diverse and that's important to me since our family is diverse. (In other words, I don't want to live in an area where people might think I'm my daughter's nanny rather than her mom).

I've seen some apartments in the University/Sandhurst area from the outside back when we were looking about a year and a half ago when our daughter was a newborn and some looked kind of sketchy from the outside but that could just be because I'm still used to mid-rises and high-rises and I associate the one or two level apartments with being low-rent or seedy. Also, is that area safe? In Dallas, neighborhood seem to vary so much by block. When I lived in Oak Lawn, if I walked in one direction, everything was nice and felt safe but if I walked towards Maple, all of a sudden it looked sketchy and scary with bodega style shops and what not. Where we live now, I feel safe walking around Lovers and Greenville and Skillman but then there are these side/back streets on the opposite side of the street (behind Central Market) that seem really desolate and creepy.
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Old 05-17-2013, 10:35 AM
 
743 posts, read 1,316,960 times
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I don't think Little Forest Hills will work for you. I grew up over there and not having a car would be a death sentence. My suggestion is to move a couple of blocks west to the Stonewall Jackson neighborhood. The Central Market is zoned Stonewall:
http://www.dallasisd.org/cms/lib/TX0...ackson2012.pdf

You might also look at the duplexes and apartments near Central and Mockingbird (southeast side). Stick to the western side of the neighborhood. You do want to see your husband sometimes, right?
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