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It seems like a lot of DFW business owners and companies keep their offices in the areas close to downtown Dallas like Dallas itself, Irving, Arlington, etc. But most of the affordable family friendly areas are in McKinney, Plano, Frisco, Little Elm, Allen, Wylie, and even further north and east. The commute from Murphy didn't used to be so bad, but it's grown so much that just getting through Murphy during rush hour could take 30 minutes. I realize there are a lot of apartments in the downtown area, and those are great for young single professionals, but my wife and I want the big house with the big yard in the suburbs (and preferably without the commute). It just forces employees to needlessly commute an hour each way in traffic, and office space is much more expensive closer to downtown. My dad's office is in downtown Dallas, and every person commutes to that office from the northern suburbs, one of them all the way from Gainesville! It doesn't make sense - why not relocate to Plano or McKinney?
I am a programmer, and I was fortunate to have my last job be in Plano, and my current job which is a telecommute job. I peruse job listings pretty frequently to see where most of the tech jobs are, and 75% of them seem to be in Dallas, Irving, Arlington, or Richardson.
I'm trying to decide where to live, and most of the houses that are in my price range, have enough squarefeet for a family to be comfortable living in, and are in nice areas seem to be close to 380 or north of 380 (we would like at least 2500 squarefeet but our price range max is $300k). Our favorite houses were way out in Anna, but I'd pretty much be limited to working in McKinney if I wanted a reasonable commute if I lived in Anna.
Talking to people in the area, it seems to be a pretty common theme to live in the northern affordable areas, and commute an hour in traffic south to the areas close to downtown.
Plano seems to be getting a lot of tech jobs recently, and I have an electrical engineer friend whose office is in McKinney - is it a trend for businesses to move their offices further north? If so, I guess I'll just get a house that's in a location with an easy commute (easy commute being 25 mins or less - any more and I think I'd go insane) to Plano in case I have to move on from my current telecommute job. Although I hear many companies will let their employees work from home. My current one does, and the actual office is in Richardson, but I don't know how common it is for tech companies in this area to offer work from home options - and I don't even mind taking a paycut to have this option.
Last edited by hazergore1198; 05-29-2014 at 11:32 PM..
>I don't even mind taking a paycut to have this option.
You're fortunate and wise. I've been a full time telecommuter / programmer for 15 years.
I make it a priority to keep up to date on select technologies, and use that knowledge to position myself for new projects.
I could make more money elsewhere, but then I'd be spending it on commute expense, car expense, more taxes, and be boxed into a more rigid schedule. I don't want it.
lol. Not everyone lives in Collin County. The biggest county in the area by far is still Dallas County. A lot of people live in Dallas proper, and a lot of people live south, east and west of downtown. East and South have a lot of residential momentum, and the I-20 corridor is becoming a huge job creator. It has a lot of cheap, open, available land for developers, who are starting to take advantage This bodes well for it in the future. Downtown is a great place to be right now as well. I miss working downtown. Everywhere else is pretty much just a workplace, while downtown has lots of interesting things to do during lunch or right after work.
I would say it has to do with people who actually run the companies living in the park cities and preston hollow, versus those who just work for the companies.
I would say it has to do with people who actually run the companies living in the park cities and preston hollow, versus those who just work for the companies.
I think this is a very valid point as well. I office out of Preston Center and almost everyone with an office lives within a 15 minute commute to the office. Most of the cube, assistant, etc. employees drive all the way from places such as Wills Point, Anna, Melissa, etc. To move the office further north, it would negatively effect the "higher" ups and that's just frankly not going to happen.
It seems like a lot of DFW business owners and companies keep their offices in the areas close to downtown Dallas like Dallas itself, Irving, Arlington, etc. But most of the affordable family friendly areas are in McKinney, Plano, Frisco, Little Elm, Allen, Wylie, and even further north and east. The commute from Murphy didn't used to be so bad, but it's grown so much that just getting through Murphy during rush hour could take 30 minutes. I realize there are a lot of apartments in the downtown area, and those are great for young single professionals, but my wife and I want the big house with the big yard in the suburbs (and preferably without the commute). It just forces employees to needlessly commute an hour each way in traffic, and office space is much more expensive closer to downtown. My dad's office is in downtown Dallas, and every person commutes to that office from the northern suburbs, one of them all the way from Gainesville! It doesn't make sense - why not relocate to Plano or McKinney?
I am a programmer, and I was fortunate to have my last job be in Plano, and my current job which is a telecommute job. I peruse job listings pretty frequently to see where most of the tech jobs are, and 75% of them seem to be in Dallas, Irving, Arlington, or Richardson.
I'm trying to decide where to live, and most of the houses that are in my price range, have enough squarefeet for a family to be comfortable living in, and are in nice areas seem to be close to 380 or north of 380 (we would like at least 2500 squarefeet but our price range max is $300k). Our favorite houses were way out in Anna, but I'd pretty much be limited to working in McKinney if I wanted a reasonable commute if I lived in Anna.
Talking to people in the area, it seems to be a pretty common theme to live in the northern affordable areas, and commute an hour in traffic south to the areas close to downtown.
Plano seems to be getting a lot of tech jobs recently, and I have an electrical engineer friend whose office is in McKinney - is it a trend for businesses to move their offices further north? If so, I guess I'll just get a house that's in a location with an easy commute (easy commute being 25 mins or less - any more and I think I'd go insane) to Plano in case I have to move on from my current telecommute job. Although I hear many companies will let their employees work from home. My current one does, and the actual office is in Richardson, but I don't know how common it is for tech companies in this area to offer work from home options - and I don't even mind taking a paycut to have this option.
1. Collin Creek is NOT the center of the universe, nor the metroplex . Dallas was there first and Plano / Allen / etc would still be small plains towns (like, say, Hays KS) if the growth from Dallas hadn't fueled the suburban growth here. However, it's great that there are many offices in Collin Co - and all over the DFW metroplex - so that people have employment options & commute options. People don't HAVE TO commute to downtown Dallas and in fact, it seems like the majority don't.
2. Moving all the jobs to McKinney or Prosper from downtown Dallas would absolutely SUCK for the 10,000's++ of people who commute to downtown from Rockwall, Forney, Kaufman County, Cedar Hill, Arlington, etc - not to mention the 100,000's who live and work in Dallas. You DO realize that everyone has the freedom to live where they want to and that a drive to downtown from Rockwall or Sunnyvale is less of a burden - and free (no tollroads ) - than commuting in from Prosper or Allen. Equivalent quality schools as well. No one is forcing anyone to buy homes in Frisco. There ARE other good options for people who work downtown.
A 30 minute commute gets a $250k/3000sf home zoned to Arlington Martin HS, which is on par with Allen and better than most Frisco schools. You could even commute in from Rockwall or Sunnyvale (both comparable to CC schools) and be 45min or less to downtown....still better than Anna/ McKinney by 20+ minutes!
3. Downtown / Uptown is the center of many industries in Dallas: big law firms (makes sense since County & Federal courthouses are downtown, plus the majority of clients), the regional medical centers, the finance / banking industry (Dallas Federal Reserve is in Uptown), creative/ marketing firms (these people prefer to be located in more creative / artsy areas), commercial real estate (lots of buildings to manage), etc. Plus, the skyline of uptown / downtown is physical way to show the region's importance....Al Quaida targeted the WTC for a reason; it's symbolic of American capitalism & financial power. Most major cities' downtowns symbolize the same things; that's one reason why people love skyscrapers and skylines!
4. Whether you do or not, many people love living and working in a vibrant city environment. There willing to live in smaller and older spaces to have a short commute and enjoy all the city's offerings in their free time. You could have easily found a 2500sf home for under $300k in the northwest Dallas area (around Marsh & Royal). You would have been zoned to a top public elementary school and middle / high schools that are at least as good as Anna's (that's a pretty low bar anyway), plus access to apply to the top high schools in the entire country. A downtown commute would have been less than 20 minutes. But the house would have been built in the 1950's and the schools are full of brown people.....so probably not your thing. Trade offs to every decision- you picked big/new house at the expense of a shorter commute. ("you" being hypothetical since your job isn't downtown).
4. Whether you do or not, many people love living and working in a vibrant city environment. There willing to live in smaller and older spaces to have a short commute and enjoy all the city's offerings in their free time. You could have easily found a 2500sf home for under $300k in the northwest Dallas area (around Marsh & Royal). You would have been zoned to a top public elementary school and middle / high schools that are at least as good as Anna's (that's a pretty low bar anyway), plus access to apply to the top high schools in the entire country. A downtown commute would have been less than 20 minutes. But the house would have been built in the 1950's and the schools are full of brown people.....so probably not your thing. Trade offs to every decision- you picked big/new house at the expense of a shorter commute. ("you" being hypothetical since your job isn't downtown).
I love this. I live in the suburbs, technically, though I'm actually closer to downtown than some parts of Dallas proper. I also live next to 75, which (for now) is FREE. Our local schools are outstanding and parental involvement is high.
I get all the benefits of suburban living...quiet streets, manicured yards, nice neighbors who care about their properties, good schools, little to no crime aside from nuisance crime/crimes of opportunity, etc. with all the benefits of being close to the action. If I want to shop in Plano or Frisco on the weekend, I can. I'm about as far from there as I am from downtown Dallas...which is also an option for weekend recreation. I'm also right next to a DART line so if I want to go car-free, I have that option too. Job opportunities are wide open because I'm in a sweet spot for commuting. That doesn't mean every commute would be awesome, but it puts me in a better position than someone in Rockwall or Frisco.
However, my house isn't "new" or "shiny" and our schools also have a lot of brown people (ermehGERD) so a lot of people think my part of DFW is "ghetto" and keep cruising up 75 to Allen, McKinney, and points beyond. Fine by me...I don't want to live next to people like that anyway. But don't even open your mouths to complain about your commute! I'll play the world's smallest violin just for y'all.
1. This is why you must always consider your options before moving. Living in Greenville, Murphy, or Wylie has it's pros but you must decide if they outweigh it's cons. Unless your job relocated, I don't see why people should complain about how far their job is. Quit your job and find a closer one or deal with it. You cannot expect the world to revolve around you.
2. Even if your company moved from it's central location to where you live now, that would be really inconsiderate to the people who did weight their options and chose to live closer to work and even more so to the people who chose to live on the other sides of your job site. I don't understand why many people in the northern suburbs complain about jobs being close to downtown as if downtown packed it's things and moved south last year.
3. If every tech job and office job moved to the exurb where you chose to live, the property tax would go up and the cost of living would go up. Pretty soon you would live in a downtown where houses would have smaller yards and your city would turn into every reason why you didn't choose to live close to the city. Like how people complain now about Plano because it is turning into the "city". Think about it. You can't have it all in, if you love where you live and love where you work then be content.
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Job opportunities are wide open because I'm in a sweet spot for commuting. That doesn't mean every commute would be awesome, but it puts me in a better position than someone in Rockwall or Frisco.
