Dallas Family Looking - Lakewood? (Allen, Greenville: appointed, renting, new home)

[jordysmama]

We are a professional couple in our late 30's with three sons 16, 13, 9.

We are relocating into the city fro the 'burbs because they just aren't our style. Most of our search has been focused on Lakewood, Lower Greenville area. We want walkable and safe and a feel of community.

Would anyone be so kind to share their opinions on if this area will suit our family? We are 100% comfortable with Wilson and Long and most all the elementary schools around there. While we could afford private, that is not our choice.

Thank You!

[JTC Mom]

Lakewood is beautiful and a lovely community. I would prefer that over lower Greenville, especially for a family. Most of Lakewood is not very walkable. There are a few parts of Lakewood and immediate surrounding streets that are walkable to shops at gaston and Abrams intersection, which has grocery, restaurants and some shopping.

[mSooner]

Sounds like you will be very happy there.

[TurtleCreek80]

Seems like the further east you go (between 75 and White Rock), the more families with older kids there are. Makes sense since they probably prefer to be closer to Long & Woodrow (as well as the private high schools in East Dallas). M Streets / Lower Greenville is more young professionals and people with very young kids .....just something to keep in mind so you're not disappointed your older kids don't have many friends their age within walking/biking distance.

Re: Lakewood itself, you have to position yourselves very carefully if you truly want to be able to walk to dinner, Whole Foods, etc. You'll want to be as close to the Gaston/ Abrams / Live Oak/ Skillman "hub" as you can be. I personally love the little neighborhood tucked between Abrams & Skillman, south of Tietze Park. Very walkable!

If you decide to go M Streets over further east, at least do NOT consider any houses within 1/2-1 block of Greenville itself. The weekend noise and traffic are awful and go late into the night, plus St Patrick's Day is an annual nightmare to plan around.

[Lakewooder]

Welcome to the Lakewood area. Since you will be one of the "family" around here, we like to say "Woodrow" rather than "Wilson". It's a term of affection and it goes back to the very beginning of the school in the late 1920s.

Do you have a style of home in mind? As you know we have Tudors, "Spanish", Craftsman Bungalows, Prairie Foursquares, vintage ranch and many new homes. You probably also know there is quite a difference in price going from say Junius Heights to "deep Lakewood".

If you want to walk to stores and dinner you can probably see many different types of those homes in those sections. If you would prefer to walk to the lake and more nature, you'd probably be into the newer (for Lakewood that's 50s, 60s and 70s) and some new homes. However there are also many new homes in the Lakewood Heights area described near Tietze Park.

[jordysmama]

Thank you very much for your commentary.

We have been looking, and we really like the tudor style homes. My largest concern is that all the homes have nurseries. This indicates to me that the areas we are looking in, are filled with younger children, even babies and as soon as they start to get older, people move from the neighborhood.

Do the middle and high schools have any kind of meet and greet for new students?

What about social events in the area for parents ...

I am currently commuting an hour plus and it is becoming very draining on me, not to mention the things I miss in the evenings sitting in the car just getting home. East Dallas offers acceptable schools (especially for my artistic son), affordability (550 is max) and proximity to my job. I am very hopeful we can find something that serves our needs, I just hope it is before our house in the 'burbs is sold.

[jordysmama]

Originally Posted by Lakewooder

Welcome to the Lakewood area. Since you will be one of the "family" around here, we like to say "Woodrow" rather than "Wilson". It's a term of affection and it goes back to the very beginning of the school in the late 1920s.

Do you have a style of home in mind? As you know we have Tudors, "Spanish", Craftsman Bungalows, Prairie Foursquares, vintage ranch and many new homes. You probably also know there is quite a difference in price going from say Junius Heights to "deep Lakewood".

If you want to walk to stores and dinner you can probably see many different types of those homes in those sections. If you would prefer to walk to the lake and more nature, you'd probably be into the newer (for Lakewood that's 50s, 60s and 70s) and some new homes. However there are also many new homes in the Lakewood Heights area described near Tietze Park.

Woodrow it is.

I am very excited about the things offered here. My son is coming from Allen and has a good GPA and a few AP classes. 5K plus kids is TOO many to contend with, hopefully he can find his niche.

Much appreciation.

[ChristieP]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

If you decide to go M Streets over further east, at least do NOT consider any houses within 1/2-1 block of Greenville itself. The weekend noise and traffic are awful and go late into the night, plus St Patrick's Day is an annual nightmare to plan around.

This is VERY TRUE!!! The annual St. Pat's drunk fest is so awful that many neighbors go out of town for the weekend to avoid it. We looked at living down there many years ago, but that was one of the big deterrents that made us choose another neighborhood.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

This is VERY TRUE!!! The annual St. Pat's drunk fest is so awful that many neighbors go out of town for the weekend to avoid it. We looked at living down there many years ago, but that was one of the big deterrents that made us choose another neighborhood.

But that's just one weekend out of the year. RHS shuts down Belt Line all the way out to my neighborhood at least a couple of times a year for parades and stuff, it doesn't bother me at all. When they have their homecoming parade, they assemble around the corner from my house. It's disruptive, loud, and inconvenient...but it's just one day. I don't sweat it. I've encountered the kids from there when I was out walking my dog while they were assembling and they were so sweet and polite, I couldn't possibly be mad at them.

St Pat's is many orders of magnitude more messy and inconvenient than a high school's homecoming parade, but again...it's just one weekend out of the year. Kind of silly to let that be a dealbreaker IMHO. I'd be more concerned with the constant noise and erratic driving from bars and clubs on Greenville. THAT would be a dealbreaker for me. I wouldn't live within a block of Greenville in either direction for that reason.

[ChristieP]

Well yes, the noise, trash, people peeing in yards, etc. was also part of that. We were looking at renting a house from a friend that was two houses down from Greenville (on Martel, IIRC) and we were warned by the friend about the noise.