New job in Addison - Budget friendly? (Dallas, Plano: apartments, lease)

[lionaka]

We have the option to make a move to the Dallas area for my husband's job. The job is near the airport in Addison and in an ideal world, we would like to have as small a commute as possible -- 15 minutes or less during rush-hour.

Our needs are small. Two quiet mature adults, no children, no pets, and we are used to living in very small quarters (coming from a 260 sq ft mico-studio apartment in San Jose, CA for $1100 per month).

We would like to be close to inexpensive grocery shopping. And taco trucks are more our style than expensive restaurants.

Housing need not be fancy, but does need to be secure and safe as sometimes my husband has to be away for work trips. I don't know what it is like in Addison, but I am a country girl from rural Oregon and we did not even lock our front door at night until about 10 years ago -- but where we live currently in San Jose, CA, I only feel "safe" because there are key locks on the entrances of the building, the elevators, and the hallway doors on each floor (as well, of course, as the doors of the apartments) so strangers (San Jose has lots of them) can't get into the building.

We do not need night-life at all as we travel for our entertainment. That personal travel is also why we live small at home -- so we can use our discretionary income for our hobby.

We have no debt, and our vehicle is paid off. We would rather cut back on regular expenses than our road-trip and camping fun.

I also admit to a bit of fear of tornadoes. What do apartment dwellers do about tornado safety? And what about camping? Can we just head out and pick a camp ground and expect there will be some sort of group storm shelter in the immediate vicinity in case of tornadoes?

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by lionaka

We have the option to make a move to the Dallas area for my husband's job. The job is near the airport in Addison and in an ideal world, we would like to have as small a commute as possible -- 15 minutes or less during rush-hour.

Our needs are small. Two quiet mature adults, no children, no pets, and we are used to living in very small quarters (coming from a 260 sq ft mico-studio apartment in San Jose, CA for $1100 per month).

We would like to be close to inexpensive grocery shopping. And taco trucks are more our style than expensive restaurants.

Housing need not be fancy, but does need to be secure and safe as sometimes my husband has to be away for work trips. I don't know what it is like in Addison, but I am a country girl from rural Oregon and we did not even lock our front door at night until about 10 years ago -- but where we live currently in San Jose, CA, I only feel "safe" because there are key locks on the entrances of the building, the elevators, and the hallway doors on each floor (as well, of course, as the doors of the apartments) so strangers (San Jose has lots of them) can't get into the building.

We do not need night-life at all as we travel for our entertainment. That personal travel is also why we live small at home -- so we can use our discretionary income for our hobby.

We have no debt, and our vehicle is paid off. We would rather cut back on regular expenses than our road-trip and camping fun.

I also admit to a bit of fear of tornadoes. What do apartment dwellers do about tornado safety? And what about camping? Can we just head out and pick a camp ground and expect there will be some sort of group storm shelter in the immediate vicinity in case of tornadoes?

You'd be fine living in Addison itself, but you do need to LOCK YOUR DOOR even when you're home (home invasions can happen anywhere) and get renters' insurance just in case.

Tornadoes...pfft, I was born and raised here and never worried about them, even when I lived on a top-floor apartment. Just find a closet with no windows or an interior bathroom and cover up with a heavy quilt/comforter/mattress. I've lived elsewhere in my adult life, but I've spent most of my 39 years in Texas and I have never even seen a tornado. I've been in one that I know of and a couple more suspected ones but I think one of them was actually several miles away and we just got lots of wind, hail, etc.

Addison has lots of nightlife and fancy restaurants but it also has some pretty normal ones. Food trucks aren't a HUGE thing here (yet) but they do pop up from time to time. I think there are websites out there where you can find out where they'll appear in town. I've seen them mostly at Sprouts in north Dallas on Forest between Midway and Marsh and at Klyde Warren Park downtown. I'm sure there are other spots where they set up.

As for food shopping in Addison...you have a Kroger on Belt Line to the west and a giant Wal-Mart on Belt Line east of the Dallas North Tollroad. There's also a Tom Thumb at Belt Line & Preston and an Albertson's on Arapaho and Hillcrest. (Those are grocery store chains.) Richardson isn't a hugely far drive from Addison and there's a Sprouts there too at Coit & Campbell along with a Super Target. So inexpensive food options abound.

Addison also has lots of fast casual places to eat.

Since I don't camp, I have no idea what the plan would be in the event of a tornado. They don't just pop up unexpectedly; our severe weather usually occurs mostly in spring and fall, though tornadoes can occur at any time of the year. If you're planning on going camping, just check the weather forecast. If there's a chance of thunderstorms, just don't go camping. Simple. Who wants to sleep outside in the rain anyway?

[ChrisPlano]

Also consider Carrollton. The airport is right on the border between Addison and Carrollton. Carrollton has a variety of good ethnic restaurants (some of them are quite affordable)

[WorldKlas]

Addison is a middle class area with nice multi housing. Nearby is Farmers Branch and Carrollton, both very close. You will be able to find housing in your budget. Generally clean and safe. However you will lock your doors; its just what we do in high population density areas. If you are really afraid of tornados, you can live in Addison near the Galleria mall....it has tornado shelter. But, I don't know of a death from tornados here ever, actually. I would be more concerned about hail storms.....they do much damage to vehicles here and it would be beneficial to lease a place with covered parking.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by WorldKlas

Addison is a middle class area with nice multi housing. Nearby is Farmers Branch and Carrollton, both very close. You will be able to find housing in your budget. Generally clean and safe. However you will lock your doors; its just what we do in high population density areas. If you are really afraid of tornados, you can live in Addison near the Galleria mall....it has tornado shelter. But, I don't know of a death from tornados here ever, actually. I would be more concerned about hail storms.....they do much damage to vehicles here and it would be beneficial to lease a place with covered parking.

Very good point, but make sure that covered parking is in good condition; some free-standing carports collapse or blow over in severe weather (or if they're loaded with ice or snow...happened to a friend of mine during Icepocalypse last year). If they appear rickety, keep searching.

The condo I used to rent (very close to Addison Airport) had an attached one-car garage. It was almost perfect.

[move4ward]

There are some quieter apartments to the east of the tollway by the Prestonwood country club. It's a more mature crowd than what you find in Addison and has less crime. Stay north of Spring Valley to avoid the higher crime areas.

I stayed at the Saddlebrook. I had my own garage, so I didn't worry about theft. It's pretty quiet at night. I would say most of the residents in their 30's-50's. It was $300-400 cheaper than the apartments of the same size in Addison Circle or Vitruvian Park.

Since you love nature, you may want to live closer to the Arbor Hills Nature Preserve. It's one of the nicest attractions for nature lovers. That's as close to nature as it gets, while still being close to Addison.

Take a close at some of the photos on Yelp.
Yelp - Arbor Hills Nature Preserve Photos

Check out the reviews on TripAdvisor.
TripAdvisor Reviews - Arbor Hills Nature Preserve

There are some nice apartments east of the Dallas North Tollway between Frankford and George Bush Turnpike. This section would be halfway between Addison and the Preserve.

The apartments west of the tollway along Frankford and Trinity Mills can be sketchy with higher crime, so I would avoid that area. It's gone downhill over the years.

[ChristieP]

You have gotten some very good advice already.

Please do not worry about tornadoes. They really are quite rare, and many of us who have lived here all of our lives have never even seen one, much less had damage from one. There is absolutely no reason to be paralyzed by fear of an extremely uncommon weather event.

There are many inexpensive apartments in north Dallas and Carrollton. I agree to stay north of Spring Valley.

[BeenThereDunThat]

FWIW... Aldi's is a good store for finding good buys on groceries. They have limited items and for that there's the bigger chains but I really like Aldi's, it's a European company that used to have some connection to Trader Joe's.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

Originally Posted by BeenThereDunThat

FWIW... Aldi's is a good store for finding good buys on groceries. They have limited items and for that there's the bigger chains but I really like Aldi's, it's a European company that used to have some connection to Trader Joe's.

Just so you know, Aldi takes cash and debit cards but NOT credit cards.

[lionaka]

Thank you all so much for all the great advice for possible areas to live. :-) We do a lot of traveling and camping, but in an RV, not in a tent (I'm way too prissy for a tent). So now I am thinking that I should rent covered storage for our RV to guard against the hail? So much stuff on top of the RV, including solar panels! It makes me cringe imagining what hail could do to those. I will look in depth at insurance to make sure that is covered.

So for another food related question... how common are "Farmer's Markets" in the Addison area?