Cedar Hill, TX or Haslet, TX

[WorldKlas]

Flower Mound has a better school district than Carrollton. Grapevine or Flower Mound would be a better fit.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by wevie

That's about 30 miles from Plano and Dallas (were I may end up working) which would most likely turn into an hour plus commute but certainly worth looking into.

What about Carrollton? It's a bit further out from Haslet or Cedar Hill but pretty close to Dallas and Plano. What's it like?

What is your budget? With the places you've found in your search (Carrollton, Garland, Irving, etc), I'm wondering if it's in the $150-200k range....which will be really tough.

Carrollton is an aging inner ring suburb that covers a tremendous land area. The parts closer to 35/635 are industrial, the parts on the northern end look ok but are high crime (Josey/190 area). School district is sub-par though has a decent TAG program. It's "meh" but if you tell us your budget is $175k then it's better than some other options....

[ChristieP]

You can find houses under $200k in Grapevine...I happen to live in one of them, and there are several for sale in our neighborhood right now. You just have to have a a good Realtor and be able to go look quickly when new ones list.

I agree about Carrollton. It's not one of the first choices of suburbs...

[wevie]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

What is your budget? With the places you've found in your search (Carrollton, Garland, Irving, etc), I'm wondering if it's in the $150-200k range....which will be really tough.

Carrollton is an aging inner ring suburb that covers a tremendous land area. The parts closer to 35/635 are industrial, the parts on the northern end look ok but are high crime (Josey/190 area). School district is sub-par though has a decent TAG program. It's "meh" but if you tell us your budget is $175k then it's better than some other options....

Our budget is a little north of $300k if the other cost of living expenses remain about the same as our incomes stands right now although this transfer is also a promotion for my wife so her income will mostly likely increase about $20k a year so we should have some flexibility.

From what one poster said, it looks like property tax would about double for us but since there is no state income tax, it would even out I think.

I've not really looked at housing prices in any of the areas that much yet. I'm just looking at the map trying to look at places that may work as a commute to either of the three places as well as Dallas and maybe Forth Worth.

[wevie]

How is the weather there? People tell me it really hot but a "dry heat" as compared to "humid heat" we have here in NC. I've never been in a dry head climate.

How mild are the winters there also?

[WorldKlas]

no, its not a dry heat. Thats Arizona. Please do some research by looking up threads about the weather here in the forum. Its been discussed over and over and over and over.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by wevie

How is the weather there? People tell me it really hot but a "dry heat" as compared to "humid heat" we have here in NC. I've never been in a dry head climate.

How mild are the winters there also?

The heat is much less humid than on the coastline, but not as dry as the desert heat. You will have a few frizzy hair days here but not everyday

Our winter weather is really erratic. In the past 7 days, we've had days where the highs didn't get over 40 and a beautiful sunny 75 degree day on Sunday. In general, winter high temps are around 45-65 and lows around 30-45. We do get a little bit of snow, usually not more than a few inches a season although in 2011 or 12 we got about 1 foot in one day. We do get ice storms a couple times each winter. Since ice is dangerous to drive on and most people don't know how, usually businesses and schools close or are optional those days.

[synchronicity]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

The heat is much less humid than on the coastline, but not as dry as the desert heat. You will have a few frizzy hair days here but not everyday

Our winter weather is really erratic. In the past 7 days, we've had days where the highs didn't get over 40 and a beautiful sunny 75 degree day on Sunday. In general, winter high temps are around 45-65 and lows around 30-45. We do get a little bit of snow, usually not more than a few inches a season although in 2011 or 12 we got about 1 foot in one day. We do get ice storms a couple times each winter. Since ice is dangerous to drive on and most people don't know how, usually businesses and schools close or are optional those days.

I believe 2010 was the one foot in one day. 2011 was the ice storm Jan 31/Feb 1 and below freezing the rest of the week, including additional substantial snowfall that Friday (Feb 4), and it all melted away Sat/Sun.

Dec 2013 we had the ice that closed schools for 2-3 days. I don't believe there was any snow/ice in 2012 (well, nothing more than a flurry or two, nothing that stuck).

The heat here is, as noted, "dry" compared to the NE or much of the upper midwest, but it's not Arizona by a long shot. There are some days that get fairly humid.

[wevie]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

You can find houses under $200k in Grapevine...I happen to live in one of them, and there are several for sale in our neighborhood right now. You just have to have a a good Realtor and be able to go look quickly when new ones list.

I agree about Carrollton. It's not one of the first choices of suburbs...

So where should we be looking in the price range of $300k-$325k range that has good schools. I've tried looking around online a but without knowing the area and so many little cities and towns within the area, it hard to know.

I'm also curious as to what the housing is like. Is it more like communities with HOAs which is what it mostly is around Charlotte where we are now but in Virginia where we are from, it was not like that. The home were very spread out and lots sizes were often in excess of one acre.