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Old 06-23-2015, 02:41 PM
 
13,194 posts, read 28,302,971 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gb20 View Post
It's certainly true I may be able to afford a 200k+ home in a few years, but it's hard to plan for that. I am coming from Kansas City, but my parents recently moved to the area and I am thinking of joining the family (especially as they are getting older). I can transfer to a position with the Federal Reserve, but moving close to downtown commute could be expensive. Basically it sounds like if I can't get together enough for a 200k home things do not look good. Correct me if I am wrong. Also, I live in downtown KC right now, but I do prefer suburban lifestyle (nothing against urban living).
Depends on a few things....

1. What is your commute tolerance? How long in minutes are you willing to drive every day? Do you mind driving on tollroads (can cost up to $8-10/day to commute into city from some suburbs)

2. What is your tolerance for safety? Ok with being in a moderate to high crime neighborhood?

3. What do you want your neighbors to be like? Mostly professiobal? Mix of blue & white collar? All blue collar? Would it bother you living in a majority Hispanic or black neighborhood? Do you expect your future kids to attend the neighborhood schools?

Dallas is a lot more expensive than KC so if you like the standard of living you can get for $150k there, it's probably going to cost another $30k+ here.
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Old 06-23-2015, 02:47 PM
 
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What confuses me is my family moved to the DFW area (Fort Worth side) and they live in a much nicer home that was much less expensive than the comparable home in their higher income suburb of KC. It's also commonly understood locally here in KC that real estate is about on par or less in DFW. (Home appreciation is about 1-1.5% higher in DFW now, but that is a recent phenomenon) I'm not calling you all wrong by any means. You live there. I'm merely trying to understand the different voices I've been hearing from.
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Old 06-23-2015, 02:51 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80 View Post
Depends on a few things....

1. What is your commute tolerance? How long in minutes are you willing to drive every day? Do you mind driving on tollroads (can cost up to $8-10/day to commute into city from some suburbs)

2. What is your tolerance for safety? Ok with being in a moderate to high crime neighborhood?

3. What do you want your neighbors to be like? Mostly professiobal? Mix of blue & white collar? All blue collar? Would it bother you living in a majority Hispanic or black neighborhood? Do you expect your future kids to attend the neighborhood schools?

Dallas is a lot more expensive than KC so if you like the standard of living you can get for $150k there, it's probably going to cost another $30k+ here.
1.) I'm not sure on the tolls. That's definitely not something we face in KC. I can go 30-35 minutes if I had to. Further than that would make me consider alternatives.
2.) If it was just me I could tolerate moderate to slightly high crime. I don't feel good about raising a family in a high crime area though. Moderate crime only if I have to.
3.) Demographics don't bother me. I realize majority black communities usually associate with high crime and that's the only thing that would deter me from that. I don't have a problem with black or Hispanic communities in general. I also don't mind a mix of blue and white collar. If anything I probably prefer blue collar.(My neighborhood now is about 35% black, 20% non-white Hispanic per census)
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Old 06-23-2015, 02:53 PM
 
13,194 posts, read 28,302,971 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gb20 View Post
What confuses me is my family moved to the DFW area (Fort Worth side) and they live in a much nicer home that was much less expensive than the comparable home in their higher income suburb of KC. It's also commonly understood locally here in KC that real estate is about on par or less in DFW. (Home appreciation is about 1-1.5% higher in DFW now, but that is a recent phenomenon) I'm not calling you all wrong by any means. You live there. I'm merely trying to understand the different voices I've been hearing from.
In what price range did your family buy? Did they move from one of the nicest parts of KC to one of the many upper middle class suburbs of Dallas? If they were living in a high income suburbs of KC, the equivalent here would be either University Park/Highland Park (avg price $1.2M) or Southlake (avg price $700k-ish). There are scads of suburbs where you can get a nice new big home for $350-500k, but that doesn't make them the high income/ nicest areas.

Per recent articles, the median home price in Kansas City is $100k while the median home price in Dallas is just over $200k so directionally housing looks to be 2X as expensive here as there.
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Old 06-23-2015, 02:58 PM
 
13,194 posts, read 28,302,971 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gb20 View Post
1.) I'm not sure on the tolls. That's definitely not something we face in KC. I can go 30-35 minutes if I had to. Further than that would make me consider alternatives.
2.) If it was just me I could tolerate moderate to slightly high crime. I don't feel good about raising a family in a high crime area though. Moderate crime only if I have to.
3.) Demographics don't bother me. I realize majority black communities usually associate with high crime and that's the only thing that would deter me from that. I don't have a problem with black or Hispanic communities in general. I also don't mind a mix of blue and white collar. If anything I probably prefer blue collar.(My neighborhood now is about 35% black, 20% non-white Hispanic per census)
Given this info, you could look in Mesquite, parts of Irving, parts of Far East Dallas or southern Dallas (west of 35 for safety). All would be within 20ish minutes to downtown.
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Old 06-23-2015, 02:59 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80 View Post
In what price range did your family buy? Did they move from one of the nicest parts of KC to one of the many upper middle class suburbs of Dallas? If they were living in a high income suburbs of KC, the equivalent here would be either University Park/Highland Park (avg price $1.2M) or Southlake (avg price $700k-ish). There are scads of suburbs where you can get a nice new big home for $350-500k, but that doesn't make them the high income/ nicest areas.
There are a lot more high/upper affluent neighborhoods in Dallas/Fort Worth area. Homes above $500k I would say are few in KC. (Although they do have plenty of them). But the upper middle class homes around 325k in KC is around where my parents purchased. They bought a home for about 250k in Fort Worth that was better than the home they sold for 320k in a nice neighborhood of Lenexa, KS. Keep in mind while it's nothing like the housing boom you are experiencing, people in KC consider our market to be very hot right now as well. There are other natural differences as well, such as land size. The raw square footage of land in KC is certainly cheaper. But the homes themselves are not always as nice.
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Old 06-23-2015, 03:02 PM
 
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If you take a comparison of Johnson County, KS you will probably get a more accurate idea than simply the KC metro as a whole. Johnson County is generally considered the "nicest" part of Kansas. Median home values are more like 215k I believe.
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Old 06-23-2015, 03:06 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80 View Post
Given this info, you could look in Mesquite, parts of Irving, parts of Far East Dallas or southern Dallas (west of 35 for safety). All would be within 20ish minutes to downtown.
Thank you for this information! Thanks to everyone for your input so far. Clearly people in Kansas City aren't as aware of the housing price boom that you have encountered.
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Old 06-23-2015, 03:30 PM
 
Location: Richardson, TX
164 posts, read 252,896 times
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I agree Mesquite and Irving would be fine choices at your price point. I'd probably steer clear of the Dallas City Limits to the south of I-30 (at least at your budget). You should also check into Duncanville, Cedar Hill, and DeSoto. The boom that has hit the northern suburbs has not been nearly as pronounced in SW Dallas County. It doesn't have the cache (or the schools) of the northern suburbs but is still reasonably close to downtown and are often overlooked because of their demographics. I spent a lot of time in that part of Dallas County and most of those areas are just fine.
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Old 06-23-2015, 08:20 PM
 
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Ok, here is my take, if you have a job and able to qualify for a loan, and able to put down 10% and really wanting to own a home here at DFW, I wouldn't wait longer, prices are going up at most places, and in 2-3 years...the same property will be 20% more, and if market crashes in 5-10 years you have an overpriced property...basically the repeat of 2008.
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