Tell me about Forney (Dallas, Mesquite: real estate, big house, buying)

[homesick texan]

I was out driving around Forney 2 years ago and the "downtown" area had almost a ghost town feeling. Kind of a depressed air to it. Lots of big houses in the surrounding areas with nice land and decent prices. Do most of the people go to Rockwall or elsewhere for most of their needs? Is Forney "up and coming?" Has it/will it possibly be revitalized? Do most people there commute into Dallas? Any thoughts at all would be appreciated. Thank you!

[Texas Minded]

My wife and bought here in July of last year. We really like it and I would say it is slowly "up and coming".

We do go to Rockwall and Mesquite half of the time for things we need (no Best Buy, Petco, BB & Beyond etc in Forney yet). But what is here is really nice. The Lowes is clean and well run and the new Krogers is awesome. There is a UPS store, Starbucks and other little places like that popping up.

I did commute to downtown Dallas when we first moved here (not bad at all... 35 min tops). Now I commute to Carrollton every weekday (about an hour each way... I know, I know).

Overall, we are are happy with our decision and think Forney will continue to grow and prosper. The north and north east suburbs can't spread out forever so the east will eventually catch on, making buying here a great investment imo.

[SpclAgntHeather]

Moderator cut: not allowed have to agree with Texas Minded. I think as the city continues to grow and expand, it's only going to make cost of real estate go up. Getting in now, will likely prove to be a wise investment.

[ETex2]

I agree with the above posts - it's generally a great town growing fast. The worst thing is the traffic, esp. if you live on the south side of town. There is lots of train traffic that runs parallel to US 80, and getting stuck for 5-10 minutes by a slow moving train is frustrating. On Saturdays the shopping areas around FM 548 and US 80 are extremely congested. The roadways seem to be poorly designed to handle the amount of development and resulting traffic.

[biafra4life]

We have friends who bought in Heartland, right next door to Forney. Seems middle of nowhere honestly, but like others have said, the secret is out and Forney is growing fast. Supposedly the George Bush is going to pass through there, and there are plans for a big new mall. If all that does happen and that's a big if, then buying there now ahead of the curve would be a smart move. Like others have said though, the traffic concerns will only grow, but that's something shared by most if not all DFW suburbs right now.