Relocating family due to job in Irving (Dallas, Plano: homes, buy)

[Siphon9r]

I recently moved into the area to take a job in Irving. My family is still in Seattle until the end of the school year when we plan to sell our home and buy something in the area. While we don't have a home in the best area up there I do think selling it for somewhere between $300-400k is very reasonable (giving us probably $100-150k to put as a down payment here). Combined with the fact we can probably stop paying $1k a month for private school by moving somewhere with a good school district I think our budget could go up to $500k (maybe more, I'm probably being conservative).

I would ideally like to keep my commute to 30-40 minutes at the most. I have an eight year old and a ten year old so excellent schools are among the most critical things we will be seeking. Otherwise, a nice home with a pool and a lot in the 8000 sqft or larger range would be ideal. It seems like Flower Mound is a good possible option, but given the criteria above what other places would you suggest?

[GinaVol]

Coppell

[ChristieP]

Grapevine
Colleyville

[4Movingeast]

Grapevine/Colleyville ISD
Lewisville ISD Flower Mound HS or Marcus HS
Coppell ISD
Southlake ISD
These are listed in "bang for the buck" house-wise, because the schools are all great for the most part and depending on what your family needs one might be a better fit than another. 1 and 2 are probably tied for what you can get for your housing budget.

[ChristieP]

$500k is entry level in Southlake. You most likely won't find anything lower.

[DVolk]

I think this map will probably help you: School and District Boundaries Map | GreatSchools

There are a lot of areas to the west and north of DFW airport with 9/10 or 10/10 schools and with homes under $500k. (By the way, please remember about property tax in Dallas which is about 2 times higher than in Seattle area).

If your work is in north part of Irving near airport, in addition to Grapevine & Colleyville area you can also take a look to West Plano/South Frisco. Those towns also have great schools. They have also worse commute time but prices might be more affordable.

[ChristieP]

There's no reason to commute from Plano or Frisco to Irving. There are plenty of other towns we've mentioned that are just as nice and much closer. The commute from Plano and Frisco would also be down a toll road, which gets expensive.

[4Movingeast]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

$500k is entry level in Southlake. You most likely won't find anything lower.

True. But there are some Grapevine address, Southlake ISD homes in this price range that pop up from time to time, so it doesn't hurt to check it out if they are interested in that area