Considering a Move to Dallas-best place to live family of 5? (Arlington: extended stay, rent)

[PA_cancerZ559]

Hi,
I am an assistant. I have 10+ years experience as a personal, administrative and marketing assistant. I currently live in New Orleans, LA. I have a family of 5_3 kids, a husband, a dog, cat, fish and a bird. Living expenses are far outweighing the income that jobs are paying. Thinking of moving to Dallas for better opportunity..My husband is flexible and has 10+ years in the restaurant industry. Does anyone have any ideas of the best areas, meaning safe and affordable, to live for us to start looking [to find affordable 3 bedroom housing, good schools elementary (in 1 year high school)
I've been trying to job hunt first but it looks like most places prefer local candidates, which is understandable. Thanks to anyone for contributing!

[mSooner]

It's going to be really hard to recommend an area without a job location. I know it is a catch 22, but if buy a house in say Grapevine, and find jobs in Denton and Plano, you are going to be miserable.

[stan4]

Yeah. Given the traffic, you'd really be better off finding the jobs first.

Also, with everyone moving here, I'm not sure why you think the COL is going to be better.
Houses are selling as fast as they go up and bidding wars are rampant.

[PA_cancerZ559]

Thanks!

It is a tough one..like I said haven't had much success being an out-of-towner looking to move so thought it best to consider a move first. I am considering other cities as well. I've listed my experience and husbands in case anyone has ideas where those industries are doing well.

[TurtleCreek80]

Some ideas:

1. If you're not having success job searching from out of state, come to Dallas alone and book a week in an extended stay hotel. Let employers know you'll be in town that week and are willing to relocate yourself.

2. What monthly rent do you consider affordable for the space you need? Dallas is less expensive than the major east/ west coast cities but may be considerably more expansive than where you live now. If you're expecting to pay $1000/mo in rent for a 3br home zoned to good schools, DFW is not for you. If you give us a rent budget, we can at least tell you if there are lots of areas in the metroplex that fit that price range or barely any.

3. Restaurant jobs shouldn't be hard to find. We Dallasites love to eat out and the DFW area has more restaurants per capita than any other city in the US.

[jdallas]

It depends on what your threshold is for good schools.

Restaurant and admin assistant jobs are not hard to find but finding two of them that will pay enough to afford the cost of living for a 3 bedroom suburban home with both elementary and high schools in a well regarded district may be impossible.

[WorldKlas]

Look I'm Arlington zip code 76017. Pretty reasonable rents and good schools. But expect to pay $1500/ mo rent for a 3 bedroom house. That's good.

[turf3]

As other people have pointed out "the Dallas area" encompasses an area comparable to the entire state of Connecticut.

You may want to consider some of the smaller cities around, such as Tyler, Wichita Falls, Waco, Corsicana, etc. (look them up and see what their populations are)/