Relocating to Dallas Area in TWO Months--Help!! (Arlington, Irving: house, schools)

[CLT]

Hello.

My wife was just notified that her career is leading us to Irving, TX. We have about two months before we need to be there, so we have little time to spare. We are young professionals (26 and 30) looking for inexpensive housing...near a lake...a half way decent commute to Irving. Traffic really doesn't bother us too much. Any commute under 45 minutes is easy to handle.

We have been reading threads on this site and have narrowed our search to the south side of Grand Prairie (Joe Pool Lake) and Arlington (sell boat?). So hear are the questions we have:

-What's the commute time from south Grand Prairie/Arlington to Irving? (I mapquested about 20 miles)
-I read that there isn't a state income tax, but property taxes are high. To estimate, what would one pay for property tax per $100,000.
-Lynn Creek Marina or Joe Pool Marina???
-Any other suggestions on locations that would be a manageable commute to Irving?
-Do you have to pay yearly property tax on your personal property(car, boat, ..etc). If so, what rate?

Please help! We are overwhelmed. We need to start making decisions on Monday, March 3rd. Direct messages are welcome if you are a realtor or if you can help.

Thanks!!!

[Grainraiser]

I will try to give some advice. You can commute to Irving from Grand Prairie in 45 minutes. Since a nearby lake is a requirement take look at some of the communities around Lake Lewisville. Corinth and Highland Village are just two of many around the area. You also should look around the Lake Grapevine area. There are quite a few lakes around DFW so you should not have a problem finding a place near the water. I prefer Lynn Creek Marina but its been years since I have been to either so they may have changed. You really have quite a few options so giving a ballpark figure of the amount your willing to pay for a house will narrow the search a bit.

[Big G]

I second grainraiser's thoughts. You should give both Lake Grapevine and Lake Lewisville a close look. Either of those would be nicer locations in general than what you'll find along Joe Pool. We'd need a ballpark figure on the house price to start advising specific communities.

[CLT]

Grain and Big G...Thanks for the info. We'll check out Grapevine and Lewisville too, when we visit in a couple of weeks.

To narrow down what we are looking for, it's just me and the wife. We only need around 1600sf, anything bigger would be just a waste of space. We have a 1600 sf home now, and i don't remember the last time I have walked into two of the rooms. For price, we are looking around the mid 100's. But we are willing to pay more for an area where we can resell our place quickly. Since we both graduated from college, we haven't lived in a place for longer than two years. Resale profit really isn't a concern. Schools are not important now, but I know schools are important for resale. We have lived in Wrigleyville in Chicago and are currently living in Charlotte, NC, so we would like to find a cutural/social life somewhere in the middle. Just looking for a place within a reasonable drive to work and the lake.