Please check my findings for home location options & good schools (Plano: apartments, to rent)

[Gearmaker]

Thank you to everyone that has posted so much great advice and sources to find a home.

I’m looking for a home to fit my large family that my wife. My wife and I work from home and need a lot of space for our work equipment and want to be near great public schools. Any advice is greatly appreciated, thank you in advance.

1) Budget of 350k-415k. We may be able to stretch a bit higher.
2) Excellent Public Schools (have a 4 year girl and 1 month old boy)
3) Room for mother on 1st floor (she is in her 70s)
4) Close to my co-worker in Plano off Custer/Parker (I need to be there 1-4 times per week to collaborate on project and use work equipment, wife works from home full-time).

My family currently rents in a small home in Plano near custer and hedgcox (Wife, Husband, 4 year old daughter and 1 month old son).

Our goal is to find a home with great schools and excellent programs similar to Plano or Carrolton (MathRocks, Leap, PACE, AP, IB).

We would love a countryside setting over a McHome suburban neighborhood that we could have back yard chickens.

We have 20% downpayment for a home under $415k, however we have a condo in the Addison area that we are finishing a renovation to sell that should help pay down a loan to get rid of PMI if we need to go into a higher home price with less then 20% down.

I’m a backpack and nylon gear designer (similar to an apparel designer). My company gives me an allowance of $1,100 for my workspace to house my sewing machines, cutting tables and equipment for a design workshop.

In a perfect world we are looking for a place that:

• Has excellent public schools
• Can fit our family, while allowing my mother to have a small pace for herself (separate apartment on the property, mother-in-law suite)
• One room with a door for my wife, she works from home and is on the phone the entire time for her work shift.
• Having a little land for backyard chickens would be a plus
• No pool for safety issues for the kids
• Prefer to have no HOA (they can cause issues if their bylaws do not allow you to run a business out of your home)
• Low crime
• If their is some land and no workshop, we could build a workshop at a later time.
• Good chance for appreciation of the property if we have to sell in the future.

Areas we are looking at:

1. Far East Plano in the school Boggess/Martha Hunt Elementary and Murphy Middle School that feed into McMillan Highschool.

Pros: There are little apartments out there, you can get a little bit of land and still be in a plano schools that have good rankings on Children at Risk.
Cons: Most are HOA McHomes

2. McHomes in areas from Preston to Alma along legacy/hedgecox area. If they do not have a 3 car garage or media room, then there would not be enough space for my workshop.

Pros: Top ranked elementary and middle schools (Skaggs, Rice, Jasper, Plano West (most national merit semifinalists from plano high schools))
Cons: All McHomes with HOAs, no real space for a workshop for me to work out of.
*May be able to rent an industrial space near jupiter and george bush area to work out of.

3. (Build a house in Creek Side estates in Murphy by Grand Homes) We go to a track home builder and build us a McHome with a mother in-law suite on the first floor, media room and 3 car garage for my workshop.

Pros: Great Plano schools (Martha Hunt/Murphy/McMillan)
- Should have the space we need for family and work

Cons: built by Grand Homes (I've read a lot of bad stuff about them on this forum)…would need to watch the build like a hawk and be on site everyday to check things
- a bit far from 75 and George bush tollway
- Mchome
- High taxes and HOA

Research Sources (that I learned from searching these forums):

2016 National Merit Semifinalists:
https://www.scribd.com/document/3241...-17#from_embed

Children at Risk State School Rankings:
Elementary Schools:
http://173.45.238.175/content/wp-con...l-Rankings.pdf

Middle Schools:
http://173.45.238.175/content/wp-con...l-Rankings.pdf

High Schools:
http://173.45.238.175/content/wp-con...l-Rankings.pdf

[lovethisarea]

Originally Posted by Gearmaker

3. (Build a house in Creek Side estates in Murphy by Grand Homes) We go to a track home builder and build us a McHome with a mother in-law suite on the first floor, media room and 3 car garage for my workshop.

Pros: Great Plano schools (Martha Hunt/Murphy/McMillan)
- Should have the space we need for family and work

Cons: built by Grand Homes (I've read a lot of bad stuff about them on this forum)…would need to watch the build like a hawk and be on site everyday to check things
- a bit far from 75 and George bush tollway
- Mchome
- High taxes and HOA

A few insights as I live in creek side:
1. It is in Wylie not Murphy. But schools are Plano ISD (Martha Hunt etc)
2. You can chose better builders in creek side like Grenadier and Shaddock homes.

BTW we love to live in this community.

[UnfairPark]

I like them all, very similar to each other. Just go with the house that you like better and where you get extra bedroom/bathroom on ground floor for your elderly mother. If she can independently walk herself to the kitchen, yard, garage, front door and family room then it would make life easier for all of you.

[Boys mom]

Hi. Thank you for sharing such great information. We recently moved to Frisco. When researching schools I found a bunch of different websites ranking all of the schools and I wasn't really sure which was the best. Just had a curiosity, how did you decide to use those ranking websites? Thank you

[MurphyPl1]

Our HOA does not allow businesses but that means no in and out of retail customers all day long, or parking construction or tree service trucks out front day in and day out, or running a t-shirt printing company out of the garage instead of a warehouse. We have several tailors and embroidery businesses in town that have no issues.

None of the HOAs in the northwest section of Murphy are any different. My husband is self-employed with a small business and it's not an issue because it's no different than any one of the dozens of work at home people Murphy has in town.

You may have more issues if you try to build a workshop. Sheds are allowed in most of the neighborhoods, but the size may be your bigger issue.

Be very careful when you consider the Creekside area. South of McWhirter/Betsy is Wylie ISD NOT Plano ISD. Also keep in mind tax rate difference. Wylie is $.85/100 versus Murphy at $.51/100.

[tcualum]

I would check the HOA covenants carefully. A lot of them will not allow chickens or out buildings.

[MurphyPl1]

Oh! I missed the chickens. No. murphy is not the place for you. That is definitely a no go anywhere but Willowwood and the Skyline addition. None of the HOAs allow them and it was a hot topic early this year.