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Old 03-22-2018, 02:38 PM
 
3,478 posts, read 6,558,671 times
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Quote:
We also love Coppell, but would love to hear some feedback about the town. Does anyone live there? Can you tell me more about it?
I've lived in Coppell for almost 6 years now (and have been going to church here for 15)--what do you want to know? Feel free to PM me as well.

Generally, though:

My husband commutes to UTSW just west of downtown--it's a pretty decent commute. 20-25 min in the morning 25-45 in the evening. Evening traffic is always worse.

Our oldest is only in Kindergarten, but we LOVE the schools so far.

With one high school and relatively tight/sharp boundaries from the highways, Coppell feels as much like a small town as you can in Texas suburbia. You start to see the same people over and over, especially once your kids start school. There is definitely a strong community feel. The city spends a crap ton of money on infrastructure and programs. It's almost too much, but paradise for a young family.

Almost everything you need is within 5-10 minutes--kid activities, grocery stores, restaurants. I like that because I feel like in other suburbs, that is usually 10-25 minutes.

Downsides--it's pricey and lots tend to be small. Taxes are slightly higher than a lot of neighboring areas (though I would argue you are getting something for it). You will find few new homes in your price range (but that is the case in most of the other places you would be looking too)
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Old 03-22-2018, 02:51 PM
 
Location: Dallas, TX
1,080 posts, read 1,113,379 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thanna74 View Post
How are schools in Richardson? We ended up ruling it out because it seemed like most houses we would look at then bring up the schools, a lot of the schools were rated on the lower end. It's so hard to know coming from so far away.
Richardson is a somewhat large district (4 high schools), so I don't think one can make a blanket statement about Richardson schools as a whole.

In general, I think you would find that JJ Pearce High School (and Parkhill Junior High which feeds it) is well regarded with large groups of high performing students. If you go by SAT scores (an imperfect metric, I will admit), it would be comparable to Allen.

I don't have any personal experience with these schools, this is just the general perception and some performance metrics.
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Old 03-22-2018, 05:49 PM
 
Location: 89052 & 75206
8,149 posts, read 8,350,911 times
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Take a hard look at Midlothian, too.
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Old 03-22-2018, 07:40 PM
 
Location: Dallas
989 posts, read 2,441,995 times
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Originally Posted by thanna74 View Post
My husband will be working right in the middle of downtown which makes finding great, affordable areas without a crazy commute a lot harder. Schools are our top priority, with commute a close 2nd. We are planning to rent for at least 6 months just to make sure we are where we want to be before buying a home, but when we do buy, our price range will be in the $300k - $400K range.

You are basically SOL. With your budget, a less than 45 minute commute to downtown where good schools are is basically probably not going to happen. Something is going to have to give. Either the commute, the schools, or the budget. Or a super small house or a house that needs a lot of updating.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

As someone else mentioned, if you can get near a DART station and take the train to downtown that will vastly improve your options/commute pain.

Good luck.
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Old 03-22-2018, 09:32 PM
 
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We are definitely open to being near a DART station and actually would love that, but it doesn't seem like there are many stations other than Richardson and Plano that are near where we are looking? His work is about a 15 walk from where it leaves off downtown so we have to factor that in as well. We will most likely rent for a while and hopefully will be able to increase our budget to buy a home a little after we get a feel for everything and I'm able to start working. I'm giving our low end right now. Thanks for the feeback!
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Old 03-22-2018, 09:36 PM
 
Location: Mostly in my head
19,855 posts, read 65,829,411 times
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No one wants to walk 15 min in the heat of summer! Might as well as forget DART. We had a guy from India move here a few years ago and he was quite sure he would not need a car as he was used to heat. In about 10 days after arrival he was asking about buying a used car.
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Old 03-22-2018, 10:30 PM
 
Location: 89052 & 75206
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Also check out N. Euless in the Grapevine-Colleyville School district. Good schools in your range. Nice area. Zip code 76039. Always check schools.
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Old 03-23-2018, 07:00 AM
 
Location: North Texas
24,561 posts, read 40,285,459 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thanna74 View Post
How are schools in Richardson? We ended up ruling it out because it seemed like most houses we would look at then bring up the schools, a lot of the schools were rated on the lower end. It's so hard to know coming from so far away.
Schools west of 75 in Richardson are very good. I don't know anyone whose kids are at Berkner or Lake Highlands so I can't comment about either of them.


I know people whose kids are in the RHS & Pearce feeder patterns from K all the way through 12 and they're very happy with the schools. RHS more than Pearce has some economically-disadvantaged students (mainly coming from Dallas itself) and that does bring down its standardized test scores...however, the Richardson ISD does a far better job educating the "hard to educate" than Dallas ISD does (which is probably why some people rent apartments feeding to RISD in the first place).


I'm not going to lie, RISD has a bit more grit and more economically-troubled students than Plano, Frisco, Allen, and Coppell do. Part of this is due to the fact that Richardson is an older, inner-ring suburb that shares a long boundary with Dallas and there are a couple of rough areas of Dallas zoned to RISD. Richardson is also much more diverse than most of the northern suburbs (except Plano) and is more popular with some less affluent immigrant groups (mostly east of 75) so that also colors peoples' perceptions.


I wouldn't let that be a deal breaker. Academically-focused kids from supportive families do well no matter where they go to school as long as they have the right friends. I run into packs of kids from RHS from time to time and they're not scary. Since I live in Richardson, these kids (and their parents) are my neighbors.
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Old 03-23-2018, 12:30 PM
 
40 posts, read 40,962 times
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This is great insight, thank you so much!
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Old 03-23-2018, 01:26 PM
 
Location: Dallas, TX
274 posts, read 855,513 times
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I strongly second TC80's Sunnyvale recommendation. We have some friends who live there and have a very manageable commute to downtown. It's a small town with a semi-rural feel, and the schools are rated highly. Prices are going up, but it's not uncommon to find houses for under $400K. Here are some examples:

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...2_M79425-40892

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...2_M71550-04437

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...2_M75970-07221
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