Living in Rowlett (Plano, Garland, Carrollton: for sale, HOA fees, buying a home)

[txtx123]

I'm considering buying a 3 bedroom house in Rowlett (zip code 75089). I did a quick search and saw many posts about high water bills in Rowlett. How bad is it? Is it really 3 times higher than other cities in DFW? What's your average electric bill along with the square footage of your home?

My wife will work in East Plano and sometimes will need to go to the other office in Carrollton. How is the commute to Plano and Carrollton?

Thank you in advance!

[biafra4life]

I lived in Rowlett for a year and my parents live there now.
The water bills are high, but not enough to deter you from buying a home there in my opinion. I enjoyed living there and think it's a perfectly good town to live in. The commute to East Plano is decent, but crappy going to Carrollton. Due to that factor, I would look at Richardson rather than Rowlett. Better commute to both locations and schools just as good. Only issue is the budget would need to be higher (what is yours?)

[txtx123]

Thank you so much for your input! Our budget is around $300k to $330k. I looked at some houses in Richardson, Plano, and Allen but they are much more expensive. For that price range, we will only be able to get a townhome in Allen, which will be hard to resell due to high HOA fees. We don’t have kids so schools will not be an issue.

Originally Posted by biafra4life

I lived in Rowlett for a year and my parents live there now.
The water bills are high, but not enough to deter you from buying a home there in my opinion. I enjoyed living there and think it's a perfectly good town to live in. The commute to East Plano is decent, but crappy going to Carrollton. Due to that factor, I would look at Richardson rather than Rowlett. Better commute to both locations and schools just as good. Only issue is the budget would need to be higher (what is yours?)

[mastershake575]

Originally Posted by txtx123

Thank you so much for your input! Our budget is around $300k to $330k. I looked at some houses in Richardson, Plano, and Allen but they are much more expensive. For that price range, we will only be able to get a townhome in Allen, which will be hard to resell due to high HOA fees. We don’t have kids so schools will not be an issue.

Bia is actually right, plenty of houses in Richardson in that price range and will be closer to both Carrollton and East Plano.

East Richardson there's multiple houses for sale in that range in pretty much every single neighbhorhood (Yale, Duck Creek, Crowley, Lookout park). West Richardson even pretty scenic neighbhoors like Heights Park and Canyon creek have houses in your price range.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2...27161142_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...27178791_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6...27169982_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...27179252_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...27160434_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...27160118_zpid/

[txtx123]

Thank you very much for the links! I forgot to mention that we’re looking for a new construction home because we don’t want to deal with high repair cost.

Originally Posted by mastershake575

Bia is actually right, plenty of houses in Richardson in that price range and will be closer to both Carrollton and East Plano.

East Richardson there's multiple houses for sale in that range in pretty much every single neighbhorhood (Yale, Duck Creek, Crowley, Lookout park). West Richardson even pretty scenic neighbhoors like Heights Park and Canyon creek have houses in your price range.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2...27161142_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...27178791_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6...27169982_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...27179252_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...27160434_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...27160118_zpid/

[mastershake575]

Originally Posted by txtx123

Thank you very much for the links! I forgot to mention that we’re looking for a new construction home because we don’t want to deal with high repair cost.

Not to sound rude but this is a myth (myth being buying a newer house means less cost). I would much rather have a 60s or 70s house that has been renovated then buy a 2005+ house that hasn't been touched since day 1

Especially since in your price range these newer houses are going to be the absolute cheapest of the cheap in terms of construction materials, builder, and labor (in your other thread multiple users kinda hinted this at you)

[tmtex]

New houses are made cheap. They slap them together so fast

[TheOverdog]

Not to sound rude but this is a myth (myth being buying a newer house means less cost). I would much rather have a 60s or 70s house that has been renovated then buy a 2005+ house that hasn't been touched since day 1

Maybe, but that's not a fair comparison, and a 1960s-1980s house is probably going to need $30k in plumbing repairs in the next decade and you can be sure that a renovator didn't do that work in the $300k price range. And if the OP is concerned about the cost of the water bill, you can be sure they do not have the spare cash to do major repairs. The one that is in Campbell Creek is a good example. If the drive way is in that bad a shape, just think what else they haven't repaired. Some of the others look better, but I wouldn't buy any of them without expecting to do at least $10k worth of work by contractors in the next few years and I can guess that from what is shown in a few pictures.

[biafra4life]

Originally Posted by txtx123

Thank you so much for your input! Our budget is around $300k to $330k. I looked at some houses in Richardson, Plano, and Allen but they are much more expensive. For that price range, we will only be able to get a townhome in Allen, which will be hard to resell due to high HOA fees. We don’t have kids so schools will not be an issue.

Ah. Well if new is a requirement then cross off Richardson. Indeed you can also eliminate Allen and Plano too.
Your budget is too low for the areas offering you a good commute. So if new is more important than commute, then I would focus on Rowlett, North Garland and possibly Sachse. All three should work budget wise, and the Plano commute will be decent. The Carrollton commute will suck from all 3.

[Stelletti]

If you take the PGBT then Rowlett to Carollton is about 20m depending on where in both cities. Not that bad.