Young family considering Trinity HS, Carroll HS, Coppell HS, and Grapevine HS school zones (Dallas: house)

[DFWDadof4]

Hi everyone! My wife and I are moving to the Dallas/Fort Worth area in August with our four kids (3, 5, 8, 10), and I would love your input on where to find a home. I will be working for a law firm in downtown Dallas. My wife will be taking pre-requisites to apply to a physical therapy program. Because she has not been accepted to a program yet, we don't know whether she will be attending UNT in Fort Worth or one of the two programs by the UTSW Medical Center in Dallas. Here is what we are looking for in a place to live:

1. Four or five bedroom home for between $350k and $500k
2. As short of a commute as possible (hopefully less than 45 minutes)
3. Safe schools with good programs (I am thinking 5+ on Greatschools)
4. Ethnic diversity in the schools
5. An equalish commute to both Fort Worth and Dallas

Here is what I have come up with so far:

1. The Viridian master planned community in Arlington (zoned to Trinity HS)
2. The Winding Creek subdivision in Grapevine (zoned to Carroll schools)
3. Somewhere in GCSD (like this: 4329 Kenwood Dr, Grapevine, TX 76051)
4. Somewhere zoned to Coppell schools (like this: 450 Sandy Knoll Dr Coppell, TX 75019)

I know Viridian is built near the dump, but I am leaning towards finding a home there. The schools aren't rated as well, but they have the IB program, and an incredible amount of ethnic diversity. If the commute were terrible from here, I could also drive to the Centreport train station and commute downtown that way.

If we buy a place in the winding creek subidivision, we can find a home within our budget that is zoned to the "good schools." I like the area, and this all sounds appealing. But those schools also seem to be incredibly homogeneous.

Coppell and GCSD seem to fall somewhere inbetween those other two communities in regards to school performance and ethnic diversity.

The commutes seem to be in the range of 25-50 minutes for all of these places, and I feel like the prices of homes are in the $400k-$480k range as well.

I would love to hear some input from people who live or have lived in any of these areas, or some input on other locations if I am missing out on something.

[mSooner]

I live in Coppell, pretty near the address you mentioned actually. What do you want to know?

[DFWDadof4]

@mSooner, just looking for input on anything that might help make the decision. Maybe how Coppell compares to the other places we are considering, if the commute may be worse than I am anticipating, if the commute may not be awful but I will spend a lot on tolls, or areas to consider/avoid when we are looking. Thanks!

[ChristieP]

One big thing to keep in mind are the property tax rates, and homestead exemption %, for each of these cities. Note that you will pay city, county, school ISD, college, and hospital taxes. Viridian also has their own Municipal Utility District tax, too. Coppell is in Dallas County, and you can find their rate table here: Tax Rates (Do note the City of Coppell only gives a 5% homestead exemption.) The other cities are in Tarrant County, and their rate table is here: https://www.tad.org/wp-contentpdf/ra...19TaxRates.pdf

Unfortunately, your budget is on the very low end for Southlake. Winding Creek in Grapevine is nice, but you need to remember that your kids will be "keeping up with the Jones'" who live in Southlake, and the peer pressure of kids in much higher income families may prove challenging. Carroll ISD also does not have much racial or socioeconomic diversity at all. Winding Creek is also going to be the worst commute to downtown Dallas due to access problems getting to 114, and the heavy eastbound traffic on 114.

Check out the demographics in Coppell ISD: https://www.coppellisd.com/domain/180 It is heavily Asian (Indian) and white, with some Hispanic and very few other races. I wouldn't call that diverse.

I can tell you that the area around Kenwood in Grapevine is very nice. Try not to get a house that backs to 360 to avoid highway noise. It's also a quick run down 360 to catch the TRE train. I have done that myself many times.