Park cities - First home on tollway or 75 (Dallas, Highlands: real estate, how much)

[CThopeful]

How much of a discount would you expect for the first few homes that touch the tollway or 75 in the park cities? Do they take longer to trade? There's a huge wall but there's still quite a bit of noise from the backyard and I'm not sure that the pollution is okay for small children?

Thanks in advance!

[turf3]

Stay away from either location. Noise levels are only going to get worse. The little bit of money you could save, you'll wish you had spent when you have to listen to that stuff 24/7.

[CThopeful]

Originally Posted by turf3

Stay away from either location. Noise levels are only going to get worse. The little bit of money you could save, you'll wish you had spent when you have to listen to that stuff 24/7.

Thanks, how far in do you have to be to not get the noise from the highway? 10 houses in? 5?

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by CThopeful

Thanks, how far in do you have to be to not get the noise from the highway? 10 houses in? 5?

It honestly depends - how is the tollroad / 75 wall right there, how much tree coverage is there to absorb the sound, etc. If there are homes you’re interested in, I would go by during morning and evening rush hour as well as mid/day and just get out and listen. See if it bothers you.

IMO I would not want to live in the last 3-5 houses or so unless it was literally the only “liveable” home in my price range in HPISD that was not actually on a busy road like Lovers or Mockingbird. I would not live on the corner of Lomo Alto just to get new construction, for example.

[CThopeful]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

It honestly depends - how is the tollroad / 75 wall right there, how much tree coverage is there to absorb the sound, etc. If there are homes you’re interested in, I would go by during morning and evening rush hour as well as mid/day and just get out and listen. See if it bothers you.

IMO I would not want to live in the last 3-5 houses or so unless it was literally the only “liveable” home in my price range in HPISD that was not actually on a busy road like Lovers or Mockingbird. I would not live on the corner of Lomo Alto just to get new construction, for example.

Thank you, that's really helpful. Our price range is up to $1.3mm and it's just so hard to find a home that's nice that doesn't have a location issue i.e. corner of preston, tollway etc. at this price point.

[turf3]

No, it's very easy to find a nice house for less than 1.3 million in DFW.

[CThopeful]

If we have to be in our downtown Office daily and don't want to pay for private school, not sure what other good options are outside of the park cities. I've heard lakewood a ton but it's not great beyond elementary and I'm likely looking at a mil there too

[turf3]

Well, if you've got the money to buy a million dollar house you can do the math. Compare a $650k house near Stonewall Jackson, plus private school from junior high and high school, against well over a million in HP.


You'll probably have to give up on 4000 sq. ft. with every child having their own bathroom and two left over plus media room, workout room, loggia, scented fountains, etc., but you can definitely buy a house with a reasonable commute to downtown and still have plenty of money left over for private schools.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by CThopeful

If we have to be in our downtown Office daily and don't want to pay for private school, not sure what other good options are outside of the park cities. I've heard lakewood a ton but it's not great beyond elementary and I'm likely looking at a mil there too

Well, you have a couple of options:

1) If you want nice/new in HPISD, a single-family attached is going to give you the newest/nicest interior for $1.2-1.3M range. You sacrifice yard space though. Most SFAs are near the high school and middle school campuses.

2) Deal with the less desirable location to get a newer/nicer SFH. Good news is HPISD will always be desirable and there will always be another buyer like you who is just trying to get a foot in the door.

3) Consider other parts of Dallas where you can get a bigger/nicer home for $1.3 (or A LOT less!) In Lakewood & Lake Highlands, there are very good elementary schools and quality middle/high schools. No LHHS and Woodrow are not equal to HPHS but very smart, involved kids with parents who care will have the same outcomes from any of those 3 schools. More and more Lakewood/Stonewall kids are continuing to Long. We have lots of friends in Lakewood who have continued into Woodrow and all are happy with public options. A few have opted into DISD magnets. These are all successful parents- big law attorneys, law partners, doctors, small business owners, etc.

4) Slash your budget, live in Dallas and go private for school. You can get a nice house on a 1/3+ acre lot just west of Hockaday/ESD in the $650-$850k range.

[turf3]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

1) If you want nice/new in HPISD, a single-family attached is going to give you the newest/nicest interior for $1.2-1.3M range. .

For those who aren't up on the latest real estate jargon (I was going to call it something harsher), "single family attached" means


DUPLEX.


If you are OK with living in a duplex, that's fine. But it ain't nothing but a duplex, folks.


By the way, I just walked by one of those "luxury duplexes" in construction the other day (will probably sell around $700k a side). The much-vaunted soundproofing between the two sides consists of a double layer of drywall (not taped or bedded) in between the two sets of studs at the middle division. This does not continue into the attic, so any noise that gets into their attic will be in yours. So you'll hear a little less of their noise than you will of the noise in your next room, but silent is not going to happen.