Considering moving to Dallas need your input (Fort Worth, Plano: fit in, real estate market)
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I have been lurking for a while but this is my first post. I wanted to give as much detail as possible so I apologize for the long post. We are a family of four. Our kids are 10 and 12.
I have lived in MN for 29 years. I work in Tech and my wife works in the medical device industry.
We are looking for a warmer place to move. Warmer weather, good public school, good economy, and safety are important to us.
The ideal time for us to move is the summer of 2023. My older son will be transitioning from middle to high school and my younger son will transition from elementary to middle school.
I have been looking at housing prices in Dallas and they have been going up rapidly for the past 2-3 years.
Is the real estate market expected to slow down anytime soon?
We are open to moving in the summer of 2022 if the housing market will stay hot as I fear that we will end up paying 10-15% more in 2023.
My job is in tech so I can be remote. My wife may either find a job in Dallas or take a remote job as well.
After spending many hours we have narrowed down our list of cities to:
Frisco
Coppell
Flower Mound
Prosper
Open to buying a new or existing home. we like the contemporary style.
The budget for a new home is around $900K(flexible). Need to have a pool and outdoor space to hang out and BBQ.
The desire to live outdoors is the primary reason to move to TX. We understand that summers will be hot. But currently, we have nearly 6 months of cold weather so fine with 2-3 months of blistering summers.
If good public schools, proximity to shopping, parks, access to highways, sports are important will the cities listed above meet our needs? Are there other cities we should consider? We are of Indian/Caribbean descent so looking for a place that has diversity.
I heard about extreme weather causing damage to homes as they were not built to handle cold weather. What can we do to avoid it? Are there builders who do better than others? I read in another post about Am legend, highland, drees, and darling are good builders.
I also read that homes can have foundation problems. Do we need to purchase a foundation warranty?
Can a good property inspector examine the foundation?
Are there plenty of places to charge Tesla?
I read that electricity prices went up sky high when the big freeze happened. Are there ways to avoid it?
If you have made a similar move from the midwest to Texas I will love to hear about your experiences.
There is no such thing as a foundation warranty unless the home has already had foundation repairs, and the company that did the repairs allows the seller to transfer the warranty to the buyer. Some new home builders include the foundation in their warranty, but only for a short time, and then you are on your own. Your homeowners insurance does not cover your foundation. Inspectors do not include the foundation; you hire a structural engineer to inspect that separately.
No, our houses are not built to handle extreme cold; they are built to handle extreme heat. Last Februarys “snowmageddon” was a 100-year storm. That is NOT normal here, and most Texans have never seen anything like that in their lifetime. The electric prices were temporary, and the crazy increases were limited to a few companies who tied their prices to the grid market. Most electric customers were unaffected.
If you’re set on a new home, then your geography will be very limited. Coppell is almost built out, and the few pieces of remaining land are undesirable due to being under the DFW flight paths, close to railroad tracks, etc. You’ll basically be limited to the far northern suburbs.
DFW summers are 3-4 months long, basically from mid-May to mid-September.
Teslas are becoming more common here, and you’ll learn where there are chargers. Once you get out of the city and away from I-35, chargers are very uncommon. Don’t take a Tesla to west Texas or you will end up walking.
There is no such thing as a foundation warranty unless the home has already had foundation repairs, and the company that did the repairs allows the seller to transfer the warranty to the buyer. Some new home builders include the foundation in their warranty, but only for a short time, and then you are on your own. Your homeowners insurance does not cover your foundation. Inspectors do not include the foundation; you hire a structural engineer to inspect that separately.
No, our houses are not built to handle extreme cold; they are built to handle extreme heat. Last Februarys “snowmageddon” was a 100-year storm. That is NOT normal here, and most Texans have never seen anything like that in their lifetime. The electric prices were temporary, and the crazy increases were limited to a few companies who tied their prices to the grid market. Most electric customers were unaffected.
If you’re set on a new home, then your geography will be very limited. Coppell is almost built out, and the few pieces of remaining land are undesirable due to being under the DFW flight paths, close to railroad tracks, etc. You’ll basically be limited to the far northern suburbs.
DFW summers are 3-4 months long, basically from mid-May to mid-September.
Teslas are becoming more common here, and you’ll learn where there are chargers. Once you get out of the city and away from I-35, chargers are very uncommon. Don’t take a Tesla to west Texas or you will end up walking.
Thanks for your response. We are open to existing homes as well.
With that in mind are there other cities that should be on our radar.
My boys love sports, we have a 9-month-old Labrador retriever puppy. Proximity to parks and/or dog park would be great.
I would suggest visiting first. Even a visit may not be enough. You might want to rent for a little while to see what area you like best and where your wife ends up if not remote. I don't think the market will ever slow down, and it will be even hotter in the locations you mentioned.
There are lots of places not only in north Texas but in other Texas metros and other states that would have what you want. Metros in Arizona, southern California, Florida, and Nevada would be warmer, and Atlanta may be similar. In Texas, most any other major metro would have warmer weather.
Many other cities in north Texas would meet those criteria, too many to list here. Those just happen to get the most media attention, so by broadening your search, you will have better luck finding something given the crazy demand. Frisco is highly overrated, unless maybe you're just particularly into sports. There is also Allen, Fairview, Highland Village, McKinney, Plano, Rockwall, and Wylie just to name a few on the north side. What's more, the cities are so large and have so many different schools, you may want to look at neighborhoods instead. I can't speak personally to the schools, just what I read about and hear from other people.
I am and would be a little concerned about the electric grid in extreme weather. ERCOT has said even the conditions we had 10 years ago would have a similar impact if it were to happen now. We can also get tornadoes. Extreme conditions can bring down power for days in other parts of the country, but Texas as a whole is highly vulnerable. A comparison of insurance rates among different states and metro areas might provide some insight.
With foundations, you only get a warranty if it's new or was recently repaired. I would suggest having a structural engineer out to examine if you are worried. I would recommend a townhome, but that's out if you want a nice sized yard.
Given such broad criteria and not having visited, you really have to look around for yourself to see what you like, and that's why I would suggest actually visiting other metros in person and renting if you settle on some place as large as the Dallas Fort Worth metro.
I agree. Come visit first, even if it is just a quick weekend trip. You need to see DFW for yourself to determine if you’ll fit in and like it here. You will also be able to get a better idea of what the cities are like.
I have been lurking for a while but this is my first post. I wanted to give as much detail as possible so I apologize for the long post. We are a family of four. Our kids are 10 and 12.
I have lived in MN for 29 years. I work in Tech and my wife works in the medical device industry.
We are looking for a warmer place to move. Warmer weather, good public school, good economy, and safety are important to us.
The ideal time for us to move is the summer of 2023. My older son will be transitioning from middle to high school and my younger son will transition from elementary to middle school.
I have been looking at housing prices in Dallas and they have been going up rapidly for the past 2-3 years.
Is the real estate market expected to slow down anytime soon?
We are open to moving in the summer of 2022 if the housing market will stay hot as I fear that we will end up paying 10-15% more in 2023.
My job is in tech so I can be remote. My wife may either find a job in Dallas or take a remote job as well.
After spending many hours we have narrowed down our list of cities to:
Frisco
Coppell
Flower Mound
Prosper
Open to buying a new or existing home. we like the contemporary style.
The budget for a new home is around $900K(flexible). Need to have a pool and outdoor space to hang out and BBQ.
The desire to live outdoors is the primary reason to move to TX. We understand that summers will be hot. But currently, we have nearly 6 months of cold weather so fine with 2-3 months of blistering summers.
If good public schools, proximity to shopping, parks, access to highways, sports are important will the cities listed above meet our needs? Are there other cities we should consider? We are of Indian/Caribbean descent so looking for a place that has diversity.
I heard about extreme weather causing damage to homes as they were not built to handle cold weather. What can we do to avoid it? Are there builders who do better than others? I read in another post about Am legend, highland, drees, and darling are good builders.
I also read that homes can have foundation problems. Do we need to purchase a foundation warranty?
Can a good property inspector examine the foundation?
Are there plenty of places to charge Tesla?
I read that electricity prices went up sky high when the big freeze happened. Are there ways to avoid it?
If you have made a similar move from the midwest to Texas I will love to hear about your experiences.
Add West Allen (zip 75013) to the mix, tour the area or do research and see if u like. Meets almost all of your criteria. For your budget, I recommend Montgomery Farms area of West Allen - search for homes in that area.
Very close or right next to Upscale shopping at Watters Creek, close to highways, excellent schools. Ereckson middle school is one of the best middle schools in the region. 9th graders go to a separate school Lowery Freshman Center. 10-12 grades go to Allen high school, which is huge. It will have all kinds of courses or choices for the kids you can imagine. Very big on sports. Some people like the big school atmosphere and some prefer smaller. Note the class sizes may remain the same irrespective of the school size. You got to see what is good for your kids. Then there is STEAM Center a separate facility altogether for Science, Math, Tech, Arts classes. Other good neighborhoods are Star Creek, Twin Creeks and some more.
Better diversity "relative" to newer home communities in Frisco, easy access to both Plano/Frisco/Mckinney and also Richardson.
Beautiful and nationally recognized parks system - see here for more details - https://www.cityofallen.org/2033/Parks-Recreation
Recently opened dog park - https://muttscantina.com/tx-allen/
All builders u listed are good. I see many Tesla's around, sooner or later charging stations will follow.
The best way is to visit, tour all the facilities, location, neighborhoods, research schools - scores, demographics, teachers, courses offered etc. compare with other choices you are considering and then take a decision.
Thank you all for taking the time to provide so much helpful information.
I will most certainly install a charger at home.
I used to work for MSFT. I have visited their office in Las Calinas a few times. It was during winter months. It was difficult to go back home to our brutal winters after a week in a warm place. This was 7-8 years ago so we do plan to make multiple trips to explore various cities.
We survive cold MN winters by making multiple trips to warm Caribbean islands.
No, our houses are not built to handle extreme cold; they are built to handle extreme heat. Last Februarys “snowmageddon” was a 100-year storm.
It was a 10 year storm across most of DFW, so most of us have seen weather like that before. And I disagree with ChristieP, what you do to build a house that can handle extreme cold is almost exactly the same to handle extreme heat: make that sucker tight with insulation and make sure the mechanical system can deal with the square footage. So a $900k house will handle heat and cold perfectly well. The power outage thing was unfortunate and that was are and I'd not worry too much about that - while the power was on the houses were perfectly fine.
Frisco: very new, popular suburb that is constantly growing. You could definitely get a small/medium sized backyard here, but I wouldn't count on anything huge. The houses are almost universally newer, and new developments are being built 24/7, so you could definitely find something here. There's plenty of shopping, restaurants, some entertainment (the Star), but most are just chain restaurants. It's virtually indistinguishable from any other new, hot suburb anywhere else in the country. The public schools here are outstanding.
Prosper: Prosper is directly north of Frisco and quite far from Dallas proper (you're probably looking at an hour-ish to downtown Dallas from Prosper). You can definitely get a good sized yard here, and your budget will carry you pretty far (definitely further than the other three mentioned). It's growing a decent amount, though not nearly as much as Frisco, and your dining and entertainment options would mostly be limited to driving into Frisco. Not sure about the public schools here; I don't think they're great or horrible.
Flower Mound: Flower Mound is somewhat of a geographic outlier here; it's northwest of Dallas and I'm not entirely sure how far out, but it isn't particularly close. It's a very typical suburb, probably not unlike Frisco save Frisco's growth rate, and it has pretty strong public schools. Flower Mound is close to Lake Grapevine, which could be a good option for families interested in the outdoors. Your budget would carry you pretty far here, but I'm not sure how much of a yard you could get.
Coppell: Coppell is northwest of Dallas and not terribly far, but certainly not close. This seems like it might check the most boxes from how you've described your situation: you can get bigger yards in Coppell even though the average home here is very much your typical suburban home, the public schools are very good, and it's close enough to various outdoor attractions but not totally isolated like Prosper.
Hope this helps.
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