Relocating to Allen or Plano (Little Elm, Leonard: house, neighborhood, subdivision)

[Lorne]

"How crazy is the Dallas real estate market right now? A buyer was offered $50K to walk away from home they just secured"

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/lo...2-d3bcb9eaf936

[chrisroane]

Thanks everyone! I posted on the Fort Worth forum and got some options I am looking into. At least at this stage they don't look like they are as good of options as the Dallas north suburbs.

I talked to a realtor, and he thinks worst case is that we could find some neighborhoods in Irving and/or Garland, if we couldn't find something in Richardson, Plano or Allen that we wanted. He wasn't too concerned with what he was seeing so far and thought our $400k-$500k was in the mid range of what he has been seeing over there.

I'm still a bit torn on what we should do. I don't like to rent, but I also don't want to stretch the budget too much for something that we aren't going to like for the next 10 or so years either.

Maybe with some luck here the inventory situation will at least cool things off a bit.


Speaking of Irving...the ratings for the middle/high schools I was seeing over there didn't look too bad? I know Richardson would be a step up from that. What concerns me a little bit is the crime map of Irving. Compared to Allen the neighborhood crime map looks like a bloodbath? But I need to deep dive into those maps to better understand what I am seeing.

[biafra4life]

Originally Posted by chrisroane

Thanks everyone! I posted on the Fort Worth forum and got some options I am looking into. At least at this stage they don't look like they are as good of options as the Dallas north suburbs.

I talked to a realtor, and he thinks worst case is that we could find some neighborhoods in Irving and/or Garland, if we couldn't find something in Richardson, Plano or Allen that we wanted. He wasn't too concerned with what he was seeing so far and thought our $400k-$500k was in the mid range of what he has been seeing over there.

I'm still a bit torn on what we should do. I don't like to rent, but I also don't want to stretch the budget too much for something that we aren't going to like for the next 10 or so years either.

Maybe with some luck here the inventory situation will at least cool things off a bit.


Speaking of Irving...the ratings for the middle/high schools I was seeing over there didn't look too bad? I know Richardson would be a step up from that. What concerns me a little bit is the crime map of Irving. Compared to Allen the neighborhood crime map looks like a bloodbath? But I need to deep dive into those maps to better understand what I am seeing.

For Irving, you have to be in either the Valley Ranch or Las Colinas parts of the city. Everything else is not worth it. Offers a nice commute to the airport.
For Garland, I would be looking in the Firewheel section, and if Garland is in play, then look also in Rowlett and Sachse which are both next door to Garland. These cities are not great for the airport commute though.

[DFWUser1]

Originally Posted by biafra4life

For Irving, you have to be in either the Valley Ranch or Las Colinas parts of the city. Everything else is not worth it. Offers a nice commute to the airport.
For Garland, I would be looking in the Firewheel section, and if Garland is in play, then look also in Rowlett and Sachse which are both next door to Garland. These cities are not great for the airport commute though.

OP - You can be in Valley Ranch or Las Colinas - if you want to feel like living in Mumbai or Chennai or Hyderabad. Check if you are ok to live in Little (sorry big) India.

[biafra4life]

Originally Posted by DFWUser1

OP - You can be in Valley Ranch or Las Colinas - if you want to feel like living in Mumbai or Chennai or Hyderabad. Check if you are ok to live in Little (sorry big) India.

We’ve covered the India thing in far too many other threads so I’ll keep this brief. Indians are present in large numbers in most of the best suburbs in the metroplex, including your beloved West Allen. In this market I wouldn’t use that as a factor if a house is available and ticks all the boxes as far as commute, schools, amenities and safety.

[DFWUser1]

Originally Posted by biafra4life

We’ve covered the India thing in far too many other threads so I’ll keep this brief. Indians are present in large numbers in most of the best suburbs in the metroplex, including your beloved West Allen. In this market I wouldn’t use that as a factor if a house is available and ticks all the boxes as far as commute, schools, amenities and safety.

Agree. But Valley Ranch, new neighborhoods in Frisco are completely in a different league altogether. And this is just a word of caution mainly to brand newcomers. Just to avoid them the surprise feeling of being in India one fine morning even without any hassle of travelling all across the world

[ChristieP]

Originally Posted by chrisroane

Thanks everyone! I posted on the Fort Worth forum and got some options I am looking into. At least at this stage they don't look like they are as good of options as the Dallas north suburbs.

I'm very surprised that you're not impressed with Northeast Tarrant County. Oh well.

[chrisroane]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

I'm very surprised that you're not impressed with Northeast Tarrant County. Oh well.

There are definitely some on our list, like North Richland Hills, TX that we will take a look at. Trying to narrow down the options though a bit.

We are finding that we actually like what we are seeing in the neighborhoods all across the metro.

The airport commute is not going to be a weekly and probably not even monthly deal (at least for now). Driving a little farther to get to the airport is definitely a possible compromise.

[chrisroane]

We just got back from our 4-day trip to the area. We've narrowed down our top options to Mckinney and Flower Mound. A few notes of what we learned from our trip:

- The traffic can get intense at times, but it was not nearly as bad as we were expecting. The area, for the most part, felt well planned and able to handle a ton of traffic. But we do understand how it is important to understand where you are working so you don't go crazy with the commute time.

- The shopping/dining that is in the Allen area along 75 is amazing. Also impressed with the Frisco area.

- We liked Plano and Richardson, but the areas felt a bit "worn", with some roads and power lines needing some major repairs in the neighborhoods. Granted, this is based on a limited time in the area, where we had to gauge where we were going to spend most of our time on the trip. West Plano was nicer than Central, but we probably will be priced out of the West area.

- We didn't mind Mansfield or North Richland Hills, but there was just something missing from driving in those communities vs some of the other cities.

We really liked the stonebridge neighborhoods in Mickinney, but really anything that is towards the SW section we liked (except for Craig Ranch).

One odd thing we noticed was that in some of the neighborhoods in the SW area of Mickinney and in Allen (between 75 and Sam Rayburn Tollway), we did not have a cell phone coverage (we are with Verizon). Is there another provider that would have more coverage in that area? I would hate to get a house only to realize we don't get good cell coverage there.

Now to see if we can sell our house for enough to cover the high prices of the area to move this summer. Thanks everyone for your input.

[Leonard123]

Originally Posted by jackpotpoker

Agree as well - any new subdivision anywhere in DFW is Big India. And just to be clear, so you won't be surprised, it's 1st/recent immigrant indians who are mostly unacclimated with no intention to acclimate to American life and ways

If they are on a visa, it seems like an unwise thing to do knowing the visa could end or that their stay could be ended by a change in politics. If this is indeed any part of what's fueling the local housing market, then I can much more easily see a future crash.

They only extend their reach to certain places it seems though. I got the impression that communities in Little Elm were mostly black communities.

Things have changed so much in just the past ten years.