Las Colinas neighborhood information!

[ILTXwhatnext]

Originally Posted by DFW_FTW

Foundation , Foundation , Foundation.

Get a structural engineer to bless the house first during the option period.

And ask about watering the foundation. A real estate agent explained to me that in that area, you should think of the soil as a dish sponge. After it's wet, it dries, but it isn't quite the same...it "wrinkles" and will no longer be level. That only gets worse with time. With wetting and drying, the soil there does the same. So get soaker hoses and position them around the foundation. Water, especially when it's hot and dry for a period of time, to keep the soil from "wrinkling" because that will throw everything off. I looked at a house in Irving that had a living room about 12x12. I swear if you put a bowling ball in the center and walked out of the room for 2 minutes, when you returned it would be in the corner. You know that room was level when the place was built. When I lived in the area I think some were installing drip systems in the crawlspaces.

[dharub]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

The reason I asked about the Indian community is that Las Colinas has a large Indian community, and many people seek to live there because of it.
And yes, as the previous poster mentioned, Las Colinas is notorious for bad foundation problems due to shifting soil in the area.

Other great places to live in your budget with great public schools:
Grapevine, Colleyville, Euless (north of Mid-Cities Blvd) all share the Grapevine-Colleyville ISD which is very highly-regarded. Tarrant County taxes are also slightly less than Dallas County.
Richardson is also very good.

Thanks for your remcommendations! I will look into these areas as well.