Need Dallas vs. Fort Worth comparison (Garland, Irving: mineral rights, condos, houses) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

grateful · 02-07-2007, 10:56 PM

Hello, I currently live in Temecula, SoCal & I'm a single mom looking for homes (95' & up),with 4-5 acres, horses ok, country yet not isolated and preferably with nearby walking/biking trails, parks, and some kind of view, preferably of or from hills, or water,or city lights and within 40 mins to downtown. Rockwall looks beautiful, and then I have seen Royse City, and Kaufman and Collin county homes on realtor dot com and it all looks great. What I would like to know is how these counties on the Dallas side compare with Parker and Wise counties on the Fort Worth side? I love to look at Weatherford, Decatur,etc..I plan to visit by May and could use some guidance and direction. I have a budget around $275k. How do the 2 sides compare with it's scenery and views and rolling hills? With traffic is it less congested on one side? Do property tax and utility rates vary greatly? Which side has more community type places with parks/recreation? I'm also concerned about this superhighway they are talking of building, it seems they have a route planned for both sides and haven't chosen which one it'll be yet? Thank you for your comments!!

ElkHunter · 02-07-2007, 11:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grateful

Hello, I currently live in Temecula, SoCal & I'm a single mom looking for homes (95' & up),with 4-5 acres, horses ok, country yet not isolated and preferably with nearby walking/biking trails, parks, and some kind of view, preferably of or from hills, or water,or city lights and within 40 mins to downtown. Rockwall looks beautiful, and then I have seen Royse City, and Kaufman and Collin county homes on realtor dot com and it all looks great. What I would like to know is how these counties on the Dallas side compare with Parker and Wise counties on the Fort Worth side? I love to look at Weatherford, Decatur,etc..I plan to visit by May and could use some guidance and direction. I have a budget around $275k. How do the 2 sides compare with it's scenery and views and rolling hills? With traffic is it less congested on one side? Do property tax and utility rates vary greatly? Which side has more community type places with parks/recreation? I'm also concerned about this superhighway they are talking of building, it seems they have a route planned for both sides and haven't chosen which one it'll be yet? Thank you for your comments!!

I used to live in Grand Prairie which is located exactly between Dallas and Ft Worth and then south about 8 miles.

My personal experience was that Dallas proper was nothing but sky scrapers and business. Ft Worth also has sky scrapers but not near as many and seemed to be more open as far as houses go. But neither one is going to have places for horses.

West and North of Ft Worth is more of what you are looking for. A few minutes out of town will give you some ackerages that allow horses.

Dallas is real congested for traffic, but if you get East of town by a few minutes, you'll have places to look at.

Ft Worth is more hilly and green then Dallas is.

Where are you going to be working? You mentioned about 40 minutes from down town, but which town? haha If you are 40 minutes from Ft Worth, when you get there, your still an hour from Dallas, with the traffic they have.

GoPadge · 02-08-2007, 08:57 AM

Off topic I know, but I love visiting the wineries in Temecula.

momof2dfw · 02-08-2007, 10:40 AM

If you want to stay more "country" and not have to worry about encroaching mega developments then I would avoid Collin County all together. As far as comparing Kaufman & Rockwall Counties to Wise & Parker.... huge difference. Wise and Parker is still a bit rural and is seeing some growth but not at the pace that the others are. All 3 of these have developments that are acreage that allow horses. Some have small acreage lots w/ shared horse barns and trails. You may have more to pick from in the Rockwall and Royce City area if your wanting a new or newer home. As far as getting to the downtown area from Rockwall and Royce City it is more of a straight shot w/ I30 going right thru town. Both areas have some rolling hills w/ Wise County having more (lots of old outlaw hideouts in that area). Word of warning though and something to consider, Wise & Parker Counties contain a large portion of the Barnett Shale (natural gas) and you will see A LOT of gas wells and rigs. What you see now is not all that will be built so take that into consideration. You could end up buying property that someone else has the mineral rights too and they have allowed a gas company to drill.

grateful · 02-09-2007, 02:26 AM

Thank you for the replies. The Temecula wineries are very popular. I love the area here and am hoping to find a spot that is comparable in land/scenery. It looks even more green and beautiful in Texas. I work at home but like to shop at Whole Foods, Costco, Walmart and there is a church I'd like to go to in Irving so for convienence I would like the drive to be 40 mins or less. So Collin County is out, it's getting easier already! Shared horse barns & trails sound fantastic, are there any community names that you might have that I could look up? Why do I see McLendon-Chisholm on the map but can't find anything on realtor dot com? I seem to be primarily focused on Weatherford for Parker County but with the issue of gas wells/rigs it might make me shy away from there completely

. I was wondering if the wells are restricted in any areas? Do you foresee any problem areas in Rockwall or Royse(Royce)? City as far as traffic or places built in problem areas or near dumpsites, etc? I remember Momof2 wrote of a place (Rowlett?) that backed to a dump..yuck! Thanks again..Almost forgot,my mom would like to know if there are any active senior communities nearby with homes and not condos/apts. with nice walking areas, etc..

momof2dfw · 02-09-2007, 07:33 AM

McClendon-Chisholm is not a real "town" or "city". It is part of the Rockwall ISD and more of a community than a "city". You'll find it under Rockwall on realtor dot com. No threat of oil or gas wells out in this area. There are also plenty of the developments out there w/ 2 acre lots w/ shared horse barns and riding trails. Nice area w/ easy access to downtown Dallas via I30. Rockwall is growing and has a lot of new development (check the Harbor area down by the lake w/ the new theater, restaurants and shops). Though this would be a MAJOR trek to the church in Irving you are interested in. If you still want this area and looking for a church on that side of town there is Lakepointe, VERY active youth group. Once 190 gets all the way to I30 you'll be even better off as far as access to other parts of the metroplex.

Rowlett, yes it borders the Garland landfill. YUCK!!!! Not a great area and nowhere w/ acreage lots nor areas w/ horses allowed. There is one horse stable left in Rowlett now but I don't look for it to be around much longer once 190 goes thru there.

Yes, there are gas wells out in the western parts of the metroplex. It is a nice area and I do like it but it's just one of those things I want you to be aware of. They are there and more to come w/ the Barnett Shale.

UNT_Eagle · 02-09-2007, 01:26 PM

Just to add to the wonderful suggestions on this, you could also look around Denton and North, West of there. Although the I-35 commute from Dallas can get crazy, Ponder, Justin, Aubrey areas still have quite a bit of land up there and you can still get to Irving in a relatively reasonable time frame although the drive to Irving would be closer to 30-40 min.