Hoping to relocate to DFW (Dallas, Arlington: transplants, how much, attorney) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

jenkjc · 02-26-2007, 09:21 PM

My husband, 3 year old son, and I are hoping to relocate to the Dallas area this summer from Pittsburgh, PA. I have lots of questions if anyone can help I'd greatly appreciate it!! We've been visiting the area at least once a year for the last 6 years but I still have no idea where we should live. I've spent lots of time on the internet looking at houses and communities but it's so hard to tell. We believe, we'd like to stay in the Metroplex area since we both like the urban feel. However, we would like a family oriented community, I would like to have side walks and my husband would like to be within 30-40 minutes of DFW airport since he travels alot. I have a big concern about schools also. Please tell me it's silly to think that Dallas is "overly conservative" as we are both democrats and that anyone would ever refer to us as yankees. Also what's with the bugs? Is that inside or outside-I'm used to mosquitos but is there something else I should be aware of? Thank you!!

socketz · 02-27-2007, 07:15 AM

I've never seen bugs here. I almost think it's too hot in the summer for any real predators/insects to live outside. As for the Democrat vs. Liberal, I've always said Religion and Politics are just two things you never discuss with strangers.....so you should be alright. This is a big city, so most people are too busy to fuss with their nieghbors politic/religious choices. I would refrain from putting Clinton/Obama signs in the front yard :-)

If you have to live close to the airport, I'd say narrow your search down to places like Southlake, Coppell, Grapevine, Flower Mound. If you go any further east, the airport drive is unpredictable. For instance, I live in far West Plano and it takes me about 30 mins to the park and fly off the 635 (highly recommend), then another 15 mins to get into the airport. Up in Stonebridge where I'm moving, I'm adding another 15 mins to that or more.

Again, this is ideal (I always schedule flights within ideal times).

With traffic, god knows how much longer it would take....maybe 2x.

So if your career relies on you using the airport, it makes sense to live near the airport. And all the towns I mentioned are excellent communities, have great schools (Coppell ISD is the best in Coppell) and are close to DFW.

You should also engage with a Realtor. This area is simply too massive to do house hunting from the computer. There are also a tremendous number of factors that go into buying a home and estimating resale potential. A good realtor can help you with that as well. Buying a house here is not a slam dunk like it is in other parts of the us. You need to be careful.

LastDallasNative · 02-27-2007, 12:57 PM

Many people in Dallas are "Yankees", with locals very few. There will be few locals to call you "Yankee".

Dallas County votes blue, but the suburbs are red. But DFW is not going to be liberal land, if that is what you are wanting.

mindsman · 02-27-2007, 03:34 PM

You won't be called Yankee unless you keep saying how great it was where you were from and it sucks here. If you live in the poor areas in dfw you will find many democrats who are looking for freebies. So if that is what you prefer maybe garland or duncanville would be a great place for you. Good luck in wherever you choose to live.

socketz · 02-27-2007, 09:55 PM

Seems that it would be hard to paint one area red or blue with so many transplants. The burbs seem to attract the most transplants from CA/AZ/Fla, so maybe we should guess the burbs are red, which agrees with LDN's statement above. Sorry, but I'm still in the 'who cares' state of mind for this topic. Also to say dems are poor and suck off the Gov't ??? New York and CA are some of the wealthiest states in the country...

GoPadge · 02-28-2007, 08:59 AM

Don't put too much into the red and blue claims. They are at best a very binary view of the county's voting habit. Here's an image that more accurately represents how the country voted.

I did my own little analysis of the map and here's the breakdown by county in the Metroplex on a Republican to Democrat ratio (R-D)

Collin.......72.4-27.6
Dallas.......50.0-50.0
Denton.......70.5-29.5
Ellis........75.0-25.0
Hunt.........72.4-27.6
Johnson......74.2-25.8
Kaufman......70.5-29.5
Parker.......78.3-21.7
Rockwall.....80.2-19.8
Tarrant......63.1-36.9
Wise.........76.0-24.0

So even at the worst in Rockwall county 1 in 5 voters were Democrats.

jenkjc · 02-28-2007, 02:06 PM

All the input is great. I didn't realize that out of all my concerns, the politics would be the most responded to. With that being said, as stated before we are democrats but too much of ANYTHING I believe is bad(republican or democratic), so I think we'll be fine. We are very much looking forward to moving and come with open hearts and minds and hope to find a good match for our family. My husband thought maybe someplace in Arlington would be good due to its central location. Any thoughts?

momof2dfw · 02-28-2007, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jenkjc

All the input is great. I didn't realize that out of all my concerns, the politics would be the most responded to. With that being said, as stated before we are democrats but too much of ANYTHING I believe is bad(republican or democratic), so I think we'll be fine. We are very much looking forward to moving and come with open hearts and minds and hope to find a good match for our family. My husband thought maybe someplace in Arlington would be good due to its central location. Any thoughts?

Don't worry about politics. Very few wear it on their sleeves. As socketz also posted, there are PLENTY of VERY wealthy people even here in the Dallas area that are not card carrying Republicans.

As for Arlington. ehhhhh. Not my favorite place at all. It is a large city between Dallas and Ft Worth w/ a lot of transient population due to its size and location and being home to a large university and other seasonal attractions. If you do a search on the site you should be able to find everything that has been posted about Arlington. Schools are so-so.

MaryS80 · 06-08-2007, 07:50 PM

Hey there Pittsburgher! My family is from the Pittsburgh area, and Pittsburgh is my second home, though I was born and raised here. I was up there twice this spring, the first time during that nice bit of snow that fell March 17th. Winters here are much more agreeable. No below zero wind chills, and 15 degree days. No shoveling the sidewalk. Summer can be harsh, which is why A/C is a must. Dallas is much easier to drive. Most of the roads are laid out in nice little grids, and no narrow passages on the side of a 50ft embankment.

Yes bugs are much more of an issue here as we don't have enough cold weather to kill them off in the winter. Mosquitos are bad this year because of the rain. Buy a house you definitely have to look out for termites. Ants are another big pest, and they find their way into the cleanest of homes from time to time. There are these little lizards that sneak in as well, they are pretty tiny little things, almost clear. In the summer, flies are pretty common.

Most people here are transplants, so being from out of the area is no biggie. Plus it's a very open minded, diverse, accepting place.

IMO Dallas lacks the scenery of Pittsburgh. The hills and the tree up there are so pretty. We have better asian and mexican food here, but we have very little good Italian food. All the old world European stuff is unheard of here.

There's a group of former Pittsburghers here in Dallas that get together and watch the Steelers games.

Because we were never hit with anything like the mills collapsing there are very few run down areas. Everything is nice and new, which IMO isn't always bad and isn't always good.

FarNorthDallas · 06-08-2007, 09:40 PM

I'm a native Dallasite and a Democrat. People joke I might as well as had a Pervert sign in my front yard when I had a Kerry sign out there during the last presidential election. I wasn't the only one though. The criminal defense attorney down the street always has Democrat signs out front in his yard. It can get frustrating though because the Republicans will come steal the signs out of your yard, so get 3 or 4 of them for back up.

My son also attends a very expensive private school and I had the assumption I was the only Democrat present but surprise suprise there are quite a few of us there. Some are closet Democrats. At the law firm where I used to work there were 5 or 6 Democrats and we'd whisper to each other in the hallways. It was all in good humor though.

I'm not crazy about Arlington. I would not live there. It's big. There are a lot of tourist attractions/sports venues there and there's no mass transportation. Wait that's Frisco. No, no, no, just kidding. That is Frisco, but the home values are higher than they are in Arlington. Arlington has a lot of lower priced homes. (Arlington's average home value is $129,700 and Frisco is $238,000 as of 1st Q of 2007, not that I'm suggesting Frisco.)

I would look at Grapevine, Flower Mound, Southlake if you bring your big checkbook, Double Oak, Highland Village, HEB maybe (Hurst, Euless, Bedford), Valley Ranch maybe, the Hebron High School area in north Carrollton perhaps. I think Hebron is part of Lewisville ISD (school district). I wonder if North Richland Hills would be too far. That's over near Ft. Worth.