Relocating to the area...where would you look Southlake or McKinney? (Dallas: rent, houses)

[Robin2007]

All advice is appreciated. Commute does not matter...but schools and quality of life does!!

Thanks!!

[BigDGeek]

If quality of life matters....neither place. Sorry but I am being honest. You may think your commute does not matter now but I promise you after a year of brutal commuting in severe storms, extreme heat, etc. you may change your tune.

To me Southlake and McKinney are soulless, barren, personality-free zones that are too far from anything worth seeing in the metro area. If you want an area with personality, try Lakewood.

[Robin2007]

Originally Posted by BigDGeek

If quality of life matters....neither place. Sorry but I am being honest. You may think your commute does not matter now but I promise you after a year of brutal commuting in severe storms, extreme heat, etc. you may change your tune.

To me Southlake and McKinney are soulless, barren, personality-free zones that are too far from anything worth seeing in the metro area. If you want an area with personality, try Lakewood.

Thanks...haven't heard of Lakewood...I'll check it out as well.

[$DFW8$]

Originally Posted by Robin2007

All advice is appreciated. Commute does not matter...but schools and quality of life does!!

Thanks!!

Southlake and McKinney are both good. Both are fairly new areas that are very safe, family-oriented, and provide a great quality of life. The schools in Southlake are better, but not by a whole lot.

In both areas, you will find very nice, new neighborhoods with families outside interacting with each other. You might even be able to live in a neighborhood where the schools are in the neighborhood.

Southlake is going to be a little more expensive than McKinney.

When you say that the commute doesn't matter, what do you mean? Are you saying that you will not be commuting or that the commute time doesn't matter.

To me , Lakewood doesn't have much character. It is just older homes that are very close in to Dallas and White Rock Lake. I mean some of them are okay, but definitely not where I would want to live. And there isn't a whole lot of people moving there. Plus some of the houses in there need a lot of work done on them.

P.S.- Beware of the suburb haters on here! One has already posted on here.

[loves2read]

commute does matter--anyone saying that obviously does not care about quality of life

there is little life left after commuting an hour or more each way

so where you are going to be working is the question--if it is Inner Dallas then Lakewood is probably a good choice -- there is a special charm in that area that some people find very alluring but some people would take issue with being in Dallas ISD schools

if you are working in north part of town or out by DFW then you have other options/choices

OP does not really supply enough info to make an informed response IMO --

and not all suburbs are created equal....

[$DFW8$]

Originally Posted by loves2read

commute does matter--anyone saying that obviously does not care about quality of life

How do you know that the OP will not be telecommuting(working from home)? You need to get off your high horse. I mean come on, who doesn't care about quality of life?!

A commute from Southlake or McKinney to Dallas would not be an hour unless there was just terrible weather and a ton of accidents.

[pepper131]

Originally Posted by Robin2007

All advice is appreciated. Commute does not matter...but schools and quality of life does!!

Thanks!!

You may need to expand on "quality of life" and what that means to you and your family.

Southlake has consistent good schools. You don't mention what price range for your home, though.

[lh_newbie]

Commute = quality of life. If you live in McKinney and work in Southlake (or vice-a-versa), your 3 hours of daily commuting to/from work certainly decreases the quality of life. Monday through Friday = wake up, drive to work, put in your hours, drive home, go to bed within 60 minutes of getting home. 1 hour of family time per weekday = poor QOL in my opinion.

That said, there's a big difference between McKinney and Southlake.

McKinney has some REALLY neat historic areas. If you like historic homes and a very neat restored town square, then McKinney wins hands down.

If you like all things shiny new, then Southlake is your deal. Southlake has a very cool square, but it's all brand new and more big-box and national retail chains. Not much "character" from the perspective of local retail and history.

That's a very high level comparison. I suggest you rent in one of the areas that you believe is better so you can properly evaluate the areas... as well as determine if your commute time indeed affects quality of life.

[txgolfer130]

quality of life doesn't limit itself to only existing within a 20 minute "bubble" that most here in N. Texas find themselves in. OP don't let yourself be inundated by the 20 minute bubble people. Both Southlake and McKinney are really nice and both have great schools. I live in McKinney, but if I had a choice and could pick either or, and not worry about commute it would be Southlake by a slim margin.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by BigDGeek

If quality of life matters....neither place. Sorry but I am being honest. You may think your commute does not matter now but I promise you after a year of brutal commuting in severe storms, extreme heat, etc. you may change your tune.

To me Southlake and McKinney are soulless, barren, personality-free zones that are too far from anything worth seeing in the metro area. If you want an area with personality, try Lakewood.

Has it occurred to you, maybe the OP works out of their home or is so used to long commutes an hour or so isn't important...??Maybe what you call quality or life and they call it are two different things?

I think often, which was mentioned on another thread a minute ago, too often we forget to answer the OPs question as we feel strongly about certain areas or subjects. Let's hope the OP has done research and narrowed his/her decision down. It sounds that way to me.

Nita