White Rock Lake house -- Peninsula St. -- Good area? (Dallas: rental, crime)

[Brookside]

We've been looking at rental houses this weekend. Everything we've seen in Plano in our price range is a *dump.* So while drving around White Rock Lake -- so beautiful! -- we found a house on Peninsula St. only a block or so from the lake!

Is this a good/safe area?

Also found a place on the 800 block of Cordova St. Is this still part of Lakewood, or am I confused about boundaries? Neighborhood seemed nice, but surrounding areas = a little sketchy. ???

Thanks for any input/advice!

[FarNorthDallas]

Will you have kids in public schools? If so, what schools do these feed into?

[pepper131]

Peninsula area is great!! It's so cute over there!! The school is Hexter and that's a great school. If you move over there, yuo'll eventually figure out which house is Erykah Badu's.

It depends where on Cordova - if it's closer to East Grand, I'd pass on it. The area is called Hollywood-Santa Monica or Hollywood Heights. Kids still go to Lakewood Elem. You can see the boundry maps on the disd web site.

But...I'd consider the Peninsula house most.

[TurtleCreek80]

That's funny- I would take the Cordova house over the Peninsula house. I don't like how there really isn't a neighborhood around the Peninsula house - kids have to cross Garland to get to friends' houses and school. Plus, Peninsula feeds into Bryan Adams High, which is not good & doest seem to be improving.

Cordova, on the other hand, is in a charming neighborhood with an active crime watch and neighborhood association. I love the nearby parks, winding streets with hills, and the fact no one's tearing down those charming cottages yet. Property values have really skyrocketed there in the past 8 years- I wanted to buy over there but got priced out of the neighborhood. Feeds into Lakewood elementary (although a bit of a drive to get there), but is a 5 minute walk to Long Middle and Woodrow Wilson HS. Backs up to the new Santa Fe Trail, which connects Deep Ellum and White Rock. I promise, in 3-5 years, the trail will have all the landscaping, lighting, & security that the Katy Trail does today. Fundraising has started!
The Cordova house is also closer to highways, downtown, & Lakewood Village- closer to the heart of a neighborhood. I have several single female friends who live in HH and are very happy there. Yes, it backs up to a rougher neighborhood, but there doesn't seem to be much if any spillover from one hood to the next. Trust me, I studied Dallas' crime maps intensively when I looked over there.

[Brookside]

This is good info!

The Penninsula Dr. house is Hexter ele and Adams HS (heard not-so-great info about Adam, which made me wonder about the overall area) and Cordova is Lipscomb/Wilson. Hower, the Cordova is house is avail only for a temp lease, so may not meet our needs.

FYI -- our kids are grown. We have a dog and both neighborhoods seemed very dog-friendly! College-age daughter and married older son will visit from time to time, so space might be an issue. I thinki we will at least give them a look. DD really charmed by the lake - so was I! - just not that familiar with crime stats, etc. Seemed like plenty of walkers/joggers in the area, and we want a friendly neighborhood where I can walk the pooch and not have to dodge p/u trucks!

Thanks!

[ChristieP]

Since schools are not a factor, GO FOR IT! Peninsula is a really cute area, and the location is surrounded by gorgeous parks. We used to live across Garland Rd on San Fernando and we often walked around the lake near that area.

The only down side to the homes in that area is unless they have been renovated, they will only have one bathroom.

[pepper131]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

Since schools are not a factor, GO FOR IT! Peninsula is a really cute area, and the location is surrounded by gorgeous parks.

I agree. The Green Spot across Buckner has this:
White Rock Local Market

It's a great little area!

[Lakewooder]

Actually Cordova does not feed into Lipscomb (which is also exemplary) it feeds into Lakewood - somebody gave you the wrong info.

This will be a difficult decision. However, I personally would go with Hollywood Heights as I love that area (better than the M-Streets IMO) - it is part of the greater Lakewood community which is very social and like a small town. Check out this story and be sure to view the pics: Hooray for Hollywood - Lakewood, Dallas, TX

[Brookside]

Update:

We had to pass on both houses - the Cordova house had a charming exterior, but the interior was a little too ragged for our tastes.

Peninsula Dr - that was a hard one! It had only 1 bath and a tiny kitchen. Large-ish master brm and even a walk-in closet! DH says it's still too small and I haven't had any luck convincing him otherwise. The area is really wonderful, though. Hope we can find something a little bigger --- !

Thanks for all the input -- I can't wait to move back to Texas!

[Lakewooder]

Thanks for the update -- I was having a few second thoughts on this because the Peninsula house would be great for strolling to the lake every afternoon...good luck and I hope you will find something here. Second baths and third bedrooms can be hard to find in certain price ranges around here. But we all need to toss some of our junk, don't we?