Why is Richardson inexpensive? (Dallas, San Antonio: crime rates, houses, neighborhood)

[FarNorthDallas]

Ghetto? What does that mean?

[LOK222]

Originally Posted by FarNorthDallas

Ghetto? What does that mean?

well.. maybe Ghetto is not the best term for Richardson, it's just older than my great great grandmother so maybe a little "run down" ?

[truecolours]

Originally Posted by FarNorthDallas

The area along Spring Valley, east of 75 to Coit (north of Coit is Richardson, south side of Coit is Dallas), has one of the highest crime rates in the entire Dallas area.

Thanks. That post was full of good info. When you said North of Coit is Richardson, did you mean Spring Valley? Coit looks like it's a North/South street. I will definitely stop saving listings between 75 and the mall.

I probably wouldn't be moving until January, but if I saw the right thing ya never know.

How is South Plano? I'm sure when you long-term residents hear these names like Richardson and Plano, you get images of old, new, worn-down, skanky, up-scale, whatever. Just like I would with neighborhoods in San Diego. I will try to get up there to see the area in the next couple of months, but for now I'm just trying to get a feel for if I could find something nice, albeit older, within a few miles of his work. I live in a nice area now with big new homes. I don't mind older houses, as long as the area isn't "undesirable". Is Plano more "desirable" than Richardson? Are McKinney and Frisco more "desirable" than Plano? There should be a list somewhere.

I suppose it's not impossible for us to go North to McKinney or Frisco, but he would definitely have to work at the office as opposed to working from home.

[socketz]

Originally Posted by truecolours

Thanks. That post was full of good info. When you said North of Coit is Richardson, did you mean Spring Valley? Coit looks like it's a North/South street. I will definitely stop saving listings between 75 and the mall.

I probably wouldn't be moving until January, but if I saw the right thing ya never know.

How is South Plano? I'm sure when you long-term residents hear these names like Richardson and Plano, you get images of old, new, worn-down, skanky, up-scale, whatever. Just like I would with neighborhoods in San Diego. I will try to get up there to see the area in the next couple of months, but for now I'm just trying to get a feel for if I could find something nice, albeit older, within a few miles of his work. I live in a nice area now with big new homes. I don't mind older houses, as long as the area isn't "undesirable". Is Plano more "desirable" than Richardson? Are McKinney and Frisco more "desirable" than Plano? There should be a list somewhere.

I suppose it's not impossible for us to go North to McKinney or Frisco, but he would definitely have to work at the office as opposed to working from home.

Desirable is very relative. Some people put short commutes above all else, some prefer schools, others just want to live in new areas. You have to personally know what is most important to you before you can pick an area. I work in Richardson and have been just about everywhere there with clients and co-workers. While I wouldn't call Richardson desirable myself, I would not call it Ghetto either, it's just an older more established area. There are even somenew areas there as well. I guess if I was to find a word to describe it, it's simply not inspiring to me. But again, that's relative. being from CA, I've bought and sold so many older homes that it was just time for me to buy something new. I also prefer being away from the city, not near it. But we are all different which is what makes Dallas so cool, it simply has something for everyone.

[socketz]

Originally Posted by LOK222

well.. maybe Ghetto is not the best term for Richardson, it's just older than my great great grandmother so maybe a little "run down" ?

Dude, you didn't just call Richardson Ghetto did you....The forum police are going to find you and haul you into suburb detox :-)

[momof2dfw]

Thanks. That post was full of good info. When you said North of Coit is Richardson, did you mean Spring Valley? Coit looks like it's a North/South street. I will definitely stop saving listings between 75 and the mall.
Coit runs North/South and Spring Valley runs East/West. Don't go south of Spring Valley. Between 75 and the mall is ehh. Some parts are nice but there is more industrial thru there than residential and is a mixed bag. Lots of Asian shops and restaurants.

How is South Plano? I'm sure when you long-term residents hear these names like Richardson and Plano, you get images of old, new, worn-down, skanky, up-scale, whatever. Just like I would with neighborhoods in San Diego. I will try to get up there to see the area in the next couple of months, but for now I'm just trying to get a feel for if I could find something nice, albeit older, within a few miles of his work. I live in a nice area now with big new homes. I don't mind older houses, as long as the area isn't "undesirable". Is Plano more "desirable" than Richardson? Are McKinney and Frisco more "desirable" than Plano? There should be a list somewhere.
"south Plano", hmmm, never really used that term as Plano is divided up more by east or west. South Plano being anything around Collin Creek Mall and points east or west is okay and also can be a mixed bag. Older homes for sure. Spotty areas can have a lot of apartments. I would not put "worn down" or "skanky" as descriptions for all of Richardson, Plano or Garland. In all three your going to have areas that are more industrial, lower rent area, newer homes, established residential areas, etc. Personally I think Richardson is more "desirable" than Plano only because it is somewhat smaller, has more character w/ the neighborhoods, etc. I also personally do not find McKinney and Frisco "desirable" at all. Too crowded for my tastes and more of the quickly buit all look alike subdivisions. They are also farther out than I want to be. If I'm going to be out farther from downtown Dallas and other things in the metro area I'm going to somewhere like Lucas or Parker as I want to be able to have some room around me. There are also more trees in that area than in places like Frisco. I also don't want to have a 20 minute drive to the store for a gallon of milk (a bit of an over exaggeration but at times during rush hour it is can be true).

I suppose it's not impossible for us to go North to McKinney or Frisco, but he would definitely have to work at the office as opposed to working from home.
If he would rather work from home than have to commute in congested traffic every day then I'd stay closer in.

[FarNorthDallas]

Yes, I meant Spring Valley not Coit. Sorry.

I lived in San Diego briefly in the North Park area. In the late 1980s.

Lots of people think the newer the area the better and if that's true Frisco and McKinney are better than Plano which is better than Richardson which is better than Dallas. Garland has always had a ...not great reputation and is considered "property poor" on the Robin Hood school funding plan. (Richardson is considered "property wealthy" on the other hand due to business development). That Firewheel area in Garland has really helped Garland's reputation recently.

When I was growing up Frisco and McKinney were small towns you sometimes played in football and the drive there was forever long. Now they are suburbs that people live in and commute to Dallas everyday to work. It's hard for me to imagine spending that much time in the car everyday, but hey, it's all new and clean so I can see the attraction.

Frisco is family central - a bagillion children - tons and tons of Californians. McKinney has a cool downtown area, an historic town square. McKinney is more of a straight shot to Richardson, but be sure and drive it at rush hour to see what that's like before you move up there.

[scyogi]

I stayed in Richardson while I was looking for houses and I thought it was really nice. I never made it to any 'shady' sides of Richardson. Full disclosure my next sentence could be completely wrong: We drove up and down Coit several times and there was plenty of very nice neighborhoods (older, beautiful trees, established) The highschool that we drove by was amazing! It made my mouth drop it was so nice. We have some (new) friends who live in a *huge* house in Richardson and they love the area. They have lived there forever and recommend it highly. She wanted to take me over to the Canyon Creek neighborhood to show me around. She said most realtors never show over there and if you want to buy a home in that area you have to act fast.

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by scyogi

I stayed in Richardson while I was looking for houses and I thought it was really nice. I never made it to any 'shady' sides of Richardson. Full disclosure my next sentence could be completely wrong: We drove up and down Coit several times and there was plenty of very nice neighborhoods (older, beautiful trees, established) The highschool that we drove by was amazing! It made my mouth drop it was so nice. We have some (new) friends who live in a *huge* house in Richardson and they love the area. They have lived there forever and recommend it highly. She wanted to take me over to the Canyon Creek neighborhood to show me around. She said most realtors never show over there and if you want to buy a home in that area you have to act fast.

Your friend was right. In these areas that people from out of state have heard are "shady" or not good are actually very nice and are GREAT! She was also right about some realtors but they have all drank the koolaid and think that EVERYONE WANTS brand new and Frisco or McKinney. No thanks. These are all some great older more established neighborhoods w/ great schools that still attract a lot of young families. Problem is the people that live in them DON'T WANT TO MOVE so you do have to act fast if a house goes up for sale that is nice. Your always going to have the house up for sale forever that the owners have not taken care of it or updated and think it is worth a mint and it will sit. But the good homes in these areas sell FAST! Which is sad but if you do find a house that fits your needs in one of these areas and it just needs a little bit of elbow grease, sprucing up, change of colors, etc and you plan on being there for about 5 years then go ahead and buy it and you WILL make your money back and more. I've seen some pretty ugly houses sell in these areas for top dollar and the buyer dropped wads to update and they are still sitting pretty and won't lose unless the bottom just falls out hard and we all lose then. Unless of course they don't sell then and just ride it out . There is not a huge turnover of residents and the neighborhoods are more stable because people that live in these places are happy and content w/ where they live.

[FarNorthDallas]

So true. The best way to get a house in these parts is to get a realtor who can watch for new houses going on the market and view it before the sign goes up. There are about 500 homes in our subdivision and only 1 foreclosure. There are about 8 houses for sale which is high. As my name suggests though I am in Far North Dallas, Richardson school district. I could throw a rock at Richardson city limits. Go check out the number of houses for sale or in foreclosure in Frisco.

Another nice Richardson neighborhood is the reservation which is east of Coit, north of Arapaho, south of Melrose, not sure of the eastern boundary. Streets are all Indian tribe names.