Keller or Allen? (Dallas, Plano, Denton: apartment complex, to rent, how much)

[texan4me]

Let's hear which one you think is better and why?

[getmeoutofhere]

Two different cities. Keller is a little older, Allen is definitely more stereotypical Dallas suburb.

[FarNorthDallas]

I've never been to Keller.

Allen is a nice place. One high school town. Lots of nice new retail. Great indoor pool facility (shared by the city and the school district). Allen has a great new event center. It also has an outlet mall. Allen is on Hwy 75 with easy access to McKinney an Plano on either side. There's Collin College, too, which is a great community college with facilities in several Collin County cities. Stonebriar mall is down the road in Frisco, which is a great mall.

Allen and Keller are far apart. Where is the workplace going to be? Don't give yourself a scary commute. You'll regret it.

[5stones]

Allen and Keller are far apart. Where is the workplace going to be? Don't give yourself a scary commute. You'll regret it.

Keller is much more a suburb of Ft Worth not Dallas. I can't imagine a job where both areas would be a convienient commute.

But I'll give you insite into Keller and what it has to Offer:
Keller is realitivly small Town but growing. It blends into Watagua, FT Worth, North Richalnd Hills and Southlake. Not a separate defined town any longer.
Keller ISD however is one of the largest in the area. 4 HS (4th just opened this fall.) However only Keller HS is in the city of Keller.
We have a Beautiful Natatorium for the school/USA swim teams. A REC center with indoor/outdoor pools, Playground, BB courts, gym, indoor track, summer kids camps, art classes etc...
Very close to SouthLake Town Center for shopping etc...
Good Schools. Lots of families and lots of youth rec activites.


over in the FT worth forum you will find more info on Keller if you search. Just as you will find more in Depth info on Allen if you search here on the Dallas forum.

[texan4me]

Originally Posted by 5stones

Keller is much more a suburb of Ft Worth not Dallas. I can't imagine a job where both areas would be a convienient commute.

But I'll give you insite into Keller and what it has to Offer:
Keller is realitivly small Town but growing. It blends into Watagua, FT Worth, North Richalnd Hills and Southlake. Not a separate defined town any longer.
Keller ISD however is one of the largest in the area. 4 HS (4th just opened this fall.) However only Keller HS is in the city of Keller.
We have a Beautiful Natatorium for the school/USA swim teams. A REC center with indoor/outdoor pools, Playground, BB courts, gym, indoor track, summer kids camps, art classes etc...
Very close to SouthLake Town Center for shopping etc...
Good Schools. Lots of families and lots of youth rec activites.


over in the FT worth forum you will find more info on Keller if you search. Just as you will find more in Depth info on Allen if you search here on the Dallas forum.

Just came back from a visit to Dallas area. I know those two areas are very far apart. They are just the areas that stuck out to me. That is the issue....we do not know where we will be working. I was trying to find somewhere in the middle so that the commute would not be bad until we find jobs and where we would like to own a home but had trouble finding "the middle" hahah Just going to rent at first--anything is doable for a short time. We like a small town feel. Was in the Stone Lake area in Keller. Twin Creeks area of Allen. Kinda scary how many kids are at Allen High School though. I am afraid my kid will get lost in the crowd. Some parts of Frisco. Seemed to end up in Denton alot but think that is really far out. It is hard to get an exact sense of how far something really is because it is so spread out --if it weren't for those water towers with the city names hahaha Of course, far is only relative to how far you will travel for work. We are not city folk so burb area is best for us. Also visited Coppell. Too many police there!!! Yikes just waiting for ya to do something wrong. Apartment complex said it was against city law to have a BBQ on patio---does anybody no other places like that???? My husband has to be able to BBQ!!! He lives to Smoke/BBQ! True Texan all the way.

What lakes do people hit for boating fun???

[5stones]

may I suggest renting in the midcities area (Hurst, Eulass abd Beford) These are pretty centrally located for both the Dallas job market and Ft Worth. Then you will will learn more of the area while seraching for jobs etc...
The Grapevine area might work too...but with the construction going on for the DFW connector not sure how the traffic situation will be. I am dreading my first trip to DFW since it began!!!
But it does have good HWY acess...I'd say look south Grapevine away from 114.


As for the size of the HS here. yes they are big, unless you go out to areas like Ponder etc... you will have a large High School. I too was worried aobut my daughter (moved the middle of 8th grade) her old HS would have had 1800 kids, no stadium etc... I was afraid she would get lost in the shuffle etc...
But NO, she loves it. She is very involved with Tennis, Student council and National Honor society... Her only complaint isthe halls and "slow walkers!" As long as your sone gets involved he will find a good nich of friends in no time.

[jtrichel]

I find that some seem to think that Southlake/Grapevine/Colleyville/Keller are farther from Dallas than they really are. Some of these individuals may have never or rarely been there. Having driven to/from both many times, I can get to Dallas much faster than Ft. Worth in most cases. Unless you pick peak rush hour times, its 30-40 minutes to downtown from Northeast tarrant county. One day we timed the commute from Southlake to downtown vs. Frisco to downtown and it was about the same. Its 114 straight shot all the way, as it intersects eventually with Stemmons, etc. Or North Dallas, hook over to 635 east, etc. Now the 114 connector project is going to gunk everything up to some extent, how much, we dont know yet.

Putting the commute/drives aside, these are two very different suburbs. Keller is much more rural, tons of older trees, hills, has a more established feel to it. Allen is new, smaller lots, newer houses, no trees, strip malls, all new restaurants/stores, etc. I am not as familiar with Allen having only been there a few times, but I am very familiar with Keller. Its a really great community with lots of parks and recreation, convenient grocery stores, restaurants, easy access to 114, etc. And I find that it is a close-knit community, very friendly down to earth, etc.

[FarNorthDallas]

It's weird for me to hear Allen described as new. Yes, there are some new houses and new retail, but I think a lot of the housing stock is older - some of it on the east side is way older. But even on the west side of Central it's not all super new. Even Twin Creeks has been there 15 years.

But again, I've never been to Keller so I can't compare. I have worked in downtown Dallas with some Keller folks and they said the commute was horrible during rush hour. I don't think either place is really "centrally located" though.

[Discovery1]

Originally Posted by texan4me

Just came back from a visit to Dallas area. I know those two areas are very far apart. They are just the areas that stuck out to me. That is the issue....we do not know where we will be working. I was trying to find somewhere in the middle so that the commute would not be bad until we find jobs and where we would like to own a home but had trouble finding "the middle" hahah Just going to rent at first--anything is doable for a short time. We like a small town feel. Was in the Stone Lake area in Keller. Twin Creeks area of Allen. Kinda scary how many kids are at Allen High School though. I am afraid my kid will get lost in the crowd. Some parts of Frisco. Seemed to end up in Denton alot but think that is really far out. It is hard to get an exact sense of how far something really is because it is so spread out --if it weren't for those water towers with the city names hahaha Of course, far is only relative to how far you will travel for work. We are not city folk so burb area is best for us. Also visited Coppell. Too many police there!!! Yikes just waiting for ya to do something wrong. Apartment complex said it was against city law to have a BBQ on patio---does anybody no other places like that???? My husband has to be able to BBQ!!! He lives to Smoke/BBQ! True Texan all the way.

What lakes do people hit for boating fun???

Try Rockwall.

[Pfhtex]

These days, you will see more legitimate use of cowboy boots in Keller. I'm talking working man's boots, not Casual Friday slippery/shiny Showboots.

Plano's explosive growth caused a mutation all the way through Prosper, and Allen was too close to dodge the suburbification.

However, Allen has the bowling alley, and Goatman's Bridge.