Researching places to live in greater DFW area (Dallas, Plano: transplants, short sales)

[skids929]

Well one of the ideas being tossed around is renting for a while until we get a good feel for the area, where we will be settling as far as work goes etc. Truth is there are all sorts of obstacles to this move, but we will make it happen. One of the biggest problems is that we would lose money on the house we are in, have to bring money to a close which stinks. We did it all right, put down alot of $$, and if we sell we lose it, and have to make it up elsewhere. I don't want to short sale since our credit is really good and want to fulfill our commitment. These are the realities we face unfortunately and this certainly makes us less liquid to buy the house we would want. Sigh...

[momof2dfw]

I do suggest renting at first so that you can get the feel for it. Especially if you do not know where your job will be located.

I have a friend that still has their house out of state and they have rented it out to cover the mortgage and all. It was that or sell it for less than they paid for it. They figured they would just rent it out and wait for the market to recover. She is very thankful that they have great renters though and are still close to all of the neighbors and they let them know that the family renting it is taking very good care of it.

[Grainraiser]

Seems like most of the places you listed are made up of mostly newer developments. I'm not sure if older neighborhoods with charm is your cup of tea. I would suggest any burb along Central expressway would fit the bill. Plano, Frisco, Allen and McKinney. If you want a bit more charm you could look at Richardson, Lake Highlands or Lakewood. Need a tad more information on what type of neighborhood your interested in. Since you mentioned Southlake, Highland Park could also be a possibility. Giving your budget and the type neighborhood your interested in would enable us to narrow your search.

[skids929]

Thanks Grainraiser. I did list alot of newer cities, maybe that is just what I hear more about. I am not against moving to an established neighborhood, bigger trees, less volatility.

I will say this though, alot of what I like about the new developments is the fact alot of them are master planned. Where I come from we do not have communities like this. Here in my town in MA, people do pretty much what they want to do, at the expense of my property value. For example, my neighbor who is a contractor, parks a rusty old trailer full of (dangerous) construction debris near my property, looks awful, town can't do a thing about it. I don't suspect that would fly down there.

Overall though, we are looking for a better life with more opportunity for our careers and children, not just a new house. We want to live near friendly people that don't need to perform a background check prior to being your friend. We would also like to shorten our commutes if possible. Our budget for a home will be between $350-380k.

[skids929]

How's Forney? Too far out? 1 acre lots are nice

[MurphyPl1]

Skids,

Most of the suburbs will have quite a bit of zoning and code enforcement to eliminate the sorts of problems you have in MA. The newer subdivisions have HOAs which add another layer of enforcement (and have their good and bad points with that).

DH and I were discussing Richardson and why it seems to be the inner ring suburb that has done very well at maintaining their property values and not fight the decline you'll see in some of the other ones. He said strong police presence and strong code enforcement on Richardson's part has gone a long way to keep Richardson a solid city with solid property values.

Now everyone here knows I must also tout Murphy. :-) It's a community touching Richardson on it's eastern border. 5 square miles, very family friendly, lots of newer homes, but also acre lots in the south part of town. And very easy to get to shopping, 190 and 75. www.MurphyTX.org :-)

[DBF]

Any reason you did not have Plano on your initial list? It borders Richardson and has great schools and lots of amenities. You can find nice houses in all price ranges. If you think your children will be involved in sports Plano would be better over Richardson. We moved here from Chicago almost 25 years ago and are now relocating to the Charlotte area and will very much miss Plano and TX.

By the way Forney is WAY too far out and a bit of a "rural" feel.

[ETex2]

You should go over the posts here posed by people with essentially the same question. I would say there are no less than 100 or so threads about this in the last year. Try to gain knowledge by looking at them collectively rather than individually. There are people here who look down on cities and towns that offer lots of homes under $250K or so. They'll give you bad advice if you are among the people who want an affordable home, since their true knowledge of these areas is usually limited and they offered a prejudiced opinion about some really nice parts of town. Then make a decision which areas you'd like to look at, etc..

[skids929]

Murphy is now on the list actually, thanks for recommending it. I am learning new things everyday about where to look and potentially buy. I need to look into schools in Murphy and see if they are on par with some of the other towns we locked in on because of schools, Prosper, Southlake etc. I may be coming down soon, I think this will resolve alot of the questions.

[smartytx1]

I used to live in Frisco (near Coit/121) and work near 75/635, the commute driving straight down Coit was around 45 minutes (40 mph with stoplights). It was faster than the Tollway or 75.
Have you looked into Wylie? I heard it's a slowly developing area near Richardson.