Moving to DFW - NW Fort Worth the right area??? (Dallas: day care, houses)

[mattwalt]

Good Evening,

I have read alot of the posts related to moving to Ft Worth and obtained a bevy of good information. Would appreciate some of you wonderful folks providing some potential more detail as my wife (a native Texan) and I prepare to move to DFW.

The background detail:
- Currently live in small town in upstate NY (think Farms, Cornfields, and quiet, safe, small community)
- We will most likely both be working in White Settlement with the possiblity of one of us working in Grand Praire. My In-laws live in Garland but commute to Ft Worth daily for work as well.
- We have 4 month old twins and a 3 yr old son so good day care/preschool will be a must which ultimately leads to a good school district.
- We are in the market for a house in the $300k range.

Where should we be looking to maximize our small town feel/safe community feel balanced with house pricing, good school district and low commute times?

We have been looking at houses in Saginaw (appear to be mostly newer- which we like), some in Keller, some in other areas of NW Ft Worth.

Am I missing something in not looking more towards Dallas? North Richland Hills? Euless/Bedford/Hurst? Watugua? Colleyville?

Greatly appreciate any and all comments.

[loves2read]

use an MLS site and see what type of house you get for 300K in those towns--Colleyville is basically outside your price point unless you get house in the HEB ISD subdivisions inside Colleyville city limits--and most people paying Colleyville taxes want Colleyville schools--

there are few rural/bucolic areas inside the metroplex where cows are roaming--almost most areas with homes 300K are safe
so if you want that type of open land you are going to have to look farther outside the suburban areas--
more toward Roanoak or south to Burleson or west to Aledo--

look at a map--
to me White Settlement and Grand Prairie are a good ways apart--like on either side of Tarrant county almost--
IF you wound up working in both locations I would say Burleson would be better location since it has some decent shopping areas and restaurants available (although no mall) and would be more rural but the ISD is not that great compared to ones like Birdville, HEB, Keller IMO

(why your in-laws would drive across the metroplex to get to/from work in FTW and live in Garland probably means they both changed jobs since buying that house--most people would think that was an insane commute)

[mattwalt]

Thanks for the info...I agree that White Settlement and Grand Prairie are a decent ways apart. Most likely we will both end up in White Settlement and squash that issue. And I also agree that the Garland to Ft Worth commute is insane. Thanks for your help...

Matt

[TxBrn&Raised]

We were drawn to Saginaw 3yrs ago and haven't looked back I'd definitely recommend driving around your top city picks and seeing what fits you and your family the best. Before we moved here, our top pick was in a very desirable town that many talk about on here, but once we spent some time there, it drove me insane with the traffic and the amount of people/houses crammed into the area....but many love it there, so it's definitely a personal decision

Your price range of 300k is probably more than the city limits of Saginaw offers. You can find a beautiful home near Willow Creek Park for around 200K...existing and builders. The areas around Willow Creek Park are the ones I'd recommend looking into...The Dominion, Willow Creek, The Courts of Willow Creek, The Commons at Willow Creek. Those feed into good schools and are near the park, rec, library, and police department The Citizen's Police Academy at the PD is a great program I'd recommend looking into!

My husband has had job offers in Grand Prairie, so we've casually tested the commute time. He actually turned down the job and decided to stay at his current location, 10 miles away, because of the commute to Grand Prairie. It can be done, don't get me wrong...but if there's a possibility GP may be an option, I'd definitely throw some eastern options in there as well


Please feel free to contact me with any specific questions you have about the Saginaw area! I'd love to help!