Looking for suggestions.... (Dallas, Plano, Irving: for rent, low crime, houses)

[WeLoveNC]

Hello! We are a family with two small children (one toddler and one elementary school age) that will be moving to the area very shortly from NC. My husband will be working in Richland Hills but also commuting to Dallas during the week. We would live input on areas that would be a good fit, ie. great schools, very low crime, $250-300k, >2500 sq feet). We are going to rent first, but I desperately need to narrow this down to enroll our son in school there now and prefer to keep him at this school when we purchase. Thanks for any help!!

[ChristieP]

Richland Hills is ok for work, but you won't want to live there.

Hmm. The problem will be the commuting to Dallas. You don't want to be too far west or northwest to keep this commute manageable. With your budget and size of house you want, I would say NRH or even Keller, but that commute to Dallas would stink from those cities. Ideally, you want easy access to 183 so driving to both places is easy.

Would you be willing to take a slightly smaller house? If so, I would say to look in Grapevine. The commute to both cities would be fairly easy, schools are excellent, and there are houses in your budget. You might be lucky and be able to find a larger house, but you will need to be able to act quickly and have a really good realtor!

[Rob.]

Easy: Hurst... North of 183. Bedford, also North of 183, would be a good pick as well.

[ChristieP]

HEB ISD schools are OK, but not great. GCISD is much better-rated. Also, finding a bigger house in those areas will be tough. There are a few, but mostly, they are smaller and older.

[Squirl]

Flower Mound

Grapevine

Euless or Hurst that are zoned to Grapevine schools

Colleyville is the best choice, but you will need to buy a fixer/dated house


In Texas, the names of the towns don't correlate to those same towns all the time, example depending where you live in Irving your house can be zoned to one of 3 different school districts. So you will want to be aware of school district more importantly than the actual town..

[hypocore]

Where in Dallas would he be commuting? That will make a big difference.

Areas I would consider first are northeastern North Richland Hills and Bedford (agree north of 183). I might extend it to Grapevine if time in Richland Hills is limited and more time is spent in Dallas if it's the northern part of Dallas that is.

[WeLoveNC]

Thanks for the suggestions! It will be all of Dallas (various areas) down to Waco. I will look into these other towns and I have also been told Plano might be good, although it seems to be a little farther. I really appreciate you guys' input

[Squirl]

Originally Posted by WeLoveNC

Thanks for the suggestions! It will be all of Dallas (various areas) down to Waco. I will look into these other towns and I have also been told Plano might be good, although it seems to be a little farther. I really appreciate you guys' input

Plano would be a profoundly poor choice; beyond ridiculous commute in rush hour traffic & costly, too. Tarrant county makes a whole lot of sense and a better value, too. Perfectly fine schools and all good things. If you find Plano attractive, then look in Southlake/Trophy Club.

[Squirl]

some listings worth considering:

52 Cimarron Dr, Trophy Club, TX 76262 - Home for Rent - realtor.com®

14 E Hillside Place E, Trophy Club, TX 76262 - Home for Rent - realtor.com®

2955 Tumbleweed Trl, Grapevine, TX 76051 - Home for Rent - realtor.com®

1544 Merritt Dr, Flower Mound, TX 75028 - Home for Rent - realtor.com®

5409 Oak Hills Dr, Colleyville, TX 76034 - Home for Rent - realtor.com®

209 Brazil Dr, Hurst, TX 76054 - Home for Rent - realtor.com®

[synchronicity]

Originally Posted by Squirl

Plano would be a profoundly poor choice; beyond ridiculous commute in rush hour traffic & costly, too. Tarrant county makes a whole lot of sense and a better value, too. Perfectly fine schools and all good things. If you find Plano attractive, then look in Southlake/Trophy Club.

Where would they find a house for 250-300K at >2,500 sq ft in Southlake? Isn't that also a bit unreasonable in Trophy Club as well?

Also, commuting in and out of Trophy Club is a PITA.

"All over Dallas down to Waco" means that maybe they should focus on something close to NRH, because it sounds like any time they're driving elsewhere it'll be a long haul.