Overwhelmed about where should I buy my first house, any advice is highly appreciated! (Dallas: best suburbs, lease)

[Judsonzhao]

First thread in the forum, thans everyone for letting me have a little bit space to tell my concerns..

So work is at Euless, now live in North Arlington. Single male mid-20 young professional, stable work so far, budget <350k

Places I have been looking into, Viridian in Arlington, Westgate in Grapevine, some random house in Bedford, even more random townhomes in Los Colinas, Coppell, Carroltlon

Viridian is nice and where I have get used to, but North Arlington doesn't seem to be quite a safe place.. And the landfill in fromt of the community bothers me, as I drive daily on 157 sometimes it DOES smell!

The Westgate may be the only home I can fford in Grapevine. I really like Grapevine though, everything seems perfect to me. It's under a runway of DFW though..

Heard that Coppell is probably one of the best suburbs near DFW, some of my co workers live there. But I could hardly find anything I can afford..

Carrollton is great to me but I'm not familiar with it yet, looks like it's bit mixed up and I should be careful picking up communities/neighborhoods

Bottomline, don't want to be caught into traffic.. Not too old, prefer built after 2005

So afterall, results are narrow into quite a small pool. What part should I consider to be more reallistic? I know 350k is hard to buy the all-great kindda home in most areas mentioned above, what should I evaluate the most?

I assume ISD is not important for now, but after years I hope the house would be relatively easy to be leased out or sold.

Thanks again for the help! Any input is highly appreciated.

[ChristieP]

What's the budget for said house?

Carrollton is too far away to commute to Arlington every day.

Unless you need the schools in Coppell, it's not worth paying the high property taxes to live there. (IMHO)

Yes, the landfill on 157 by Viridian does occasionally smell bad. And when it rains, the garbage trucks track mud all over 157. Personally, I would not live there.

If you would be willing to look at homes that are older, you would have a lot more choices. Most older homes are well cared for and have been updated.

[Judsonzhao]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

What's the budget for said house?

Carrollton is too far away to commute to Arlington every day.

Unless you need the schools in Coppell, it's not worth paying the high property taxes to live there. (IMHO)

Yes, the landfill on 157 by Viridian does occasionally smell bad. And when it rains, the garbage trucks track mud all over 157. Personally, I would not live there.

If you would be willing to look at homes that are older, you would have a lot more choices. Most older homes are well cared for and have been updated.

Thank you so much!

The commute is actully to Euless, which makes Carrollton not that bad.
Viridian is really a good community though.. haha

I was thinking for older homes, but I'm really inexperienced. I was trying to go new so that it tends to be trouble-free. I'm doing my homework though. Any resource/material suggested to learn more about home searching?

Thanks again! Have a nice day!

[ChristieP]

Again, we need to know your budget...

Carrollton means you would have a long commute on the PGBT which means you will pay tolls. That alone would be enough to take it off my list.

Older house does not mean more maintenance as long as the house has been maintained well buy the previous owners. Many houses in Grapevine and Euless are very well maintained even though they are 20+ years old.

Hopefully one of the Realtors here can help with education resources for first-time home buyers.

[Judsonzhao]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

Again, we need to know your budget...

Carrollton means you would have a long commute on the PGBT which means you will pay tolls. That alone would be enough to take it off my list.

Older house does not mean more maintenance as long as the house has been maintained well buy the previous owners. Many houses in Grapevine and Euless are very well maintained even though they are 20+ years old.

Hopefully one of the Realtors here can help with education resources for first-time home buyers.

Got you. I wrote the budget on the first line of my thread : ) <350k is pretty much I could afford.

[ChristieP]

That should be PLENTY to buy a starter home.

You need to educate yourself about the process of buying, then decide what you want in a house. Then, familiarize yourself with the cities and what makes each one different. A good realtor can really help you here!

[txtoal]

I lived in Coppell for 10 years, loved it because it was pretty central to everything between Dallas and FW, my job, family and friends. I purchased an older townhome and over the course of the time I lived there, I fixed it up and I sold it for a very good profit. However, ChristieP is right, the school taxes are high and I didn't have children at the time so it may or may not be worth it. I did complain about the taxes just about every year though, lol. Being single that was hard to stomach sometimes. You have a pretty good budget, I would think a nice starter house in Grapevine would be nice, maybe even Colleyville. Good luck!

[Judsonzhao]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

That should be PLENTY to buy a starter home.

You need to educate yourself about the process of buying, then decide what you want in a house. Then, familiarize yourself with the cities and what makes each one different. A good realtor can really help you here!

I will try to get someone to work with! Thanks a lot!

[Judsonzhao]

Originally Posted by txtoal

I lived in Coppell for 10 years, loved it because it was pretty central to everything between Dallas and FW, my job, family and friends. I purchased an older townhome and over the course of the time I lived there, I fixed it up and I sold it for a very good profit. However, ChristieP is right, the school taxes are high and I didn't have children at the time so it may or may not be worth it. I did complain about the taxes just about every year though, lol. Being single that was hard to stomach sometimes. You have a pretty good budget, I would think a nice starter house in Grapevine would be nice, maybe even Colleyville. Good luck!

It's a very good point and glad to hear from someone actual live there
Colleyville is very costly though : (

[ChristieP]

Colleyville is nice, but the newer properties are expensive. It's also really quiet, which a lot of families like.