Tour 18 Estates Flower Mound vs. Southlake (Fort Worth, Lewisville: for sale, HOA, mortgage)

[warmhiker]

Hi,
My husband and I just recently into the FW area hoping to achieve warmth and friendliness here in TX. We stumbled upon the Estates of Tour 18 in Flower Mound and some homes in Southlake. In having searched through the forums, we're trying to decide on which area will grow economically and have good resale in the years to come, but still have room to breathe, or at least .5 acre.

We've done research and appears both areas are growing, but have an abundance of homes on the market, so don't know where to concentrate. We're open-minded, have only a cat and dog (our kids), and both working in central Ft. Worth area. Any suggestions on comparison betw. both? And, or any ideas on why so many homes for sale in either place? Should this be a concern?

Any suggestions or thoughts anyone could provide would be most appreciated. Thanks for your help!
Chris

[ChristieP]

Flower Mound to Fort Worth is NOT going to be a fun commute, especially once the reconstruction of the highway interchanges on the north end of DFW gets started in 2010.

[loves2read]

agree--but from where Tour 18 is located much more likely to come down 35 than use the Grapevine interchange like the east side of Flower Mound would require

you don't mention price
those homes in Tour 18 are normally over 500K and some are well into million dollar range
schools in both locations (if it is Lewisville ISD and Carroll ISD) are good for resale even if you don't need them for your children...
BUT the Tour 18 location is going to have some gas wells and infrastructure I believe is there are not any now--there should be some in future--
don't know about the Southlake location since you are not specific and Southlake is fairly large...
there are LOTS of homes on market--that more than anything will keep price appreciation down for short term...
Tour 18 since it is golf course community will probably have higher HOA fess depending on if you get automatic membership or have to buy it--I would certainly want to know more about the HOA requirements and situation there because of the financial responsibility of a golf course

if you work in downtown FTW you should make that drive at least one Monday morning in normal traffic to see what it is like both ways...
we considered moving to Argyle area to get larger lot and my husband drove 35 that way one day after work to see what it was like--NEVER--he swore...

[adixyz]

Isn't Tour 18 Estates close to 1171 ? From Flower Mound taking 1171 (Cross Timbers Road) and 35W South should be a breeze compared to 121/ Highway inter exchanges. I used to travel to North Fort Worth from Valley Ranch taking 121 before moving to Flower Mound and now it takes me 30-35 mins to North Fort Worth for a 25 mile commute. The traffic slows down on 35W and 820 exchanges but I get off before the 820 exit so don't know how the traffic goes beyond 820 exit but i think it should be much better than taking 121/ 820. You can also hit 35W South from Southlake (depending on where you live in Southlake)

FM City is expanding 1171 to a six-lane divided thoroughfare from FM 2499 to I-35W. The project consists of three phases - Check Flower Mound City website for details/ progress.

Property prices have come down for high value homes in both areas but if property prices ever (??) come back to the previous levels there might be more upside in Southlake. Property taxes are higher in Southlake compared to FM and you'll get a lot bigger house for the same $$$ in FM. Academically FM schools (part of Lewisville ISD) and Carroll ISD are comparable ..schools in both areas are exemplary. However in sports (football) Southlake had fared better than FM.
I would highly encourage to take a commute drive from both areas and also meet the school councilors.

[warmhiker]

Oh wow, I didn't know about the expansion, thanks! We definitely do need to make the commute, as everyone mentioned. That may solidify things as well. It helps though, to get the perspectives of people who know more than we do about the areas, so we don't go in totally blind into mortgage bliss 8-)

[adixyz]

From where Tour 18 is, the 1171 expansion through 377 and further to 35W may not be easy. The road is zig zag and i find road construction slower in DFW area than other cities i have lived earlier. I can still drive @ 50-60 MPH on this single lane road because of less traffic. Please call the FM town on the current status on this project and other projects like DFW connector (this would ease traffic on the Grapevine -121-635-114 funnel) that include an underpasses for FM 2499 which should help with the mobility in and around Flower Mound. Ask them if they have funding in place and the likelyhood of any of these important projects being abondoned /postponed. Also ask them what are their long term plans on 1171 for commercial/ residential activities when it becomes 6 lane.

[GrapevineTxOnline]

Given the choice, I would take Southlake every day of the week.

But like others have said, you probably need to be specific on your location.

The current commute to downtown Fort Worth is a breeze from Southlake. That may change with the coming construction next year, but my guess is that by living there you will know/find ways around the construction. For the people that don't live there, the construction will cause problems.

[loves2read]

oversymplification say the current commute from Southlake to downtown FTW is a "breeze"--
depending on where you start from...you can travel on narrow two-lane roads with school zones for while before you get to 114 or 1709--then you hit the interchange and take 121 S to 183 E--
there is traffic all that route...

if you are close to 114 in Southlake you also have the option of taking 114 to I35 and going S into downtown FTW--but that is congested narrow freeway as well...
it could be as short as 25 min or closer to an hour each way...

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

Flower Mound to Fort Worth is NOT going to be a fun commute, especially once the reconstruction of the highway interchanges on the north end of DFW gets started in 2010.

actually if you do the back roads it really isn't bad..
That being said, you can't go wrong with either location.
Nita

[Mommy24kids]

You'll be hard pressed to find a home in Tour 18 for under $800,000. Also most of the homes in Tour 18 feed into the Argyle ISD school system, not Lewisville/Flower Mound.