Why is Houston so cheaper than Dallas (Arlington, Denton: professionals, shop)

[Nuclear Bear]

Originally Posted by WRM20

Plano isn't a suburb. It's an incorporated city, and has been for many decades. When we lived there in the late 60's/early 70's, it in no way identified as a suburb of Dallas. I doubt that's changed.

Plano is an inner ring suburb of Dallas.

Denton, Greenville, Sherman, Ft Worth....those are cities that are not suburbs of Dallas.

All the suburbs in the Dallas (Richardson, Garland, Duncanville...etc) are all incorporated cities.

[Nuclear Bear]

Originally Posted by R1070

What makes the Woodlands better than some of the DFW burbs like Flower Mound, Coppell, Westlake, Grapevine, Southlake, Colleyville, Las Colinas, etc.? Pine trees?
.

In short answer....yes.

The Woodlands has natural beauty. None of those Dallas area suburbs have any natural beauty because those huge homes are built on flat farmland.

Cedar Hill, Lakewood and parts of Oak Cliff are going to be the only affluent areas in Dallas with natural beauty.

[dallasboi]

Originally Posted by Redlionjr

The fact that Houston has a neighborhood like 3rdward which happens to sit in the most ideal location in the loop gives it all the more reason it has an advantage over Dallas when it comes to the loop. Black cultural experiences in the loop aren't just regulated to 3rd Ward but the fact you have a "home base" like that just expands your presence. There's other establishments sprinkled throughout the inner loop that cater primarily to AA's. Dallas in it's core isn't quite like that. Their Black core is outside the loop and it's primarily suburbia. This is one of the reasons Houston's black culture is more in your face than Dallas Black culture. Culturally it's not as isolated from the dominant society like in Dallas.



I kinda agree with this statement here. DFW has the more consistent polished burbs. Outside of the loop, there's no consistency. There's no rhyme and reason. Don't get me wrong I wouldn't say DFW suburbs are the ideal suburbs however when you compare them to Houston yeah it's really no contest. If you live in Loop 12 or Inner loop none of this makes a difference. But the reality is most Houstonians and Dallasites live outside their urban core so you have to pick your poison.

Go with the chaotic mix, match generic suburban lifestyle that is Houston MSA or go with the neatly packed generic cookie cutter burbs that make up DFW? I'd give the slight edge to DFW.

South Dallas is in the same spot as 3rd ward is in Houston. Pleasant Grove, South oak Cliff and West Dallas are all within Loop 12.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by dallasboi

South Dallas is in the same spot as 3rd ward is in Houston. Pleasant Grove, South oak Cliff and West Dallas are all within Loop 12.

I hope this continues to grow and the city continues to embrace it. This is definitely the most slept on portion of Dallas.

[Nuclear Bear]

Originally Posted by mkwensky

I'm not sure what's the point of this. People tend to use amenities in their entire metro area, not just those in their city's boundary, so it makes little sense to talk about just cities unless you're in an urban planning conference or something.

Neither do I. People do that crap on this forum all the time.

If Im talking about Dallas...then yes I'm also including Las Colinas, Plano and Richardson in that mix.

Same thing with Atlanta, or any other large metro area.

[Mr. Clutch]

Originally Posted by Nuclear Bear

Neither do I. People do that crap on this forum all the time.

If Im talking about Dallas...then yes I'm also including Las Colinas, Plano and Richardson in that mix.

Same thing with Atlanta, or any other large metro area.

That's true, but the point of this is that so many of Houston's amenities (as well as Atlanta's to a somewhat lesser extent) are centralized. Whether this is a good thing or not depends on where you sit.

At the end of the day, DFW (not just Dallas), Houston, Atlanta all have about the same amount of amenities. DFW amenities are more spread out than the other two. Does that help the suburbs? Yes. Does that help the city of Dallas? No.

Living inside the loop, there's literally one thing I do regularly that requires me to drive more than 20 minutes and that's going to IAH which is about a 30 minute drive. Other than that, everything is convenient and easy to get to. I get that Houston has a lot of traffic but it doesn't really affect me because even in traffic, it doesn't take long to get anywhere and the things I want to do and see are often close.

If I wanted to live in the suburbs and have better access to some of the things that the city offers, I'd probably choose DFW or Atlanta because they both have better suburban amenities than we do here for the very same reason - most of the amenities are in the city and specifically in the inner loop.

I don't agree that most large metro areas function the way DFW does though. I lived in DC for years and in my last couple of years moved to the Northern VA suburbs. I knew plenty of people who had been in DC for years as well (even natives) that had never been to the part of VA I moved to, 10 miles from the DC border. Why would they? Like Houston, most of the regional amenities are centralized. NYC and Chicago work this way as well. DFW is more of an exception in this regard moreso than most places. True live/work/play suburbs that draw people that don't live there in on a large scale only exist in a few places.

I would hate to have to go to Frisco or Arlington just to catch soccer or baseball but obviously it benefits the people that live there NOT to have to go to Dallas. Like I said, your preference here will just depend on your lifestyle and what you like. But in the case of Houston I think it can go toe to toe as a city in terms of amenities with most metro areas just because the suburbs generally don't add much other than population (the Woodlands, Sugar Land, and Katy excluded).

[stoneclaw]

Originally Posted by dallasboi

South Dallas is in the same spot as 3rd ward is in Houston. Pleasant Grove, South oak Cliff and West Dallas are all within Loop 12.

I was going to say that, but you beat me to it. Dallas's black areas are well within Loop 12, but 3rd ward gets the advantage, primarily because of TSU and the history behind 3rd ward.

South Dallas (well south of downtown) anyway is easily a forgotten area of Dallas which actually makes up for 1/2 the city limits. People, including myself forget that part is still Dallas because it is the exact opposite of everything Downtown and North, NOT FLASHY. There are several roads that look just as old and run down as Sunnyside.

[IamLegend2000]

Originally Posted by Nuclear Bear

In short answer....yes.

The Woodlands has natural beauty. None of those Dallas area suburbs have any natural beauty because those huge homes are built on flat farmland.

Cedar Hill, Lakewood and parts of Oak Cliff are going to be the only affluent areas in Dallas with natural beauty.

I'll have to check out the Woodlands. I've always passed through. And yes, Cedar Hill is gorgeous. Anyone who hasnt been should check out the Lake Ridge area.

I'll agree that most of Arlington is ugly. In fact, it reminds me of a mini Houston with its diversity and ugliness (strip malls and janky businesses) but there are beautiful parts to Arlington that outsiders don't know about. Bardin area between 157 and Bowen is a nice wooded area. East of Lake Arlington area is nice. Then some of Arlington's terrain can compete with Cedar Hill. There's the beautiful area around Interlochen that is wooded and hilly. North Arlington has a lot of steep hills. River legacy Park area is nice. The area around Lake Viridian (it's probably considered cookie cutter and plastic to "authentic folks.")

[Nuclear Bear]

Originally Posted by IamLegend2000

I'll have to check out the Woodlands. I've always passed through. And yes, Cedar Hill is gorgeous. Anyone who hasnt been should check out the Lake Ridge area.

I'll agree that most of Arlington is ugly. In fact, it reminds me of a mini Houston with its diversity and ugliness (strip malls and janky businesses) but there are beautiful parts to Arlington that outsiders don't know about. Bardin area between 157 and Bowen is a nice wooded area. East of Lake Arlington area is nice. Then some of Arlington's terrain can compete with Cedar Hill. There's the beautiful area around Interlochen that is wooded and hilly. North Arlington has a lot of steep hills. River legacy Park area is nice. The area around Lake Viridian (it's probably considered cookie cutter and plastic to "authentic folks.")

In all honesty that is something that has always turned me off about Dallas.

Kessler Park in Oak Cliff is gorgeous, and IMO better looking than anything in the Park Cities.

Some of the homes that are up in the Hills that overlook Joe Pool lake in the Cedar Hill area do not look like they belong in Dallas at all. There are some stunning homes up there that a lot of people don't know about.

But the standard $400k tract houses that dot Collin County and Denton County. They do not do it for me.

In other cities the affluent part of town is also scenically beautiful, and this is where Houston has an edge with River Oaks, Tanglewood and the Woodlands.

The topography and trees in these areas make them much more attractive than their Dallas counterparts of Preston Hollow, Park Cities and Collin County.

[dallasboi]

Originally Posted by stoneclaw

I was going to say that, but you beat me to it. Dallas's black areas are well within Loop 12, but 3rd ward gets the advantage, primarily because of TSU and the history behind 3rd ward.

South Dallas (well south of downtown) anyway is easily a forgotten area of Dallas which actually makes up for 1/2 the city limits. People, including myself forget that part is still Dallas because it is the exact opposite of everything Downtown and North, NOT FLASHY. There are several roads that look just as old and run down as Sunnyside.

South Dallas neighborhood is what I was referring to and it is 1/8th of the area no where near Half.

And south Dallas is not as ran down as it used to be. ...They corrected the most blighted part of south Dallas about 3years ago...It's called the Bexar street district and it looks like a new suburb now...TOTALLY opposite of what it was known for for years.

Look at Red Bird Mall area.....It's starting to look like West Village in north Uptown...

So the areas people would call seedy and rundown are dissappearing faster than people think.....so I disagree with you.