Relocating from Indiana to northeast texas (Dallas, Fort Worth: rent, mortgage, safe neighborhoods)

[Flamingo76]

My husband will either be working in Ennis or Bridgeport. Not sure which one yet. Well have one child with us. He'll be in middle school. He very active in sports. Does well in school.

I'm so overwhelmed with all the choices. We aren't looking for land. We'd like to be close to stores and restaurants. I'll be looking for work in a hospital so close to one would be good.

Husband doesn't want to drive more then 40 miles from work. I'd like to keep my commute down to 10-15 miles.

We are thinking about renting to start with. Rent or mortgage will have to be around $1300-1600.

Any ideas on at least where to start looking? Areas to stay away from?

I'm looking for good schools, good sports programs, safe neighborhoods close to shops and food.

Thanks.

[hound 109]

Originally Posted by Flamingo76

My husband will either be working in Ennis or Bridgeport. Not sure which one yet. Well have one child with us. He'll be in middle school. He very active in sports. Does well in school.

I'm so overwhelmed with all the choices. We aren't looking for land. We'd like to be close to stores and restaurants. I'll be looking for work in a hospital so close to one would be good.

Husband doesn't want to drive more then 40 miles from work. I'd like to keep my commute down to 10-15 miles.

We are thinking about renting to start with. Rent or mortgage will have to be around $1300-1600.

Any ideas on at least where to start looking? Areas to stay away from?

I'm looking for good schools, good sports programs, safe neighborhoods close to shops and food.

Thanks.

Ennis is 30-40 miles south of Dallas and Bridgeport is 40 miles NW of Ft. Worth.

You need to decide which town he'll be working in first. (Do you have a choice?)

[ChristieP]

Since you need to work at a hospital, then Bridgeport is the obvious choice. Wise Regional Medical Center in Decatur is very well respected, and it is twice as large as the small hospital in Ennis. If you did decide to drive further to a larger hospital, Bridgeport is close to several good hospitals in Denton, while the southern side of Dallas only has a couple of choices that are notoriously not good.

Sadly, both Ennis and Bridgeport are fairly rural towns with only basic retail and restaurants. You will have to drive to those. Again, the southern side of Dallas has far less good choices than Denton, Decatur or Fort Worth.

[Flamingo76]

We aren't sure which town yet. Hopefully we'll find out this week. We don't have a choice.

One area we were told is nice is Keller. If we're at Bridgeport.

Husband was looking at north Fort Worth. Again if we are at Bridgeport.

The Ennis place was just mentioned today. We may have to live a bit further if he goes there.