Moving to Dallas Texas - Free Advice Welcome! (1 Viewer)

[ClownCausedChaos2]

JIMMY BUFFETT LYRICS

Download "Dallas" Ringtone

"Dallas"

If you ever get the chance to go to Dallas

Take it from me, pass it by

Cause you'll only sing the blues down in Dallas

Take it from me, don't go and cry

[Chorus:]

And I'm leaving this town as soon as I can

Gonna stop off for a while and see my woman

People do you wrong down in Dallas

I know well, they've done it to me

Stealin' all your bread, they're so callous

I know well, just look and see

[Chorus]

And people like me just can't be free

The promo man won't let us us be

If the people who knew could get away

I'm real sure they'd leave today

Now come on down and lose your mental balance

Look at me, half crazy now

Talkin' to chairs, strange and I know it

Look at me I'm doin' in now

This does not sound promising.

And I've never known Buffett to lie. Sorry, dude.

 

[culdeus]

If private is out you can't go south of your work. This puts you in Carrollton or Richardson imo. Allen is a pretty big commute.

West Plano is probably too white if that's a concern as well as being full of extreme dooshbags

 

[culdeus]

For 450k look in the following elems. Note these places are in extraordinary demand and only the most ####ty houses ever get on the market. So what you see on MLs is worst case. Houses in these areas sell within 48 hours if they are at in decent shape.

Bowie

Mohawk

Brent field

Prairie creek

This is super close to your work and if you roll west it won't be out of position

 

[ZenMaster]

635/Tollway wouldn't be a fun commute from Allen depending on your hours. I work at 635/75 and it's 19 miles each way. I'm usually out of the house by 6:15-6:30 and it's about 25 min on the way in barring accidents. It's about 35 min going home.

Richardson has good schools, I think. My wife and I don't have kids so I'm not an expert on the school districts other than I know the one we live in (Lovejoy) is a good one.

From Frisco you could head down the Tollway towards 635 but I have no idea what traffic would be like. I know the Tollway northbound in the afternoon is slow.

 

[gameday]

We lived in Plano for 5 years and loved it. Some misc. thoughts about our time there:

1) Friendliest people we've lived among. We've lived in Chicago, CA, and WI. Very easy to develop a circle of friends/acquaintances.

2) Great restaurants.

3) Solid schools in Plano. Can avoid private schools.

4) Great fishing in Texas, particularly Large Mouth Bass.

5) Good Hog hunting.

6) Fantastic housing value.

7) Yep, small lots. But so what. As long as you have a pool you'll be OK.

8) Every so often it hails/snows and the entire area shuts down for a day or more.

9) DFW airport provides easy access to the entire country. Solid airport with great parking.

10) Phenomenal shopping.

We moved back to WI after 5 years so that our young boys would be among their relatives. We'll consider moving back at some point.

 

[Psychopav]

My mom lives in Carrolton. My parents moved there in 1982.

Nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there, as much as my Mom tried early on to get me to move there.

Why is that?

 

[Psychopav]

For 450k look in the following elems. Note these places are in extraordinary demand and only the most ####ty houses ever get on the market. So what you see on MLs is worst case. Houses in these areas sell within 48 hours if they are at in decent shape.

Bowie

Mohawk

Brent field

Prairie creek

This is super close to your work and if you roll west it won't be out of position

This is solid intel. I'll have to ask the realtor about that. Her automatic web site has been feeding me houses for over a month now and I have not seen houses in Carrollton or Richardson but once or twice. Timing hurts me selling but maybe it helps me buying more, if it means houses stay on the market longer this time of year.

 

[Psychopav]

We lived in Plano for 5 years and loved it. Some misc. thoughts about our time there:

1) Friendliest people we've lived among. We've lived in Chicago, CA, and WI. Very easy to develop a circle of friends/acquaintances.

2) Great restaurants.

3) Solid schools in Plano. Can avoid private schools.

4) Great fishing in Texas, particularly Large Mouth Bass.

5) Good Hog hunting.

6) Fantastic housing value.

7) Yep, small lots. But so what. As long as you have a pool you'll be OK.

8) Every so often it hails/snows and the entire area shuts down for a day or more.

9) DFW airport provides easy access to the entire country. Solid airport with great parking.

10) Phenomenal shopping.

We moved back to WI after 5 years so that our young boys would be among their relatives. We'll consider moving back at some point.

I've never been big on fishing or hog hunting, but the rest of this I agree with.

The lot size will just take some getting used to. Truth is we don't use much of our land here anyway other than a couple times a year really.

 

[jamny]

My mom lives in Carrolton. My parents moved there in 1982.

Nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there, as much as my Mom tried early on to get me to move there.

Why is that?

Personal preferences mostly. The landscape is pretty flat and bland. Not much to see. I like to be near the beach and near woodsy mountains or at least some nice parks with lots of trees and people around. There's a beautiful park near my mom's house where my wife and I will walk around and we're lucky if we see one other person. It's like a ghost town. Also, where we live almost anything we need is within walking distance. We can walk to like a dozen nice restaurants and any kind of shopping. And there's people around. OK, sometimes too many but at least there's some life. And I like the change of seasons, love the snow. Too much this past year but it didn't bother me as much as some people. Dallas is a nice city with some pockets of activity but I wouldn't call it a vibrant city. Weekends are pretty dead.

Definitely some pros though. Can't speak for the schools but the people are all friendly, there are tons of restaurants (does anyone cook at home?) and it's easy to get around with some great options for weekend getaways.

My wife actually said on our last trip that she could live there. She'd be fine with the heat, hates humidity. I need a little more activity and variety.

GL though. I hope it all works out for you.

 

[culdeus]

For 450k look in the following elems. Note these places are in extraordinary demand and only the most ####ty houses ever get on the market. So what you see on MLs is worst case. Houses in these areas sell within 48 hours if they are at in decent shape.

Bowie

Mohawk

Brent field

Prairie creek

This is super close to your work and if you roll west it won't be out of position

This is solid intel. I'll have to ask the realtor about that. Her automatic web site has been feeding me houses for over a month now and I have not seen houses in Carrollton or Richardson but once or twice. Timing hurts me selling but maybe it helps me buying more, if it means houses stay on the market longer this time of year.

If you go this route be prepared to offer sight unseen for over list value.

 

[Psychopav]

For 450k look in the following elems. Note these places are in extraordinary demand and only the most ####ty houses ever get on the market. So what you see on MLs is worst case. Houses in these areas sell within 48 hours if they are at in decent shape.

Bowie

Mohawk

Brent field

Prairie creek

This is super close to your work and if you roll west it won't be out of position

This is solid intel. I'll have to ask the realtor about that. Her automatic web site has been feeding me houses for over a month now and I have not seen houses in Carrollton or Richardson but once or twice. Timing hurts me selling but maybe it helps me buying more, if it means houses stay on the market longer this time of year.

If you go this route be prepared to offer sight unseen for over list value.

Good to know.

The reason I hadn't seen those houses is because they are all older than the search parameters I've been using. It's starting to look like I will, in fact, have to "deal".

Grr.

 

[bentley]

I'm going to assume that cocaine and a performance car you can't afford have already been recommended. And the lady friend is going to need new boobs.

 

[gameday]

We lived in Plano for 5 years and loved it. Some misc. thoughts about our time there:

1) Friendliest people we've lived among. We've lived in Chicago, CA, and WI. Very easy to develop a circle of friends/acquaintances.

2) Great restaurants.

3) Solid schools in Plano. Can avoid private schools.

4) Great fishing in Texas, particularly Large Mouth Bass.

5) Good Hog hunting.

6) Fantastic housing value.

7) Yep, small lots. But so what. As long as you have a pool you'll be OK.

8) Every so often it hails/snows and the entire area shuts down for a day or more.

9) DFW airport provides easy access to the entire country. Solid airport with great parking.

10) Phenomenal shopping.

We moved back to WI after 5 years so that our young boys would be among their relatives. We'll consider moving back at some point.

I've never been big on fishing or hog hunting, but the rest of this I agree with.

The lot size will just take some getting used to. Truth is we don't use much of our land here anyway other than a couple times a year really.

I should have also mentioned the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex has some of the best strip clubs to be found.

 

[oso diablo]

first two decisions i would make:

1. How long am i willing to spend on my daily commute?

2. How good do i want the public schools to be?

 

[Psychopav]

first two decisions i would make:

1. How long am i willing to spend on my daily commute?

2. How good do i want the public schools to be?

Good questions. No more than 30 minutes and excellent.

 

[Disco Stu]

I live in Carrollton. Very easy commute to your work and more diverse than most suburbs.

It's blocked in on all sides though, so no new houses. I kinda hate boring new developments with no trees anyway.

 

[culdeus]

first two decisions i would make:

1. How long am i willing to spend on my daily commute?

2. How good do i want the public schools to be?

Good questions. No more than 30 minutes and excellent.

This is going to clash with your desire for diversity in a large way. Are you willing to throw that out completely?

 

[culdeus]

Small history of Dallas.

When the schools got integrated people started moving northwards, by people I mean whites. To the North of Dallas was mostly farmland. East and West were developed already to some extent and I-75 was built to serve them.

Some areas built up in the 60s and 70s (namely Richardson and Garland) were ultimately blighted as the families moved out when their school children did, usually to the north. Plano now is in a state of flux as their school population is dwindling while kids are growing up and off to college. This kid vacuum will ultimately push to the north as it did in Dallas and Richardson/Garland and get filled with minorities.

As new people come in they are drawn to stupid cheap gigantic houses first. A 4500 square foot mansion in Frisco or Allen is attainable for nothing. Even Lovejoy now you can have a hard time finding a house less than 6000 feet.

The key right now is finding the right city leadership that can for lack of a better word, isolate, elements of society which need more educational help and intervention. I don't have high confidence in PISD right now, for your choices I'm not sure what the commute out of Frisco looks like but you either move into a reclaimed hood in RISD which I outlined above, or go Frisco.

Take a swim through west plano, maybe, but be very careful and take a good hard look at the boundaries. Make sure you are dead center in them.

 

[jamny]

I live in Carrollton. Very easy commute to your work and more diverse than most suburbs.

It's blocked in on all sides though, so no new houses. I kinda hate boring new developments with no trees anyway.

You know any old guys I can set my 75yo mom up with? She lives in Carrollton. She could use someone to hang out with.

 

[Psychopav]

Oh boy. The realtor said that Carrollton is riddled with foundation problems due to shifting soil. She strongly advises against Carrollton. Now I am reading about the important of watering our foundation no matter where we live.

Watering our house? What kind of insanity is this?!?

 

[Battles]

Oh boy. The realtor said that Carrollton is riddled with foundation problems due to shifting soil. She strongly advises against Carrollton. Now I am reading about the important of watering our foundation no matter where we live.

Watering our house? What kind of insanity is this?!?

Yes. Clay soil. It's helps to keep the soil at a fairly constant moisture to reduce shrinking and swelling which can move a foundation. Carrolton, being older homes, is more likely to have these problems because they weren't design properly.

 

[culdeus]

Really it is 1970 to 1990 dates you have to watch out for.

That's when they got cheap on the slabs.

Before and after that is usually ok.

 

[Psychopav]

Stu, do you water your foundation? Have you had any problems with your foundation?

Jamny, how about yo momma?

 

[culdeus]

Stu, do you water your foundation? Have you had any problems with your foundation?

Jamny, how about yo momma?

Watering foundation won't always help. It depends on the shape, the grade and other factors.

And this issue is not isolated to carrolton, but that area happens to have lots of houses built in the dead zone.

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

Stu, do you water your foundation? Have you had any problems with your foundation?

Jamny, how about yo momma?

I live in Houston, and I water the foundation by way of watering the lawn. The drought made this especialy important. In reality, it just means you should have a sprinkler system (with a rain gauge), and water your yard for about 1/2 an hour every two days. It's not that big a deal, if the slab has been poured correctly.

 

[culdeus]

Stu, do you water your foundation? Have you had any problems with your foundation?

Jamny, how about yo momma?

I live in Houston, and I water the foundation by way of watering the lawn. The drought made this especialy important. In reality, it just means you should have a sprinkler system (with a rain gauge), and water your yard for about 1/2 an hour every two days. It's not that big a deal, if the slab has been poured correctly.

Keep in mind in most of Texas you cannot water your lawn this often. You can run sprinkler hoses around your foundation on a timer which is exempt from lawn watering rules.

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

Stu, do you water your foundation? Have you had any problems with your foundation?

Jamny, how about yo momma?

I live in Houston, and I water the foundation by way of watering the lawn. The drought made this especialy important. In reality, it just means you should have a sprinkler system (with a rain gauge), and water your yard for about 1/2 an hour every two days. It's not that big a deal, if the slab has been poured correctly.

Keep in mind in most of Texas you cannot water your lawn this often. You can run sprinkler hoses around your foundation on a timer which is exempt from lawn watering rules.

True. The drought is pretty much over here. I can hear thunder as I type.

 

[Psychopav]

Stu, do you water your foundation? Have you had any problems with your foundation?

Jamny, how about yo momma?

I live in Houston, and I water the foundation by way of watering the lawn. The drought made this especialy important. In reality, it just means you should have a sprinkler system (with a rain gauge), and water your yard for about 1/2 an hour every two days. It's not that big a deal, if the slab has been poured correctly.

Keep in mind in most of Texas you cannot water your lawn this often. You can run sprinkler hoses around your foundation on a timer which is exempt from lawn watering rules.

True. The drought is pretty much over here. I can hear thunder as I type.

I believe that may be Cowboy fans, and that's not thunder.

 

[mr roboto]

Wow. Didn't know you needed to water a house. Huh.

 

[Psychopav]

My wife and oldest daughter are coming with me to Dallas this week, flying in Tuesday evening and staying through Saturday afternoon.

I'm working all day Wednesday but they'll be house hunting with the realtor starting around noon. After that, we'll be house hunting Thursday through Saturday. When we're not with the realtor, any suggestions what we might want to check out while we're there?

 

[culdeus]

My wife and oldest daughter are coming with me to Dallas this week, flying in Tuesday evening and staying through Saturday afternoon.

I'm working all day Wednesday but they'll be house hunting with the realtor starting around noon. After that, we'll be house hunting Thursday through Saturday. When we're not with the realtor, any suggestions what we might want to check out while we're there?

Plano west high school.

Pearce high school.

Because odds are you'll end up at one of those two. I'd get a tour of both.

I'd also go to heb central market at coit and the bush. It might change your center of gravity. Trust me on this.

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

There's always the big Half Price Books.

 

[Disco Stu]

JIMMY BUFFETT LYRICS

Download "Dallas" Ringtone

"Dallas"

If you ever get the chance to go to Dallas

Take it from me, pass it by

Cause you'll only sing the blues down in Dallas

Take it from me, don't go and cry

[Chorus:]

And I'm leaving this town as soon as I can

Gonna stop off for a while and see my woman

People do you wrong down in Dallas

I know well, they've done it to me

Stealin' all your bread, they're so callous

I know well, just look and see

[Chorus]

And people like me just can't be free

The promo man won't let us us be

If the people who knew could get away

I'm real sure they'd leave today

Now come on down and lose your mental balance

Look at me, half crazy now

Talkin' to chairs, strange and I know it

Look at me I'm doin' in now

This does not sound promising.

If Jimmy Buffett doesn't like Dallas, I consider that a huge plus.

 

[Disco Stu]

There's one thing that's been kind of bothering me. All of these places I've been checking out are very...homogenous. I am a very orthodox guy by many standards, and I use the term "orthodox" because while many would consider me conservative, my values are much more Catholic than explicitly politically right wing, although I'm the first to admit that the two overlap in many ways.

Which is kind of beside the point except for one thing. Right now, I live in a very middle class suburb. Housing costs here in good old Bolingbrook, IL, range from low income to upper middle class. The community is diverse, my church is diverse. The neighborhood is diverse.

Are there any towns near enough to North Dallas with a similarly diverse demographic, or are my choices really limited to mostly WASP country (no offense intended)?

2010 Census data:

Bolingbrook: 64.5% white, 20.4% black, 6.4% Asian... Hispanic/Latino of any race 13%

Carrollton: 63.6% white, 8.4% black, 13.4% Asian... Hispanic/Latino of any race 30%

Plano: 66.9% white, 7.6% black, 16.9% Asian... Hispanic/Latino of any race 14.7%

Frisco: 75% white, 8.1% black, 10% Asian... Hispanic/Latino of any race 12.1%

FWIW, Frisco feels much whiter than that.

 

[Disco Stu]

There's one thing that's been kind of bothering me. All of these places I've been checking out are very...homogenous. I am a very orthodox guy by many standards, and I use the term "orthodox" because while many would consider me conservative, my values are much more Catholic than explicitly politically right wing, although I'm the first to admit that the two overlap in many ways.

Which is kind of beside the point except for one thing. Right now, I live in a very middle class suburb. Housing costs here in good old Bolingbrook, IL, range from low income to upper middle class. The community is diverse, my church is diverse. The neighborhood is diverse.

Are there any towns near enough to North Dallas with a similarly diverse demographic, or are my choices really limited to mostly WASP country (no offense intended)?

You are looking in white flight areas. Anything north of the wall (635) is going to be pure wasp.

####. Even uni moved north of the wall recently.

1. Not exactly true. Garland, Richardson, and Farmers Branch are all north of 635. You may need to consider George Bush to be the new wall.

2. He moved this summer? Surprised he didn't mention this.

 

[Disco Stu]

http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/map

Use this as a guide

Lake Highlands HS district is probably the best compromise of diverse+good schools, but not all elems are good there.

Pierce HS is the second best option imo. The diversity there is asian (mostly), again not all elems are good there.

From that point you are looking at either a total whitewash for improved schools across the district or you are lowering the education quality.

If private is in the mix then you have tons of options.

That's a cool map.

I drive past JJ Pearce high school every day and had no idea that was considered a top school. Good to know.

 

[oso diablo]

My wife and oldest daughter are coming with me to Dallas this week, flying in Tuesday evening and staying through Saturday afternoon.

I'm working all day Wednesday but they'll be house hunting with the realtor starting around noon. After that, we'll be house hunting Thursday through Saturday. When we're not with the realtor, any suggestions what we might want to check out while we're there?

you can get some super-cheap tickets to the Texas Rangers these days.

Friday night, you can get a good feel for local culture by attending a high school football game.

 

[oso diablo]

first two decisions i would make:

1. How long am i willing to spend on my daily commute?

2. How good do i want the public schools to be?

Good questions. No more than 30 minutes and excellent.

depending on how far west your job may move in the future, you could consider Southlake/Keller area (where i live now). I wouldn't drive it daily to LBJ/DNT (though i have neighbors to make those type of commutes), but i'd consider a commute to Coppell/Las Colinas.

Grapevine/Coppell would likely work for you, in any event.

Others have already commented on the north suburbs (frisco, plano, etc).

p.s. example of one for sale at 450k in my neighborhood

 

[UniAlias]

There's one thing that's been kind of bothering me. All of these places I've been checking out are very...homogenous. I am a very orthodox guy by many standards, and I use the term "orthodox" because while many would consider me conservative, my values are much more Catholic than explicitly politically right wing, although I'm the first to admit that the two overlap in many ways.

Which is kind of beside the point except for one thing. Right now, I live in a very middle class suburb. Housing costs here in good old Bolingbrook, IL, range from low income to upper middle class. The community is diverse, my church is diverse. The neighborhood is diverse.

Are there any towns near enough to North Dallas with a similarly diverse demographic, or are my choices really limited to mostly WASP country (no offense intended)?

You are looking in white flight areas. Anything north of the wall (635) is going to be pure wasp.####. Even uni moved north of the wall recently.

2. He moved this summer? Surprised he didn't mention this.

I'm south of 635.

A lot of the guys I know from the basketball court are from Pearce. Just from what I know about them it never struck me as a nice school. That surrounding neighborhood does seem pretty nice though.

 

[culdeus]

I really think you are going to have a hard time finding enough houses to view right now.

Inventory is super low.

I would also look at this site:

http://www.texastribune.org/2010/04/26/more-than-5800-texas-public-schools-ranked/

Data was 2010, but no longer do they put demographic data out there like this. For the most part things haven't changed too much since this data came out.

 

[Disco Stu]

Stu, do you water your foundation? Have you had any problems with your foundation?

Jamny, how about yo momma?

Watering foundation won't always help. It depends on the shape, the grade and other factors.

And this issue is not isolated to carrolton, but that area happens to have lots of houses built in the dead zone.

Yeah, I don't see this as being a Carrollton-specific issue. Maybe the realtor had a couple of bad experiences. Obviously you want the foundation checked anywhere in the DFW area.

We do have a sprinker system that hits the foundation also. We have only been there two years, but as far as I know the neighbors haven't had foundation issues either. Houses built in 1986. For reference, this house is a few blocks away.

 

[culdeus]

86 could be ok. It is going to really depend on the builder. Anything in the 70s is probably going to be dicey as hell.

 

[culdeus]

Just FYI, late in the 60s houses started to go ranch style and were built instead of on an square on pier/beam they were built on an L shape with a attached garage. The garage was put in with lower psi concrete than the residence.

This made it impossible-ish to do pier/beam foundations so builders went to slab the whole way. The L shape slabs flanking the garage (and really any slabs) were super prone to failures with no piers sunk. Nowadays they sink 8-10 piers when building new construction.

If your slab fails you have to re-do your flooring and often times plumbing, drywall, and other misc. stuff. Can be upwards of 30-75k worst case.

 

[TheIronSheik]

Thing about the humidity is this: Humidity can be high in a lot of places in the US. Sure, you may have had a more humid day than you did in Texas. But where the difference is, Chicago may only have the humidity for 2 months. Texas has that humidity 12 months. That's the difference.

Also, how the hell do you have negative posts?

 

[Disco Stu]

Thing about the humidity is this: Humidity can be high in a lot of places in the US. Sure, you may have had a more humid day than you did in Texas. But where the difference is, Chicago may only have the humidity for 2 months. Texas has that humidity 12 months. That's the difference.

Texas is a big state friend. Your statement is very true for Houston, but not Dallas.

The average daily high for humidity ranges from 81-89% in Dallas, 91-95% in Houston, and 87-91% for Chicago. Link

The nice thing about humidity in Dallas is that the hottest months generally have the lowest humidity. Places like Chicago have the high temps and high humidity at the same time.

 

[TheIronSheik]

Thing about the humidity is this: Humidity can be high in a lot of places in the US. Sure, you may have had a more humid day than you did in Texas. But where the difference is, Chicago may only have the humidity for 2 months. Texas has that humidity 12 months. That's the difference.

Texas is a big state friend. Your statement is very true for Houston, but not Dallas.

The average daily high for humidity ranges from 81-89% in Dallas, 91-95% in Houston, and 87-91% for Chicago. Link

The nice thing about humidity in Dallas is that the hottest months generally have the lowest humidity. Places like Chicago have the high temps and high humidity at the same time.

Interesting. I was not aware that Dallas had low humidity summers.

 

[Treynwreck3]

This just in: Summer is hot. We don't live in Texas for the summer. If people don't like Texas because of the heat, don't move here. In fact, STOP moving here. We have enough of you whining yankees here already.

 

[pantagrapher]

Thing about the humidity is this: Humidity can be high in a lot of places in the US. Sure, you may have had a more humid day than you did in Texas. But where the difference is, Chicago may only have the humidity for 2 months. Texas has that humidity 12 months. That's the difference.

Texas is a big state friend. Your statement is very true for Houston, but not Dallas.

The average daily high for humidity ranges from 81-89% in Dallas, 91-95% in Houston, and 87-91% for Chicago. Link

The nice thing about humidity in Dallas is that the hottest months generally have the lowest humidity. Places like Chicago have the high temps and high humidity at the same time.

Like that article says, it's dew point, not humidity, which is the better measure of comfort. Dallas has without question a hotter, more brutal summer. Chicago—within the actual city—also tends to be cooler in summer than actual temperature records indicate.

 

[Psychopav]

All true regarding humidity. Yesterday and today in Chicago have actually been perfect. The humidity in the last month has been not so much fun. Dallas humidity is also earlier in the year - April through June rather than June through August for Chicago area.

 

[Psychopav]

Also, how the hell do you have negative posts?

I age in reverse, like Merlin. Once I hit zero I cease to exist.

Don't tell anyone.