DFW - where to live?

[navyguy]

Keller is great. Up scale, but horses and contry if you want it, and one of the best school systems in the metroplex. If you get serious about the area, email me and I'd be glad to show you around some time. We welcome good folks (especially gun freindly) in the town.

 

[Pawdog]

DP

 

[Pawdog]

Don't rule out foreclosures while looking. Have your realtor pull a foreclosure list for the surrounding counties. We did this in January, and closed on our new to us home a month ago in Quinlan, in a lakefront community on Lake Tawakoni. The AC and some wiring had been stolen, but, even with the repair costs, we saved a bundle of $$$$!!

We paid cash, and got a 13 year old 2 story brick house, 2230 sf, for 1/3 of it's value, on 1.25 acres! It will be our retirement home, and we're plotting our move there in about five weeks.

Good luck with your search!

 

[Shorts]

Navyguy, thank you for the offer. We'll keep it in mind and see where the search leads

pawdog, good find on your place. Good luck with the move!

 

[idleprocess]

I'm in the Lewisville-Flower Mound area, otherwise known as Lewismound if you're on my side of the border or Flowerville on the other side.

Real estate prices in Flower Mound are a bit pricier than Lewisville, although the average home is much nicer.

I like where I live. Decent neighborhood, quieter than all the apartments I've lived in, and decent value for what I spent on the house. It's not country living by any means, however...

The 121/2499/635/114 area is a cluster and I sincerely hope that the highway engineers and highway money people responsible for perpetrating that horrific mess have to drive it every day. Completing 121 will help somewhat but you still can't get around the fact that 121 inexplicably necks down to 2 lanes around 635 and that bottleneck does what bottlenecks do. Thankfully, it only tends to add 10 minutes to my commute whenever traffic is backed up.

EDIT: SW of DFW? Nevermind this paragraph... I would avoid Keller unless you're willing to put up with the roads around DFW airport. I work on the western edge of Dallas and all my co-workers from the Keller area are constantly grumbling about their long commute and getting around the airport. 114, 360, and 183 are all operating at near-full capacity during prime commuting hours. 161 is being extended to parallel 360, but I have no idea how long that project will take.

 

[Shorts]

I wanted to bump this up. We got into town last night and are going to wander around today.

Thanks again for all the suggestions!

 

[Shorts]

Wandered around today. Got a second car all bought and brought home (the hotel ). Also drove around a bit around the immediate area (Hurst, Bedford, Euless, up to Grapevine). Looking online again this evening I've noticed a few things for this area. Houses are in the 3/2 range in the 12-130s, older places built anywhere from '69--mid80s. Many have been upgraded/modernized which is nice. What I do really like about these is the piece of land they are on. They are more consistently near .25 acre, driveways are flat and in general, an outside I prefer. Overall, older established neighborhoods with nice trees. Our concern with these is, where is the area going? Is it going downhill or is it stable?


Alright, just throwing out notes for the evening. More to come soon!

 

[navyguy]

The HEB area is pretty well established and built out. I wouldn't say it is necessarily declining but, other than "The Boys Ranch" there is no real
"Town" and very few new houses are being built. We lived in Bedford for about 8 years back in the 80's and had bought that house new. That's the area just north of Airport Frwy off of Brown Trail. Just east of the High School. We liked it there quite a bit, and our girls finished HS there. When we moved back to Texas in the early 90's that same house was for sale and we actually considered it, but we thought that would be just a little to weird If you continue to look in that area, stay NORTH of airport freeway. You might also take a look at Haltom City. There are some very old areas there, but also some nice newer areas. Like North of Airport freeway on Beach Street. That would be about 4-5 miles west of HEB. Also a little further north of that area is the far north side of Fort Worth. Several fairly new subdivisions there. Also North Richland Hills has housing from the 80's to the 400's and everything in between. Go north on Davis Blvd.

HTH

 

[Shorts]

Good thoughts navyguy. I was leaning that way too about staying north of Airport Freeway. It seemed like it would be less crazy in regards to traffic off the hwy. The areas look newer as well.

DH has flown to AZ for the day and its raining and cold outside. I'll probably stay in with the dog, do more searching online and work on getting a list done in the area of those 'let's look at' houses and areas. I'm not 100% crazy about driving around unfamiliar areas alone. Much more fun to get lost with a navigator in the passenger seat with the map and blackberry gps in hand


Edit: Zoning/HOAs

I must ensure that the area I'm in allows for home business. I do my leatherwork out of my home shop. Any known areas that frown upon this? Of course, we'll be certain to inquire about it with an agent.

 

[JKTex]

Edit: Zoning/HOAs

I must ensure that the area I'm in allows for home business. I do my leatherwork out of my home shop. Any known areas that frown upon this? Of course, we'll be certain to inquire about it with an agent.

I think the only issues you'll have is if it's a business that has customers/traffic visiting your house. Even in the stricktest areas, tons of people run businesses out of their home.

A neighbor started a cabinetry/woodworking business in his garage. It was set up like a shop. Very unusual for around here but it wasn't a a problem. He's now in a building with room on a couple acres not far from here. Several others office or run side businesses from home.

 

[Shorts]

I think the only issues you'll have is if it's a business that has customers/traffic visiting your house. Even in the stricktest areas, tons of people run businesses out of their home.

A neighbor started a cabinetry/woodworking business in his garage. It was set up like a shop. Very unusual for around here but it wasn't a a problem. He's now in a building with room on a couple acres not far from here. Several others office or run side businesses from home.

Ok, that's about what I'd like to hear, especially on the building/manfacturing side of it. I don't plan to have a store front. I don't want people coming and going, especially at my residence.