Help Home-office/Telecommuter pick a neighborhood! (Dallas, Plano: for sale, renting, condo)

[reach_vj2006]

Hi, I am in NJ looking to relocate to Dallas. I'm looking to relocate to Dallas - planning to telecommute and periodically visit my site in Plano, TX. So commute isn't an issue. I have 2 kids boys under 5 yrs of age. So schools are #1 priority. Good community, family-friendly places are next on list. My budget is $500K. Looking forward to your valuable advice.
I'm an Indian - belonging to state of kerala and church-going. So would also appreciate views from malayali/keralites. Thanks,

[TurtleCreek80]

I would recommend Richardson, which is the suburb just south of Plano. It has a fairly large Indisn population (among many other ethnicities), wonderful schools that have smaller class sizes than Plano (where a graduating class can be 1,000-1,200 students per school), and lots of parks/ rec centers/ libraries for entertaining the kiddos. Every Richardson ISD elementary school had an Exemplary rating- which is a big accomplishment! Richardson is also more "mom & pop" store/restaurant focused (whereas Frisco/ Allen/ other Northern suburbs are more chain restsurant/ big box store focused), although there is a Wal-Mart, Target, Ross, etc in the area as well.
$500k is a pretty big budget for Richardson- you can probably stay around $350k and find the perfect home! Remeber, annual property taxes on a $500k home are $10-12k in Texas.

Plano is very nice, too, but research the schools thoroughly before moving there. Especially in middle/high school....will your kids thrive or get lost in a class of 1,000+ students in their school class? It is great for some but not for all.

[unexpected]

hey reach,

Richardson is nice, but if you are hugely concerned with being around Keralites, there are not too many there. Richardson/Plano area are mainly full of North Indians.

The big "Kerala" area is actually in Garland, there are also some in Irving, and even some in Murphy. Plano/Richardson schools are better than Garland/Irving, however (not in terms of offerings, but in terms of competitiveness). Also, the Indian population in Richardson is trending older, not a lot of young Indian families there anymore.

There's actually a Kerala association of Dallas (Kerala Association - Dallas). You might want to contact them and figure out the "best" areas. I'm Indian, but panjabi, so I'm not incredibly familiar with the Kerala scene in Dallas, but all my friends that are Kerala/Christian live in the Garland/Murphy area.

You could potentially live in Murphy, be close to Garland, and have access to Plano schools (I think that's why so many live in Murphy!). Whatever you do, contact the Kerala Association, I'm sure they'd have better advise than anyone here!

[Squirl]

Coppell would be my destination........ search past threads. It is a fabulous town.

[kazhuveri]

I would say Coppell. A new Catholic church has started in Coppell, if you are SyroMalabar Catholic. If not, There are plenty of Orthodox/Marthomite churches in Carrolton/Farmers Branch area.

Murphy is a good location as well. I live in Murphy. Murphy is close to churches in Garland, and has quite a few Malayali communities, although not many.

Welcome to Dallas!

[pappy97]

If schools are truly #1, you find a way into Highland Park ISD. Hands down the best school district in the area, one of the best in the country. Not many Indians there, but the ones that are there are affluent.

Definitely a good community, and family-friendly. Your only issue will be cost. $500k can get you into Highland Park ISD, but you may not like what it buys you, unless you are willing to get a condo. You can get house for $500k there, but it will be an older one, and not huge like the ones in the suburbs.

When someone says schools are #1 priority in DFW area and they are not suggesting you find a way into Highland Park ISD, they are adhering to your #1 priority.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by pappy97

If schools are truly #1, you find a way into Highland Park ISD. Hands down the best school district in the area, one of the best in the country. Not many Indians there, but the ones that are there are affluent.

Definitely a good community, and family-friendly. Your only issue will be cost. $500k can get you into Highland Park ISD, but you may not like what it buys you, unless you are willing to get a condo. You can get house for $500k there, but it will be an older one, and not huge like the ones in the suburbs.
When someone says schools are #1 priority in DFW area and they are not suggesting you find a way into Highland Park ISD, they are adhering to your #1 priority.

As a HPISD graduate, I am always one to promote the Park Cities. However, not many people would voluntarily lower their standard of living so low as to gain entry into the district. I just checked- out of approximately 8-10,000 homes in the Park Cities, there are exactly 7 single-family homes for sale under $500k. Price of entry for a single family home is currently $750-900k range, and up up up from there. They are not all bad homes at all, but 5 of 7 are either on Lovers Lane or Mockingbird Lane- 2 of the 3-4 busiest streets in the area.

I would recommend renting in HPISD before deciding if you want to buy there. It is probably not how you envisioned spending $500k in Dallas, but your kids would be in the best 1-2 school districts in the state of Texas, and one of the top districts in the US (up there with New Trier in IL). Academic excellence is expected. The district routinely posts the highest SAT score average in DFW- and usually by a landslide over the #2 district, by 50-100 points. There are many AP, Pre-AP, Honors, and TAG classes at the middle school & high school level. TAG begins in elementary school for a select group of students. Very little time is spent "teaching to the state tests" because nearly 100% of students in all grades pass all sections. Teachers are requires to earn a Master's degree within their first 5 years in the district. Many high school teachers hold PhD's, which is incredibly rare for public schools. Parents are involved in fundraising millions of dollars each year to cover the funds lost to the state's "reallocation pool" due to the Robin Hood act. This ensures that students are able to have the latest technology in the classroom, among other things. I believe beginnig next year, every 2nd grader will receive a district issued laptop computer.

As Pappy said, HP is the best education you can provide your children in DFW. The area has it's cons- no economic diversity at all (not 1 child on "free lunch" program), high pressure to succeed which isn't good for all kids, and little (but growing) ethnic diversity. I have an Indian business associate who lives in UP and has an elementary school age daughter at Armstrong Elementary. They love living there & have not ever had any issues with neighbors/ clasmates due to being Indian/ Hindu. It's much more of an area where you are accepted for having money/ being in a desirable industry (finance, law, medical, corporate exec, entrepreneur) than because you are a certain race.

[MurphyPl1]

I'd like to second all those who suggested Murphy. Close proximity to Plano. Excellent schools - PISD on the west side and Wylie ISD on the east. Very diverse community with plenty of neighborhoods in your range. My neighbors around the corner are malayali and I highly doubt they are the only ones even in my neighborhood.