Best Suburb in Dallas (Arlington, Plano: crime, house, safe neighborhood)

[law]

Which are the best suburb Near Downtown Dallas assume the following requirements are important:

1) Decent commute to downtown during rush hours (30 minutes to 1 hour during rush hours)

2) Good/safe neighborhood.

3) Low property tax (compare to other locations in TX ofcourse)


I was thinking maybe Carrollton, Farmers Branch, or Plano???

[GoPadge]

Not to pick, but I make it from Milford to Plano in an hour and 15 and I'm traveling 70 miles. But then I'm not headed south on the tollway or 75....

[law]

Originally Posted by GoPadge

Not to pick, but I make it from Milford to Plano in an hour and 15 and I'm traveling 70 miles. But then I'm not headed south on the tollway or 75....

How's that relevant to my question? It's almost like answering the question "What's the distance from St. Louis to San Diego?" with "The distance from San Diego to New York is X miles."

[GoPadge]

On first read, I took you post to be a request for a neighborhood that met the enumerated points. My point was you don't have to be NEAR to downtown to have a commute less than one hour.

And, other than you initial statement about a suburb NEAR downtown my example meet all your requirements.

1. I make it to downtown in around an hour.
2. Crime is virtually non-existant.
3. Property tax is lower.

(Mostly because property values are lower, but then Highland Park has one of the lowest RATES from what I hear, but then when the average house costs over $500,000 you don't need high rates to still pay a large bill.)

I will agree with you that my initial post wasn't very helpful. And for that I appologize. From what I hear in the mornings on my commute, 75, the George Bush, 635 and 30 are nightmares due to accidents. I'm assuming that's partially due to the ammount of traffic.

I know there aren't a lot of proponents of the south side of Dallas around here, but there are some nice neighborhoods in Midlothian, Waxahachie, Red Oak, etc. And the commute is very reasonable into downtown.

Shopping is not so hot. The closest mall is the Parks in Arlington which is a traffic nightmare most weekends and forget about Christmas. I don't know how the northern malls compare.

There are schools that are not significantly worse than many of the northern schools, but you do have to pick and choose. Property values tend to be significantly lower so you can buy more house for your money, but then the appreciation isn't as fast either.

For example. I own a 106 year old wood-frame, pier and beam foundation house. It's right under 2900 sq. ft. with 5 bedrooms and 2 baths and my lot is 1/3 of a acre, (I do hate mowing it.) I paid under $120K for it two years ago. I didn't put a drop of water on my lawn this summer, none of my sheetrock cracked, neither did my tile in the kitchen. And we didn't get any of the evening thunderstorms that the northern cities got in early to mid August.

[Barbee]

FORNEY! I'm moving from Miami, FL to Forney w/ no doubts!

I don't want to tell you what you should think. I suggest that you look it up yourself. You can do an amazing amount of research on the internet and decide for yourself. Maybe call a few businesses...Ins Companies and the like...That's how I did it. But what's right for me may not be right for you...Good luck to you

[fingers crossed on that closing tomorrow-I don't want to jinx myself! LOL]

[law]

Originally Posted by Barbee

FORNEY! I'm moving from Miami, FL to Forney w/ no doubts!

I don't want to tell you what you should think. I suggest that you look it up yourself. You can do an amazing amount of research on the internet and decide for yourself. Maybe call a few businesses...Ins Companies and the like...That's how I did it. But what's right for me may not be right for you...Good luck to you

[fingers crossed on that closing tomorrow-I don't want to jinx myself! LOL]

Not sure about Forney, but I have heard that, in general, the east side and the south side of Dallas is ghetto.

Mesquite seems to have very affortable housing? What's the area like?

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by law

Not sure about Forney, but I have heard that, in general, the east side and the south side of Dallas is ghetto.

Okay, the "East" side of Dallas that is more "ghetto" is near and around the Fair Park area. This is VERY close to downtown. As the name implies it is also the area for our annual State Fair of Texas (a BIG to-do, look at my thread under the general Texas topics for the link to the official website). This area is also home to the Smirnoff Music Centre (a fairly new amphitheater for concerts of all types) and the Cotton Bowl. It is perfectly safe to go to any of these places as there is usually plenty of parking w/in the fenced park area w/ security. I've been going down there since a child and have felt perfectly safe, just don't do anything stupid. Then the Seagoville, Balch Springs, Wilmer-Hutchins, etc. Those are the areas that are the ones you want to avoid. Forney is just fine.

Now, near the Fair Park area are some nice areas. Like around Swiss Ave, omy, beautiful older homes. This is where the "rich" that settled in Dallas in the early 1900's late 1800's built homes. Look at the Dallas Morning News website, www.dallasnews.com and read the recent stories about the house at 4949 Swiss Ave. It's on the front page of their website today.

[Hanging Out]

I would stay away from any areas east of Dallas/Plano due to the proposed Trans Texas Corridor. It will gabble up that region.

http://www.keeptexasmoving.org/flash/interactive_map/interactive.htm (broken link)