Plano vs McKinney vs Allen vs Wiley (Houston, Dallas: real estate, homeowners insurance)
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My wife and I have made the decision to move to the Dallas area from Indiana. After browsing at the posts on this forum, it seems to be great source to get valuable information.
Here is just a little background. After spending 32 years in the oil industry (the last 17 years of my career in Houston) I retired in 1998 and we decided to move to Indiana. We have found that "small town" Indiana was not for us, along with the winters. We have found that we can take the heat better than the cold.
We did not care for Houston, but though that the Dallas area would be a "fit" for us. We made a quick visit there last April for a look-see. We have friends in Plano, so that is what we saw first, and was quite impressed. Since then, I have started to do some research. We have contacted a realtor in Plano, who has started to provide alot of information. Our area of interest has expanded to McKinney, Allen, Wylie as well.
I would appreciated any comments on Plano, McKinney, Allen, and Wiley. We will be looking for 1300-1600 sq home.
Are there any problems with flooding in any of these areas?
Is one area better than the other for medical, shopping.
Is Wiley too far out from the hwy 75 corridor for shopping.
Thanks in advance for your responses.
I'm sure that I'll think of more as this forum continues
Having grown up in Collin county, I think I can provide you a little bit of insight.
Frisco, McKinney, Allen, Plano, and Wylie are the cities in question, correct? Here's a little bit about each of them:
Frisco is the most-recently developed. Before 2000, there was absolutely nothing. But now, Preston road is amassed with business, and you'll see by the traffic jams that it is a very busy place. It has all the shopping you will ever wish for, and if not, you can jump right on Dallas North Tollway and head to the Galleria. The quality of living out there is very nice too.
McKinney was for a while the fastest growing city in America. (I am not sure if this is true anymore though...) Of course, it is furthest from the actual city of Dallas, and I have always noticed its HORRIBLE traffic congestion during rush hour. I like the rural feel of its neighborhoods though, it is almost like a Dallas version of Conroe, if that is any sort of valid comparison.
Allen, in my opinion, is just there in the middle of all of it. It has benefited from the booming growth that Collin county is going through, but seems a little more "quiet" than cities like Plano or Frisco. But, you are 10-15 minutes from Stonebriar (the huge mall in Frisco), and 10-15 minutes from anything in Plano or McKinney. If you are moving to Dallas strictly to be in Collin County, I would say this is the place to be, since it is right in the middle of it all. Also, it has the huge outlet mall, and I believe they are developing some stand-alone department stores.
I do not have much experience with Wylie, because of the fact that it lies outside of "mainstream" Collin County. I always envisioned it as a "country" town when growing up, but to my surprise, it has grown considerably. But, to answer your question, yes, it a bit of a nuisance to have to either drive through Allen or Sachse just to get to any sort of a highway.
And Plano, the city everybody hears so much about. Well, to put it simply, Plano has the "highs and lows" of Collin county. It is closest to Dallas, and is the most popular. It has the best shopping and dining (Collin Creek and Willowbend as well as areas like the shops at Legacy and Preston road in general) and in my opinion, is the reason anything even exists in the rest of Collin county. But, you'll also find some lower class neighborhoods in some areas deep in the heart of Plano. Not many, and not TOO low-class, but they're still there.
I understand It is very hard to make a decision, but you just have to prioritize and decide what you want most, how close you want to be to Dallas (commuting times are pretty annoying in this area), and other things like that.
We're looking to move to Allen this summer, but am wondering how far the commute is to the community college and hospital?
What would you say the average commute time is?
I am driving 25 minutes on open road now in so cal so the frustration of bumper to bumper is not an issue, but it still takes time driving past the cows. It's actually relaxing when I allow the full amount of time it takes so I'm not running late.
When you talk traffic in Frisco and Plano and Allen what exactly does that mean? Surface streets are crowded to get on the freeway or hte freeway is congested or???
Thanks for any insight...I think the only downside so far I can tell to moving there is traffic.
AND I know I need to visit ftf, but am wondering if those are hills I see around Allen on line or is the pic misleading me?
Our odyssey to escape from Indiana to the Plano/McKinney/Allen area has taken a new sense of urgency. We have accepted an offer to purchase our home, with an estimated closing date of June 15th.
I have continued researching properties on our real estate agent's website to keep abreast of what is available in our price range. After finding properties of Interest, I have used "google.earth.com" to get an arial view of the house, and the surrounding area. This is an awesome tool! Then I get the property tax statement from Collin County assessor's website. Without seeing the home in person, we still have quite a bit of information.
Here are my questions for this round:
1 - Does anyone have opinions/comments about these neighborhood/subdivisions in Plano?
(a) - Park Forest and Park Forest North area - bounded by Raintree Rd, Alma Dr, Spring Creek Pkwy and W Parker Rd - homes built in 70's.
(b) - Royal Oaks and Plano East area - bounded by Parker Rd, E Park Blvd, Jupiter Rd and Shiloh Rd. Homes built in the 70's-80's
(c) - Armstrong Park area - bounded by "K" Ave, Jupiter Rd, E Park Blvd and 18th St. Homes built in 60's-70's.
2 - I understand that residents choose their electric service provider. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions.
3 - Have the recent "rolling blackouts" affected Allen?
4 - I was surprised at the $1150 annual premium quote for homeowners insurance. Does anyone know the driving force behind the spike in insurance rates in the Plano/McKinney/Allen corridor?
That's enough for now for this chapter. We hope to be down for house-hunting in the next coupe of weeks.
Thanks again for all your input. This forum is a great resource!
1 - Does anyone have opinions/comments about these neighborhood/subdivisions in Plano?
BE SURE TO CHECK OUT WHERE YOU MOVE AT WWW.FAMILYWATCHDOG.ORG (broken link) FOR YOUR FAMILY...
(a) - Park Forest and Park Forest North area - bounded by Raintree Rd, Alma Dr, Spring Creek Pkwy and W Parker Rd - homes built in 70's.
(b) - Royal Oaks and Plano East area - bounded by Parker Rd, E Park Blvd, Jupiter Rd and Shiloh Rd. Homes built in the 70's-80's
(c) - Armstrong Park area - bounded by "K" Ave, Jupiter Rd, E Park Blvd and 18th St. Homes built in 60's-70's.
(d) - Richardson (north of Campbell and east parts) Some homes built in the 70's-90's and land locked, closer to town. Traffic is a bear going further north. Exemplary schools (some are in Plano school districts too) We've been there 7 years and still like it and very low rates of sexual predators. Check it out...
2 - I understand that residents choose their electric service provider. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions. WWW.POWERTOCHOOSE.ORG ALLOWS YOU TO SEE ALL PROVIDERS AND THEIR RATES. JUST READ ALL THE FINE PRINT WHEN COMPARING. MY DAUGHTER CHOSE RELIANT...
3 - Have the recent "rolling blackouts" affected Allen?
THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME WE'VE HAD ONE IN THE 7 YEARS WE'VE LIVED HERE. I'M SURE IT WAS A ONE-TIME THING...VERY BRIEF IN MOST AREAS <1 HOUR
4 - I was surprised at the $1150 annual premium quote for homeowners insurance. Does anyone know the driving force behind the spike in insurance rates in the Plano/McKinney/Allen corridor?
TEXAS IS THE 3 MOST EXPENSIVE IN INSURANCE RATES FOR HOMES DUE TO HURRICANES AND FLOODING IN LOW AREAS LIKE HOUSTON...YOU MAY FIND CAR INSURANCE IS CHEAPER...BTW, SOME OF THE HOME INSURERS ARE BEING FORCED TO LOWER THEIR RATES AS THE GOVERNMENT SAYS THEY'RE CHARGING TOO MUCH...
Homeowners insurance high in TX for several reasons. The primary one is hail damage to roofs. Sooner or later, your roof will be hit by hail damage.
Also, there have been lots of claims for 'black mold'.
For 1970s vintage houses, beware the following:
1) Aluminum wiring....was a big problem
2) Ceiling Radiant heat...was popular for a while, but didn't work all that well, and leaves ceilings cracked.
3) Relatively poor insulation - attics and walls. Get it checked
Anywhere in the Dallas area is a problem with foundations. An automatic sprinkler system to keep around the foundation is a worthwhile feature in a house. Get the foundation checked before buying it.
Be paranoid about termite inspections. 1970s vintage houses did not use pressure treated timbers (not available widely). This goes for any vintage home.
Oftent he buyer will give you a purchased warranty that will cover the major appliances for a year......try to get it negotiated.
Soft housing market now in Dallas area.
No rolling blackouts yet..but the TXU deal could lead to problems down the road.
Biggest problems is water rationing...many cities down to watering lawns twice a week. Major drought still in effect.....and lakes way down.
Biggest bills will be air conditioning bills. Check the status of the a/c unit, and how efficient the current one is. Best heat in TX is still gas heat. SOme 70s houses were 'all electric' (expensive heat).
If you have a pool, the homeowners insurance is higher.
I'm in a 70s house and I haven't had problems with these things, nor have my neighbors on my street. I've found it fairly easy to 'upgrade' these houses as well as insulate the attics. My house and my neighbors' (at least on my street), use gas heat. And the A/C units should be on the 2nd or 3rd time of replacement by now. My big complaint is with the windows. Many of my neighbors are upgrading their windows with the better energy-efficiency low-e, and I'm right behind them.
I don't know if the poorly insulated windows are exclusively a product of the 70s... I owned a townhouse duplex in Austin that was build in the 80s and the windows were just as bad (they just had a newer look to them). Hopefully, this is changing with newer buildings.
I think that mold cases appear not because of the age of a house but due to the neglect of an owner to address water leaks promptly.
And yes, foundation problems are inescapable. I'm looking at buying an investment property in McKinney right now and a number of the older homes seem to have foundation issues (but I really like the historic district there a lot and I think many of the buildings are definately worth fixing up!). Same story in Lakewood several years ago when I bought an investment property there and saw foundation issues in the various houses I looked at. But foundations can be fixed and lots of investors went in, and brought those buildings back to life and kept a lot of the nice architectural details. I really like some of the neighborhoods in that area too.
Still, I don't know why there can't be standards that require using piers for new building construction.
Quote:
Originally Posted by telegraph
Homeowners insurance high in TX for several reasons. The primary one is hail damage to roofs. Sooner or later, your roof will be hit by hail damage.
Also, there have been lots of claims for 'black mold'.
For 1970s vintage houses, beware the following:
1) Aluminum wiring....was a big problem
2) Ceiling Radiant heat...was popular for a while, but didn't work all that well, and leaves ceilings cracked.
3) Relatively poor insulation - attics and walls. Get it checked
Anywhere in the Dallas area is a problem with foundations. An automatic sprinkler system to keep around the foundation is a worthwhile feature in a house. Get the foundation checked before buying it.
Be paranoid about termite inspections. 1970s vintage houses did not use pressure treated timbers (not available widely). This goes for any vintage home.
Oftent he buyer will give you a purchased warranty that will cover the major appliances for a year......try to get it negotiated.
Soft housing market now in Dallas area.
No rolling blackouts yet..but the TXU deal could lead to problems down the road.
Biggest problems is water rationing...many cities down to watering lawns twice a week. Major drought still in effect.....and lakes way down.
Biggest bills will be air conditioning bills. Check the status of the a/c unit, and how efficient the current one is. Best heat in TX is still gas heat. SOme 70s houses were 'all electric' (expensive heat).
If you have a pool, the homeowners insurance is higher.
Good luck.
Last edited by dgz; 07-12-2007 at 11:59 PM..
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