The Texas Tour: Relocating to the Dallas Texas area! (Plano: to rent, houses)

[PopTart88]

My wife, myself and our three kids (ages 7, 5 and 9 months) have been offered the option of relocating to the Dallas Texas area from Southern California. My company is located in Irving Texas. I will not have to commute every day into the office, as I will be allowed to work from home about three days a week. I don't mind driving a little bit more if it means a better life for my family. My company is flying us in for two days to have a look around the Dallas area (early February) so we can make an informed decision. Yet between Zillow and craigslist, everything looks pretty good. It's hard to tell which neighborhood is really right for us.


First on our list is good schools, that's a must. Second, It would be a dream to walk our children to school every morning instead of driving them across town (as we do now) since my wife is a "stay at home mom". After that a sense of community with character would be fantastic. Convenient shopping and possibly a downtown area that we could walk to on warm summer evenings for ice cream. Is that too much to ask for? We're looking for something around 1700 ft. With at least 3 bedrooms, but 4 would be idea, as I need to set up an office. We are looking at renting first, our budget is $1700 a month or less. We're a single-earner middle class caucasian household in our early & late 30's, and open to all suggestions long as it meets the criteria. So let's hear it, what's the perfect Texas neighborhood for us?

[PopTart88]

Bump!!

[bencronin04]

There doesn't seem to be a lot on the market right now, but you could get into a 3-4 bedroom house near downtown Plano and McKinney. 1700sqft is going to be a little more difficult. Both are safe areas and Plano ISD schools are hard to beat.

[mSooner]

In most places you can find a home near an elementary. You might find something in Coppell to rent in that price range. It will be close to work and the schools are excellent. I don't know that you will find many stores you can walk to in any suburb. The only area that might happen is downtown McKinney (which would be a long commute), downtown Grapevine (no idea what the options are for housing nearby) or the MStreets/Lakewood area, which is probably a longer commute than you want and out of your budget.

[TheOverdog]

After that a sense of community with character would be fantastic. Convenient shopping and possibly a downtown area that we could walk to on warm summer evenings for ice cream.

You'd really have to look around for that unfortunately. The northern suburbs are really young, Plano only around since the '70s and Frisco since 2000 so not much culture yet; downtown McKinney is older and has some character but is not commute friendly for you.

In general, in the northern suburbs, the schools are built into the neighborhoods, but shopping is not, and the neighborhoods have walls which prevent directly walking to shops. There are sidewalks, so you can technically walk, but depending on house and setup, it may not be the walk you want...also there are limited 'downtown' areas where everyone goes. Shops at Legacy in North Plano is one of them, actual downtown Plano is another, but they are not what I would consider equivelent to a downtown in a traditional town.

If we are talking by car, shopping is pretty convenient in most of the northern suburbs. Most is setup in corridors by zoning, so shopping and houses are separate rather than integrated together.

[Considering Coming Back]

I don't think $1700 can buy you 3 bedrooms walkable to ice cream anywhere in North Texas

[bencronin04]

Uhhh, Plano has been around since way before the 70's......

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by Considering Coming Back

I don't think $1700 can buy you 3 bedrooms walkable to ice cream anywhere in North Texas

It might in Canyon Creek in Richardson.

[TheOverdog]

Uhhh, Plano has been around since way before the 70's......

It had 4000 people in 1960, and only 17k in 1970. Is it really comparable to what it was historically today - a small farming community with a prominent rail road stop? No.

The majority of the west side of town was built between 1990-now.
In any case culture is essentially people + time, so Plano has neither on its side so far.

I get your point - Plano the city was founded in like the 1860's. But you are not going to be passing much that is historical as you drive around town. It's all basically brand new and built since the rise of prominence of the automobile and most of the stuff you pass will be newer than your parents and grandparents.