Small Towns outside the Dallas-Fort worth Metroplex (Tyler, Temple: houses, to buy)

[turf3]

OP, I would recommend you rent, somewhere rough equidistant from McKinney Rockwall and downtown; maybe North Garland, for example. This will give you a base to look for where you really want to settle.

I would prioritize as:

Safe area
Good schools
Budget

and I think you will find that acreage property and less than an hour commute will fall out of the equation.

At any rate, I also predict that after a year of driving to McKinney, and Rockwall, and downtown Dallas, in metro Dallas traffic, your husband will flat out reject the idea of adding another two hours driving every day to get from somewhere like Greenville or Athens. I wouldn't want to live in North Dallas and go to three different workplaces in those three different locations - thinking you're going to do it AFTER you drive an hour to even get into town, is highly unrealistic.

Again, you are talking about a metropolitan area of 7 million people, a huge number of whom want the same thing you are talking about, and many of whom are prepared to pay three times or more your budget.

[Aggielina]

I don't know much about it, but Mount Pleasant might be worth checking into if you're willing to stretch your husband's commute. I've heard that the Chapel Hill ISD schools are better than most rural ISDs.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by Aggielina

I don't know much about it, but Mount Pleasant might be worth checking into if you're willing to stretch your husband's commute. I've heard that the Chapel Hill ISD schools are better than most rural ISDs.

You don’t know much about Mount Pleasant because it is freaking 118 miles away from downtown Dallas. It’s farther away than Waco or Tyler, and I certainly wouldn’t suggest someone live in either of those towns when their employment is in Dallas & McKinney!

I don’t even comprehend how people can be suggesting towns that would require putting close to 60,000 Miles a year on your car...just to drive to work.

[gtt99]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

Kaufman County will not be within 1 hour commute of McKinney, and likely close to 1 hour to downtown Dallas.

Terrell schools are not good at all.

Terrell schools are are slightly above average. Look up their test performance numbers. The new Superintendent has been great to the district. You're dwelling on old info.

[ChristieP]

Originally Posted by gtt99

Terrell schools are are slightly above average. Look up their test performance numbers. The new Superintendent has been great to the district. You're dwelling on old info.

Im glad to see they have improved! They had been bad for decades so being “above average” is a big step.

[Aggielina]

I mentioned Mount Pleasant because my spouse makes day trips there for work every month or so, and otherwise it meets OPs criteria. Perhaps OPs spouse doesn't have to commute every day? I suppose that's the only way living that far away would make sense.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by gtt99

Terrell schools are are slightly above average. Look up their test performance numbers. The new Superintendent has been great to the district. You're dwelling on old info.

I wish the new super well, but Terrell HS’s SAT scores are still in the bottom quartile for the DFW area. Maybe the state standardized test scores are slightly above average is what you were referencing?

[gtt99]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

I wish the new super well, but Terrell HS’s SAT scores are still in the bottom quartile for the DFW area. Maybe the state standardized test scores are slightly above average is what you were referencing?

Yes, I was referencing the STAAR scores.

[BLDSoon]

Originally Posted by jlove3596

Assuming I am willing to live in a double wide... what areas would you suggest. Im ok with "way out in the country" as long as its about an hour drive. I'm looking for country commuting towns

Everyone is being really nice, but the truth is you are not going to find what you are looking for. It simply doesn’t exist within an hour commute of those three areas. Anything an hour or less in is solidly IN the metroplex. It would be a wild goose chase.

For example: What you described is New Hope, Texas. Its very close to (or is in) Mckinney and is about a hour/1.5 hours to North Dallas- probably 2 hours to downtown Dallas. About an hour to Rockwall.

The average starting price there is about 450k and prices are mainly in the millions for the available properties. Across the highway, there’s another small town- Lowry Crossing, also part of Mckinney. Its a little is cheaper - but more run- down in parts. Slightly less than 300 will get you in but it will feel more suburban for the smaller lots. Larger lots will cost you about double your budget. Both these towns are sandwiched between very busy suburbs that may very well swallow them with time. They’ve kept their country feel but lost the country pricing a long time ago.

Your budget puts you in solid surbub territory. If you want land.... anywhere within an hour of anywhere in DFW you will need to increase your budget to at least 350k and that’s paying no attention to schools, a lake, or the type of home you’d prefer.

Simply put- you cannot afford your criteria. Compromise on something- mainly decide between the commute time, or the acreage. For your price point, those two preferences are antagonistic. Alternatively, significantly increase your budget.

As someone said already- rent here for a while and what you can/ should do will become clear very quickly.

[DBL60]

Commerce will be your best bet . You’ll be under an hour to McKinney & Rockwall. But downtown Dallas may be a little longer . Problem is the schools are poor to average and your budget is low for everything .