Rural/country area, 20 mins to everyday retail, 80 mins to airport, no work commute (Dallas: buy, schools)

[mdok88]

Originally Posted by supfromthesite

I would say around Weatherford if you are cool with being near Fort Worth as opposed to Dallas. I met a lady that lived in the area and really liked it.

Is there something I should be aware of in Fort Worth area, as opposed to Dallas? Zombies? I can live with most things. Just not Zombies.

[supfromthesite]

Fort Worth is more laid back than Dallas and more of a "traditional Texas city". Not as many people live there and less transplants (still a good amount though). You will probably see more people with cowboy boots and hats. Less yuppies. These are just generalizations though.

[supfromthesite]

Weatherford is actually more like 30-40 minutes from Fort Worth. If you really need to be within 20 minutes or so you might need to look around a smaller city such as San Antonio.

[mdok88]

I don't need to get right into Downtown area.

Most of the stores and items I listed in the original post are well enough represented in the western areas of the fort.

Also I don't need to be right in the guts of Weatherford either. Anywhere from Azle, down through Aledo and down to Creston would probably do the trick.

[mdok88]

Originally Posted by supfromthesite

Fort Worth is more laid back than Dallas and more of a "traditional Texas city". Not as many people live there and less transplants (still a good amount though). You will probably see more people with cowboy boots and hats. Less yuppies. These are just generalizations though.

I like cowboy boots. And hats. Traditional suits me just fine.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by mdok88

I like cowboy boots. And hats. Traditional suits me just fine.

will San Antonio work?

It's really quite convenient, more traditional, lower prices, easier (quicker) access to recreation and country and quiet. and NO TOLLS (yet).

Lots happening in regional Hill Coutry venues within 1 hr of SA.

[supfromthesite]

San Antonio could work. On the north side you can look at Boerne, bulverde, and spring branch. South you have floresville and Pleasanton. For the price you put you can pretty much buy a mansion in floresville or Pleasanton. Castroville to the west, and bandera, but that is a little bit further out of town.

[mastershake575]

Yeah I like the outskirts of Fort Worth idea.

West, South, and Southwest of Benbrook lake there's listings for 2-4 acres in your price range (it's a combination of Southern Aledo, the end of forth worth city limits, and Northern Crowley).

Your only 15-20 minutes from those areas to City View Towne Crossing which is a shopping center in Fort Worth that has like 90% of the retail stores you wanted.

It gets cheaper the farther down Crowley you go (headed towards Joshua). Much more likely to get 5 or more acres in your range and although you'd be outside the "15-20 minute range" of the city view shopping you'd be close to all of the retail in downtown Burleson.

[Barefoot Daisy]

I'd head more toward Bridgeport, Boyd, Decatur .. still rural, easy to get to DFW on 114, and into the "outlet" mall at 114 and 35E, then down to the Presidio Junction/Alliance shopping area, and you can go a bit further down into Fort Worth .. or skip into Fort Worth on Busines 287 through Saginaw and skip 35 (I do!)

[CMC_TX]

Aledo!

Originally Posted by mdok88

Now that full time work/city life is behind us we're looking for acreage (1-2 absolute min, hopefully more like 5-10) in a rural/country/ranch setting.

Still want to be within 20-25 mins drive at most to:
Dollar, Walmart, Kroger, Costco, ALDI.
CVS, Walgreens, Target.
Autozone, O'Reilly, Napa, Advance.
Ace, Tractor supply, Home depot, Lowes, Harbour freight.
Restaurants, BBQ, Steak, Italian, authentic Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese etc. You can bet our final decision gets made on where the good food is.....

Schools not important (no kids).
Daily work commute not important (online based part time work) but that does mean I need good internet connection.

I want a large 6 car garage/workshop to work on my car build/modify/restoration projects. Building a car/atv and then driving it around local area to test it is what I like. So some twisty sealed roads, trails, off road etc nearby and a set of neighbours that don't mind this sort of thing is what I'm aiming for. Perhaps if land is big enough I can stay on my own property for this. What's important is that you don't have neighbours that call the cops on you every time they see the neighbour riding his atv down the road again...

Wife likes being a housewife, going to shops/mall for pampering, imax cinema, retail therapy at least once a week. So still need to be within 20-25 minutes of a decent one.

Every second month or so we'll go to airport and have a two week or so holiday, so about 80 minutes to airport is about our limit. House will be vacant/locked at this point and would hope it's not going to get broken into whilst away.

Would prefer land and then build what I want. Doubt I'll find what I want ready made.
Land: 200-300k
House: 600-800k
Garage/workshop: 100-150k

We're red and don't want to turn it blue.

Any suggestions for good areas to concentrate on would be most welcome.