Commute from 121/75 (Allen) to 635/75 (Richardson) (Dallas, Plano: mortgage, new house, layoffs)

[Galileo]

Hello all,

Hope everyone is having an event-free Monday. We (husband, wife and a 6-month old) are considering buying a new house in Allen near 121/75. How bad would the commute be to Richardson, 635/75? I hear that 75 going south is jammed up during rush hour. Any other routes that work better than 75 south? Any other thoughts? One of us will be making this commute; the other would be headed to Irving (We already know the Irving commute would be a long one). We are basically targeting newer construction and can't seem to find anything in our price range ($250k - $300k) in Richardson or Plano, which were our previous preferences.

Thanks in advance for your comments.

Galileo

[momof2dfw]

No thanks. Why just new construction? You can find some fairly new houses that would make the commute for both of you much easier. Both of you working that far from home w/ a 6 month old back closer to the house for childcare could make it hard if something came up. I know that I would not want to be that far from my little one everyday in case of an emergency. Then as they get older and in school it would be harder to be involved for things like field trips, classroom parties, having lunch with them at school, etc. Not to mention just trying to get back to the house to get them to some after school activities on time if they particpate in sports or anything.

You could drop an easy 20 minutes off the commute if your only want a new house by looking east of 75 around 190. There are new and fairly new homes in your price range in that area. Straight on 190 to Irving and then several options to the job at 635 & 75.

[Galileo]

Thank you for the reply, momof2dfw. You have made all valid points; the one's we are struggling to decide on. Newer construction, besides that it feels newer, also gives us the latitude to get a few things in the house (such as a media room, good layout, bigger size secondary bedrooms) that may/may not be available in a pre-existing house (not to say that we are not considering pre-existing homes; we are still looking at those). The goal is for us to stay as close to 635/75 so at least one of us is closer to work (and the kiddo). Beside this new construction up in Allen, we are closely looking at east Richardson, east Plano, west Plano, and west Murphy. No luck so far. I take it that there is not good way to get to Richardson from Allen.

[momof2dfw]

To get from Allen to the 635/75 area your best bets are 75 if it is moving. Side streets depends on what side of 75 the job is and the house. Greenville Ave is one option on the east side and Alma for the northern portion on the west side.

If your job at the 635/75 location happens to be at TI then I highly recommend finding something that the mortgage can be handled w/ only 1 paycheck and the house is in a good location to commute to any other area where a future job may be. TI is famous to hire and then layoff every 3-10 years. They have huge layoffs and early retirement offers. You don't want to get somewhere that a job in the future could make the commute even worse. Most of the people that come to work for TI do happen to be from out of the area. They heavily recruit outside of Texas. Just a heads up

[txgolfer130]

It's not that bad at all. We are just north of you (Eldorado/75 area), and my wife makes that commute around 7:30am everyday to 635/75 area in a comfortable 45 minutes tops door-to-door. Now this is w/out accidents, but on most days (95%) of the time she has no problems what so ever. Coming back though @ 5pm is a different story. It easily takes her 50 minutes in heavy traffic going North.

[FarNorthDallas]

See, to me 45-50 minutes is bad, especially when you have a baby.

Another option is Coit for the Richardson commute.

For the Irving commute - would that be going on the 121 tollroad or George Bush tollroad?

It just seems like you are creating for yourself one big triangle of commuting, where the baby is not near either parent.

[scyogi]

45 minutes is a long way if there is a emergency/sick baby. Keep looking something will come your way. We have a rather large home with all the bells and whistles and I promise the only thing it adds to our life is more cleaning time. Only a few times a year have we have taken advantage of all the available space. Lots of house to clean+commute+baby+cooking+yard work= stress.

[Galileo]

Thank you all for your valuable advice. I do agree that 45-50 minutes for the Richardson commute is longer than what we are hoping to end up with. The idea going in is to have the Irving commute to be around 35-45 minutes but to keep the Richardson commute to be around 20-25 minutes if possible so that one parent is closer to the baby. It does help a lot to hear all the different views out there! Keep them coming.

[Galileo]

Originally Posted by FarNorthDallas

See, to me 45-50 minutes is bad, especially when you have a baby.

Another option is Coit for the Richardson commute.

For the Irving commute - would that be going on the 121 tollroad or George Bush tollroad?

It just seems like you are creating for yourself one big triangle of commuting, where the baby is not near either parent.

The nearest one to hop on to would be 121. I agree it will be one big triangle! The good thing is we are still looking.

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by Galileo

Thank you all for your valuable advice. I do agree that 45-50 minutes for the Richardson commute is longer than what we are hoping to end up with. The idea going in is to have the Irving commute to be around 35-45 minutes but to keep the Richardson commute to be around 20-25 minutes if possible so that one parent is closer to the baby. It does help a lot to hear all the different views out there! Keep them coming.

You are not going to have those times for commutes to either location from Allen. The commute to Richardson is going to be a 45 minutes on a GOOD day. Irving....... no thanks.