Moving to TX - Keller, Colleyville/Grapevine, Frisco, or Little Elm? (Irving: for sale, foreclosures)

[MidwestGal77]

We are moving to TX in a few months and are looking at property in Keller, Colleyville/Grapevine, Frisco, and/or Little Elm.
Husband works in Iriving. We want something close, but with great schools!!
Will have a 14 yr old, 11yrd old, & 5 yr old starting school this fall.
Coming from a community of 10K 30 minutes outside of St. Louis. Looking for a great community feel.
Not a fan of track homes & treeless subdivisions.
Looking to spend no more than $275K on a house.

Thanks for any help and suggestions in advance!!

[RonnieinDallas]

Keller, Little Elm, and Frisco are too far of a commute to Irving, construction on 121 from Keller causes massive delays, and from Frisco or Little Elm you will spend a fortune on your toll tag bill(like $10 a day for that commute), and not to mention many unnecessary hours hours on the highway coming and going from either of those suburbs. I would never sign up for any one of those commutes. Your budget won't work in most of Colleyville, but Grapevine is a little more affordable, and it's the same school district.

Sorry, but true "custom" homes won't be in your price range. Most new construction will be tract homes in DFW, until you hit $500,000 +.

Grapevine sounds like the best option on your list, but give Irving a look too. It's close to work and has some very family friendly areas. Especially valley ranch zoned to Coppell isd.

Good luck

[pinipig523]

You'll get something in keller or grapevine in the price range. Nothing custom though. You've priced yourself out of colleyville and frisco would be a toll nightmare unless you're in the outskirts. Maybe check out this place called Phillips Creek Ranch in south Frisco... though I still think you may be hit by some tolls.

Maybe you can try looking in flower mound if you value schools and you may find something in your price range.

Or try Euless, but I think it's not going to be as nice as the ones you had mentioned.

[ChristieP]

I will definitely agree with Ronnie that you need to take Keller, Frisco and Little Elm OFF your list. Those cities are just too far away to make a daily commute practical.

Grapevine definitely has what you are looking for: great schools, tree-lined streets, homes under $275k and a small-town feel. My husband and I have lived here for 11 years and we love it! The homes in Grapevine are a little older (80s-90s) than some other suburbs, but for the most part, the owners have a lot of pride and keep them up well. The city's parks are excellent, and the rec programs are very popular with families! Grapevine, TX - Official Website - Parks & Recreation We just passed a major bond election to double the size of the community center! We also have very low city taxes compared to other area cities, which is due to our city's diverse tax base and abundance of retail and restaurants.

Here's the website for the school district: http://www.gcisd-k12.org/ Although my husband and I do not have children, I can tell you that many of our neighbors do, and they are very happy with their kids' education in the local school system.

If you need more info, please ask!

[hal2814]

Since you mentioned schools as an important criteria, do be aware that school districts in Texas do not line up with city boundaries. Grapevine/Colleyville ISD for example covers most of Grapevine, most of Colleyville, and some small parts of Hurst and Euless. Part of Grapevine is in the Carroll ISD. Parts are Colleyville are in HEB ISD and Keller ISD. Make sure you take into account both the city and school system you're looking for houses in. I personally live in Euless in GCISD. I'm happy with that setup for the most part. There are a few places where I feel Euless' city services aren't as good as Grapevine's (mostly the city pools and the rec center offerings), but I do feel like that's a "good vs better" situation more than a "bad vs good" one.

As far as your original question, I agree that you're priced out of Colleyville but not by much. $300k would get you something decent there. Anywhere else in GCISD is doable on a $275k budget.

In Keller ISD, you want to stay east of Hwy 377 if you want anything approaching a reasonable commute to Irving. In that particular area of the Keller ISD, houses are about as much per sq ft as they are in Grapevine (sometimes even a little more) but you'll typically get a little larger lot size with that. You'll also find more homes for sale in general right now.

I would personally strike Little Elm and Frisco off the list due to their distance from Irving but I do know a LOT of people who live in Frisco and commute to Irving. I personally don't know much about either area because I just wasn't interested in commuting that far so I really can't provide any insight there except that I spend about an hour less per day in a car than they do and I'm very thankful for that.

[stephwin]

Originally Posted by pinipig523

You'll get something in keller or grapevine in the price range. Nothing custom though. You've priced yourself out of colleyville and frisco would be a toll nightmare unless you're in the outskirts. Maybe check out this place called Phillips Creek Ranch in south Frisco... though I still think you may be hit by some tolls.

Maybe you can try looking in flower mound if you value schools and you may find something in your price range.

Or try Euless, but I think it's not going to be as nice as the ones you had mentioned.

Philips Creek Ranch starts at $300k, and most houses are way above that. One of the big problems with Frisco, besides the awful commute using 121 to get to Irving, is actually getting to 121. You’ll either have to take DNT (more $$ spent on another toll road) or take FM423 or Legacy, which are always backed up and full of traffic. There are very few north/south roads in Frisco that take you all the way to 121.

[MidwestGal77]

Thanks so much for the replies! This kind of "insider" info is invaluable to a transplant!

I had no idea tolls were that expensive! We are used to $1 - $3 tolls around here. Yikes!

Looks like Colleyville, Little Elm & Frisco are off the list! We have been looking at Flower Mound as well and will now consider Grapevine. Great tip on the school dist lines. I would have never known otherwise.

I probably should have specified that we are looking for a fixer-upper at $275 too.

[ChristieP]

There will be nice places in that price range in both Grapevine and FloMo, but I'm not sure about a fixer-upper. Most homes in that price range in those cities are fairly new, and will already be nicely updated before they are put on the market. Foreclosures are honestly few these days...