Info on Dallas area

[Smith22]

The wife and I are considering a move to Texas and I was looking for info on these cities:

Allen
Frisco
Plano
Murphy
Sachse
Forney
Rowlett
Rockwall
Ft. Worth

I would be working in Dallas off of North Stemmons Freeway. Any info on the school systems, commute times, etc. would be much appreciated.

 

[Smith22]

Any info on utility bills would be appreciated also, I hear that Rowlett and Sachse charge higher water rates? I understand property taxes can run between $3500-$5000 depending on sq ft. and the area? My main concerns with any area are the schools and commute. Crime doesn't seem to be a big deal for any areas that I listed, at least not that I noticed through research.

 

[calico]

I could not tell anything about any of them except for Ft. Worth and that is that it sucks and is expensive as freaking hell.

My old college roommate moved from Austin to Ft. Worth last year and did nothing but ***** about the cost of living. I guess it has not changed much from the '70s when my parents lived in Dallas and had the same horror stories of cost of living.

 

[GTaylor]

I live in the Frisco area, property tax rates are about 2.3%, be ready to pay to travel as the two main roads are the Dallas Tollway and the soon-to-be-tolled Hwy 121 (Theres a big debate going on right now regarding who gets to charge the rates/peak times, etc). Housing is cheap if you know where to go, my house is considered "old" and it was built in the mid 90s. Frisco is also growing like crazy (They're talking about 125,000 by 2010, right now we have about 80,000). Commute time will be a little tight if you use 121 due to the construction but once done will be very nice. If you're a minor league baseball fan (Such as myself) you'll have to check out a game at Dr. Pepper/7-Up Ballpark.

Can't tell you about the schools since we're childless, but from what I've heard they're nice. Crime-wise it's pretty good...at least from what I've heard.

Frisco also has tight restrictions on water usage, we were the first to use mandatory restrictions last summer (Stage 2) and were the first to use Stage 3 (Stage 2 - they give you two days where you're allowed to water, stage 3 it's one day a week, your trash day and Frisco has 3 employees hired fulltime whose only job it is to find violators). Kinda dumb if you ask me but they did say in 2008 they'll have new water sources so hopefully the restrictions will end.

If you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask...

 

[Crown Royal]

I was born in Pleasant Grove, it's a good place to go if you like the rodeo or the fair- you can get to either quickly.

Oakcliff is nice, plenty of beautiful trees. You might check that out.

South east dallas, near dolphin, some really nice historic homes and near the hospital.

 

[ROMOSAPIEN9]

I lived in Rowlett for about 10 years. The whole city was under constuction the whole time I lived there, so everything is fairly new.

 

[Crown Royal]

I lived in Rowlett for about 10 years. The whole city was under constuction the whole time I lived there, so everything is fairly new.

I grew up in Rowlett (after getting out of the Grove).

I'm not a huge fan. The cost is pretty good, but the city tried to grow like Frisco, but did so unsuccessfully. there just isn't that much land out there. The homes aren't growing like they were, unless you go to the east side near Rockwall, and if you go there, might as well go to Rockwall.

A lot off the development in Rowlett is beginning to age, and for the worse.

Regarding the schools, Rowlett is goverened by the Garland ISD. This school district used to be one of the best in North Texas, but has really gone down hill in the last 3-5 years. And Rowlett's HighSchool is NOT a good education. I wouldn't even go - I commuted to Garland.

 

[Smith22]

Excellent info, keep it coming please.

 

[Smith22]

Friendly bump

 

[trickblue]

Friendly bump

It really honestly depends on where you work...

Many of the locations you gave are a world apart given DFW...

You really don't want to be living in Rockwall and working in Burleson...

Can you narrow it down a bit more?

 

[Smith22]

It really honestly depends on where you work...

Many of the locations you gave are a world apart given DFW...

You really don't want to be living in Rockwall and working in Burleson...

Can you narrow it down a bit more?

Plano, Frisco and Allen seem to be the areas we have considered most. My work would be about a 25 minute drive south of Plano (off of North Stemmons Freeway).

 

[DallasTx_EaglesFan]

Allen is a great place to live, but the school taxes are murder!!!!

 

[Smith22]

I live in the Frisco area, property tax rates are about 2.3%, be ready to pay to travel as the two main roads are the Dallas Tollway and the soon-to-be-tolled Hwy 121 (Theres a big debate going on right now regarding who gets to charge the rates/peak times, etc). Housing is cheap if you know where to go, my house is considered "old" and it was built in the mid 90s. Frisco is also growing like crazy (They're talking about 125,000 by 2010, right now we have about 80,000). Commute time will be a little tight if you use 121 due to the construction but once done will be very nice. If you're a minor league baseball fan (Such as myself) you'll have to check out a game at Dr. Pepper/7-Up Ballpark.

Can't tell you about the schools since we're childless, but from what I've heard they're nice. Crime-wise it's pretty good...at least from what I've heard.

Frisco also has tight restrictions on water usage, we were the first to use mandatory restrictions last summer (Stage 2) and were the first to use Stage 3 (Stage 2 - they give you two days where you're allowed to water, stage 3 it's one day a week, your trash day and Frisco has 3 employees hired fulltime whose only job it is to find violators). Kinda dumb if you ask me but they did say in 2008 they'll have new water sources so hopefully the restrictions will end.

If you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask...

Sent u a pm. Thanks for the info.

 

[baj1dallas]

well you have property taxes that might be high, but on the other hand you're not paying (state) income tax.

plano's alright. bunch of yuppies. even moreso in frisco really. allen is growing but it's a bit of a hike from where you're going to work. if you're going to work in north dallas you want to live pretty close because traffic going into the city is rough. driving out to the suburbs to work isn't all that bad. if you work downtown don't live further away than richardson unless you don't mind an hour and a half commute.

 

[Garland powerplay]

property taxes are really only a couple thousand annually.
School plus county. Rowlett , Sachse areas are pretty good family friendly towns but of course connected to big city so its all basically the same in North Dallas. Plano probably has the best schools & ranks as one of the better burbs to live. You would have a 30-45 min commute depending where you are on 35.