Hey guys. I may be taking a job in the Richardson/Far North Dallas area in the summer. I have a wife and kids, so schools matter, and I would be looking for housing in the $300k to $400k range. I'd like to spend a half hour or less commuting to work, but I know that may not be realistic. So I am open to longer commutes, because I won't have to go into the office every single day. If you had these considerations, where would you choose to live?

We live in Sachse, and kids go to Wylie schools. We love the district and the kids have plenty of options on classes and interests. Housing will probably be your biggest struggle in this area though, but just because the prices still have not come down enough from pre-pandemic levels.

Any chance they come down a little before July?

I'd recommend living west of Richardson (Sachse, Murphy, Wylie). Up north is exploding and I'd hate to get stuck on 75 every day for the commute.

It's funny... Zillow's minimum price filter for that area is $500K.

I live in Lucas which is ridiculously overpriced for housing, but there are parts of East Allen not too far from me that might fit your budget. Wylie is another town you should check out. My niece and nephew live in Sachse and go to Wylie schools and are very happy there. Be careful with Sachse if you are looking for Wylie schools because half of the town is zoned to Garland ISD. You might also look in central Plano.

What schools in the area ar NO GO for you?

What schools in the area ar NO GO for you?
I live out of state, so I don't have any frame of reference. I learned just in the last 5 mins that Wylie is a 6A high school.

My daughter is actively looking right now in Richardson/Plano and I live in that area. You need to be willing to spend at least $450,000 to find anything remotely decent.

I am able but less willing.
I'll work on that willingness. Otherwise, it sounds like I'll have a long drive to work.

you my get better opinions from guys like cody...but i wouldn't expect housing prices to come down. may keep going up, imo

CrottyKid said:

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What schools in the area ar NO GO for you?

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For districts surrounding the area you'd be working: I would avoid most schools in Dallas ISD, some in Garland ISD, some of the schools on east side of Plano, and some of the schools in parts of Carrollton Farmers Branch ISD.

Richardson ISD has some great schools, but they are in pricey neighborhoods.

Regarding your comment earlier: Wylie is not small town anymore. But, my family members are all very happy with the schools there. The schools have small town feel even though its not a small town anymore. If that makes sense.

You could maybe look out further east than Wylie to Rockwall and Royce City areas. My friends really like Rockwall, but I have no idea what prices are like out that way now. They've lived there 20 years.

I'm not a fan of McKinney just due to the 75 commute you'd have. But, if you don't mind driving you could also check out the towns of Melissa, Anna, and Van Alstyne North of Mckinney. I assume the prices would be lower there. I don't know much about them, I just drive through there on the way to see my other sister who lives North of there and when I'm going to Lake Texoma.

McKinney isn't bad if you can get around the commute. I live on the McKinney/Melissa line and work at Preston/Forrest in Dallas. I'm usually in the office by 7 AM and leaving by 4 PM so I usually don't have to deal with rush too much. Granted it only takes one idiot (and there is a lot of them) to **** 75 up.

I live in Allen and recommend. To g et to Richardson / North Dallas it's just a jump onto 75 and head south. In rush hour, its less than 30 minutes. And depending on where you are living and working, you might be able to head all the way down on Alma. I did that while driving to work in Plano every day, right on the border with Richardson. It would take me 20 to 25 minutes in rush hour going through two school zones.

I work in far North Dallas and live in Murphy. The commute is not bad at all. The school district and municipal lines get pretty wonky around Renner and Murphy Road. If you look in that area, be sure to double check school districts.

How often will you have to go in?
Do you have set hours, or is it flexible?
Are you WFH the other days?

I've got a ****ty commute to that area 3 days a week. Yes, it sucks but for 3 days, I make it work. I'm an early person so I can get in early to leave early, avoiding the evening rush hour.

I like where I live and spend my life outside of work and the schools are good. So driving that ****ty commute (over an hour) is worth it to me (for now anyway).

murphyag said:

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CrottyKid said:

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What schools in the area ar NO GO for you?

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For districts surrounding the area you'd be working: I would avoid most schools in Dallas ISD, some in Garland ISD, some of the schools on east side of Plano, and some of the schools in parts of Carrollton Farmers Branch ISD.

Richardson ISD has some great schools, but they are in pricey neighborhoods.

Regarding your comment earlier: Wylie is not small town anymore. But, my family members are all very happy with the schools there. The schools have small town feel even though its not a small town anymore. If that makes sense.

You could maybe look out further east than Wylie to Rockwall and Royce City areas. My friends really like Rockwall, but I have no idea what prices are like out that way now. They've lived there 20 years.

I'm not a fan of McKinney just due to the 75 commute you'd have. But, if you don't mind driving you could also check out the towns of Melissa, Anna, and Van Alstyne North of Mckinney. I assume the prices would be lower there. I don't know much about them, I just drive through there on the way to see my other sister who lives North of there and when I'm going to Lake Texoma.

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I'm in Rockwall (moved here from Richardson) and was going to suggest it but I checked and Rockwall is full.

Seriously, I would not consider Royse City given the extra distance plus the I30 expansion is headed that way so it's going to be years of misery. You can avoid that for the most part by focusing on north Rockwall but just know that access in and out of the city is limited since it's a lakeside community. However, the schools are very well funded and there's plenty of free family friendly events on the square and near the lake. The drive to Richardson/Far North Dallas is, in the grand scheme of metro traffic not terrible(has it's moments), but the quickest route does involve tolls.

When we moved here 4+ years ago it was a bargain relative to our well established, pricey Richardson neighborhood. Things have leveled out somewhat, but I believe you can still get a bit more out here for the $, just not as easily as in 2018.

Richardson was a great place to raise a family and an awesome home investment.

So where do you live?

I would be working at UTD as a professor. I would imagine I could do a similar three days a week in the office and WFH the rest. I can be flexible time-wise to avoid max traffic, too. I do like being able to get on campus in 30 mins or so for meetings, but it sounds like the housing market has different plans. The true house budget will depend a lot on how my wife's job shakes out and how much profit we make on our current home, but it would be nice if we found a good one based only on my income.

Cody -
I'll hit you up if all the paperwork gets signed and it is a done deal. Still a lot of negotiating to take place.

Bought in Rockwall early '21 (new build) coming from Houston and pricing was about 1.4x for a relative size. It increased a good bit since then (I sold end of '21, moved to Euless b/c I hated I-30 that much) and it went even higher to build new on a smaller lot (1.6x Rockwall in '21 cost). It's not gone down, even with the mortgage increases.

TLDNR- anywhere around DFW is expensive to not this area. But good news is traffic here is nothing compared to others cities like Houston (25+ years experience there). Great neighborhoods and schools abound. Increase your budget and you'll love it here.

You won't get a decent house anywhere close to where you want to be for under $400k.

CrottyKid said:

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So where do you live?

I would be working at UTD as a professor. I would imagine I could do a similar three days a week in the office and WFH the rest. I can be flexible time-wise to avoid max traffic, too. I do like being able to get on campus in 30 mins or so for meetings, but it sounds like the housing market has different plans. The true house budget will depend a lot on how my wife's job shakes out and how much profit we make on our current home, but it would be nice if we found a good one based only on my income.

Cody -
I'll hit you up if all the paperwork gets signed and it is a done deal. Still a lot of negotiating to take place.

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Best of luck in the negotiations...that's the fun part! Always here if/when the time is right.

CrottyKid said:

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Hey guys. I may be taking a job in the Richardson/Far North Dallas area in the summer. I have a wife and kids, so schools matter, and I would be looking for housing in the $300k to $400k range. I'd like to spend a half hour or less commuting to work, but I know that may not be realistic. So I am open to longer commutes, because I won't have to go into the office every single day. If you had these considerations, where would you choose to live?

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What if you were to buy my house in North Dallas?

You would need to stretch your budget but then you could pay another $30K per year to send your kids to any number of the best private schools in this part of the world.

Let's talk!

Don't give me too much credit. It's much easier to do as DINKS.

Texker, my kids went to Prairie Creek Elementary years ago. The Canyon Creek and Prairie Creek area near UTD is insanely expensive right. It's a beautiful area but you're probably looking at a minimum of $600k for a basic house that will probably need a major remodel. There are a lot of tear down rebuilds in the area really driving up the prices.

Congrats on the new gig. I had two kids graduate from UTD in CS and both are making bank. So glad they went there instead of A&M.

As far as housing, you're job is kind of at the epicenter of the overpriced DFW housing market. Good luck. The only suggestion I can make is look at jobs at UTA instead of UTD