Talk to me about Rowlett.

Kids are grown up, so schools don't really matter much but the wife teaches in Plano ISD so that might be a drive. I'll eventually be in Plano ISD as well.

Shopping? Parks? Trees? I dunno...whatever there is to know.

The good?
The bad?
The ugly?

HEB is opening a new location at Firewheel which will be nice. Rowlett is kind of a sleepy bedroom town but that's not necessarily a bad thing. You can get to Plano very quickly on the Bush Turnpike.

beatlesphan said:

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If you care about landscaping/gardening then they have IMO the best plant nursery in DFW, Covington's.

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That's true. We still go there for stuff.

We moved to Rowlett in 1992 (back when SH-66 was as 2 lane road!). It was nice then but has steadily gone down hill since 2012ish. PGBT is convenient but brought in a lot of unwanted visitors, along with liquor stores getting the all-clear to open up shop. My parents and in-laws still live in Rowlett, but I live in Rockwall now.

As mentioned prior, the apartment situation in Rowlett is bad and only getting worse.. they just keep building them anywhere they can.

I wish I had better things to say. It was where I grew up, but it's just not what it used to be.

It is sounding like it's an older version of Princeton. No thanks! Good info! I think I'll move along from that thought. Thanks!

Good decision. I live in North Rockwall 2 miles across LRH to Rowlett. We like a number of restaurants and the Ace Hardware is on point, but as a place to live? Nope.

More specifically it is in a small community/HOA off Big A rd near Target. I hate eliminating an entire area without even seeing it, but I guess it is what it is. Ha!

It's looking more and more like we will just find something in a nicer old neighborhood in Plano. As packed in as it is, it's nice to know they can't build anymore apartments. Or these new modern day trailer parks they build now. Capitalism certainly has its drawbacks.

keep going to north rockwall

Plano west of 75 and south of 15th (and even a bit north) is a great area. If you can afford it, I'd go Richardson Canyon Creek in Collin County.

What about the Camelot area? Technically Garland but feels more like Plano/Richardson.

We found a house we really like, has a unique look and a nice street. Not to mention the price and taxes are hard to ignore.

Camelot is not too far from my old stomping grounds but I haven't been through that neighborhood in years. Decent enough location as you can pivot toward Richardson Cityline or North Garland Rd and Firewheel a bit further east. Also looks like it's still Richardson ISD if public schools are part of the picture.

Trying to recall if those are Fox & Jacobs homes. As I recall they didn't have a great reputation as a builder.

Good info! It is Richardson ISD but the kids are all grown up. I'll have to do some digging on who built the house, but it's from the 70s, with a unique design we love and it's rock solid from my initial walk thru. Being that old, there isn't going to be a lot of surprises, especially in regards to settling. The price is...hard to pass up. And the taxes for that matter.

The truth is we've bought, sold and rented so many times in our 20 years together we are sick of it. We are ready to be done and have a place we call home forever. Obviously the housing situation in this country is broken but with this house at this price, we can put 20% down, get a conventional loan and knock this mortgage out in about 15 years and be done with it. Plus we would still have plenty left over to do any improvements we want.

If we went with similar homes in Plano or McKinney, it almost certainly jumps up 100k and puts us at our max approval which nobody should ever do. And a mortgage over $3,000 is madness for these types of houses IMO.

My wife is in her 20th year teaching already, and I'm just now about to get started teaching/coaching finally. Whether I get my shot in McKinney or Plano, I'm in for the long haul, at least the next 20 years.

I guess the one concern that anyone would bring up is resale. Before we moved back to Texas last year, we bought a house in Aurora, CO and lived in that dumpster fire for 4 years. Living on the Garland/ Plano/Richardson border will be a walk in the park compared to that. As long as our street is decent, we don't care. So I can't think of anything that would make us want to ever move again.

Anyway, we shall see what comes of this. We are most likely going to put in an offer.

Sorry, I had some time to kill this morning so...there ya go.

TLR screw it

I get the moving part. I'm only on my 3rd (and final) house in 40 years, all within 25 minutes of each other.

Good luck and let us know if you have any more questions!

We live just north of Camelot (Spring Park area north of Campbell Road). Been there 37 years. Our kids grew up there and attended RISD. We love it. Quiet area. Very little retail which is great.

Welp, that was a whirlwind of housing these last few days. Lost out on the Camelot one because they wanted more time to move so they even took a lesser offer. Which is odd to me. If you need 60 days, you're not ready for your house to be on the market. But I understand houses sit at times and it's an unpredictable climate. Oh well.

Saw a pretty nice one near Yale Park not far from it but it was right on Collins and a bit too busy of a street.

Finally went to see a house in Plano we almost decided to skip and LOVED it. It checked off every box but a 3rd bathroom, which we won't even need since we are a year or less away from being empty nesters.

It's between Park Blvd and Plano Pkwy called Summer Bend I think? It's a pretty central location, quiet street, 2 big trees THAT I WILL GUARD WITH MY LIFE and a solid foundation.

We couldn't be happier being back in the Plano area. It all works out and I don't have to say I live in Garland.

It's not Dallas County, and a better location than Camelot. Things work out they way they are supposed to.

If you're not familiar with the area I can advise as we lived nearby for 24 years.

South central Plano is great. We used to live right at Parker/custer near Plano senior high school.

Quiet streets (mostly). Built out. Minimal traffic comparably. Don't have to drive more than 5 miles for just about anything.

Starting to look a little aged but desirable.

Enjoy covinos, central market, and if you like sushi and Asian fusion, hit up Dennsetsu.

We miss living down there but built and moved farther north a few years ago.

Honestly if you can make North Richardson work it would be much better and save serious commute time to Plano. I love the neighborhood, not far from UTD

Move to Sachse. Good place, big lots in some places.

There's a Central Market 8 minutes from the house. Score!

Yeah, we used to make the Walmart, Sam's, Central Market circuit on a regular basis. You're in a great location.