Dallas Neighborhoods
 

My boyfriend and I are considering a move to Dallas by year's end. His job will take him in and out of DFW. I've read a lot of helpful posts about nice areas to live in but, as with most places, I am sure that there are areas to be avoided. Can anyone help with names of particular towns/communities in the Metroplex that we might rule out due to high crime, safety, etc? We will be renting for the next year or so.

Grapevine is a nice community nearby the airport. Very safe and problem free. N and W of the airport is Southlake, one of Dallas' most popular residential areas. Suburban Dallas is typically safe. Las Colinas is another nice burb less than 15 minutes from the airport.

Try the relocation forums here:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/dallas/

The big key when choosing where to live is to be fairly close to your job. Is he going to work at DFW, or just travel in and out?

Most all of the communities in Dallas and Fort Worth that are north of I-30 are safe, and those will be closer to the airport. I personally live in Grapevine and love it. ;-)

grapevine and coppell can be quite pricey. north irving and las colinas are nice, and not as high. euless is also a great city that borders dfw, and is often overlooked by most who relocate.

how much of a commute time is he looking to drive to work?

what one of the other posters said about most communites south of I-30 being bad, pretty much holds true, save for the nicer parts of grand prairie along I-20, and the tranquil tucked away community of cedar hill.

there are some nice communities to be found thoroughout collin county as well. frisco is exceptionally nice as well as plano.

but like i said, are you more concerned about driving times or have a nice place to call home?

personally i would look to living outside of dallas county, if youre buying a home, your property taxes will be cheaper.

some tarrant county communites to consider would be: southlake, hurst, euless, bedford, north richland hills.

you may also want to look into lewisville as well.

if all else fails, you can read police blotters online detailing crime statistics in various dfw commnunites. honestly, no city doesnt experience crime, but some are safer than others.

living in dfw area is all about commute time though, because, out here you never know what the daily traffic scene will bring,.one wreck can cause a huge mess of congestion.

so with that being said, i would rather live close to work in a decent, middle-class type of area..than live in a more affluent area with a longer drive.

hope this helps.

Please help us help you by telling us your priorities. Will you have a job, too? Any idea where? Do you care at all about the school district? Night life? Restaurants, shopping, culture? Don't want to put you in ranch house in a "safe" suburb, when you really want a loft in a "happenin'" area.

Dallas encompases a big area and DFW airport is midway between both Dallas and Fort Worth.

The Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex is so vast it can take you close to 1 1/2 to 2 hours to go from the eastern suburbs of Dallas to the western suburbs of Fort Worth and nearly as much time if you are going from north to south.

There's a lot of nice places that are within a 15 to 30 minute drive of DFW and even more if you don't mind travelling for about 45 minutes. Of course commuting times will vary depending on the time of day you actually commute to the airport. For instance, if you live in one of the affluent areas on the West side of Fort Worth it can take less than 30 minutes to reach the airport in "off hours", about 45 minutes in 'normal" rush hour and 1 1/2 hours if you happen to run into a traffic jam - you just never know!!!

There are communities that have homes which range in price from a little over $100K to several $million. So it's hard to make general recommendations.

You'd be wise to make a pre-move visit to the area, find out where your boyfriend's office is in relation to the airport. Once you have that information you can find a location where you will have easy access to both the office and airport. Also, what about you? Will you be working also? If so where will that be in relation to your boy friend's job and the airport? One suggestion would be to rent a place temporarilly before yu select a more permanent location to live.

He will be working at and traveling in and out of DFW: he's a pilot. My job will not be as big of a factor in deciding where we move. Commute time for him is important. I would guess no more than 20 minutes would be decent.
As I've said, we aren't buying a home at this time, so taxes aren't an issue.
We are late 20's, wanting an area with access to theater, museums, outdoor recreation, community activities but won't mind driving into the city for some of those things. Looking for a nice suburb with decent priced (under $900-1000?) rental houses and convenient shopping and dining. Sidewalks would be a major plus. Nightlife isn't a big deal, but nice restaurant/bars shouldn't be hard to find. We aren't as concerned about school districts yet, as we don't have children and will have time to find out for ourselves by that time.
The I-30 tip is exactly what I was looking for. I've read the boards about the nice places to live, I'm looking for the places that we want to avoid. I've been looking for rentals and it's hard to tell by way of the internet about the area. They all look pretty nice from the colorful pictures and prose.
Outsiders might not know but where I am from, "locals" knows you don't joyride around the North Side after dark... What are the Metroplexes areas to skate around?

Do look in Grapevine. There are quite a few rental homes in your price range here! The things you are looking for in a community describe it to a T!

I live in Grapevine, too. We know lots of pilots.

Author: RoamsAround
Date: 07/30/2007, 01:25 pm
Dallas encompases a big area and DFW airport is midway between both Dallas and Fort Worth.

The Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex is so vast it can take you close to 1 1/2 to 2 hours to go from the eastern suburbs of Dallas to the western suburbs of Fort Worth and nearly as much time if you are going from north to south.

(it takes longer when youre if you decide to drive any other times besides 3am on a sunday morning)

Thanks for the tips! Any others are appreciated, also.

I'm not sure if you mentioned your age, but my husband and I are 30 and 32 and would not consider any areas mentioned until we have kids. To have tons of fun options of non-chain restaurants, bars, theatre, walking trails, I would consider the Uptown area. Its a little further from the airport, but never takes me more than 20-25 minutes. In the burbs, just getting to the highway can take 10-15 minutes, and in Uptown you can get on highway right away.

On my trips to Dallas I usually look forward to being away from the LA traffic.Yesterday afternoon, after the rain, it took me 50 minutes to go 12 miles......east to west Plano to Lewisville....Good thing I wasnt going west to east, some of those folks are probably still in traffic!

If I could, I would live here: http://southlakebrownstones.com/

Grapevine sounds perfect, though!
I live WAY out east (between Sachse and Wylie) and commute to DFW.
My brother is an AA pilot and lives in North Garland; Firewheel.

Grapevine isn't all family-land. There are several good local bars and quite a few good non-chain restaurants here. Our historic downtown hosts Grapefest in a few weeks, and it will be a lot of fun!

I think other pilots in your company will have great recommendations.

I have a question regarding neighborhoods as well. Dh was just in Dallas area last week looking at investment property out by the airport (Texasstuc need a rental? :-)
He said it was an "okay" area called White something or other? The average house was about 125,000 and the rent to mortage ratio was pretty good...
any areas you would avoid with income property?

I've heard that Fort Worth is not a great place to live. Does that have any truth?

White Settlement? White Rock?

Yes! White Settlement - that was it... said it was good for investment properties. Dh went in for a day - but it is hard to get a feel in one day.