Frisco, north of Dallas, halfway between Plano and Lewisville, is a great place to live. Lots of new subdivisions with homes ranging from $120,000 to $millions; Stonebriar Mall (the best in the Dallas metroplex IMHO); a new minor league baseball stadium for the Frisco Roughriders that is now the "in" place to go. We live in an area called Wynnwood Haven which is on the east side of Lake Lewisville and have about 160 feet of lakefront property. Great neighborhood, and you can ski, windsurf, fish or jet ski from your back yard. We're about 7-8 minutes from the North Dallas Tollway and downtown Dallas is about an hour's drive. The Tribute golf course, a Scottish links course is 2 minutes away.

Blondie,

As a former resident, I have to say that Allen is a great suburb.

It is sandwiched between McKinney and Plano, right along I-75. It has grown tremendously in the last 5 or so years and has a lot ot offer (the population has tripled!)

One thing I loved there, is that everything is NEW! It is a really pretty, clean town.

There are many neighborhoods that offer new homes in the 200-300K price range, depending on what you want.

My husband worked downtown while we lived there and if he left for work in the 6 o'clock hour, he could get there in about 35-40 minutes (leaving any later meant a longer commute - up to an hour). At night, around 6PM, was a different story. Definitely count on an hour for the commute home on 75!

The only negative to Allen, was that the property taxes are (last I heard) the second highest in the state. It never particularly bothered me, though, it's just part of life!

If you need any more specifics on Allen, I'd be happy to help!
Good luck!

Also, having lived in Dallas (and in all fairness, only visiting Houston) I would pick Dallas any day if given the choice!

txjennyd - What is your zip code? - It's easier to look up properties that way.

Melh - I may be calling on you for some of your offered advice! The way it looks right now, we're about a month out from moving (probably to Dallas for training).

What is a reputable storage company in the Dallas area? We are putting everything straight into storage until we figure out our destination!

Thanks

We moved to Dallas 4 years ago from the Jersey Shore. We spent 3 separate weekends house hunting and my initial impression was very negative. The houses were gorgeous and new on the inside with way more sq footage than we could dream of back east, but the neighborhoods were such a turnoff. Rows and rows of big brick houses with tiny yards and NO trees or privacy. I encountered for the first time a phrase that I latched onto with fervor, "creek lot". It seems that is the main place that trees can survive here. I told my husband a pool in Texas would be mandatory along with trees. We found during one of our drive arounds, a small town that none of the realtors showed us that I don't see mentioned in any of the postings. It is Highland Village. It has woods and hills, an extreme rarity in the plains of Dallas. It is on the shores of Lake Lewisville and borders the towns of Flower Mound and Lewisville. When we stumbled onto it I said,"Now this is more like it!" we bought a house in the highland shores section and are very happy here. Good Luck.

DebRN
Is your zip code 75077? That's what comes up on realtor.com for Highland Village.

Thanks

I appreciate this post (and the others) we're considering a move to Dallas too and this has been very informative! One question, though, I was searching on realtor.com for homes in Plano and some homes in Murphy popped up as well. What's Murphy all about? My dog's named Murphy, so maybe it's an omen!!
Thanks!

Yes the zip for Highland Village is 75077. MAPSCO 549K is my neighborhood. That is this map book everyone around here uses.

The zip code for Frisco is 75034. Wynnwood Haven is not yet in the city limits of Frisco, so we pay no city taxes. Also, it's Denton County, not Collin. So rather than $5000 taxes on a $250,000 house, it's closer to $3800. Highland Village is on the west side of Lewisville Lake. It's also a very nice place, but the traffic down I-35 to Dallas (and back) is horrible. A waterfront home there costs $500,000+.

Blondie,

There are so many storage companies in the metroplex. I haven't had to use any of them, so I am not a very good resource on this one. Having said that, I can't think of any in Allen that I would be wary of.

Just FYI: I grew up in DAllas and just moved out of Houston, where we lived for a few years. Dallas homes are more expensive, but lower taxes then in many parts of Houston. Houston has practically no zoning, so you may have a wonderful neighborhood...and down the road, or heck, next door, they can build a strip joint or something equally upsetting. Dallas area is alot more strict about their zoning. There are plenty of areas in Dallas with trees, but these are the more mature areas. The areas you are seeing without trees are new construction, so of course they went in, tore everything down and began building. In so many years trees will be higher and around more. I grew up in N. DAllas/Richardson prior to the big Plano boom, and around lots of trees (cottonwoods Dallas is a little snootier...not BAD, just more formal, dress up a little more, Houston is more relaxed (nothing compared ot here in Austin though But Houston is much dirtier...I had some real problems with this while I lived there (and the zoning). And LORD, the humidity...yuck! The first city I ever visited that a section of it literally stunk (the refineries in southwest Houston) All those pine trees are pretty, but they can sure make roofs look like hell Traffic isn't great in DAllas, just like any city, but it's definitely better then in Houston...and of course now Dallas has the Dart train. Try Plano closer to Preston Rd., also Frisco by the toll road, my friends bought a wonderful home out there. McKinney is where my family is from from years back, it's changed...ALOT. Very yuppie suburban now...and then there are some large houses being built north of even McKinney in Melissa. Country Ridge has been out there for years now, big houses with LARGE lots...but I don't know if there are available sites there.

Good luck to you.

Oh yes, forgot to mention, when I was in Houston I lived on the border of far northwest Houston, near Tomball/Spring. Our taxes were 3.3%

Do they have sweet tea in Dallas?

Just wondering how far that goes in the south!

Been here all my life and never heard it here. Tea is almost always served unsweetened. Dallas is a mix of south and southwest... it's hard to decide which one is more prevalent.

I didn't read through all the posts so someone else might have said this but---today's news said that Rockwall was the fastest growing county in the U.S. It is also right on a very large lake. There are all kinds of neighborhoods and homes around the area.

Been here all my life and never heard it here. Tea is almost always served unsweetened. Dallas is a mix of south and southwest... it's hard to decide which one is more prevalent.

Hey... I did no enter that 2x! How did that happen?

Typically the only place you'll find it from small town grandmothers (like mine who were always taught to serve their tea sweet. Some home style restaurants will serve it that way, very few though. And you can get it from Chick-fil-a

I'll put in a plug for Rockwall, I moved here two years ago. It's the fastest growing county in the U.S. because of the beauty and charm. But, it's still a very small town, 20,000 in the city limits, 50,000 in the county. Rockwall county is the smallest county in the state of Texas.

We looked into other master planned communities in areas like Sache, Plano, Allen, McKinney, Rowlett and Frisco but thought the city government in Rockwall was doing a better job of handling the growth and maintaining the quality of the area. It is on Lake Ray Hubbard, about a 30 minute communte to downtown Dallas, no access to DART yet but Rowlett (a couple of miles across the lake) is building a DART station sometime in the future. Our neighborhood (The Shores) has a mix of older homes (15-20 years old, 2000-3000 sq ft, mature trees) and newer homes (1-5 years) with homes still being built (lakefront still available), $160,000-400,000 range, a golf course, small country club with a nice pool.

We have loved the small town friendly atmosphere here and still have all the amenities of the big city whenever we want to drive into Dallas. Taxes are alittle higher for the schools here than in Dallas (but you get what you pay for with a very good school system), But keep in mind auto insurance rates are lower since we are not in Dallas County. Good luck in your move.

Frisco actually has two zips 75034 and 75035. It is one of the fastest growing cities in the nation. It is a great place, and they even have a new minor league ball park for the Frisco Roughriders.

Murphy, is just east of Plano. It has some nice areas. It is out by Southfork Ranch (where Dallas was filmed).

There are so many endless options for what you are looking for. If you want mature trees then it is true you probably need to look in the older areas maybe, Richardson, Dallas, or parts of Plano. However living in Dallas county will cost you more for insurance (auto and home).

Everyone here is just so helpful - I love it!

I will be flying to Dallas May 1 for a very short trip (leaving next day). I don't fly out on May 2 until 10:00p.m., so what could I possibly take a look at between 4:30 p.m. and 8:30 ?

Any suggestions? Maybe driving out to look around at some of these neigborhoods? What time does it get dark there now?

By the way, this trip will be the deciding factor of moving there.

Thanks for helping!
Blondie