I have a soon to be coworker moving to dallas with his wife and infant daughter. He asked for suggestions for a good area to buy without a terrible commute to downtown Dallas. I don't know anything about family areas, so maybe y'all can help.

Hard to speculate without any sort of budget.

Without budget numbers:

Midway Hollow, Lake Highlands, Lakewood, M Streets, Park Cities, Preston Hollow

I'll check about budget. Likely not a huge texags sized budget, so more eco friendly options appreciated.

$400k-$500k will get you into one of those modern looking townhomes being built six to a lot all over the place. At that price point you won't get your pick of any neighborhood but can find something nice in a decent area. Probably be new construction.

The seemingly strong market for the properties like the ones described above make buying a house hard. Houses that could be fixed up and made into a nice home are being bought to tear down and make room for more townhouses.

The only place I really browse is east of downtown so no idea what's going on west or south. I like East Dallas a lot but it's a tough housing market right now.

She said without a terrible commute. They also need to think about schools with an infant daughter.

Kessler Park is actually a super suggestion as long as you go the private school route with the kids. I know a number of lawyers and judges who live there because of the short commute to downtown.

I'll get bashed for this, but north Arlington is a great choice as well, but it will be about a 30 minute commute down I-30. North of I-30 in Arlington feeds Lamar and those schools are quite good.

Used to live in Kessler Park. Great area but not a lot of young kids

South edge of plano if you live near the tollway isn't a terrible commute to downtown. Price in the area ranges from ~$300k for an older 3-4 bed home, up to multi-millions for the newer mcmansions.

Most tollway traffic comes in the Plano/Frisco corridor. If you live on the southern edge of Plano, you exit from the tollway right before you hit the worst of the backups.

I moved to Kessler about 5 years ago and I have met more families with young kids than I ever did when I lived in addison/ west plano

Demasiado said:

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I moved to Kessler about 5 years ago and I have met more families with young kids than I ever did when I lived in addison/ west plano

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Thays good to hear! It's obviiusky changed since we moved from there. It's a great area - we lived on greenbriar

John Francis Donaghy said:

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South edge of plano if you live near the tollway isn't a terrible commute to downtown. Price in the area ranges from ~$300k for an older 3-4 bed home, up to multi-millions for the newer mcmansions.

Most tollway traffic comes in the Plano/Frisco corridor. If you live on the southern edge of Plano, you exit from the tollway right before you hit the worst of the backups.

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Is that true? Seems like the majority of the congestion is from 635 thru Addison, to almost George Bush, especially that the construction is complete through Plano now.

Are they small town people or big city people? One interesting suggestion I've heard for those interested in a small town vibe is Sunnyvale. I don't know a ton about it but I get the impression from someone I know who just bought a house there (obviously this means its biased info) that you get good schools and less of the mesquite riff-raff but with a pretty decent commute to downtown.

North of mockingbird and east of Skillman are pretty much the only affordable places that are still in town that are affordable where your house will still see real appreciation

I work in Uptown and have a handful of coworkers that live in Sunnyvale. They seem to really like it and don't tend to complain about their commute.

Sunnyvale? I had to look that up to see where that was.

Should look at the actual distance, Sunnyvale to downtown is the same as Richardson

East Dallas Ag said:

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Should look at the actual distance, Sunnyvale to downtown is the same as Richardson

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Maybe I'm putting too much emphasis on the commute to downtown requirement. I don't consider Richardson viable either.

I'm much closer in so my perspective is skewed.

Thanks for all the help, y'all.

Just buy a place in LH and be done with it

Bishop Arts in North Oak Cliff is a value now but they will have to send their kids to private school.

Tons of places for sale and for lease in the M streets.

Sunnyvale is a 45 minute commute each way. Worse if something happens on 80. Also Mesquite is getting worse which isn't a plus.

Assuming they are young professionals, I would advise them to lease something really close to downtown to take advantage of all of the stuff to do. Stroller walking around KWP, the Perot, and especially the Dallas Zoo is something they can do while they still have a little one without school pressures. Also, there are great daycares downtown for all of the workers (though hard to get into). Then, when they have found what type of home they are looking for and decide where/what kind of school to send the little one, they can move knowing where everything is.

Similar story here. We moved here about 3-1/2 years ago and I was surprised at the amount of families with kids just on our street.

What is their budget? Good schools and close to downtown, junius heights or Hollywood Santa Monica are great options. Mount Auburn is also a nice option. It's about 2 -3 miles from downtown and full of families.

Are private schools in play?

Which street? Is it safe?

YouBet said:

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I'll get shot but don't rule out Kessler Park.

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