Our family is moving to D/FW for work on 01/01/24 and I don't know much about the Metroplex.

We will have the ability to live anywhere in the area and are just putting some feelers out about areas people Recommend.

We will most likely base it off of a local church to join as a family and private school for our kiddos.

Recommendations so far are:

Aledo/Benbrook - SW Christian?
Frisco/Flower Mound - Legacy?
Argyle/Justin - Liberty Christian?

Any thoughts from D/FW Ags?

Thanks in advance for the time and thoughts.

Graduated from local private schools and know about most of the high end ones in the area. Is commute time to schools a factor? Age and sex of the kids? Preference on religious sect, non denominational or secular private school?

Private schools in Dallas range in cost from 8 to 12k a year on the lower end upto 30 to 40k on the high end (St Mark's and Hockaday) so what you are looking for will affect those recommendations quite a bit!

Argyle/Northlake is a great area. IIRC Nick Starkle went to Liberty Christian. Have heard it is a great school but don't know from personal experience.
As far as churches go I cannot recommend Milestone strongly enough. Main campus is in Keller and we are very happy there. Very easy to get connected and involved

Thank y'all for the feedback.

Daughter is 9
Son is 2

We go to a smaller low-key Christian school in Conroe now. Drive time to church is about 18 minutes and school is about 15 minutes depending upon traffic.

I work all over Houston now and drive a few hundred miles per day looking at different projects so I'm ok living wherever.

We would prefer non-denominational church that has Exegetical preaching and not topical or the teaching pastor's opinion.

We live in Aledo & our kids go to Weatherford Christian. It's cheaper than others we looked at. Very small. We love it.

We also have a 9 year old daughter as well as a 6 year old son and a 4 year old daughter. We are in the Overton Park area of FW and go to Southwest Christian. We attend Christ Chapel Bible Church. Love our school, church and neighborhood. Happy to discuss anything FW and surrounding with you.

OP your suggested living locations are all over the map. Where is work and how much of a factor is commute time?

Edit: Budget? Are we talking Park Cities or Little Elm?

I just listed areas that were recommended to us from others we have briefly visited with in D/FW.

Commute to work is yet to be determined becauseI work in the field and from home more often than not. We will eventually have a physical office but that will be in the future.

My team will be covering all of D/FW and we have crews in Lewisville, but that is just our yard/warehouse.

We are considering Fort Worth/Aledo, Frisco, Grapevine, McKinney, Justin, Argyle, Flower Mound & Keller.

We are going to be spending the second week of October up there in D/FW to spend time looking in different parts of the city, checking out schools, etc.

Brandon Leone said:

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I just listed areas that were recommended to us from others we have briefly visited with in D/FW.

Commute to work is yet to be determined becauseI work in the field and from home more often than not. We will eventually have a physical office but that will be in the future.

My team will be covering all of D/FW and we have crews in Lewisville, but that is just our yard/warehouse.

We are considering Fort Worth/Aledo, Frisco, Grapevine, McKinney, Justin, Argyle, Flower Mound & Keller.

We are going to be spending the second week of October up there in D/FW to spend time looking in different parts of the city, checking out schools, etc.

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Be sure and drive during rush hour to and from the areas you are thinking of living. Argyle would be awful if your company ends up having an office in Dallas south of 635. But, Liberty Christian is the best of the schools you listed. I'd probably rent for a year until you figure out what part of DFW would work the best for your job and family.

Dallas proper (Lake Highlands specifically)

-Churches: Eastside Community (med-big size), White Rock Fellowship (small)

-Schools: Scofield Christian, Covenant, Highlands Christian School (former Highlander), and if you want to do a "university" model where it is part home/part school, Classical School of Dallas (where my 3 younger ones go)

If you're looking in Argyle/Justin area, I'd include Northlake as well. There's lots of new development. Budget will be important to know, as well as whether you're looking for bigger lot (acre +). The Highlands is an acre + neighborhood in Northlake, but most houses are probably around $900k+.

Do y'all go to Eastside now? That's where we were when we lived by y'all.

Quinn said:

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Do y'all go to Eastside now? That's where we were when we lived by y'all.

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Yep. We switched over this summer.

Hey Brandon,

Happy to help in any way. Would love to help you and the family with your relocation. I own a brokerage up here and have worked with TexAgs for over a decade...

Cody

80sGeorge said:

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Have to admit I've grown to become a fan of the west/Tarrant side of DFW. Grapevine and FloMo are pretty centrally located actually. I realize I kind of left out Keller but whenever I'm in Keller, which is nice, I'm always frustrated by not being able to get to a highway I want without having to go through a bunch of suburb. Still good spot

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Being within a 5-10 min drive of a major highway is a huge factor-- can't be stated enough. To get from one end of DFW to the other could take as few as 45 minutes and as much as a couple hours almost depending on your starting location.

North Carrollton, specifically the Castle Hills or Homestead neighborhoods, could be perfect based on your comments so far. Houses generally 20 years old or newer and your dollar goes a hair further than Plano, Dallas, Frisco, etc.

Schools within 10 min:
-Prestonwood Christian Academy
-Trinity Christian Academy

Misc:
15-20 min to the Frisco legacy area
15-20 min to Lewisville proper
20-30 min to both airports
45 min to downtown Ft. Worth
25-40 min to downtown Dallas depending on the state of I 35

We have a 3yr old and a 9 week old and couldn't ask for a better spot from a raising kids standpoint.

We have multiple friends at TCA and they all seem to like it.

Really appreciate all of the thoughts and opinions.

We will take all of this in consideration and look forward to connecting with some great Aggies as we transition to the Metroplex.

Thank y'all for your time! Means a lot

BL

My wife used to work for Christ Chapel main campus in Ft Worth. We've heard a lot of of great things about SW Christian.

Would love to connect and hear more about your experience.

We live in McKinney, but our kids are in public schools (Lovejoy ISD). We attend Preston Trail Community Church, and have nothing but great things to say about the church community. Several of the guys in my small group have kids (or graduated kids) from Legacy Christian, and they have had very positive things to say about the school.

Best friend's son goes to All Saints in FTW and they love it there.

Killin Me Smalls said:

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We live in McKinney, but our kids are in public schools (Lovejoy ISD). We attend Preston Trail Community Church, and have nothing but great things to say about the church community. Several of the guys in my small group have kids (or graduated kids) from Legacy Christian, and they have had very positive things to say about the school.

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Are you in the district or you do the Scholar program?

Second for Milestone in Keller. Great kids program/facilities. Liberty Christian and FW Christian are roughly equal distance away.

I'd rec Benbrook or FW. Not a huge fan of the midcities.

Nephew went to SW Christian and he liked it a lot.

CampingAg said:

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Second for Milestone in Keller. Great kids program/facilities. Liberty Christian and FW Christian are roughly equal distance away.

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Third for Milestone in Keller. We just started going there a few months ago and love it.

Also, I went to both Fort Worth Christian and Liberty Christian and both were good schools. I graduated from Liberty, though it's been 20 years and Liberty has grown tremendously since then. Both have "celebrity" coaches with Jason Whitten as Liberty and Rusty Greer at FWC, so that's kinda fun.

jwag said:

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I'd rec Benbrook or FW. Not a huge fan of the midcities.

Nephew went to SW Christian and he liked it a lot.

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Based off of what?

Personally, I prefer all of NE tarrant county bc I've been in most of it during my life.

If you're not a dallas or fort worth devoted type then get both and be right next to DFW airport. Location wise I'd rather spend 20 to 45 minutes driving to work than being tied to either Dallas or Fort worth. Only thing I'd change about ne tarrant would be to put an HEB in it. Still kinda mad that they haven't put an HEB in glade parks (Euless) where I believe HEB still owns the undeveloped land

I currently live in Fort Worth between Benbrook and Aledo. I also have 12yr old and 9yr old girls. We started at the public school and signed up for SWC, but transferred to the charter school Great Hearts Lakeside during the COVID year. It's free and has better test scores than SWC. We love it. We have several friends that have come over from SWC as well. However, SWC is a great school and if you want the private school experience and don't want to pay TVA or FWCD prices, it's not bad at all. We also go to Christ Chapel and attend the main and West campus's. Doxology isn't bad either.

I grew up in the Mid-Cities and lived in the lower Greenville Ave. area in Dallas after graduating from A&M in 99. My folks still live in the Mid-Cities. All these areas have their pros & cons. It really depends on what you are looking for.

Aledo schools have great athletics. They do not have a good academic reputation. Before you argue with me on that one, the test scores are published and my cousin has been a principal there for years and would agree. However, I love it out there. Still quite a bit of elbow room and a pretty tight knit community. If you enjoy watching the crazy parents at sporting events, Aledo would be a Mecca for these types.

Benbrook is a small town and you can find better pricing on housing. The primary schools are excellent but middle school is combined with the high school. That was a no go for us. 5th-12th in one area. Two different buildings, but they are on the same lot.

Brock is another area that has become a hot spot to move to. Great sports and academics. It is a little further out, but if you want small town USA, you can't beat it.

North Fort Worth is a fairly new area. Not a lot of personality yet, but quite a bit of retail and easy access to highways. Traffic is brutal on 35 and 114 going towards Grapevine. We have several friends out there and its a beating to go see them due to traffic. The homes are very nice and you can still find deals on real estate.

Mid-Cities - Looks completely different than when I graduated high school in '91. HEB is a lot of empty nesters and older established communities. The new homes built are over priced for the area. The schools aren't very good either.

Southlake, Westlake, Grapevine, Keller, Colleyville, Trophy Club - You have Gateway Church in this area. As well as other churches, but Gateway is huge and well known. While it's not my cup of tea, my parents love it. Solid sports. Great schools. Growing up, this area was affordable. Now it is not. You are either the have's or the have not's in this area. If you find a good deal on a home, you will not be in a good school district. It's a great area and I have friends and family that live there. You can get to both Dallas & Fort Worth very easy from this area. If you have the means, it's not a bad place to live.

Anything West - Life's too short to live in Dallas.

Pepper Brooks said:

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North Carrollton, specifically the Castle Hills or Homestead neighborhoods, could be perfect based on your comments so far. Houses generally 20 years old or newer and your dollar goes a hair further than Plano, Dallas, Frisco, etc.

Schools within 10 min:
-Prestonwood Christian Academy
-Trinity Christian Academy

Misc:
15-20 min to the Frisco legacy area
15-20 min to Lewisville proper
20-30 min to both airports
45 min to downtown Ft. Worth
25-40 min to downtown Dallas depending on the state of I 35

We have a 3yr old and a 9 week old and couldn't ask for a better spot from a raising kids standpoint.

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Just moved to Carrollton in Castle Hills area and I'm really surprised by how much I like it. Never really considered Carrollton before just kind of bypassed it on highways.

I previously lived in Coppell for 25 years then East Dallas and then Valley Ranch.

I don't know what it is because there is not that much money here - upper middle class but not rich - but all of the stores and restaurants here are just nicer. They look nicer and the people are nicer. And even the traffic is not so bad. Dallas and Irving people were rude/tense and everything was busy and the clientele just always had some asshat making life miserable for everyone. Having polite service in clean establishments is so refreshing. My wife went in the Arby's the other day (cuz my son wanted it) and she said that's the nicest Arby's I've ever seen in my life and they were so helpful and attentive. Weird right. It's Arby's. Same at the grocery. Not overcrowded and nice people.

Like you said proximity to everything - Frisco/Stonebriar is 15 minutes, Galleria/tollway area is 20 minutes, DFW airport and Grapevine is 20 minutes, Love Field is probably 30 minutes. Arlington where my parents live (Cowboys, Rangers) is 30 minutes, the toughest is getting to East Dallas (Lake Highlands) or anywhere east of that it is at least 45 minutes mostly because of the LBJ expansion east of 75. Downtown Dallas is 35 minutes (Stars and Mavs) and FW is about 45 minutes. Even Winstar is only about 65 minutes.

You've got the tollway/DNT, 121/SRT and 190/Bush all within close proximity so you will be paying tolls but it provides accessibility to everything. Those connect in to I-35 and LBJ.

bigcat22 said:

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CampingAg said:

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Second for Milestone in Keller. Great kids program/facilities. Liberty Christian and FW Christian are roughly equal distance away.

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Third for Milestone in Keller. We just started going there a few months ago and love it.

Also, I went to both Fort Worth Christian and Liberty Christian and both were good schools. I graduated from Liberty, though it's been 20 years and Liberty has grown tremendously since then. Both have "celebrity" coaches with Jason Whitten as Liberty and Rusty Greer at FWC, so that's kinda fun.

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Yep. Both schools look like they're putting some serious resources toward athletics.

bigcat22 said:

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CampingAg said:

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Second for Milestone in Keller. Great kids program/facilities. Liberty Christian and FW Christian are roughly equal distance away.

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Third for Milestone in Keller. We just started going there a few months ago and love it.

Also, I went to both Fort Worth Christian and Liberty Christian and both were good schools. I graduated from Liberty, though it's been 20 years and Liberty has grown tremendously since then. Both have "celebrity" coaches with Jason Whitten as Liberty and Rusty Greer at FWC, so that's kinda fun.

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*Witten

all good suggestions on this board and not calling you out... as a friendly reminder.. that area of Carrolton / far west plano has some of, if not the worst soil in Texas for building.

Everyone knows the clay up here is bad but civil engineering buddies of mine that do grading have said as much. I had a friend who's parents house there is worth $0 because of a complete foundation failure.

Just be weary and stay on top of it.. especially with the drought we're in right now.

ChoppinDs40 said:

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all good suggestions on this board and not calling you out... as a friendly reminder.. that area of Carrolton / far west plano has some of, if not the worst soil in Texas for building.

Everyone knows the clay up here is bad but civil engineering buddies of mine that do grading have said as much. I had a friend who's parents house there is worth $0 because of a complete foundation failure.

Just be weary and stay on top of it.. especially with the drought we're in right now.

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huh weird did not know that. 8 year old house and no foundations issues and no signs of shifting.