Where to live in DFW?
 

Wherever you go, be mindful of the property tax rate. A $400k home can cost you around $1k a month in taxes in some locales. The rates vary widely between the ISDs and the different cities. You can look them up online. I encourage you to compare those in the areas you're considering.

Good point. With that in mind, can you tell me where to steer clear of?

According to this site (and who knows how accurate it is...), Denton/Tarrant/Dallas counties are all basically 10K a year property taxes for a 450K home.

Texas Property Taxes By County - 2014

Dallas Property Tax | DFW 2014 Property Tax Rates | Dallas Fort Worth Real Estate Taxes

When I personally looked at DFW real estate a few years ago, Coppell stood out as best for school quality, access to Dallas arts/events/etc, and access to DFW airport. Also "we may need to re-sell this house in a few years, where do we want to buy" scenario.

Great info, satpak. Thanks!

First this...there are many "taxing authorities" that assess tax on your properties value in Texas. The two biggest collectors are the city in which you live and the school district. Here is the list for Tarrant County. I don't know about Dallas County or the other counties. I'm sure you could find info for them somewhere.

http://taxoffice.tarrantcounty.com/ratesExemptions.asp

You can't figure out your tax rate by simply adding the ISD and the city, either. There are other little entities, like the county, the water authority, any PIDs, that have their grubby little hands on your home's value. Some areas have a combined rate near 3%. That's a fact. Figure a $400k home will be paying near $12k a year at a 3% rate. It's insane. I would avoid the City of Fort Worth at all costs. Look at their rate. The taxing power of the City of Fort Worth is an area bigger than you might think. It stretches far to the north of the actual city up toward Alliance. Keller ISD is high too. Get into an area with Keller ISD AND the City of Fort Worth taxing you and be prepared to pay.

When you find a property that interests you, make sure you look it up on the County website. You can see what any property in Texas pays in property taxes right there on the website.

Make sure you file for your homestead exemption (and any others you can get) as well before the deadlines. That can save you some $$.

Truer words have never been spoken!

I suspect you haven't lived in the Northeast or California. In NJ, a modest 3-2 home on a 1/4 acre was running me $10K a year property taxes. Then there were the local township taxes, school taxes, and NJ state taxes (6.4%).

Texas is a income free tax state and if you're only paying 3% overall, you're doing very good. This is why people are fleeing CA and the Northeast and Texas is booming.

I have lived in Arlington, Frisco, and McKinney. I didn't like Arlington much due it being older and somewhat run down. I currently live in the Stonebridge Ranch area of McKinney and absolutely love it. Money magazine named McKinney as the #1 place to live in the nation. Allen and Frisco are good too in my opinion. It depends on what your priorities are, though. If you want a big lot or space between houses, it might not be the best place for you. I like the close proximity to lots of golf courses, the relatively higher-class demographics (even at a WalMart at 11pm), and the good shopping, entertainment, and restaurants in the area. Schools are great too. Property taxes are a little above average. Some people view the area as a little snobby, but if you can resist "keeping up with the Joneses" it is great.

I think most DFW-ites will agree that the top public ISD's (leaving super $$$$ Highland Park out of this list, which is I think #1 in the state anyway) in DFW are:

In no particular order

Flower Mound
Plano
McKinney
Allen
Southlake/Carroll
Coppell
Colleyville/Grapevine

depending on what metric and what "top school list" you are on, all of the above occassionally rotate and outscore each other slightly year to year. BUT all are top districts.

In MY OPINION the problem with "moving west" aka west Tarrant County, Denton, etc, is that those areas are under super growth and have been since early 2000's. That open field down the road, a road which is a two-lane farm road, is a Super Wal Mart in 5 years and that road either stays the same, or undergoes frustrating construction. Ft Worth is also seeing a lot of new apartment complexes pop up and transient construction and oil industry habitants. This trickles into the school system. Coppell, Grapevine, you get a small yard but you get no "pop up" surprises in five years, your neighborhood now is your neighborhood in the future.

Also, the demographics change somewhat. Fort Worth/Denton you will have more of a white guy driving dually pick up crowd (Bass Pro, Cabelas customer, NASCAR fan,), Coppell/Lewisville/Plano you have a indian IT dude driving a Camry crowd. And of course everything in between. Southlake is CEO of XXX mortage company or chief of heart surgery of XXX hospital driving a Lexus crowd. Flower Mound and Keller is dual income mom and dad both work, Odyssey Mini-Van and Accord in driveway, largely anglo crowd.

Fort Worth/Denton family takes a vacation at South Padre Island or Cancun, Coppell guy vacation is Washington DC museums, Southlake is Europe to try to culinary options, Flower Mound is Carnival Cruise or Disney.

Also, check commute to DFW direction. Traffic flow in AM from all locations is largely into Dallas, easterly to South Easterly. PM is back to the west outbound. So assuming a 9-5 commute, living in Coppell or Irving/Las Colinas INTO DFW would be better than any other options.

My OPINIONS only.