Originally Posted by PurpleToolBox

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.

Originally Posted by satpak77

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.

Originally Posted by AUpilot1

Looking to relocate to the Dallas area. I don't know much about it other than what I saw in training and on overnights. Where do most AA pilots live? I'm married, in my early 30's with no kids yet. The wife has a pretty good job as well. We are looking for a great area with lots of restaurants, shopping and things to do. Somewhere that's reasonably close to DFW but also within 30 minutes or so from downtown Dallas. We would like to stay in the $350k-400k range if possible. May be able to go a little higher if necessary. Any help would be appreciated.

Originally Posted by MWright

With no kids, I'd shy away from the suburbs. Plenty of time for that later if it floats your boat. If I were you, I'd look into living in actual Dallas or Ft. Worth. Plenty of nice neighborhoods north of downtown Dallas. Lake Highlands (decent schools because it's part of Richardson ISD), Preston Hollow, Midway Hollow, and North Dallas/St. Rita neighborhood.

Plenty on the market in all of those areas (Preston Hollow will be tough, but you might find a fixer-upper) for less than $400k. 10 minutes to downtown/uptown (restaurants/bars/shopping), situated in between Northpark Mall and the Galleria (two of the best malls in the metroplex), and 15-25 minutes from the employee lot.

Only drawback I can come up with is access to good golf courses with affordable prices, unless you join a country club. There's only 3 or 4 courses I consider playable (not burnt out deadpan year round) within a 20 minutes of the city center. Easy fix is to join one of the country clubs young executive programs, which offer membership at lower rates (~$250/month) until you turn 40. Then they'll hit you up for an initiation fee and higher dues.

Originally Posted by texaspilot76

Try checking out areas south as well. You can get a lot for your money in places like Midlothian, Waxachie, and some parts of Mansfield. Still within 45 minute drive to DFW.