My nephew just bought a house there and I don’t know anything about Prosper.

He’s escaping California with his young family. Don’t worry Texans, he’s as conservative as most of us are here.

He bought a new build 4,300 square foot house. 5 bedroom, 5 bathroom, study, media room and a flex room house.

His Texas house is less expensive than his 1,700 square foot home in Southern California.

So, what is there to know about the area…

I'm a former DFW resident and still visit. A few things to know:

Texans DGAF how you did things where you're from. Out of staters are refugees not missionaries (i.e. act grateful they escaped California). I grew up in the Upper Midwest so I like to say I'm a Texan by choice not luck of birth.

You're 50 IQ if you fly a California flag.

You rarely get nice, gentle rains in North Central, Texas. You get violent thunderstorms frequently accompanied by hail and tornado watches/warnings

They should try all of the Top 50 BBQ Joints in Texas within an hour or two drive.

Need to eat fried chicken at one of the Babe's Chicken locations (probably Frisco). For the love of God, do not go there on your birthday. There is a video floating around the Internet somewhere of me wearing a chicken hat while the restaurant sings happy birthday to me.

---

Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.

quote:

Originally posted by PR64:


He bought a new build 4,300 square foot house. 5 bedroom, 5 bathroom, study, media room and a flex room house.

His Texas house is less expensive than his 1,700 square foot home in Southern California.

So, what is there to know about the area…

I understand property tax can be expensive in parts of Texas and that sounds like a fairly expensive home. I'm sure they've calculated what it will run though.

After googling it, there are many HEBs around so they should be safe.

Tell him to stock up on TP and bottled water and replenish often, as we're prone to empty the shelves even if there is a hurricane in the gulf.

One of the first things to do is get your new drivers license, and for god sakes get rid of the Cali plates, you DON'T want to stand out.

Y'all is singular and All Y'all is plural.

Bienvenidos!

I live a few miles down the road from Prosper. I’ve been there many times. It wasn’t that long ago Prosper was a tiny farming community. Then all the surrounding growth overtook it.
Now it’s a small affluent suburb. It’s fairly conservative for now, but Prosper like other nearby cities is being overrun with Indians.
I hope your Nephew enjoys living here, but be warned, there’s practically no nature in the area to be enjoyed, it’s flat as a pancake and hot as hell. It’s Texas though, so there’s that.

Traffic is terrible.

My brother lives close to Prosper. Just north of Melissa of of 75 on a 80 acre place he bought in the 70’s
They are retired him from SWB and all he talks about is all the traffic going no where. Says to get anywhere its pretty much back roads and still takes forever.

Your brother is right about the traffic. It seems like the amount of cars on the roads has tripled in the last 5 years. What used to be a 20 minute drive is double that or more.

The Indian comment seems correct. He did some door knocking in the neighborhood and told me that they were all Indian.

His Sister and husband moved to a different city about 10 minutes away in Selina 3 years ago. She’s a nurse practitioner. My nephew is a corporate labor lawyer. Lots of frivolous lawsuits against companies out there.

He told me one of the things he’s looking forward to is buying the guns he wants that we can’t get in California.

I’m a little jealous about the guns…

There’s a grabagun store right near there. I might end up broke if I lived there. Lol

Well he will go ape shit if he is into guns and has been limited on what he can buy.
It’s wide open here. Get your CCP and no wait times on purchases.
The DFW area has very large gun shows with several monthly if not weekly plus all the gun stores.

Brother also talks about all the rental housing developments that have gone in around the area.
Houses slammed next to each other and rental only.
The Indian area take over has been mentioned by him and also some areas are hitting the news and getting the states attention.

quote:

Originally posted by PR64:
He bought a new build 4,300 square foot house. 5 bedroom, 5 bathroom, study, media room and a flex room house.

His Texas house is less expensive than his 1,700 square foot home in Southern California.

So, what is there to know about the area…

Well he already learned about his neighbors, mentioned above. Best of luck to him. He ain’t gonna like it after a while. Actually it won’t take that long. Bad mistake there. I’d be taking bets on when they are going to move again honestly. I’ve got people here that every time I talk to them, every single time, they bring that up and bitch incessantly about it. They got surrounded over time and they loathe it.

4,300 sq ft in Collin County? Enjoy them property taxes. $16,000 a year at least, probably $20k. May be cheaper if it’s in Denton county (Propser is in both). And homeowners insurance here has drastically gone up. Probably $6k at least for homeowners insurance, and could be as high as $10k. And then what he doesn’t have any experience with, concerning that square footage, and in DFW, is the HVAC. It’s hot as hell here, it’s Satan’s ass hole from April to November. So not only is the electricity bill gonna be bank, well I hope he has a grade A HVAC system as he is going to need it. And if he foolishly bought a 2 story home here, oh boy. That’s 2 condensers outside to manage. Us natives, at least everyone I know, we avoid a 2 story home here like the plague.

Everyone always talks about what they had and what they got. I’ve told people over and over, don’t move here and go nuts and they never listen. They always double the square footage or more. Well you have to factor in the additional shingles and roof costs when it hails, and it will. The bigger the place the more expensive to run. More kwh, more water, more insurance costs, more taxes. Everyone learns the hard way.

So the area? Prosper and the towns east and west of DNT (and 75) close to it were traditional rural country like towns up until Covid. Cattle, open prairies, some have horses, very low population compared to the acreage. Now all that is gone. And it’s turned into subdivision hell. Prosper and everything around it is subdivision hell. I mean “the” definition of it. And they are building all the way to the Oklahoma border. Reread Mustang’s post above, 1000% accurate. Driving anywhere living in Prosper is going to be traffic hell. 75 was never built for this kind of population explosion so it’s jammed up North and South almost 7 days a week. 380 is a death trap and the worst stretch of highway to drive on in the entire metroplex. The traffic is so bad on it, my nav has me route around it when I drive out that way and I have to at least quarterly. It’ll have me on surface streets in Little Elm to avoid it. Lake Lewisville is to the West but it’s the party lake around here. Think Jell-O shots, drunks, party cove, etc. Lake Ray Roberts would be a better choice NW, but good luck getting to it with the traffic. And if he isn’t work from home, and is working at some job south of Prosper, say in Frisco or Plano, anything South, the commute is going to be hell on Earth. East and West of there in McKinney or Denton, pretty much the same story. Commute hell on Earth, and 380 to boot.

I wish I could give you some positive information but you couldn’t pay me to live in Prosper, Little Elm or anything around it. It’s the definition of new build suburban/subdivision hell. 380 is a shit show and the area is far enough out that going into Dallas is going to be a massive trek. And a royal PITA. TX and DFW seem neat on the internet but the internet is not reality. Often a narrative is sounded off, freedom, oh you can buy guns, BBQ, etc. That’s not the reality. It’s flat as a pancake here, extremely hot and humid, and extremely dense population. There is nothing much to do outside because of the population density now. The towns all mentioned in this thread above I used to ride on my bikes and it’s all gone. All subdivision towns now. Look at a map, and go North to Van Alstyne, then Sherman, all being built out. Celina directly to the North, the same. I know, personally, some people that sold their land in Celina (It’s not Selina btw) for $2M to developers. Hundreds of acres, all going to be subdivisions. Little Elm to the South of Prosper physically ran out of land to build on, as in there is nothing left. When you don’t have open space, or any undeveloped acreage, well the most you are going to do is go to some city park, and it’ll be hot AF and humid. Things to do? Going out to eat or go to some chintzy sports bar type bar. That’s it. Ol Jerry Jones has the practice Cowgirls facility and HQ in Frisco off DNT and they have high school football games on Friday nights during Football season.

They’ll either be extremely happy to have a big fuck off house and stay in it most of the time (heat/humidity) and be content with going out to eat for fun. Or they’ll get sick of the subdivision hell and move away. As was said, when it rains, it can flood. Springs are hail/tornado watch the entire time, and that gets you into the summer where the heat and humidity are blistering. Traffic 24/7. Best of luck to them. They are going to need it.
“As of the 2010 census, its population was 9,423. As of 2023, the population was 37,746.”
And Celina, directly to the North was the fastest growing city in the United States in 2023. Plenty of YT videos on both places.

^^^^ Well, I asked and you answered.

I’m not going to share this with him. He will find out if they like it there or not soon enough.

His house is still under construction and will be ready late May or early June. They will get a taste of the heat and traffic quickly.

When telling me about it, he wasn’t all pie in the sky about the location. I know his proximity to his sister was a big factor in his decision.

Just telling you the truth brother. I’ve lived here over 50 years. Many of us locals are planning our escapes, out of the area, and some of us, the entire state. I know people right down the road from him. Another family who just sold their house there and they talk like they just escaped a state penitentiary. I speak the truth.

First place discussed:



His commute times are off for rush hour, but he’s definitely informed.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Prefontaine,

I know a lot of nice people living in Prosper and Celina. The area is getting more diverse. We loved the diverse neighborhood we lived in in Alpharetta. Life would be boring if we all looked and acted alike.

Traffic is not great but it really depends on what you are used to. LA, the Bay area, Boston, Atlanta and many other metropolitan areas are much worse. We loved living in Alpharetta Georgia but HATED driving South towards Atlanta. We would usually drive to the Sandy Springs MARTA station and catch a train.

My daughter and her husband live in Livermore. She works in Modesto, not a bad drive, and he works in Newark. His drive to and from work at Lucid is terrible. Nothing in DFW compares to it.

If you have lived here most of your life or many decades, you have seen tremendous growth. McKinney, Prosper, and Celina have expanded a lot in the last 5 years. If you are in this category, you may not be aware of day-to-day driving in many other metro areas.

In the 90's, driving North on 75, there were gaps between Richardson, Plano, Allen, and McKinney. There are no gaps now.

I live in McKinney, do not drive into Dallas much, but do drive all over Collin county as part of my job. If I have to drive to our locations in Plano or Frisco, I either go early, before rush hour, or after rush hour.

I do drive through Prosper often when going to our Celina location. What used to be fields, farms, ranchland 4 years ago is mostly subdivisions now. It is not a bad drive but I usually stay away from Hwy 380.

Taxes? Yes, property taxes are high but there is no state income tax.

There are a lot of good things about this area. They far out weigh the not so good. If not, I would not live here.

Feel free to give him my contact information if he has questions about the area.

I figured Prefontaine would offer his experience and if he's even 1/2 right I couldn't imagine living there. But I wouldn't wish to live in northern Virginia where my daughter does either yet they seem ok with it. The subdivisions are so vast they have smaller subdivisions within them and talk about traffic!

Hopefully your nephew likes it there. The good thing is if he decides to move, since the area's booming, there shouldn't be a problem selling, hopefully for profit.

All things come in shades of gray. I suspect we DC area residents would laugh at what Texans consider "bad traffic." I also expect that a CA Conservative is a raging Leftist down in Texas.

So some moderation of the comments in this thread might be appropriate given the OP's experience.

OTOH, a young lady I used to work with moved to the DFW area for hubby's job (not to mention she hated N. Virginia). They sold their tiny two-bedroom brick rambler in Burke for significantly more than they bought a huge bespoke house complete with pool in TX. She moved back to her native Atlantic City within two years minus hubby. I doubt she's happy there either, but at least it is close to her relatives. (Implying that there are more important things in life than where you live in our country.)

Edited to correct home sale reality.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: architect,

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
I'm a former DFW resident and still visit. A few things to know:

Texans DGAF how you did things where you're from. Out of staters are refugees not missionaries (i.e. act grateful they escaped California). I grew up in the Upper Midwest so I like to say I'm a Texan by choice not luck of birth.

You're 50 IQ if you fly a California flag.

You rarely get nice, gentle rains in North Central, Texas. You get violent thunderstorms frequently accompanied by hail and tornado watches/warnings

They should try all of the Top 50 BBQ Joints in Texas within an hour or two drive.

Need to eat fried chicken at one of the Babe's Chicken locations (probably Frisco). For the love of God, do not go there on your birthday. There is a video floating around the Internet somewhere of me wearing a chicken hat while the restaurant sings happy birthday to me.

Is this you?
https://youtube.com/shorts/vxD...?si=weJNN6uOaw7DRzRj

Having moved to TX nine years ago from CA, we loved it when we first got here, and we still love it today. Is it perfect? No, but in my experience, no place is. I do have to say, I am more in the "FW" of DFW than "D", never been to Prosper. I'll go to Plano for something maybe 10 times a year, but venture very rarely into North Dallas.

At this stage of our lives, the metro is ideal for us; quality high level hospitals nearby, a less than 10 minute ambulance drive to excellent emergency rooms and trauma centers. Great selection of doctors, specialists, dentists, etc. International airports within a 30 minute drive. Quality low, middle, and upper tier restaurants. In my neck of the woods, traffic is not as horrible compared to corridors I have driven through- Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Silicon Valley, Seattle, Houston, Boston, DC.

Yes, the property tax rates are high and IMO unfair, but without a state income tax, something TX natives cannot fathom, Texas has to get their money somewhere. High prop taxes- the blame is squarely on politicians both Rs and Ds who put the tax burden on homeowners and not the general population.

But our total tax burden from TX is significantly smaller than when we were in CA; our combined state income taxes towered over our CA property taxes, which at the time rivaled our tax on our current house today. It's not even a contest which state govt took more money from us; in CA- similar prop tax but joint state income taxes. Paying hundreds for each car state registration (we pay $76 now), higher sales tax, 45 cents per gallon more in gas tax, etc.

Texas has approx. doubled in population in the last 45 years. But interestingly, Florida has more than doubled in the same time period, and CA has almost doubled, increasing by over 75%. What's crazy is Florida's bump in numbers; TX pop is 32 million and FL is almost 25 million, but FL has 1/5 the land mass of TX. My neighbors and friends and family, almost all are native Texans, are still Texans and none are planning to migrate to another state.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
I also expect that a CA Conservative is a raging Leftist down in Texas.

I think I have disproved your theory

For me, the worst part of living in this area, besides the obvious traffic, growth, etc. is the lack of any way to enjoy outdoor activities. It was mainly flat boring farmland before the population surge, now it’s nothing but shopping and trying to stay out of the heat. I can’t wait to move to some area where we can enjoy the outdoors.

For outdoor activities, it is not Colorado, Georgia, California, or many others. But…I hunt, fish, shoot, ride, and many other activities year round.

A not on traffic, at 9 this morning, I drove from 380 and 75, McKinney, to Spring Creek Pkwy in Plano. Approximately 11 miles. It took me 8 minutes.