The family and I are transferring to the Dallas area. It's an area we hope will be our home for some time, as this transfer puts me in a work position where I can promote/transfer without necessarily moving.

I know there are a bunch of members in the Metroplex, so I figured I would add y'all to our information pool as we work towards picking an area and house.

We'd like to be within about 50 mins of Grand Prairie, as that will be my office location (but I likely will only be driving in a couple of times per week).

Looking for the type of place where we can get a couple of acres, a decent house, and have our young kids grow up more in the country life. Would love it if the area had a volunteer fire department (I know this is unfortunately rarer and rarer).

Of course, good community and shooting opportunities are desired.

I'm excited as heck to be back in Texas! I've lived in Austin, Houston, and deep SETX, and it just keeps drawing me back.

Congrats to you and your family.

Allen is nice and you can get 2 acre lots, but I think that's a bit far.

Welcome to Texas!

Welcome back. For what you are looking for as far as anchorage, small town feel an somewhat close to Grand Prairie with reasonable schools would be the Waxahachie area. 40~ miles south east of Grand Prairie. A bit further than I'd care to drive daily but if it's only a few times a week that could be doable. There's a few sections directly east of Grand Prairie that might fit but I have nothing little info on those. West and north would put you into the heart of the Metropex, but maybe a patch or two that has what you desire.

I agree...south of Grand Prairie is were you want to look. You most certainly don't want to be in GP, Arlington or Irving. They've all gone down hill substantially...I say this as a citizen of Irving. If it were me I'd try to find a couple of acres south and build a custom home but finding land might be difficult.

Checkout the Maypearl Venus Midlothian Waxahachie area of the map

quote:

Originally posted by NavyGuy:
Welcome back. For what you are looking for as far as anchorage, small town feel an somewhat close to Grand Prairie with reasonable schools would be the Waxahachie area. 40~ miles south east of Grand Prairie. A bit further than I'd care to drive daily but if it's only a few times a week that could be doable. There's a few sections directly east of Grand Prairie that might fit but I have nothing little info on those. West and north would put you into the heart of the Metropex, but maybe a patch or two that has what you desire.

Thanks. Just in terms of Zillow hunting, we've noticed we like a lot of the stuff that way. 40 miles 2 or 3 times a week isn't a deal killer for us.

As you mentioned, all the other options, East, West, and North all involve crossing through town... and I've heard that's painful.

A bonus to the South side -- the Waxahachie/Midlothian type area -- my sister is living in Austin. So that would put us closer to family.

quote:

Originally posted by will347wax:
Checkout the Maypearl Venus Midlothian Waxahachie area of the map

Thanks, that's what we were leaning towards. Glad to have confirmation of our instincts. Seems like Maypearl would be my dream setting, but I'm not seeing houses there quite as frequently.

quote:

Originally posted by texassierra:
I agree...south of Grand Prairie is were you want to look. You most certainly don't want to be in GP, Arlington or Irving. They've all gone down hill substantially...I say this as a citizen of Irving. If it were me I'd try to find a couple of acres south and build a custom home but finding land might be difficult.

I wish that was in the cards... building (and living in a rental) is just too drawn out with a toddler, a baby enroute, and two malinois in the house!

Sending you an e-mail.

Welcome to DFW! Since I'm in NE Dallas I can't give any advice about your relocation. There are lots of places to shoot in the area, both indoor and outdoor. One outdoor range I know about is the Texas Defensive Shooting Acadamy located NE of Ferris, TX. Another is the Extreme Tactics & Training Solutions range SW of Waxahatchie near Maypearl, TX. TX Gun Range is SE of Midlothian. There's an indoor range in Duncanville, TX: Bullseye Range & Guns. Texas Gun Academy is also located in Duncanville--it is an outdoor range.


I have shot at the TDSA range and the Bullseye indoor range, but it was many years ago and I don't know much about them now.

If you like motor sports, there is a big complex at Ennis, TX--they host one of the National NHRA contests each year, along with other types of racing.

flashguy

Agree with what others have said go south, possibly even southwest towards Grandview.

I was going to suggest Grandview area too. I lived there years ago on six+ acres and it was beautiful. Can’t speak to the schools as I had no kids. At the time I lived there the population of Grandview was less than 2000 people.

quote:

Originally posted by MelissaDallas:
I was going to suggest Grandview area too. I lived there years ago on six+ acres and it was beautiful. Can’t speak to the schools as I had no kids. At the time I lived there the population of Grandview was less than 2000 people.

Sounds like my kind of place… what made you leave it?

Divorce. Commute to downtown Dallas and ex-husband’s shop not making it. If I could have kept it until I retired I would have. We bought in late Eighties for less than $3000 an acre. When we split and moved in 1989 we still had a party line phone. That is how “boonies” it was then.

I agree with the Midlothian/Waxahachie/Grandview area recommendation. If you need a Realtor, let me know. I know a good one who works in those areas.

quote:

Originally posted by spdski:

40 miles 2 or 3 times a week isn't a deal killer for us.

I hope you don’t have to use 360 to get there. That could be a 2 hour drive each way. I’d be preemptive and see if you can either come in way early and leave early or late/late. Avoid rush hour. You will not be pleased. Midlothian area is your best bet (and Mansfield) but you’d be stuck dealing with 360. And a lot of storms rip through those areas, and often.

Grand Prairie for work is really difficult because it’s smack dab in the middle of the metroplex. So many people have moved to the metroplex that commuting is a bit insane now. It’s been a population explosion over the last 7 years. If you don’t live relatively close to your workplace, you’re pretty screwed.

That population explosion has some of us locals wanting to move out of the area, and out of the state.

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:

quote:

Originally posted by spdski:

40 miles 2 or 3 times a week isn't a deal killer for us.

I hope you don’t have to use 360 to get there. That could be a 2 hour drive each way. I’d be preemptive and see if you can either come in way early and leave early or late/late. Avoid rush hour. You will not be pleased. Midlothian area is your best bet (and Mansfield) but you’d be stuck dealing with 360. And a lot of storms rip through those areas, and often.

Grand Prairie for work is really difficult because it’s smack dab in the middle of the metroplex. So many people have moved to the metroplex that commuting is a bit insane now. It’s been a population explosion over the last 7 years. If you don’t live relatively close to your workplace, you’re pretty screwed.

That population explosion has some of us locals wanting to move out of the area, and out of the state.

Thanks. I will look at actual drive times more carefully.

From your experience, is there a sharp cut off for traffic times? I was thinking I would work 7:30-4 or 7-3:30… hoping that’s early enough.

Zillow is a good place to start, but find a reputable real estate agent. Good luck in finding dirt for sale in your 50 mile radius. Everything is being bought up by developers. There are good values in Grapevine and Flower Mound (my AOR). Lewisville is ok, but Section 8 is encroaching throughout the city. Stay out of Tarrant and Dallas counties. Property tax will rape you to the last dime. Denton County is the best in the metroplex.

DFW as grown so much, traffic is awful now.

I used to love going to DFW area to visit family. Now it's an ordeal, a chore, it sucks.

Denton used to be the "sticks" North of DFW, now the home building is growing more and more, to Sanger and going North. One day it will probably touch Gainesville and the OKlahoma border.

The crazy thing is, the DFW area, and points North and Northeast, do not have sufficient quantities of water to supply everyone.
.