Looks like I may be relocating from our fair city and moving to Dallas. I don't know much about the area but have heard there are lots of little historic areas right outside of town that seem to have some really cute housing.
Does anyone know of any of these places and how they might compare to Riverside, Avondale, San Marco and/or Springfield?
The places I've been looking at are, Winnetka Heights, Hampton Hills and Oak Cliff.
Here is a learning from Dallas article that was done in 2006: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/247/118/
Dallas? Oh wow. Well, I'm in Austin, so welcome to the hood. Why the big move? Job?
My wife used to live in Richardson, which is just north of Dallas. It has many of the ills of any urban area, but all in all seemed nice the last time I was out there (7 years ago).
As a child I lived for a short time in Weatherford, which is about 40 miles west of Ft Worth. Its RURAL. So, it seems to me that you can get extreme urban or extreme isolation all within fairly short range of the city.
Whose going to Crawford for the big B-Day this weekend? NOT ME. LOL
Quote from: gatorback on May 09, 2008, 05:57:35 PM
Dallas? Oh wow. Well, I'm in Austin, so welcome to the hood. Why the big move? Job?
Yup. My husband has been out of work for some time now...he's in the mortgage industry, and the only job he's been able to find is in Dallas. He was offered the position and since there isn't anything around here, looks like we're going. The whole metroplex area seems like a cool place to be and tons of historic neighborhoods around I just don't know which ones are 'bad' and which are 'good'. The housing prices are all over the place so they're not really giving me any color. I mean, you'll have a couple 1/2 million dollar homes on the same street as a house with over 3000 sq ft, completely remodeled with a price of 250k. I just don't get it. The price per sq ft is insanely low compared to what I'm used to seeing around here and surprisingly it's been that way for a while...not a product of the down-turn market. It's all so weird to me.
Gosh, I'm happy he's been able to find work. I like Turtle Creek. And the estates, oh my. Good Luck.
Other than not being located on the coast, Dallas is a pretty impressive place. You'll have the opportunity to relocate to several neighborhoods where you'll have the option of using mass transit to get around, as opposed to a car.
I highly recommend Arlen, Texas. ;D
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlen%2C_Texas#Setting
We actually settled on Fort Worth after exploring many different areas, then we made the drive one morning from FW to Las Colinas (where my husband's office will be) and, unfortunately, had to start the search all over again. It took over an hour to make the trip :'( It was really a shame too because the Fairmount district was 'us' all over, and their local bike shop, Panther City Cycles, had freakin beer on tap!!! Oh well.
We have our sites on North Richland Hills now. In particular, a new neighborhood called, HomeTown. It's reminiscent of Amelia Park but has a town center, water park, biking/jogging trails, etc. and is only 27 minutes from the office...in traffic.
I liked Munger Hills, M-Streets and Junius Heights areas of Dallas, but we just don't fit in with that crowd. Dallas is much more fast-paced than Fort Worth, people tend to be more on the materialistic and uppity side and once you leave the historic areas, I got the feeling of being squeezed and hurried.
We made friends very quickly in Fort Worth and everyone was very easy to talk to. People invited us into their homes just to look at what we could expect in housing and gave us the low-down on everything from the biking scene to night-life to fun things to do with the kids. One young girl in Fairmount approached us to help her with her lawnmower. She didn't know us from Adam, we were driving around with FL tags on our car, and yet she felt comfortable enough to ask us for help. I thought that was very cool and not something you would see in Dallas...they don't do yardwork. The only people you see working on the yard are hired help and they don't speak English. In fact, the norm seems to be that your yardwork is covered in your HOA dues....front and back yards. I thought that was weird.
Try riding down to Hill Country. I've been riding my bike more. You'll love it down here. You really will. I've not met anybody that doens't like Austin.
More than one realtor has told my husband and I that we'd fit "perfectly" into Austin. Unfortunately, his office is not in Austin so we have to make do with what we have I suppose.