Questions about Dallas, Texas

[Lux Et Veritas Academy]

We have a couple of opportunities we are looking at in Dallas, TX.

 

What areas/suburbs do you think are the best to live in?

 

Is it so hot you are miserable?

 

How would you rate the cost of living? Gees we are in the Northeast, so anything would be cheaper.

 

Are the taxes outrageous?

 

Is homeschooling popular there?

 

Any thoughts on the school districts?

 

What about the CC programs- my 16 year old has been working on her associates and I am worried about going to a new state.

 

Is there a lot to see and do there?

 

Where do you travel when you want to take a road trip/ weekend trip?

 

Any feedback on what you think of Texas would be great!

[melissel]

I have family in Flower Mound and they LOVE living there. They'll never move anywhere else. They're trying hard to get us to follow them. As far as I can tell, housing costs are not as low as they might be elsewhere (for example, as FaithManor describes Michigan :lol:), but they're sure as heck way cheaper than in NJ. I believe their taxes are around $4K. The COL for everything else seemed to be about the same as here in NJ.

 

I think the heat depends on your perception. My aunt said it's been very humid there this summer, but that it's not unbearable. You pretty much just go from one air conditioned place to another. I'm a delicate flower though (:D), so that part does worry mean. Doesn't seem to matter to Texans though!

 

HSing is pretty accepted. I'm not sure of the laws but I do know it's easy. My aunt knows at least one person whose HSing her kids (and my cousins are in the PS system, so it's not like they don't know lots of kids).

 

The Flower Mound school systems seem really top-notch. The kids are happy with their schools, and the parents seem happy. My aunt volunteers in the schools and always has, so she knows the inside scoop. The stories my HS-aged cousin tells me about her classes and teachers and the guidance they receive, the classes they take, etc., make the school sound really stellar. The kids they hang around with sound like very good kids, polite and smart. There are some bad apples, but there are anywhere, of course. My aunt and uncle are very involved with their kids and their friends (plus, their kids are the two nicest, kindest teens I've ever met in my life), so I trust their judgment.

 

That's all I know :D I keep trying to convince DH to consider making a move. We're considering going out to visit in a few months, so maybe that will go a long way toward convincing him!

 

Good luck with your opportunities!

[Diane in CO]

HI!

 

I grew up in a suburb of Dallas (Richardson) and the most difficult part to get used to (especially if you are from the Northeast) will be the heat & humidity. It is truly awful.

 

On the good side though, houses are cheap cheap cheap! Lots of good food (mmhh Tex Mex how I miss it), and great inside things to do (museums, plays, musicals, aquarium).

 

North of Dallas seems to be the fastest growing area right now, though if your DH works in Dallas proper the commute will be a little much.

 

The good school districts (for the most part) are found in areas other than Dallas. If you plan on having your children go to a Dallas school, I would really research it, or have them go private. Jesuit (all male academy), Ursuline (female academy), St. Mark's, Cistercian are all excellent schools. Homeschooling in TX is easy peasy. I am sure that some of the folks living there now can fill you in on that.

 

Best of luck to you! Feel free to pm me if you have any additional questions.

 

Diane

[Aggie]

We moved from NY to just north of D/FW about 2 years ago. It's been said often that Texas has not been hit by the unemployment/recession like the rest of the country, and I think it's true.

 

It is hot here. The local weather reader just said a cool front is coming in and it's only going to be 96 on Monday. And she said it with a straight face.:glare: Of course, winters are mild.:001_smile:

 

The cost of living here is wonderfully low! Oh, the homes you can buy for a song! Property taxes seem high, but we have no state income tax. Our sales tax is the same as NY's.

 

It's pretty warm here. And it stays warm all night. At 7am today it was 80* and humid.

 

Homeschooling is easy and popular. No rules, no reporting.

 

There are several great school districts around, as well as CC.

 

Summers are long and hot. And usually pretty dry. We go camping in the fall if it lands on a weekend, though. Spring is early and very nice.

 

Roadtrips...hmmmm. We miss our NY/NE day and weekend trips. There are several great museums in D/FW, SA, Austin and Houston.

 

Generally, D/FW is a great place to live, but not to visit.:)

 

HTH!

[texasmama]

Dallas proper is a big, overwhelming city. The outlying suburbs are very nice, depending on where you settle. I am a Fort Worth gal and prefer FW personally. The area has so much to offer and the heat isn't too horrible. It was 99 today.:D The upside to that is that you don't have three feet of snow in the winter.:tongue_smilie: North Texas is a great place to live and raise a family. It's a homeschooling friendly state with pockets of good public schools and many private schools. Both Ft Worth and Dallas have community colleges aplenty, as well as top notch four year universities.

[Gooblink]

We have a couple of opportunities we are looking at in Dallas, TX.

 

What areas/suburbs do you think are the best to live in? Keller is nice, between Dallas and Fort Worth.

 

Is it so hot you are miserable? Sometimes, but that's what A/C is for. :)

 

How would you rate the cost of living? Gees we are in the Northeast, so anything would be cheaper. I think the COL is reasonable.

 

Are the taxes outrageous? No State income tax, 8.25% sales tax, property taxes can run higher than other states.

 

Is homeschooling popular there? Oh, yeah! And TX is very HS friendly!

 

Any thoughts on the school districts? Nah, I'm in Austin now but lived in DFW area for about 7 years before kids.

 

What about the CC programs- my 16 year old has been working on her associates and I am worried about going to a new state. I'm not sure there, either, but gotta believe there are several choices.

 

Is there a lot to see and do there? Meh. The West End, Dallas World Aquarium, they have some good museums, a zoo, Six Flags is close by, lots of shopping malls and lots of ethnic restaraunts.

 

Where do you travel when you want to take a road trip/ weekend trip? Austin, Fort Worth, Fredericksberg, Canton for their 1st Monday Trader Days, Oklahoma? East Texas has some beautiful piney woods and Central Texas is the Hill Country - beautiful.

 

Any feedback on what you think of Texas would be great!

I moved here from MI 20 years ago this year and can't imagine a better place to live. I'll tell ya, you won't find a place with greater State pride than TX. I love it.

[Sugarfoot]

We have family in Keller (suburb of Ft. Worth.) They love it. The kids are in public school. The older 2 (twins) start ninth grade in the fall. The youngest just finished second, and his teacher initiated testing because she suspected a learning disability. Dyslexia runs in the family. He received the entire battery of tests and was determined to be dyslexic. I was impressed that the whole thing got done so quickly.

 

When we visit, I always think it's funny to take a sweater to a restaurant in the blazing summer heat because things are overly cooled.:D

[flyingmommy]

We lived in Allen for a year and we loved it! It's clean, pretty, and close to anything you would want. :)

[KidsHappen]

We have a couple of opportunities we are looking at in Dallas, TX.

 

What areas/suburbs do you think are the best to live in?

 

I have lived in the Dallas area at least three times in my life. My family is from east TX. We lived in Dallas proper, Arlington, Mesquite, Plano, Allen and now my brother lives in Princeton. The northern suburbs are new, up and coming areas of growth.

 

Is it so hot you are miserable?

 

Yes, incredibly hot and humid. I rarely went outside for 9 months out of every year. AC is essential.

 

How would you rate the cost of living? Gees we are in the Northeast, so anything would be cheaper.

 

The COL is pretty low even in Dallas and the richer suburbs. Rents and houses are cheap, consumer goods reasonable, electricity is a little high especially when you have to run the AC so much,

 

Are the taxes outrageous?

 

No. The is no state tax and the sales tax is not incredibly high and I believe that food might not be taxed at all. Property taxes on the other hand are pretty high. My brother's house and my house were built by the same builders. My house is a little bigger but it cost twice as much and yet he pays much higher property taxes than we do.

 

Is homeschooling popular there?

 

Very. It is one of the easiest states in the union in regards to homeschooling and lots of people are taking advantage of this freedom.

 

Any thoughts on the school districts?

 

Plano not so good. Kids with too much money and too much time on their hands, lots of drugs. I imagine as the prosperity moves north, these problems wil as well.

 

What about the CC programs- my 16 year old has been working on her associates and I am worried about going to a new state.

 

I don't know about this one.

 

Is there a lot to see and do there?

Tons.

 

Where do you travel when you want to take a road trip/ weekend trip?

 

Well, we would go to GA because we have family there but there are lots of interesting things just in the state of TX.

Edited June 27, 2010 by KidsHappen

[fhjmom]

I am in Grapevine, right between Dallas and Fort Worth and it's a super great place to raise a family! I will say though that where you/your DH will be working may narrow it down quite a bit for you. Traffic can be horrendous in some areas. Grapevine has a great small town feel, but has a ton of ammenities not usually found in towns this size. We have a great community rec center, botanical gardens, lots of parks, senior center, historic downtown, 2 large festivals and several smaller events, city-owned historic theater, a lake, and great schools. We also have a very stable city government without a lot of controversy (which cannot be said of many of the surrounding 'burbs).

 

I don't mind the heat, but I was born and raised in Texas so I am used to it. I cannot stand the cold (and for me that's anything below 60)!

 

Taxes: Sometimes property taxes take some getting used to for those coming form out of state, but we don't have a state income tax. Be sure to check the taxes on the areas you plan on living because we have school district and other local district taxes and it can vary even in the same area quite a bit. Another note: our school districts do not neccessarily follow city boundaries and just because you are close to a school does not mean that is the school your kids will go to. I have know people who moved here and were surprised that the house they bought in Grapevine was not in the Grapevine-Colleyville School district, or the house they looked at in Southlake was.

 

HS is very popular. There are lots of support groups, co-ops, enrichment options, etc. Texas is an extremely HS friendly state. Check out THSC (Texas Homeschool Coalition) for more info about state laws.

 

It is hard to say what school district are 'good' becaues it depends on what your priorities are. I know there is one district close to us that is considered "one of the best" that I would not want my children in because of the affluence and 'keeping up with the Jonses' mentality. I also know that several of the districts in the fastest growing areas are having a hard time keeping up with the growth. Many of them have high rankings but I see a lot of 'bulging at the seems' and redistricting because of the growth and building new schools. G-CISD is really a good district over all. Dallas County and Tarrant County both have great community college systems. I would recommend looking at their sites to see what campus offers the course of study your DD is pursuing. Not all campuses offer all courses so she may end up having to drive across the metroplex. I am not sure if you want to base your housing options on 1-2 years of her schooling but if there are two equally attractive areas, that may play a role in your decision.

 

D/FW has just about anything you would want as far as activities, arts, etc. Most are available in the metroplex proper, but almost anything can be found within a short drive. Well, maybe not snow skiing and it takes a bit longer to get to a beach, but most everything else...

We have every kind of major professional sport team and several minor league/sports teams. Lots of museums. Six Flags, Hurriucane Harbor, musicals, theater, symphony, etc. Events include the State Fair and the Fat Stock Show. There is plenty to see and do! :)

 

Road trips: Austin, Saledo, San Antonio, Frericksburg, Possum Kingdom, Glen Rose, Galveston, Corpus Christi, Houston/NASA, Canton, Tyler, Turner Falls (OK), Lousiana, Arkansas, lots of state parks and lakes

 

If youhave any other questions, I would be glad to help!

[teamturner]

Plano not so good. Kids with too much money and too much time on their hands, lots of drugs. I imagine as the prosperity moves north, these problems wil as well.

 

 

Plano schools not good? I don't think that is true at all. Plano has excellent schools. I heard that there was a problem with drugs in the 80's or 90's (not sure which) but I haven't heard of that in recent years. I've lived in Plano since 2003. We've never been in the school system but one of the reasons we bought a house in Plano was the reputation of the schools.

 

All that aside, there are so many great suburbs in the Dallas area. I think you just have to decide what you want your dh's commute to be like. Here in our area, Collin County Community College (in Plano) and Richland College (in Richardson) offer dual credits for homeshoolers. Also, there are so many co-ops, support groups, and extra-curricular activities for homeschoolers.

 

My brother lives in Keller (suburb of FW) and that is a great city, but it would be too far of a commute to downtown Dallas. It might not be too bad to Las Colinas area though. North of us is the city of Frisco, which has seen tremendous growth.

 

No state tax in TX, no tax on food, and homeschooling is super easy. I don't think you'll find much cheaper real estate in any other area in the country.

 

Good luck!

[rfoster]

What areas/suburbs do you think are the best to live in?

 

- Depends entirely on your personality and lifestyle. There is definitely a town for everyone in the DFW. Dallas proper is ok, but can be a bit expensive and it's a lot easier to get into a 'bad' area as far as housing goes. We liked the Mckinney area a lot (there is also a lot of home schoolers in Mckinney) and will most likely purchase our house either there or in the Flower Mound area. Frisco is for people that love being pretentious and stuckup ;) Plano gets a bit more expensive and is more urban-y without being Dallas. If you like living a little 'out there', there are places like Little Elm and Aubrey.

 

Is it so hot you are miserable?

 

-We don't go outside to play much between June and August, unless its swimming, so most summer activities we tend to keep indoors - but there is def enough to do. Any other month is generally pleasant and we make good use of the outdoors, camping, fishing, etc. during the spring and fall months.

 

How would you rate the cost of living? Gees we are in the Northeast, so anything would be cheaper.

 

-COL is incredibly reasonable in my opinion, and I come from Pennsylvania. Cheap places for groceries, very affordable housing, only thing that I complain about is the electricity, but thats mostly because of maintaining the A/C.

 

Are the taxes outrageous?

 

-As pp's have indicated, no state income tax and reasonable sales tax, higher property tax but is made up for with no income tax

 

Is homeschooling popular there?

 

-VERY VERY popular, VERY VERY easy

 

Any thoughts on the school districts?

 

- Schools in Dallas are horrid. Schools in the suburbs are hit and miss. The schools are known for being very good in Mckinney and Frisco (well, for a public school). I was pleased with the Mckinney schools when our kids were in them.

 

What about the CC programs- my 16 year old has been working on her associates and I am worried about going to a new state.

 

-I have been very pleased with Collin County Community College, its super cheap, professors I've interacted with are knowledgeable (I did look them up on ratemyprofessor first though), they have a program with most of the local universities to transfer CC credits with no problems, questions or arguments. Can't say anything for the other ones but I've heard good things about Dallas CC as well

 

Is there a lot to see and do there?

 

-Yes, tons! Museums, outdoors, fishing/boating, shopping, theater, and more. Most of the small towns have very nice downtown areas that are nice to walk around. Lots for the kids to do. There are a lot of free and cheap things to do, we often take advantage of things like dollar movies, free splash parks, the free beach areas at the local lake, outdoor concerts and seasonal things like the Plano Hot-Air Balloon Festival.

 

Where do you travel when you want to take a road trip/ weekend trip?

 

-We don't do this much, I know a few people that go to Houston often though.

 

Any feedback on what you think of Texas would be great!

 

-Overall we like it a lot. We are a secular/non-religious family so we do feel out of place sometimes but the benefits far outweigh occasionally feeling like the odd-man out.

[Laura Corin]

 

Is it so hot you are miserable?

 

In summer you have to wait until 8pm for the playground equipment to cool down enough that the children can touch it.

 

Where do you travel when you want to take a road trip/ weekend trip?

 

Austin/hill country

 

 

 

Not a resident, but a frequent visitor.

 

Laura

[Chris in VA]

I lived in Dallas proper for 8 years while dh got his doctorate from SMU and worked.

We lived in a nice little neighborhood by White Rock Lake (can't swim in it unless you are a dog, but it's a good picnic area). Dh was the assistant at St. John's Episcopal Church and their school chaplain--very good private school up to 8th grade, and a nice church (conservative), too. The houses near Hexter Elementary are wonderful--sort of a 1950's feel to the neighborhood. It was my favorite place we've ever lived.

 

Hot--you literally cannot go barefoot outside without burning your feet, during the summer months. We had over 50 days one year that were over 100 degrees--but it's not really a problem, because there's lots to do indoors and everything is air conditioned.

 

Schools around that area (Lake Highlands is close) are ok, but the high schools are a little rough. Plano schools (someone mentioned) are good by reputation, but the PP is completely correct that the kids are rich and drugs/alcohol are a big problem (sex, too). Flower Mound is up and coming--the newer areas in the northwest are full of small trees and Brick Blight houses, but are still nice neighborhoods.

 

Pools in Dallas and many suburbs are free in the summer.

 

We absolutely loved Dallas when we lived there, and, if it weren't so far to get anywhere else (all fam is back east), I'd live there again in a heartbeat. I love the light, the open skies, the churches on every corner--I really, really miss it.

 

ETA: I'm remembering you are LDS, right? There's an LDS temple right down the street from where I lived.

Edited June 25, 2010 by Chris in VA

[texasmama]

IMO, after living in the DFW area for 38 of my 43 years:tongue_smilie:, the summer heat can be oppressive but the humidity during the summer is not. I am comparing this to Houston and Florida, and all things of this sort are relative. North TX is more humid than Arizona, of course, but unless it has rained, the humidity in the summer is pretty low.

[JVA]

Just a real short answer.

 

Our dh is in grad school in Dallas.... we live in VA and have significant summers (translation: hot) ourselves BUT the heat there is beyond what we experience here. It doesn't even cool down enough at night to open windows for sleeping. The AC runs constantly. I talked to her on Mon or Tues morning of this week and it was already 85* at 8:30 AM.

 

She also misses the green lush countryside there. It's more desert-like there.

 

She really likes the school and the folks are very nice. She can't wait to get back home after graduation in December.

 

Just fyi

[BeckyFL]

My friend started this center there and it has gone really well.....

 

http://www.creativeartsinaction.com/

[AngieW in Texas]

We have a couple of opportunities we are looking at in Dallas, TX.

 

What areas/suburbs do you think are the best to live in?

We lived in the McKinney area, northeast of Dallas. We were always outside the city limits. My dh worked in Richardson.

 

Is it so hot you are miserable?

It's Texas. Of course it's hot. I only had two complaints about McKinney. The pools were always closed (we ended up going to the natatorium at Spring Creek Community College in Plano because it was always open). The library had outrageous fees for people living outside the city limits. We were supposed to pay $25/year (I had no problem with that) and also pay $0.25/book checked out (that was insane). We ended up using the library in Allen because they didn't charge us anything. They had a better library system anyway. We moved to the Austin area 7 years ago, so I don't know what it's like up there now.

 

How would you rate the cost of living? Gees we are in the Northeast, so anything would be cheaper.

 

Are the taxes outrageous?

 

Is homeschooling popular there?

There are a lot of hsers. Finding secular hsers is always more difficult, but there are secular groups in the Dallas area. The two groups I know of are Excel and SAIL.

http://www.homeschoolersexcel.com/Home_Page.html

http://sailhomeschoolers.org/

 

Any thoughts on the school districts?

McKinney had a very nice autism program from the reports I heard when I lived there, but that was 7 years ago.

 

What about the CC programs- my 16 year old has been working on her associates and I am worried about going to a new state.

I taught at the Spring Creek Campus and liked it. I don't know what the dual credit policies are in Dallas or Collin county now. In Austin, you can take up to two classes/semester at no charge once you've finished 10th grade. You can apply for approval to take more than two classes if you meet their requirements.

 

Is there a lot to see and do there?

 

Where do you travel when you want to take a road trip/ weekend trip?

When we lived there, our weekend vacations were camping at Lake Texoma, staying in cabins at Turner Falls (Davis, OK), or driving down to New Braunfels to go to Schlitterbahn.

 

Any feedback on what you think of Texas would be great!

Texas is fabulous.

[Giraffe]

We just moved here a few weeks ago so I don't have as comprehensive an answer as PPs, but I agree with them.

 

We live in Dallas itself and there's an LDS church down the street, a Catholic church across the street, and every other denomination within a 10 minute drive or less.

 

DD is only 3 so I can't speak to schools, but there are TONS of private schools with very good reputations. I hear mixed reports about DISD (Dallas Independent School District). Don't know about other areas. I hear very good things about homeschooling here. If you never send your kids to public school there's not even a notification requirement. No testing, no notification. You're a "private school" and don't have the same requirements as public schools do. It's easy to google info through HSLDA or THSC.org.

 

It IS HOT. Blazing. I came from SE VA and have lived in Turkey so I thought this wouldn't be a big deal. It's hotter here than in Turkey, primarily because it never cools down at night. Our A/C (electric) bill gave me a heart attack this week, but I've been told I'm lucky - most people's are double or more.

 

It's still pretty green here - not as green as Virginia, but there are areas and they're nice. We really like White Rock Lake but I'm still exploring and finding new areas all the time.

 

There is a TON of things to do here, even in summer. Museums, malls, playgrounds, libraries, etc. Yes, the outdoor play equipment is hot, but if you find one in shade (they exist) it's bearable. We keep finding new things here and it keeps surprising me. Even my husband can't believe all the things here.

 

You'll really like it here. We do and after moving 40,000 times in my life I feel like this might be home.

[Halftime Hope]

What about the CC programs- my 16 year old has been working on her associates and I am worried about going to a new state.

 

 

 

I wanted to address two things. 1) Humidity: not very bad, unless you are used to *no* humidity, as in desert living. The humidity is about the same as VA, NJ, and IL in the summer for a few days, but mostly it is a dry, baking-in-the-oven kind of heat that assails you when you walk out the door in the dead of summer. I've lived in FL and spent a lot of time in Houston, and this is *nothing* like either of those. Once in a blue moom when we have an unusually humid summer day, we all talk about it feeling like FL! :lol:

 

2) In the Dallas area, there are two CC systems, Tarrant County College, and Dallas County Community College. For dual credit, DCCD will allow you to take any of the core courses, and you used to be able to take two courses per semester free of tuition if you were still in high school. If you brought your dd's cc transcript, you would probably find a lot of leeway in what she took. TCC is not tuition free, but ds could take anything he wanted there, inlucding the more vocationally oriented courses if he desired. If you are far north of the DFW area, up into Collin county, it has it's own CC system that I know nothing about. UT-Arlington will allow students to take early enrollment courses through their Honors Academy for about the same per course tuition as the CC, a huge discount (about 80%) over the full tuition. That "scholarship" is only for Honors Academy enrollees, though, so you'd have to work through them, not just be an EA student. You can check their webpage to see what the current requirements are, i.e. she would have to have certain PSAT or ACT score to be admitted to the HA program. It has been a wonderful opportunity for my two eldest--I have nothing but good to say about the Honors Academy and the Honors College personnel. They have been wonderful!

 

HTH

[RobinF]

We live south of Dallas.

 

Texas is a great for homeschoolers. There are lots of great colleges here. Texas Tech has a virtual school for students which looks really interesting.

 

Yes, it is HOT said in the best southern voice becomes "HAWT". We lived in south Florida and Alambama for close to 10 years and it is hotter here. I don't care what the humidity is 105-110 is hot.

 

I told my dh that the next house we live in will have a pool or access to a community pool.

 

There are lots of things to do in Texas. Fredricksburg is a cute community. San Antonio has the Alamo and Riverwalk. Waco has the Texas Ranger Museum. Dallas/Ft. Worth has tons of museums.

 

If you have the opportunity to live where you can get your electricity from a coop you will save money. We pay about 2/3's what others in our area pay because we use a coop for electricty. The service is the same. We had to put down a large (to us at least ) deposit. We got the deposit back after one year in a credit on our electric bill (paid for 2 months of electricity).

[Ferdie]

I have family in Flower Mound and they LOVE living there. They'll never move anywhere else. They're trying hard to get us to follow them. As far as I can tell, housing costs are not as low as they might be elsewhere (for example, as FaithManor describes Michigan :lol:), but they're sure as heck way cheaper than in NJ. I believe their taxes are around $4K. The COL for everything else seemed to be about the same as here in NJ.

 

I think the heat depends on your perception. My aunt said it's been very humid there this summer, but that it's not unbearable. You pretty much just go from one air conditioned place to another. I'm a delicate flower though (:D), so that part does worry mean. Doesn't seem to matter to Texans though!

 

HSing is pretty accepted. I'm not sure of the laws but I do know it's easy. My aunt knows at least one person whose HSing her kids (and my cousins are in the PS system, so it's not like they don't know lots of kids).

 

The Flower Mound school systems seem really top-notch. The kids are happy with their schools, and the parents seem happy. My aunt volunteers in the schools and always has, so she knows the inside scoop. The stories my HS-aged cousin tells me about her classes and teachers and the guidance they receive, the classes they take, etc., make the school sound really stellar. The kids they hang around with sound like very good kids, polite and smart. There are some bad apples, but there are anywhere, of course. My aunt and uncle are very involved with their kids and their friends (plus, their kids are the two nicest, kindest teens I've ever met in my life), so I trust their judgment.

 

That's all I know :D I keep trying to convince DH to consider making a move. We're considering going out to visit in a few months, so maybe that will go a long way toward convincing him!

 

Good luck with your opportunities!

 

I second Flower Mound - love the youth culture and people here. I would also check out Plano, McKinney and Carrolton.

 

Our property taxes run around 2 1/2% of the purchase price of our home. There is no state tax though so that may even out your yearly budget.

 

If you love the outdoors then you might want to think about buying a house with a pool. It will probably add $1,000 per year to your budget but we use our pool from April to Oct.. Last night my kids and their friends swam until 10 P.M. It is so warm you can sit outside in your bathingsuit all evening. No jackets needed. LOL!

 

Good luck on your new venture.

[vonfirmath]

Not much familiarity with Dallas, in particular. But I grew up in Houston, TX, lived in College Station for many years and moved back to Austin, TX after 14 years in Washington state.

 

I REALLY prefer Texas, despite the heat. (but then, I'd much rather deal with heat than cold/snow in the winter)

 

When moving back, I was looking at "Anywhere but Houston" (Houston is really the worst for heat and humidity). Dallas/FT Worth does get ice and sometimes snow in the winter because it is farther north. But I figured I could deal with that if necessary.

 

We have air conditioning (we try to keep it up near 80 to avoid the high bills). Sometimes a/c in the car has trouble keeping up in the summer. But the "summer" time lasts MUCH longer so you can go swimming, play outside nearly year round.

 

As a kid, we would get bikes on Christmas day and go outside and play right away!

[Hannah C.]

I grew up in Duncanville, which is south of Dallas. I graduated from the city's public high school in 2007. I love Duncanville. The suburbs south of Dallas tend to be lower income, and the ones north of Dallas tend to be higher income. Southern Dallas is also more diverse, as far as I know. No stats here though. I currently live in Irving, which is really a proper city by itself and has a lot of diversity.

 

It's really only miserable if you spend a lot of time in the heat, you come from a cold climate, or your car does not have AC. That being said, I grew up in cars without AC and we survived.

 

Cost of living is not bad. My husband is a waiter in a higher income business area and it pays for all our bills easily. That said there are only two of us. I'm not really experienced enough with life to know how it compares to other states.

 

We have no state income tax!! I think someone else has already said the sales tax. It's never bothered me.

 

Homeschooling is very popular indeed. The Dallas County Community College District has many different community colleges. Some are better than others but I believe all are good. I know of multiple homeschoolers doing dual credit programs. I *think* that homeschoolers can take so many classes for free, but I've never done the program so I'm not positive.

 

School districts, as far as I know, are good. As I said, I attended Duncanville High School, which is a *great* school if you take advantage of the offered opportunities. The magnet schools in Dallas proper are said to be wonderful, and I knew people in my school district who were able to go to the magnet schools for free. Highland Park, the ultimate high-income area, has a wonderful school district, of course, but pretty much all the students from other schools have very little good to say about the kids and the attitudes.

 

Having grown up here, I don't think there are very many tourist attractions. There are a lot of different shopping spots. Cedar Hill and Arlington are the ones I'm most familiar with. There's Cowboys Stadium, the Ballpark at Arlington, several malls, several museums, a couple of zoos and aquariums..so I suppose there's plenty to do.

 

The Dallas Library system is phenomenal. If you live in a city in this area you can get a TexShare card, which will give you free, limited access to any library including the Dallas Library. Or you can live in Dallas proper, or go to school in Dallas proper, which gives you a free card. Or you can buy one and get unlimited access.

 

My DH and I have gone to Austin once or twice for a weekend trip. We have relatives there. Weekend trips aren't something we do usually, or that my family did when I was younger, so I'm not sure what exactly you could do. Honestly, it takes a while to get out of TX from Dallas, so...

[KidsHappen]

 

Plano schools not good? I don't think that is true at all. Plano has excellent schools. I heard that there was a problem with drugs in the 80's or 90's (not sure which) but I haven't heard of that in recent years. I've lived in Plano since 2003. We've never been in the school system but one of the reasons we bought a house in Plano was the reputation of the schools.

 

Oh, that's entirely possible. I lived there in the 90s which was apparently the height of the drug problem. They may have cleaned thing up since then.