Garland, Texas

May I suggest Rockwall....just about 10 minutes east of Garland? It's GREAT, clean, lots of parks and family friendly "events" that are free, safe, good schools, lots of space. Great place to raise a family.

The best I can tell you is Garland schools are considered by legal advocacy groups to be the second worse in the state for special needs or kids with disabilites....I have a child with type 1 diabetes and we finally moved because she was not safe there...even with legal action...there are so many better choices in the area....good luck!

I agree with the Rockwall suggestion. We have friends there, and it is lovely! I have heard bad things about Garland. Never have been there, but have no desire to go.. We live in Frisco.

We have lived in Garland for about 13 years and have been very happy here. Our kids are in the Gifted and Talented Magnet program and it is wonderful. We live in an older part of South Garland and love our neighborhood, but the area around us is going downhill. Not much decent retail, restaurants, etc. We have not had any problem with crime personally.

We would like to move north to the Firewheel area which is very nice and reasonably priced compared to other Dallas suburbs. Sachse and Rowlett are also nice and part of the Garland Independent School District. Rockwall is the up and coming place to be and has a good school system. Depends on where you work and how important your commute is to you. Some areas of Sachse, Rowlett and Rockwall are very congested and they are working on expanding 190, but right now it is a mess. Garland has a small town feel, even though it is the 10th largest city in Texas. Good schools, good city services (we have a brush pick-up once a week, instead of once a month like in Dallas), good recreation centers. There is a bit more of a blue collar feel to the city as compared to North Dallas, Plano or Richardson. We have actually liked the fact that there seems to be less of the social/economic pressure that we had experienced in other areas like Lake Highlands. When we lived in North Dallas, I would never have considered going to the grocery store without wearing makeup. In Garland, things are much less formal. This may be something that you would like or hate, just depends on what you are looking for.

Okay, Not all of Garland is bad. Yes Garland has rough areas like ALL cities do. Even Rockwall!! I feel safer in Garland then I do Mesquite. As for schools, Garland is open campus so you can enroll your children in any of the garland schools which is nice. I would agree that Firewheel is probably the nicest but there are other areas as well that are more well to do, you just have to look at the area. Sachse is nice and close, Wylie can be nice too but also has rough areas. I live in Rowlett and love it, again you have check the neighborhood. I would suggest go to each cities police website, you can put in the address you are looking at and it will tell you the crime incidents for that area. Good Luck on your search!

Sachse is a nice smaller city right outside Garland down HWY 78. If you keep going down 78 Wylie is nice, Lavon is a nice little country town and is growing nicely.

We just moved from there in August. I lived there for 42 years.
Well it's not a good place. It's very densely over populated and has a large number of illegals from Mexico. Crime is an issue and that is one of the reason's we moved. The police dept is useless, probably overwhelmed.
Called them a couple of times because of gunshots but no officer came out. Housing is affordable and available. Anywhere but for far north Garland close to 190 Gorge Bush Turnpike is chewed up and I would not recommend. There are some small older areas that are still nice and kept up (we lived on one) but things are closing in on them.
I just couldn't see my children growing up there and we decided to move. I can't tell you how sad it was to watch it's decline after living there since I was 4 "(
Would be happy to suggest some surrounding areas if you would like.
Best Regards,
C.

I lived there for about 10 years when my oldest two (now 21 and 20) were younger. We moved from there in 2004 because it was getting a bit too rough. We lived close to Williams Stadium (walking distance from Down Town) and we had an Asian Gang that lived down the street.

The schools are nice, and that is probably the only part that I miss about Garland.

Unless you're living near Firewheel, it's all on the decline. A few pockets aren't really bad, but I really don't recommend it. Richardson, Plano, and even some parts of Dallas (which are all neighbors to Garland) are ALL better then Garland. There isn't any more crime then Dallas, but some pretty big crimes have happened there in the past few years. The schools aren't very good and honestly, it's just not very nice. The homes don't have a whole lot of value, either.

All the negative comments on her about Garland can be said about any town. I would suggest that you come over to Garland and drive around. I live in So Garland which is not as popular as No Garland. However, there are still lots of really nice homes and great people living in this area as well. I like that I am close to 635 and can get anywhere easily. I use to live in Dallas and loved it and never thought I would live outside the loop. The reason we moved here was afford ability of the homes and choice of school. The elementary school that my daughter goes to has been rated exemplary 13 of the last 15 years and those 2 years it was still a recognized school. I feel very safe here as well. I would suggest creating a list of items that are important to you ie communte, schools, neighborhood, house size, price, diversity etc and put them in order of importance. This will help you to make a decision on where to live. Good luck with your search and I hope this has been helpful.

Garland has one of the highest Foreclosure and Distress sale rates in all of the DFW Metroplex (as cited from Metrotex Association of Realtors, reinforced by my professional experience). I agree with other posts - stick to the Northern areas, as the older parts have declined rapidly.

There are many suburbs to choose from in the Dallas area.

Feel free to contact me if you have more questions. My husband is a licensed Realtor who specializes in distress sales, and I am a licensed Mortgage Loan Originator. ____@____.com or ###-###-####

C.

If you're moving to Garland, I would recommend the Firewheel area. It's really growing and has nice homes. The whole Bush 190 growth is going to make it continue to expand. The Firewheel mall area has lots of shopping, restaurants, and a movie theater. I've heard good things about the schools in that area as well. One thing you have to keep in mind with GISD is that it's a school choice district. You can choose for your kids to go to any school within the district, as long as there is space. There are also great magnet schools and GT academies. As for other areas of Garland, well it's a pretty old city. You can find affordable housing for sure, just not sure what you'll think of the neighborhoods. I live in Rowlett, which borders Garland. I really like it a lot. If I were to move to Garland, I would def. look near Firewheel, either near Rowlett or close to Sachse. There is also an older neighborhood off Buckingham and Glenbrook that is kept up rather well. It's in the neighborhood with Cooper Elementary. It is an older area, but not a far drive from 190 either-very close to North Garland Blvd.

I live maybe 10 mins from there in Sachse. Its very nice. Great place for kids. I think it safe and there are tons todo with a 30 minute drive.

Wouldn't live there. Even if it close to Firewheel.

We lived in the nicest part of Mesquite we could afford which is close to Garland. I agree with what others said, it's on the decline so stay close to Firewheel. Or, go to Sunnyvale, Rockwall or Rowlett, much nicer areas. Garland does have some very nice parts and schools, just do your research b/c the other half is pretty run down.

I moved here five years ago due to affordable housing. If you head south of Forest, the neighborhoods decline due to the age and the fact that Garland is a manufacturing community, one of the top ones in the state. Kraft, Raytheon, General Dynamics, International, all have headquarters in Garland.

I agree with most that the most affluent neighborhoods are in the northern areas by Firewheel and George Bush. The surrounding cities are very nice such as Rowlett, Rockwall, Wylie, Sachse.

You have access to the Mall, Lifetime Fitness, numerous churches, and children activities like soccer, football, little league. You have social events like the Garland Symphony, Garland Theater, and a Special Events city. You also have access to Baylor Garland which has been a wonderful hospital with my mom who has various health issues.

My children are ages 22, 14, and 7 so they have done the expanse of high school to elementary. Garland schools are excellent. Several of them are magnet schools with emphasis in math and science, performing arts, and g/t. My middle daughter went to Jackson with a math and science emphasis and is now at Garland High School with their performing arts emphasis. You can choose the school so if there is an issue with one, you can go to another. You get forms each year for your school choices. My youngest attends Freeman and she has had difficulty in school as she has language art deficit and speech therapy which has really helped her to stay up with her classmates. The teachers and principals I have experienced have been for the most part (there are always others who are less), have been hands on, I receive calls or emails on any issues, and have made themselves available to talk or to have conversations regarding my children.

In about five years we will move to a different home and rent out the one we are in, not to get out of Garland, but to live more out in the country and are looking at the surrounding cities and villages. I was raised in a rural area hence the move.

I have never heard gunshots, the police are a mile away, the hospital a mile in the other direction. Now, Garland is not perfect and there have been times when I have contacted the mayor's office on an issue and they have responded either by phone or email within a day - interested in fixing the issue. Our board meetings are televised, so you can also be involved in the issues as well.

You run the gamat here in Garland from the elite to the poor.

If you have any questions, you can email me offline.

how about Wylie which is very close? it's such a beautiful little town. I lived there for three years and I miss it a lot. We moved because we were too far from husband's work otherwise I would still be there.

I've lived in the N Garland/Firewheel area for the past year. My advice - if you HAVE to live here, choose the north part. Otherwise, choose Richardson, Sachse, Wylie, Murphy, Rockwall, Rowlett - there's lots of nice communities nearby that are better choices.

My girlfriend lives off beltline and broadway and Rosehill off 30 and they love the nieghborhood. Right by a school and lots of parks and sidewalks for the 14 mo. old.

I grew up near Firewheel, before it was called Firewheel. I would say that the northern area is where I could consider if I were moving there. Around Firewheel and there is a neighborhood called Springpark, Lookout Dr and Jupiter, are nice. If your children are in the gifted and talented program, I do like their academy system in the public schools.

Area isn't safe and is very dirty and overran by proverty. I am scared to go to Garland at night and even hate going during the day. It has become very run down like mesquite and if you have children the schools are not where you want to send your children. I was born and raised in the dfw area and my grandmother has a bar there and has had it for 15 years now. So that is where my knowledge comes from.

My cousins have lived there for 20 years. Frankly they are lucky they bought the house back before it became popular. The house tax has quadrupled. Their girls went to the public schools and I was shocked they have 9-11 paid security guards.
If you want in the good school, you MUST be in attendance the first day or you will lose your spot. No exceptions.
They live in one of the golf course sections and work in the main part of town. Living near work saves them a ton of time commuting.
When they lived in the house with a garage in the alley, they could not leave the door up even while mowing the lawn as people cruise the alleys to steal stuff. I am sure this happens everywhere. In the $$$$ nieghborhood, they have lots of culdesacs which seriously cut down on traffic.
They were happy and are still there even after getting rich from inheriting money. They are happy with it overall and know their immediate neighbors.
When the kids were little, they all played outside together.
Another cousin lives in McKinney. It keeps growing and getting $$ as well.
They loved all the many activities for kids and living near a school. Their yard was horribly small which I hated, but they love.
My other cousin lived in Saginaw and it was far more country like. It is growing as well and the schools may be tripling in size.

I personally would not live in Garland. Its run down, has a high rate of crime and the schools are aweful. Your hubby can still work in Garland and there are many subburbs around that you could live in and he could communte.

We live in North Garland but in Richardson School District which is nice. We live in a nice quiet neighborhood and have never had ANY problems with crime. We're right off of Jupiter and Campbell. If your husband got a job in South Garland you could live in the Lake Highlands area which is in Dallas and in RISD but borders Garland. However the houses are more expensive and you pay very high property taxes there.