Possibly Moving to Dallas

I would steer clear of West Plano. Plano ISD has good marks, but the schools on the West side are over-crowded and very competitive. Unless your children are exceptionally bright or very good at sports, they are likely to "fall through the cracks". We are moving from West Plano for that very reason. For example, my son loves soccer and lives to play it, but most likely will not make the team because he is not the best of the best, etc. I hear East Plano is much better in that regard and there are some really nice neighborhoods with large yards in that area, so you may wish to consider the East side. But,if you want a truly incredible elementary school experience, I would suggest you check into Lovejoy ISD. It is all the buzz around here and people are moving from all over, just to get their children in that school system. I don't know much about the other areas you are considering... Hope this helps you. Any more questions, please feel free to e-mail me.

J.-
The neighborhoods you mentioned would be great for a nice affordable home in the Plano school district, which has a wonderful reputation for a public school system. Highland Park/University Park is located in central Dallas and has its own incorporated town, i.e. own excellent school system. Most homes of any size there run upwards of 700,000$-1 million$...North Dallas is a nice area as well...great private schools and nice older homes...hope this helps!

Hi, J.!

You might want to check out Lakewood (I think it's 75214 zip), which is supposed to have a good school and is close to a lot of things like shopping, museums, etc.

Another good area is the M-streets, which is (more or less) across the highway (75) from Park Cities -- look for houses in the Stonewall Jackson school area.

Plano and Richardson might be a little farther away than you're thinking of??

Good luck to you -- I have 3 kids, and we love Dallas.

L.

I lived in the Dallas area just about all my life I am 33. I have 2 children one is 3 and one is 12. I would suggest...Some by SMU is youa re going the private school route. Very expensive to live in that area. Forney is just out side of mesquite would be as close as plano they have good schools it is a country type setting and a booming area. Lots of shopping easy access to Dallas but a better asmostpher than in the BIG city for kids less crime and issues. Sunnyvale is nice it is pricing but a very nice area. Plano would be my other choice. It is very nice and clean people or a bit snobby though. I woudl stay away from Dallas unless you do private schools schools are awful. richardson is a rough area and Garland is as well. Mesquite is okay. Schools are good would only live in the old mesquite area of New Market or Creek Crossing.

It all depends on how much you want to spend on a house. The closer you get to Highland Park the more expensive (less you get for your money) things get. Dallas ISD is NOT a good school district; my mother was a teacher for 20+ years. Alternatives to consider: Carrollton/Farmers Branch, Lake Highlands area, Coppell, Frisco.

My husband and I are moving to Richardson this spring. I have researched the schools there. There are two subdivisions that I would recommend you consider, one is Canyon Creek and the other is Prairie Creek. It is on Dallas Mapsco page 7. The schools are great and the location is nice also.

Sunnyvale is a great area it has it's own I.S.D. and is also building their own HS which no on ecan attend but Sunnyvale residents. I am sellingmy home in SV if you are interested IM me.