Moved here from Streamwood, IL almost 15 yrs ago and live just North
of Denton. All the areas North of Dallas & FT. Worth seem to be where most
of the growth is taking place.

I have 2 teenagers that go to Denton schools and so far have been pleased
with the schools here. Plano, Allen & Frisco seem to have a good reputation
also.

Most of the gang problems seem to be closer to the inner city areas of Dallas
& FT Worth but I guess they are just about everywhere anymore. Got my
concealed handgun license a few years ago since I go to and come from
work at all hours and have never had to get it out once. Shooting has been
a hobby for years so I felt comfortable with it. Not quite like the wild, wild
west, at least from the good guys!

Good luck with the move and welcome to TX !

 

I'll chime in. I grew up in Plano in the early to mid 90s and my parents have recently moved back. It still seems like a nice place if you have a family. There are tons of chain restaurants, SUVs, and kids. The schools are good, there are lots of them, and it's always expanding. Plano was recently voted the #1 place in the US to live by Money(?) magazine. Since I grew up there, the police force has almost doubled, so crime is pretty low. Speeding/traffic offenses are also high -- keep that in mind.

As far as crime in Dallas... I live a few miles north of downtown Dallas and have really never had a problem. I've had a garage break-in where some tools were taken, but that's it. Most of the Dallas crime statistics seem to be impacted by the south side where you really should never go. I spend quite a lot of time in the downtown and other restaurant/bar related areas into the early morning hours and have never encountered a problem.

Ryan

 

Plano is great if you and your kids like heroin. IIRC they have like the highest abuse and suicide rate of any city by population.

If you are concerned about your kids I would look to one of the newer suburbs a little further out. You will find traffic is not near as bad as in Chicago (though it is admittedly bad). I live virtually "out in the sticks" 35 miles away from work and it rarely takes me more than 45-50 minutes to get to work.

Generally, the further out you go into newer suburbs, the better the schools but the higher the taxes are. If you are very affluent you can afford one of the nicer neighborhoods closer into Dallas.

What kind of a price range do you have for a house?

 

when?! that's where I currently am.. and I've only seen one other S out there.. a pre 04 Suzuka
seen him twice so far..

 

I'm supposed to close on Wednesday afternoon. I don't know if it will actually happen, though, because there are still 140 items on my checklist of items to be repaired/replaced/adjusted/touched-up.

I probably won't move in for a couple of weeks, though. I want to get the tile sealed, and install my garage floor coating before I move in. Even once I'm there, you probably won't see the S cruising around. I generally only drive it to/from autocrosses/track events.

 

Yeah, but he'll be able to hear it from several miles off...

 

I may even be able to hear it from my place!

 

Something (on-topic!) just popped into my head from the above discussion:::

I don't know how they situate residental areas to trains in other areas/cities like Chicago - but around here be very aware of where the train tracks are relative to where you consider living. They are starting to build houses closer and closer to the tracks (there is a new development I'm thinking of in Wylie that is RIGHT next to 'em) and the noise is incredible. It often seems like they blow their horns an extra long time in the middle of the night just for spite.

I don't mind being able to hear train horns off in the distance - but I wouldn't live within a mile or two of 'em...

 

That's why I don't drive it very often. I'm sure my neighbors would love me if I fired it up every morning. Now, they only have to hear it at 6am on Saturdays when I go to the autocross!


Kaiser-
Regarding the trains... that is an important point to note. My neighborhood is about 1-2 miles from the train track, and there is enough 'stuff' between me and the train that you can only faintly hear the train. It doesn't bother me, though, because I grew up about 1-2 miles from a train track all my life, so it kinda feels like home.

However, for the people that are closer to the train (and there are some that are *really* close), I feel sorry for them. I'm sure you get used to it, though... kinda like living under a flight path near an airport.

 

A few years ago when I moved out of my parent's house and into my first apartment I jumped on the first nice apartments I saw without really checking out the location. It was on the border of Plano/Richardson.. and little did I know that there was a train track LITERALLY 200-300 feet from my bedroom. It was horrendous.. the best sleep I ever got was when I fell asleep completely intoxicated, I might have woken up with a hangover, but at least the train coming through at 3am couldn't wake me up out of my deep sleep.