Considering moving family to DFW from Naperville. Planning to visit a few days later this month. Best places to see for us?
Posted by WhereasNo4929@reddit | askdfw | View on Reddit | 30 comments
36 yo, with three kids (2yo, 4yo, 6 yo). Wife and I are not planning any more kids. We live in Naperville, IL and are looking for neighborhood with schools that are better than our suburb, and want to live in area with similar family friendly things to do or visit.
Our budget is preferably an under $1.5M home but ok with up to $2M.
Am planning a 4-5 day trip to Dallas area later end of this month. Any specific neighborhoods we should check out?
Thanks
Primary_Excuse_7183@reddit
Naperville is to Chicagoland what Frisco is to DFW.
WhereasNo4929@reddit (OP)
That is helpful. Have marked a bunch of areas in Frisco to visit
Primary_Excuse_7183@reddit
That whole north Dallas suburbs area is nice with good schools. A budget of $1.5M will get you into nearly anywhere here except the REALLY elite spots where it’s oil money, successful entrepreneurs, athletes, and such.
Buehler_DFW@reddit
I’d have the agent you’re working with (if you have one already) draw up a doc with all of the top rated areas with your needs. That’s typically what we do.
Have they put much of a plan together for your trip?
Best school areas are going to be highland park, southlake, flower mound, Coppell. I think you could get something real nice for the price point in FM.
quinnyorigami@reddit
Absolutely get an agent , Dallas / DFW is absolutely massive and you could easily waste 5 days on one side of it. I’ve seen a couple of realtors on TikTok that specifically shop for family’s with schooling in mind
Hembalaya@reddit
Depends - what’s important to you, other than schools? Being close to the city/entertainment? Privacy/exclusivity? More square footage? This will help guide you on where to look. Bluffview and Lake Highlands are worlds different than Southlake and Celina.
WhereasNo4929@reddit (OP)
Perhaps within 1.5 hr drive, inclusive of traffic to get into the city, similar to how it is for us driving naperville into chicago.
Ok with 3000 sqft home. Don’t care about acreage or lawn sizes.
In Naperville we paid on average 20k a yr in prop taxes on an under 800k home we bought in 2020. Texas cannot be worse than that
GreatElk9652@reddit
I personally am gonna recommend Dallas proper, but just one of its more affordable, chill little boroughs! Lake Highlands, Lakewood, Lower and/or Upper Greenville, Old Lake Highlands, and really anywhere in the more east and northeast parts of Dallas.
Lakewood has a lot of great restaurants, little shops, and beautiful areas.
Lake Highlands and Old Lake Highlands are quite domestic but in a way that’s relaxed and fun. These and Lakewood border the incredible (imho) White Rock Lake, where you can rent canoes, go to the dog park, walk the perimeter, visit cultural and art events at the historic bathhouse, and see everything from beavers, ducks, nutria, muskrat, and even river otters!
Upper and Lower Greenville Ave are a bit more “millennial nightlifey, with trendy bars and cakeball shops and such, but there are many very cute older - but in a midcentury modern interior way - duplexes and triplexes)
Also, all of these are nestled in various areas between the 3 main highways: 75/Central, 635/LBJ, and I-30. With these nearby, you can live in a quiet little suburban neighborhood with parks and a library and a little cat cafe, yet still be within 10-18 min of bustling downtown Dallas.
And don’t get me wrong, there’s lots of fun stuff to DO in downtown, I’d just never live there because of the busyness, traffic, and of course the cost. But there’s the Dallas Zoo and Aquarium, Klyde Warren Park (a park built on top of the highway, they often have great free family friendly events here), the free trolley ride, and the Dallas Museum of Art, which is also free, and has fun kids areas and activities. These might be things you’d enjoy while visiting, even if not to find a house down there.
Other fun areas that I’m less familiar with are Oak Cliff and Bishop Arts. They’re kinda next to each other - a bit intertwined - and have a lot of independent bookstores, coffee shops, restaurants, fun events, and a broad mix of old and new housing developments. It might be a great place to live too, I just don’t go there that often bc I hate fighting through downtown traffic, even at night lol.
Other suburbs: Richardson is pretty solid. Very multicultural, a neat downtown that has an annual music and art festival, a local park that also has an annual art festival, lots of business headquarters, UT Dallas, and of course a lot of restaurants and basic stuff like theaters, parks, etc. It also has some of the best and most extensive bike lanes.
If you keep going north, Plano is also pretty cool, with a fun cobblestoned downtown with little mixed use bldgs (shops on bottom, apartments and rooftop restaurants on top). Parts of Plano can be a bit expensive and/or pretentious, but there’s cool parts too. Also a lot of business headquarters, lots of churches, probably a lot of Whole Foods Markets lol.
Above that you have Frisco, and others.. keep going and eventually you’ll hit Lewisville, with Lake Lewisville, and lots of good camping. Then you hit the middle of nowhere, then Denton which is basically a college town similar to Austin but way smaller.
Anyways, that’s about all the areas I know best, but there are many others in different directions. I hope you enjoy your visit!
WhereasNo4929@reddit (OP)
Thank you for the info!
I see on google maps, a universal kids in frisco?! Is this already open for us to visit this month?
Hembalaya@reddit
If you’re looking for public schools, Southlake (Southlake/Carroll ISD) and Flower Mound (Lewisville ISD) have some of the top public schools in the state (top athletics too). They’re further removed from the core, so probably going to feel closest to Naperville. Secluded, lush, established neighborhoods with lots to do for kids and families. If you want to be closer to the city, Bluffview, Preston Hollow, and University Park are where you’ll want to look. These neighborhoods will have smaller lots and a bit smaller homes, but closer to Dallas’s core. If you go this route, you’ll probably shoot for private or magnet schools. St. Marks, Hockaday, and Jesuit are all in this area, and some of the top private schools in the nation.
Also worth mentioning Highland Park, but it’s increasingly tough to find a home under $2M. The benefit if you do is you get access to HPISD, which means you can move your budget up since you don’t have to worry about private school budget.
For taxes, the tax rate is generally 1.5%-2.5% of your homes value, which is $30k-$50k/yr.
If you have any other questions, feel free to DM me. I’m a realtor based in Dallas and happy to help.
WhereasNo4929@reddit (OP)
Appreciate your reply.
Flower mound looks interesting- do you know if the town has a nice downtown for families to visit- or is it more “rural” than the other suburbs like southlake?
It is fascinating that at a glance, Flower Mound high school’s average SAT/ACT score is HIGHER than our Naperville high school… but the housing stock is MUCH cheaper in Flower Mound. And prop taxes accordingly would be lower than in Naperville.
Hembalaya@reddit
Sure thing - happy to help!
Closest thing to a downtown in the area is downtown Grapevine, which is a historic rail stop downtown. It’s 15-ish minutes away from Flower Mound depending on which side of town you’re on. Downtown Grapevine has its fair share of festivals, events, and general happenings. Flower Mound itself is suburban to semi-rural - there’s not really a downtown in Flower Mound.
Southlake has Southlake Town Square, which is sort of a downtown, but more like an upscale outdoor mall/lifestyle center, where grapevine is a true historic downtown.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
goodjuju123@reddit
It sounds like you could move to anywhere. What attracts you to DFW?
WhereasNo4929@reddit (OP)
Tax savings of 150k vs staying in IL. DFW is large metroplex which in theory has everything needed to raise our kids
Think-Day5460@reddit
Midway hollow, northaven park, university park
Sea-Use-1350@reddit
I CAN HELP WITH YOUR SCHOOL ASSIGNMENTS. Just dm
JelloEmergency9614@reddit
Highland Park and Southlake both have great reputations. A lot of districts have good schools scattered here and there. Dallas has sone of the top rated high schools, but it's Dallas.
Most well to do families send kiddos to private schools, if they live in Dallas proper.
(I wouldn't move my family to Texas, if I had a choice, just for the terrible education and Healthcare systems. If you have a special needs kiddo, run away fast)
xxtraflaminhot666@reddit
Saw that price range in Aledo, too.
Also what do you do for a living? Lol
research1975@reddit
Have family in Naperville and lived in Dallas my whole life. You will likely not find a better school district than Naperville with a few exceptions. Highland Park ISD is the best public school district. It is in the Park Cities which are two enclave cities in the middle of Dallas about 10-15 minutes south of downtown. It is old money Dallas that is very wealthy and very desirable. You may be able to find a townhome or small home for under 2M.
If you want to stay public instead of a private school in family friendly suburb you should look at the growing northern suburbs like Frisco, Allen, McKinney, Flower Mound, Southlake (that one is heavily republican if that is an issue). All these are very suburban and focused on families. Richardson ISD is good and I would look at the JJ Pearce high school area. It is an older inner ring suburb just north of Dallas. Family friendly and much closer in.
If you want to go private I would look at Preston hollow, west Dallas between the tollway and Webb Chapel, or the White Rock/Lakewood area. These are close to the center of the cities and desirable neighborhoods.
Dallas ISD is VERY hit or miss depending on area but they have some of the best magnate high school in the country.
Chat GPT can probably give you a good run down on a lot of the areas mentioned. D Magazine also usually has issues on the best suburbs to live in. You can probably find them online.
Last and MOST IMPORTANT! Where are your jobs and what are your commute expectations? DFW is sprawling with bad traffic. Light rail is limited. You do not want to spend 90 minutes twice a day in traffic.
WhereasNo4929@reddit (OP)
I “work” from home. No commuting. Wife will also be retired by the time we move. Thanks for your reply. Highland Park ISD came up repeatedly on my Gemini ai searches too. Any opinion on this private school St Marks?
research1975@reddit
I would also think about your lifestyle, interests, and your social circle. Different areas have different politics, levels of diversity, and social norms and expectations…Just like anywhere.
research1975@reddit
St. Marks is probably the finest private school for boys in the state.
Best-Ad9099@reddit
Waxahachie
Or Heath Tx
Appropriate-Paper540@reddit
Birdville ISD is amazing from my experience. Avoid Fort Worth, their reading scores are less than 30% and they were recently taken over by the state. Please note, that while we don't pay state taxes, we more than make up for it in property taxes and lack of general social infrastructure. The grass isn't always greener.
A realtor can help you in some regards, but they are generally trained to avoid terms like ‘family-friendly neighborhood’ because of fair housing laws related to familial status. Instead, they usually focus on objective features like schools, parks, commute times, and amenities.
WhereasNo4929@reddit (OP)
We bought a home in Naperville for under 800k in 2020 and we pay 20k prop taxes each year since then on average; has gone up every single year.
Texas cannot get worse than that.
jillsvag@reddit
Schools in dfw are not better than Illinois schools.
WhereasNo4929@reddit (OP)
If that is true any good private schools in DFW for us to consider?
Naperville public schools have definitely gone downhill (we grew up here and graduated hs here)
Main reason to move is taxes. The equivalent of 150K income is wasted each year staying in IL for us. That money could pay for 3 kids’ worth of private schools instead…
babs_is_great@reddit
Private schools admission starts in September for the following year and it is a blood sport to get admitted to a good private school. You can’t count on admission to a quality private school here - they admit roughly 15% of applicants. I think you are looking for highland park, south lake Carroll, or Lovejoy depending on your job location needs.
Buehler_DFW@reddit
Hockaday and Greenhill are 2 really high rated private schools down in Dallas. Have some clients with a kid at Greenhill who can attest to be it being great. The homes down there are mostly in the 1.1 to 2 mil range. Some areas are developed more than others, lots of new luxury homes being built on top of the old smaller homes. Some streets are more fully updated than others. Nice area though.
Crookedandaskew@reddit
Look into Dallas. There are several highly rated schools in the city. The Lakewood area in east Dallas, Lake Highlands in east Dallas, and Sparkman Club Estates in northwest Dallas would all be right up your alley. Richardson has a great school system as well.