Moving to the DFW from Canada

Posted by edjabes@reddit | plano | View on Reddit | 52 comments

Hello 👋 Everyone!

My family is relocating to the DFW from Ontario, Canada. My husband’s job requires him to relocate and his office will be in West Plano.

We are trying to decide where the best city/town would be for our family. We have a 11 and 13 year old. One of our kids is gifted and one has autism. We are second generation Korean, and value diversity and education and a good music program.

We are looking at West Plano/Central Plano or Allen. We prefer to purchase a house, and stay there (moving is already stressful for the kids and don’t want to uproot them again).

Thank you so much in advance:) We are leaning toward West Plano and wondering if anyone could speak to relocating and what it’s like there in terms of the schools, music programs, etc.

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_TurboHome@reddit

West Plano, Allen, Frisco, and the West side of McKinney are all solid family-friendly picks with good schools. Each has slightly different price points and commute profiles.

The big shock for most folks moving from Canada is property tax. No state income tax in Texas but property tax usually lands around 2-2.5% of home value, and a lot of newer developments have MUD or PID fees on top. Get your agent to break down the full annual carry, not just the mortgage, before you settle on a neighborhood.

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LYEAH@reddit

I would advise to rent before you buy, get to know the area before you commit to buying. The real estate market in DFW is wild and rent for a house will easily be half the amount of a mortgage. Houses in Plano/Allen all have issues, bad insulation, foundation cracks, high utilities, etc. Property taxes and insurance and extremely high. As a Canadian who spent 20 years in Plano and owned 2 houses (now left Texas). Owning a house there is a money pit. Moving to a new country is a big deal and overwhelming. Don't rush and rent for a few years to figure out if you really want to stick around 😉

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OSUBonanza@reddit

Where are these rentals that cost less than a mortgage? I need one of those.

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LYEAH@reddit

Just look on Zillow you can get many decent houses for 2k~ per month...same house to buy would be 450k, you do the math.

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edjabes@reddit (OP)

That’s good advice:)

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thelostdutchman68@reddit

West Plano is a fairly good option. Just saw some data on median home prices. Plano is still reasonable and its central to the metroplex.

If you are looking for a city with a strong and vibrant Korean culture you should have a look at Carrollton. Prices there are reasonable. It is a smaller city that is very diverse culturally.

There are very good, strong options for children with Autism in the metroplex. A dear friend moved from the UK to Plano for her son. It made all the difference in the world for him.

If you do look at buying a home - please factor in potential HOA costs and the big one - property taxes. We don't have state income tax, but we do have very high property tax. That can come as a bit of a shock.

If you need a good real estate agent I'm happy to introduce you to a great one.

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OchoGringo@reddit

I would not recommend Carrollton; you can see the school ratings yourself. If you want to be near Korean culture, you won’t be far from Korean language Christian churches, etc. The biggest factor about Allen is the high school —read about Allen High School and see if that fits for you. There are some nice neighborhoods in west Plano.

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goodthingsinside_80@reddit

We are in West Plano and have a few Asian families in our neighborhood. In general the schools here are well rated and people are relatively friendly (I am white, so I understand this may be different for people who look differently from me). We have friends who are Indian who live in Allen and they like it so far too.

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UpwithOlives070@reddit

Welcome to Texas. Plano > Allen. And fyi, it’s DFW, no “the”.

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roseoyl@reddit

Many natives say “the DFW,” implying “the DFW metroplex.”

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Realistic-Pay-6931@reddit

Lived here over 45 years and have never heard anyone say that, until now.

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aoifejeanne@reddit

I moved from the DMV to the DFW and cannot help myself wrt adding the “the” in there. Forever a dweeb.

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Lurcher99@reddit

"The" 😀

Imaging moving to" The The Colony". Man I hated living there if only for having to say over the phone what city u lived in. What city sir? The Colony, two words. T, h, e space Colony. Ugh...

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ForagedFoodie@reddit

First off, I'm sorry you're moving here. While the Dallas area remains fairly nice, minus the anti-Islamic and anti-Indian rhetoric, Texas as a whole has gone from promising to hot mess.

That said, you probably don't want to move to Allen if your husband works in west plano. It would be a long, unpleasant commute, unless you live right near the Sam Rayburn tollway. Then the commute is decent.

I live in central Plano and prefer it to west but there's a lot of personal preference involved.

You can get large, new homes in both c and w plano, but new construction for both will have small yards and no trees.

If you want yard space, you are going to need to buy an older home. W plano older homes are 1995-2010 age, and c plano homes are 1970-1990 age.

W plano yards tend to just be grass. If you want mature trees you have to look to c or e plano.

C plano homes may have differed maintenance that can be costly. Most important is the foundation and the old water and sewage pipes. Note: the foundation can be a concern on 10-year old homes as well.

All of plano schools are good for the US. No idea how they compare to what your schools are like.

C plano has slightly less traffic all around than w plano.

Texas homes are big as a general rule and get bigger the farther west you go. E plano median homes are 1600-2200, c plano are 1800-2700, w plano are 2400-3000.

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Commercial-Maize-646@reddit

You don't need to be sorry about someone moving to Texas. Many people move here happily and voluntarily. You are framing things as though everyone MUST have the same political opinions as you, and therefore are guaranteed a poor experience.

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ForagedFoodie@reddit

It's not about politics, exclusively. Although anyone coming from Canada is going to have political whiplash.

It's about infrastructure. About clean water. About city leaders who ignore their constituents. About how TX has some of the worst practical Healthcare among affluent states. About state parks that have border walls going through them. About state landmarks that have been drained of their water for data centers.

Before you come at me about Healthcare and say how we have some of the best docs and specialists (we do), a lot of those aren't readily available without private insurance or an absolately insane number of insurance hoops. We also have some of the highest insurance premiums.

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Commercial-Maize-646@reddit

To me it just sounds like whining, cynicism and negativity. I've had a fantastic experience living here. I've lived a lot of other places too and they all have their unique challenges and upsides too. The fact that there's a wall going through some border City does not affect the vast majority of Texans. Similarly, I've had no issues with the water. Healthcare is a mess everywhere unfortunately. I just think it's odd to carry around all this emotional baggage and dump it on some unsuspecting poster.

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ForagedFoodie@reddit

"The fact that there's a wall going through some border city does not affect the vast majority of Texans."

Actually, it does. Because it shows that the state legislature will capitulate and align with their party, rather than the wishes of the constituents. So it's a wall on the border today. But what happens when it's a detention center or a data center in DFW tomorrow?

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Commercial-Maize-646@reddit

This is exactly my point. You have a lot of political baggage and when some random person is thinking "hey is Plano a good place to live or is Allan better?" they're getting a diatribe from you about the water and the state government and all this other kooky nonsense. I'm surprised you didn't bring up that power outage from 2019. To me it's reads like a lack of self-control.

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ForagedFoodie@reddit

Explain to me why you don't think the policies of a state impact a person living in a city within said state?

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Commercial-Maize-646@reddit

I never said that. But your post came across as frustrated, emotional, and tonally off in the context of the original inquiry. The first thing you did was apologize that they have to move here, without understanding their value system, motivations, and life situation.

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ForagedFoodie@reddit

Lol, triggered much?

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korpo53@reddit

“What happens if this made up scenario happens, hmmm?”

Indeed.

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dashdashforceright@reddit

I moved from Ontario Canada. Some of the things you mentioned we complained about as well - esp infrastructure and sell out govt.
Greatly prefer where I live now. Especially earning in USD vs CAD. It makes a world of a difference.

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edjabes@reddit (OP)

💯The current Canadian government has made it so difficult for the middle class that I am grateful to have the opportunity to move the the US.

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Isolated_Blackbird@reddit

Um, what? What’s a long commute these days? My wife has made that commute many times back when we lived in Allen. If you live west of 75 and south of Stacy it’s like 20-25 minutes without needing to even use a highway.

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ForagedFoodie@reddit

Honest question: How long ago was that? Cross-Plano traffic has more than doubled in the 11 years we've lived here and Allen traffic has also gotten bad.

During rush hour I would say that it takes ~40 mins to get from the center of Allen to west plano without taking a highway

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Isolated_Blackbird@reddit

Like 2022

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Proper_Tangerine3431@reddit

I work in west Plano and live in north east Plano. It takes me 20-25 minutes to get to work in the morning rush hour. I don’t know what you’re referring to

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ForagedFoodie@reddit

What does that have to do with central Allen? If anything, you're confirming what I'm saying. If it takes you 25 mins and central Allen is easily 10 minutes further . . .

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Proper_Tangerine3431@reddit

Because I don’t live far from central Allen. It’s maybe 5 minutes more.

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Ok_Welder_8887@reddit

Northwest Plano. Rice-Jasper- plano west track fine arts (all excellent orchestra, choir and band). and education have been great (especially rice and Jasper) for my 5 kids but there is some demographic changes - neighborhoods are getting older The cost of housing however has increased due to so many people moving here, so older families don't sell, and cost make it harder for younger families causing some movement of younger teachers with young families also to move north to Celina prosper Melissa anna. So may change as class sizes decrease and teachers move north. Special needs autism resources are very good -especially for younger kids. Number 1 special needs elementary has been skaggs and preelementary pearson. . Which are feeder schools for rice Jasper plano west cluster. Food is good and all the different cuisines. Multiple Asian groceries h marts Korean. ranch 99, Tao Chinese. Matsuya japanese Muliple Indian/pak stores. Multiple middle east stores. Restaurant in area have all cuisines. For Korean. There is Frisco area near ranch 99, Plano area near h Mart. But better Korean a K town in carrollton near that h Mart. I hope that helps.

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edjabes@reddit (OP)

Thanks for this helpful info! I’ve been looking at Rice middle school and Jasper high school and they seem like a good fit for my kids!

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AgentFluid5533@reddit

All Indians here now just like Ontario.

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GreenLonghorn@reddit

Allen’s high school is essentially a small college in terms of total enrollment #’s. Plano high schools are a little more manageable but still quite large.

Frisco has smaller high schools and they’re also very good. Can’t really go wrong for any of those ISD’s, just depends on what type of experience and extra services you desire.

Take a look at the Texas Education Agency report card scores for specific schools for more info

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dashdashforceright@reddit

We live in Frisco for Frisco ISD and commute is about 9 mins to the legacy west area.

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GreenLonghorn@reddit

I forgot to mention you could live in one city but be zoned to a different city’s ISD (e.g. you live in Plano but frisco isd is your school district)

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Ill_Interaction_4354@reddit

There are enough houses listed on my street.. central plano .. very nice area to raise family. DM me if you want and I’ll provide more details

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Ill_Interaction_4354@reddit

Btw I am from Canada too

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scooteristi@reddit

My best advice for you (and my family did this exactly ten years ago). Get employer to pay for a furnished apartment for two months. Put your things in storage. Once you’re here look for a home to purchase. When you’re not in a rush, not on a realtor’s tight weekend schedule, you can drive around get a feel for commutes, neighborhoods, amenities, schools, etc. Decide whether you want a new(er) build or an older home with trees. Your goal is to have a house under contract by late July so you know where your kids will start school.

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skinandearth@reddit

Carrollton has a great Korean population , I’d suggest north Carrollton as well!

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Proper_Tangerine3431@reddit

I grew up in the Plano school system. They’re very diverse and they have great music programs. They have plenty of classes for gifted students and they great at caring for autism.

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Cloudy_Automation@reddit

Hopefully your husband has some new coworkers who can help with the transition. One issue of the DFW area in general is expansive soils. When they get wet, they expand, and when they dry, they shrink. This leads to foundation issues. Get a structural engineer to inspect the house separate from the usual home inspection. Once you buy, learn about foundation watering, to keep the soil from completely drying out.

Another issue is that the houses built in the 80s and before used cast iron sewage pipes. Especially in the 1980s, they used cheaper iron which rusts out. Most houses do not have a basement because there is no frost line, so the cast iron is under the slab. To replace this, they get a dig crew to tunnel under the house to get to the plumbing and replace the cast iron with PVC. If you see big dirt piles in the front yard in a neighborhood, they are having this done. By the 1990s, they had mostly transitioned to PVC, and West Plano is more likely to be 1990s housing.

The DFW area is subject to strong storms. The biggest issue is large hail, which can damage roofs and cars. Without basements, garages tend to fill with stuff, leaving no place for the cars, and getting hail damage. Both lead to more expensive insurance policies.

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blondydog@reddit

Central Plano is nice without being uppity. West Plano is where the spoiled rich kids live. Plano is the most economically diverse city in the US so you will find a mix everywhere.

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mwana@reddit

Find an apartment close to work in a school district with the help you need, and live there for a year while you get a feel of the city and what you like and don’t like.

Trying to buy based on vibes a long term home is not the answer. 1 move to make sure you make the best decision for the next decade is a good trade-off.

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Foundrynut@reddit

In Texas, your address dictates the school. So pick the school you’d like to attend and then figure out the map of the area that is that district.

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14Rage@reddit

This is not true, both Allen ISD and Frisco ISD are open enrollment districts. You can attend any of their schools while living in Plano ISD.

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wbd3434@reddit

Plano > Allen Welcome!

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Honest_Basket_8303@reddit

We just moved into a home in north west plano and are loving it so far! My husband is Korean and we have a toddler aged son. We see plenty of East Asian people when we go to our local stores. One big factor on why we chose this location was the great schools and diversity!

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