Missed this thread when it was first posted because I’ve been out for a couple weeks. I’m good for a beer or three. Don’t drink alcohol myself, but don’t have a problem hanging out with those who do. If you’re still looking at the housing situation drop me an email. A friend of mine is an apartment locator. He’ll be fair with you and he covers a wide area.
I’m with minty on the commute issue. I’ve got about a mile and a three-quarters from the house to the office and I love it(if the drivers weren’t so nuts in this area and the sidewalks such crap I’d cycle/walk/jog to work and back fairly frequently as opposed to the infrequently that I do it now). Six minutes in the car, tops. Many older neighborhoods inside the loop of 635 are being revitalized by yuppies and other professionals moving in and fixing up the older homes. You can find fantastic deals on some fixer-uppers(generally because the owners got too old to keep up maintenance on the place but weren’t ready to retire yet) in well established neighborhoods if you don’t mind there being a generation gap between you and your neighbors. If you need a hopping nightlife and lots of younger people/families then you might want to look north of the loop in the Addison/Plano area. I’m in the Las Colinas area and while some areas of it are primarially younger people(mostly north) the area I’m in(smack dab in the middle, by the Four Seasons where they play the Byron Nelson) is mainly families with teenagers or empty-nesters in houses they had built in the early seventies.
The one thing I would caution you about is some of the stupidly fast-growing areas like Flower Mound or Valley Ranch. They claim to be “master-planned” communities, but what they really do is throw up a bunch of zero-lot homes in next to no time and in a few years they have all kinds of issues. I’ve got several co-workers who live in Flower Mound and they complain of everything from school issues, drainage/pests, to flat out lies by the realtors when they purchased their homes. There are these lovely brick walls around communities that were beautiful when they were first built and the homes were for sale but once the realtors had sold most of the homes they let the landscaping of the community go to pot. The walls are falling down and the trees they planted were fast-growing, fast-dying varieties. YMMV of course, but for my money it is an established neighborhood whose infrastructure wasn’t slapped together by a bunch of jerks looking to cash in on the recent growth boom.
I live in Plano East of 75. I like to think of it as the “slums” of Plano. The reason I say I live in a slum, is due to the fact that I have to hear “Oh my gawd, YOU live East of 75? I can’t believe it! ” Despite the fact that I live in a really nice area with good schools (after all we just passed a 280 million (yes million) dollar millage- grrrrrr) great home prices, big parks, and pretty good lot sizes. I love my neighborhood so much that I have decided to take my home over my commute and stick it out.
The problem I have is that I live north of 635, and work south of it. They are doing major construction to be completed 2006, and my formerly 20-30 minute drive has become 50 to 90 minutes But they’re ahead of schedule so hopefully it’ll end soon
Oh and remember: look for a place that has easy access to a liquor store. Many areas are dry, dry, dry. I have the good fortune of working right by a liquor store so I don’t have to go too far, but a friend in Lewisville has an hour round-trip to pick up rum. Plano, of course is neither dry or wet, as they sell beer and wine. I like to think of it as “moist”.
If you have that beer down by Baylor Medical Center, I’m in.
Trying to pick a car to buy, something I haven’t had to think about in years (well over a decade…I drove the same car my senior year in high school, all through college, and all through law school, and haven’t needed one in New York). I was all set to be practical, then minty mentions to me via email the notion that everyone should own a sports car at least once in their lives.
Now my practical side and my boyish side are at war. Hmmmm, a nice zippy convertible would be nice…
We get a week of good weather in the fall, and another couple weeks in the spring–why not buy something sensible (think “superb air conditioning,” “remote starter” and “hail resistant”) and simply rent a convertible a couple times a year?
You know, Dewey gets to Dallas and two weeks go by, and he hasn’t spent even one night in de-tox or been arrested, I’m gonna be mighty disappointed with you guys.
I understand the difference. However, a down payment that represents a significant percentage of the home value means a lender will be more comfortable making the loan, as the homeowner is less likely to default because he’d lose all or most of the cash he put in.
My wife and I are both professionals; income-wise, we’re set. Our credit history is totally clean. We have a year to go to pay off my wife’s Jeep, but other than that no major debts. I paid my student loans off ages ago. Seriously, I cannot fathom having any difficulties getting the mortgage, even with a spiffy car. I’m not talking about buying a Ferrari here.
Having said that, I am my father’s child and I’m sure I’ll end up doing the practical thing. Dammit.
Ahem. You’re talking to graduate of the University of Texas Law School here. So don’t try to foist that bullshit on me, mister. My feelings on OU, and Oklahoma in general, were best expressed in this thread, where (among other things) minty and I debated the best approach to handling those heathens north of the Red River.
I keep putting off that decision, but I figure sometime during the first full week of September. Let me know when’s good for you (you got my email, right?).
First full week in September? Yep, I’m officially out of the country that week. That means you’ll have to get the in-laws to carry your sleeper sofa up two flights of stairs.
Oh, that’s when I’m coming. The sofa, etc., will follow a couple of months later after my wife wraps up her current slate of audits and transfers to the Dallas office.
By the way, I’m a-leavin’ on a jet plane, don’t know when I’ll be back again, on Sept. 10. So the New Yorkers who want to go out for drinks, let’s pick a date.
Next week is better than this one, and this Thursday is right out. Other than that, I’m open to anything.
