Dallas-Fort Worth Nesties
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tell me about plano
We have started house hunting (yay) and our buyer's agent found a couple of homes in South Plano that I am pretty much drooling over. We see them in person on Thursday.
I was not contemplating going as far north as Plano until I saw these listings! Richardson was my limit. But we're only talking maybe 5 minutes further and for one of these homes it would likely be well worth it.
SO - my question. Tell me about Plano please! It's pretty big, so are there certain areas that are better than others? East of 75 vs West, etc? Any particular elementary schools that are better than others? How are the city/county/school taxes? Any other knowledge you could share would be appreciated!
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Re: tell me about plano
South Plano - like Renner area?
My parents live off of Park Blvd & Los Rios (a few streets from KCNov). It's about as far east Plano as you can go. I believe 1/2 a mile farther east and you are in Parker/Murphy.
My sister went to Dooley Elementary, it's a really great school. The houses in the area are a bit older, brick and have wood paneling. Many, however, have been revamped quite a bit like KC's. It's a quiet area and it's really laid back with people walking their dogs. There is a golf course on 14th & Los Rios, but unfortunately there is a sewage plant in the area so sometimes you get a bit of smell if you are up the hill there (can't smell anything from my parent's house though!)
Vivian went to Armstrong middle school & Williams h.s. from there and it's kind of gone ghetto from what I have heard. She said there was some gang fighting, but i think you have the option of going to Murphy School District, which is only a few miles east of there.
Both of us went to Plano East, which I thought was a great school. Of course, I have been out for 12 years, but Vivian graduated 4 years ago and it will still a great school.
Let me know if I can answer any other questions for you.
All of the newer Plano schools are north/west and it's also the more predominately rich areas of Plano. The Douglass Community is located on the east side, off of 14th & 75 area and that is where many of the troubled kids come from. There are also pockets of apartments on the east side around Armstrong/Williams and the library that have caused problems.
I honestly don't think it's BAD, it's more of an awkward thing and a smart kid will just stay out of their way. Does that make sense?
Well, I prefer West Plano just because it's a little newer and I am more familiar with that area. I went to Plano Senior High (back in the day when there were only 2 high schools in Plano) and I thought the education was excellent.
Where exactly are the houses you are looking at?
These are the schools - although I seriously doubt we'd be there for the next 15+ years so not sure how much I care about the high school, but I guess you never know!
Here is some info. about that neighborhood in comparison to Plano as a whole. It does look like the percentage of married couples with children is lower than the Plano average too, not sure if that is a factor for you or not. Although, I am not sure how reliable this information is either, but I would imagine you could find more of this info. either on the Plano city website or the county website possibly too.
http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/River-Bend-Park-Community-1-Plano-TX.html
Vines was problematic back in the day. I don't know how much things have changed. The other two are just fine.
East Plano (between Spring Valley and 15th) seems to be more low income families.
If I were to live in that area, I'd choose West Plano.
As far as neighborhoods and such, Im only familiar with where my Sister in law lives. She lives over near Coit and Spring Creek. I really like it...there are alot of kids in their area, and I know they like the school alot. I know its a big city but when we go visit is just doesnt seem like a huge city to me. I think its because they live right in between the tollway and 75, so its not in the mix of the traffic and big buildings and such. They also have all they need within about a 2 mile radius. (Im sure thats typical in large cities, one of everything on every corner. I just like that they dont have to drive across crazy roads or get stuck in traffic to get anywhere)
Other than that I go to Plano alot, but for one time things..a certain store, mall, etc etc. So Im likely not much help!
Coit & Park is West Plano. That's a decent area - a little older than far west Plano, but still nice. I wouldn't hesitate to look in that area at all.
Vines wasn't a problem when I was going to school (although I didn't attend Vines, but it's very close to PSHS so you tend to know what's going on there), but that was about 5 years before Lynn, so who knows what happened after I graduated.
You'd be very close to Preston & Park which has a ton of stuff - and not too far from the Tollway - just a straight shot down Park.
Just some general info, the schools are great in Plano! West Plano tends to be the more expensive side, little bit nicer area, newer home, etc.
We would have loved to live in Plano, but for what we were looking for it wasn't in our budget. DH teaches in PISD and loves it and I have never met a person (or parent) that had anything bad to say about the schools there.
I grew up in west plano (off parker road between the tollroad and preston) I lived there since I was 4 years old and went to Brinker Elementary (which is now zoned to go to Centennial), Renner Middle School, Shepton H.S. and Plano West Senior H.S. I graduated H.S. 5 years ago. My parents still live there.
Like every place, it has its advantages (very nice and well kept, low crime, convienient to tollroad/george bush, good schools, nice houses) but you will deal with different problems ("entitled"/snotty people, kids act especially entitled, and there is a large drug problem...which is everywhere i guess)
I don't know if I could recommend a side, since i only grew up on one side of plano I don't think i have a good perspective on every part. I had a friend who lived at parker and coit and it was a very nice neighborhood. I thought the parts of plano that fed into Plano Senior H.S. were nice and you didn't have to deal with the amount of snottyness in west plano.
I know when we were looking at houses, it helped to drive around the different parts of town to get a feel for where we wanted to be.
Thanks everyone! I do worry about my kids going to school with snotty, entitled children, and actually would prefer a school with a good amount of diversity and hoodlums mixed in with the good kids (within reason of course) - but I have a hard time really thinking about anything past elementary school at this point!
Good feedback. The house we are looking at is older, but contemporary home (think brady bunch esque) but completely rennovated inside and out, HUGE by my standards and within our price range, so I'm really excited about it. Haven't seen anything like this south of George Bush so maybe it makes sense to venture a LITTLE further north.
Lynn - we're also looking in the Las Colinas / Valley Ranch area
ditto to what erinmtaylor said...
***wet blanket alert***
i grew up in west plano and will NEVER raise a family there. other people may have had different experiences than i did... but i absolutely hated that place, and most of the people there. its just really snotty and stuck up, and the only thing that matters is your bank account. high school was miserable for me!
ok my whining is done. plano is a great place and there are some great people there :-) - and the area that you are looking at is quite nice!
I think Plano is awesome and I miss it a lot since moving to McKinney. I lived there 13 yrs and I, too, went to Plano Senior High back when there were only 2 senior highs (Class of '97!).
I think the area you are looking in is great, although it is really considered the older part of town now - everything new is North and far West Plano.
Yes, there are good areas of town and bad. Most of the bad are located East of 75 though.
We chose McKinney for the community (Craig Ranch), the fact that we could get a newer house for less money and for the schools (Frisco ISD) because Plano schools have a long history of drugs and snobbiness. Ditto PP about Vines having some issues as well. But I think if you are not sure where you will be come high school age - then that's not so much of an issue.
But all in all I love Plano! It's definitely my favorite city in DFW and I still do everything there for the most part. That may change the longer I stay in McKinney, I dunno.
I had a similar experience in Middle School (HS was better, but Middle School was brutal for me).
Yeah, our buyers agent has some saved searched set up for us and I get a house that matches our criteria and price range in VR/Irving area MAYBE once a week vs 10+ daily in richardson and lake highlands. But there are a few here and there that come available so you never know!
We don't live far from where you are looking. Our house is zoned to Saigling too. It is an exemplary school by Texas Education Agency standards---meaning the kids do really well on the TAKS test. It is currently about 75% white. Less than 10% of the student body is on free or reduced lunches.
I haven't been inside the school since Noah is only 1 but the playground is great.
We love living in this area....it is close to every type of store or restaurant you can think of. People have been really nice.
I live in far NW Plano (almost Frisco) Legacy and Preston area and Colton and I love it. It is soooo nice. I also work in the area you are looking at (right by Vines HS actually) off of 15th. It is an older neighborhood, but it is still nice. It is very diverse, but we don't have many problems out of the ordinary. I work with that neighborhood and I wouldn't mind living over there when we get a house.
Bio~Time
Ugh. I know, Jenn. I know. I keep stretching my Dallas-area requirements. First it was "nothing north of mockingbird", then "nothing north of 635" and then "nothing north of George Bush. And here I am looking in Plano now.
It's just THIS HOUSE. I have seen nothing like it anywhere south of George Bush. At least not in at this price - I'm sure if we had $400-$500K to spend on our first home we'd find something easy peasy!