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Places to Rent Near Good Schools
Hi Nesties!
I am relocating to DFW in a few months from Denver and because we will only be in the area for 1-2 years, we are going to rent (apartments, townhomes, or a house) vs. buy a home. Please give me your dream area locations (subdivision/townhome/apartment names would be great!) that you love and why you love it! I'm looking for a home that....
- is near DFW airport, as my husband will be working near there
- has great schools! My son is in Kindergarten and my girl will start K next year [schools are most important!]
- recommendations for all-day preschool (if they have onsite K, that's ideal!)
- near amenities (park, rec center, etc.)
- looking for at least 3 beds / 2 baths
My husband has a great opportunity in DFW, so we are moving away from my extended family, my kid's friends and giving up my CPA career (well, I'm going to try to find a job in DFW....!). Needless to say, this is exciting, but I really need your help to find a great community to live in.
Thanks in advance!
Re: Places to Rent Near Good Schools
I can highly recommend Grapevine, Colleyville (GCISD services both communities), Southlake (Carroll ISD) and Flower Mound (Lewisville ISD). All those areas are near the airport. If the cost of renting in those areas (can be pricy), consider Corinth (where I am). You can easily get to the airport within 20 minutes. A few other Nesties live in West Carrolton and they have the best schools of that district (Carrolton-Farmers Branch).
If you want a combo daycare-kindergarten, you will generally have to go the private school route here. Some districts do offer some after school programs but you'll have to call the districts and see which ones they are, cost, etc. My brother went to an excellent private kindergarten (with daycare) but that's going to be in the Lake Highlands area of Dallas and that's can be upwards of 45 minutes from DFW.
West Plano area is really nice. Very good school dist. The rec center is really nice, lots of parks, very familt friendly. Good shopping.
Juliebug1997 - when you say "private school route" for preschool / Kindergarten, please let me know what some of the names are. I'd like to see how pricey / not pricey they are. Other (recommended) options for child care?
Nesties - we're looking for rent anywhere from $1k - $2k / month. Denver cost of living is more, so I'm trying to gauge DFW. Is my rent estimate too high / too low for a family of four near good schools? With closing costs (buying a home and then selling it - in Denver, we expect about 3% to buy and 5% to close - - what is it in DFW? I assume similar?), it just doesn't make sense to buy, especially if the home doesn't appreciate or declines in value (don't we love this economy!?!) and I hear real estate taxes are rather high, in comparison to our house in Denver.
All your input is appreciated. With the kids, I want a kid-friendly community that they can thrive in. They like little adventures and this move to DFW is going to be one big adventure for them, one that I hope they enjoy.
The reason I suggested private is because the kindergarten in my district goes until 2:30 PMish and that's when the kids are expected to leave; some of the elementary schools do have after school programs but I don't know the extent of those programs. There are several good day cares in the Grapevine-Colleyville area: Cornerstone on Mustang/Ira E. Woods; Primrose on Hall-Johson; Creme de la Creme on Ira E. Woods/Colleyville Blvd. I'm sure there are a few in Southlake as well but I'm not as familiar with them. The private kindergarten that my brother went to was at a school called White Rock North. They used to have their own pool, a small gym that doubled as a roller skating rink, and ponies. My brother and parents loved that school. It's in the Dallas area neighborhood called "Lake Highlands" although it's close to White Rock Lake, which has a great jogging/biking trail, an outdoor dog park, lots of recreation there. However, like I said, that area could put you as much as 45 minutes from the airport and I don't know if you consider that far or close. I secretly would love to live in this neighborhood and my husband basically works at the airport and I work just past it, but we consider that a little too far and the drive would be a little more challenging than we would like for ourselves.
You should be able to get a decent rent house for that price in most of the places we've listed for you. I always forget about Coppell and that's a good, close area to the airport as well.
I hope you are ready for the weather extremes we've been having! Welcome to Dallas!
In my experience you can very easy find a 3 bedroom house in the $1500 to $2000 range in a nice neighborhood.
We live in Bedford. I have a step-daughter that is in first grade. We really like the school district. I grew up in the Keller School district and it is also very good. Like Julie mentioned the Grapevine/Colleyville area is also a very good district. All 3 of these areas are close to the airport (10-30 min drive depending on exactly what part) and you should find homes to rent in the areas in your price range.
Primrose is a great school and some of them offer private kindergarten. I use to teach the pre-k program at 3 different schools and the schools with the private kindergarten are great. Not all offer that so you would have to call and check with the specific school for that. Otherwise I know there are a few churches in the area that offer private kindergarten. Our daughter went to public kindergarten and was there all day from 8-3 like a 1st grade would have been.