i grew up in the suburbs of north dallas (plano to be exact).

the PISD (plano independent school district) was considered one of the best in the country at the time. i would imagine that it's still quite good. also, most of the neighboring school districts are probably comparable.

as far as houses go, i'd say look for one in an older neighborhood. most of the newer neighborhoods have really small yards, alleys, and are just plain ugly (developer crap), but the older areas can be pretty nice (big yards and trees).

good luck.

good area to go that still has large yards but older homes, with some new homes is Grapevine/Colleyville area. Good school district too. It is near the airport, not too far from downtown.
Plano is good school district, but go there only if you like traffic and plastic-as in plastic surgery-very "fake" community.
Frisco has good schools, but is becoming Plano.
McKinney has great schools, but is its own city about 25 miles from downtown, if you don't need to be near downtown.
Rockwall has good schools and a lake-is about 18 miles from downtown.
Obviously, best property values are close to downtown, but unless you live in Highland Park (average homes start at $500,000) and your kids go to Higland Park, stay away from DISD-(Dallas Independent School District)-nothing but problems.

If you have any specific questions, e-mail me. I've been in Dallas for a while and can give you information on most of the areas.

I would recommend Grapevine, Colleyville, Flower mound or Lewisville. Colleyville was recently named on the top 100 cities to live list by U.S. News.

You generally want to stay on the north side of downtown. Each of the aforementioned cities are close enough to the airport and no more than 30 minutes from downtown Big D.

Frisco is probably the most rapidly growing in terms of economy, but its already becoming an expensive place to live, similar to Plano ten years ago.

check out for more info: http://money.cnn.com/best/bplive/

thanks for the advice. I definitely don't want to live in a typical builder home. A lot of the houses I have been looking at were in older neighborhoods. I think that I would prefer that.

The job I might be taking is in Downtown Dallas and I don't really want a long commute - 30 mins max.

Again thanks for the help. When I get my search narrowed down I may ask for your advice again.

it depends what sort of community you want to live in.. north of LBJ and you find yourself right smack in the middle of a neverending suburbia...

If you have been looking at houses that were in older neighboorhoods, chances are the trees were taller than the houses, not the other way around...i would recommend Lakewood / White rock area, neighboorhoods with actual historic character....

Downtown Dallas offers a lil more spice in life than suburbia dallas does...depending on how old your kids are, and wether or not you can afford to put them in private school, if you do some research you can find some intresting living options in the downtown dallas vicinity...

Right now I don't have any kids. However, my wife and I are planning to start within the next year.

We did think about living downtown in a loft, however I wanted to take advantage of the low interest rates and just get a house now that I could live in for the next 10 years.

I second the Lakewood area. You might also try over by Greenville Ave. The prices tend to be high in those areas.

I also love Kessler Park, near the Bishop Arts District. Don't let the Oak Cliff rep fool you. There are some nice areas near downtown.

i used to hear of mega-rampant drug use in plano schools, and i think one of the highs schools there is gigantic, therefore there is the possibility of kids being ignored education wise, and the feeling of being lost because there are 4500 kids you don't know.

all stuff i have heard though, not experienced. one of the schools is large though.

checkout Lakewood, Lake Highlands area if you are young. If you have money check out the M streets. Just make sure before you buy close to downtown you check out the schools-even if you don't ahve kids yet-some schools are good, some bad, depends on the street you buy on and could affect resale value.
DON'T, WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T buy a loft in downtown. Downtown Dallas is awful and it would be an overpriced waste of money. If they were less expensive I would say go for it to get more people living down there, but they are overpriced, crappy construction, a complete waste of money. You would be better off saving your money and investing in a home close to downtown.
SMU area is nice-University Park-you may be able to fine something there as well-it is close to downtown, but it is almost as pricey as Highland Park-which is the old money.
If you get a map of Dallas, and are looking south of 635, stay between the tollway east to 75 and just west of 75 towards Abrams/Skillman.
As someone stated above, north of 635 is suburbia.
Colleyville isn't a bad commute to downtown. Probably about 30 minutes.
You can also check out Las Colinas, it has some nice neighborhoods, but can also be pricey.
Best bet, tell your realtor you want to look in Lakewood/Lake Highlands area, but be careful with the schools.
If you want to redo a place, Gaston Ave is trying to build back up, (Around Swiss Avenue, close to Lakewood)-some older homes that need renovating.

Also, if you are working downtown, be careful with Flower Mound or Lewisville, or anything off of 35-major traffic.

Also, just to clarify the lingo:
I-35= Stemmons
635= LBJ
190 (Tollroad) = George Bush Turnpike
75= Central Expressway
The Tollway= North Dallas Tollway
I-30= It has another name, but I don't know what it is

I-30 west of downtown is ... I guess just I-30, there's relatively little of it
I-30 east of downtown is R.L. Thornton

Forget living in Dallas / Plano / Frisco / Colleyville (dear God, especially Colleyville) etc and check out Fort Worth. Better schools, cheaper cooler neighborhoods, less crime, fewer fur coats in July.

If you live in Arlington Heights in Fort Worth you can walk to the Kimbell. What archinect wouldn't drive 45 minutes one-way to work each day for that? Schools are decent there.

Also, in FW if you check out Oakhurst you may be very pleasantly surprised. (Zip 76111) Stay within the boundaries I-35, NE 28th St, Sylvania, and Yucca though. Outside that border it is pretty marginal. Schools in the area are not too good, but there are relatively inexpensive private schools in FW.

And by no means consider Haltom City. Used cars, payday loans, and meth labs. I should know. It's my hometown.