Moving to Dallas - suggestions?

[OILFIELDTRASH]

i live 3 hours from dallas, was there for quakecon. let me tell you, FUCK IT'S HOT

Yes 4 months out of the year its unbearably hot then its 8 months of perfect weather. I'd rather deal with the summer than the horrible winters up north.

 

[Schadenfreude]

Yeah I figured it'd be really hot down there; but I did notice that all the apts we looked at had fireplaces - none of the apts we looked in Chicago had them; what's up with that?

 

[cKGunslinger]

Hit me up sometime and I'll buy you a drink after work, or we'll setup another Dallas Meetup - it's been a while since the last.

 

[Svnla]

Hit me up sometime and I'll buy you a drink after work, or we'll setup another Dallas Meetup - it's been a while since the last.

DFW meetup? I am game. It had been a while since the last one.

How about 1st weekend of October? OP will have to buy the first round

 

[Schadenfreude]

So this is what we're looking at:

- We're looking for a place in Las Colinas or Sweet Vally in Irving Tx
- We would also like to check out areas in uptown Dallas as well, assuming that I can take mass transit out to work (It's west of Hackberry Creek, next to N Belt Line Rd): I looked up the DART services; I only saw the subway go out to Las Colinas; how bad/good are the mass transit services around past that?
- We are - I know this is taking a risk, but we just can't afford going down there too look for + sign for a place, AND THEN come back up and move down - looking to get the paperwork/registration done online. We are currently in talks with a realtor, is there anything I should look out or ask for in advance (besides a bunch of pictures)?

 

[zanejohnson]

N dallas area is nice, it's upscale, only crime is that all the call girls live there...


i'm just a little farther N of Denton..

 

[Phoenix86]

You don't need a realtor to rent apts. down here. Browse online, call front office, do paperwork.

Mass transit is iffy, some places it's ok, but in general it's meh. It's a downside to the urban sprawl here, too much area to service. It also crosses too many city/county lines, Arlington for example doesn't allow any real mass transit.

 

[dmcowen674]

Pretty sure you are confusing Valley View with Collin Creek. Valley View is a run down dump that is fairly close to the Galleria on 635 whereas Collin Creek is on 75 north of Richardson (maybe even technically in Richardson) and recently did some remodeling. It isn't run down really but it does have a crappy food court.

Collin Creek is on the Plano side in the Telecom Corridor.

I just spent a week there.

 

[spacejamz]

A lot? The food court selection has gone down hill, but there aren't a lot of vacancies there. As for apartments around the mall, there is only one complex that is adjacent to it, which is directly south of the mall. It's on older complex, and I actually lived there many years ago, but it is hardly a bad neighborhood. It's Plano and just North of Richardson for Christs sake. Not exactly low income cities. Valleyview isn't as happening as Stonebriar because Stonebriar is the giant megamall of Frisco, where there is a lot of money.
If you want to see what a bad mall is, go check out Redbird Mall.

South of the mall is 635/LBJ not apartments....are you talking about Collin Creek mall in Plano?...Valley Valley is nowhere even close to what it was 10 years ago....

Edit: looks like some folks beat me to it...

 

[spacejamz]

DFW meetup? I am game. It had been a while since the last one.

How about 1st weekend of October? OP will have to buy the first round

Last meet was back in early 2008 IIRC.

we had 4 or 5 though and we found out later that someone else showed up but they didn't find us...

have a pic of that laying around....I will see if I can find it...

 

[MetalMat]

Last meet was back in early 2008 IIRC.

we had 4 or 5 though and we found out later that someone else showed up but they didn't find us...

have a pic of that laying around....I will see if I can find it...

Yall should set that up again, it was fun

 

[spacejamz]

Found the pic

 

[spacejamz]

So this is what we're looking at:

- We're looking for a place in Las Colinas or Sweet Vally in Irving Tx
- We would also like to check out areas in uptown Dallas as well, assuming that I can take mass transit out to work (It's west of Hackberry Creek, next to N Belt Line Rd): I looked up the DART services; I only saw the subway go out to Las Colinas; how bad/good are the mass transit services around past that?
- We are - I know this is taking a risk, but we just can't afford going down there too look for + sign for a place, AND THEN come back up and move down - looking to get the paperwork/registration done online. We are currently in talks with a realtor, is there anything I should look out or ask for in advance (besides a bunch of pictures)?

Mass transit from Uptown to Hackberry isn't very good...definitely get a place in Las Colinas or Valley Ranch...seeing the property is really the only to know that you will like something...there is a drastic range between all of the complexes (age/price/niceness/etc) in those areas..

your best bet is to just sign the shortest lease possible on whatever looks like the best (6 months probably) and then look around when that is up...

good luck...

 

[TXHokie]

Yes 4 months out of the year its unbearably hot then its 8 months of perfect weather. I'd rather deal with the summer than the horrible winters up north.

I'm gonna have to disagree about the 8 months of "perfect weather". We got hammered with those hail storms and that crazy Superbowl freak snow storm week long freeze that destroyed all my tropical palm trees. And while the area is not deep in tornado alley, it does get a few random visits every now and then. The weather in Dallas can and does change very abruptly and go from one extreme to another real fast.

 

[slightlyhuman]

DFW meetup? I am game. It had been a while since the last one.

How about 1st weekend of October? OP will have to buy the first round

i'm 3 hours east of dallas. count me in.

 

[Metron]

You are already looking in the best neighborhoods closest to your employment in Irving, Valley Ranch and Las Colinas.

Not sure of your budget, but you might look at Grapevine for reasonably priced housing. The commute would not be bad to Irving, but you would have to drive. Denton County also has the "A train" which runs from UNT down to where the Green line of the DART light rail trains terminate in Lewisville. Denton County opted out of the DART mass transit system early on, and now is trying to catch up on it's own.

In terms of mass transit from Uptown to Irving, DART just opened up the Orange line light rail. These trains run from downtown to Las Colinas (Irving Convention Center, roughly Northwest Highway and 114). The Orange line will open up additional stations across Irving and eventually terminate at D/FW airport, by 2014. Check out the DART system maps at dart.org, and they have a mildly useful trip planner which will give you options (light rail, bus, and the TRE (Amtrak type passenger train that runs from Dallas to Fort Worth)) point to point.

PM me for more suggestions... Good luck!

 

[MetalMat]

Found the pic

Sorry I blocked the shot SpaceJamz

 

[spacejamz]

Sorry I blocked the shot SpaceJamz

no worries dude...

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

South of the mall is 635/LBJ not apartments....are you talking about Collin Creek mall in Plano?...Valley Valley is nowhere even close to what it was 10 years ago....

Edit: looks like some folks beat me to it...

Sorry, meant Collin Creek. I work by Valley View so that's always my reference point mall

 

[cKGunslinger]

Found the pic

Oh sweet Jeebus! D:

At least I had hair..

 

[Schadenfreude]

Thanks for all the references and input - we've found a place in Valley Ranch (I always think of the salad dressing company when I hear that) for a short-term lease and will continue looking once we're down there.

Now the only question is [Thread=2266737]Actually getting there . . ..[/thread]

 

[Nebor]

I'd live in Los Colinas if I worked there. Plenty of nice apartments, plus restaurants and bars right downstairs.

I'll be living in the telecom corridor along 75 in Richardson when I move back next year.

 

[Schadenfreude]

ZOMBIE UPDATE:
- Not that y'all (yes, I've put that there on purpose) may care, but after much consideration and efforts, we finally signed up for a short-term apt in the DFW area - we arrived a while back actually, we just didn't have the internet set up for a while. We're slowly but surely getting acclimated to the area. Thanks again to all who gave their input!

P.S - What's with stores closing down early on Sundays and stores selling only beer and wine (but no liquor)?
P.P.S. - if we do decide on a Dallas ATOT meet, I vote Hard Eight BBQ wowee.

 

[MetalMat]

What area you moved to?

 

[HendrixFan]

P.S - What's with stores closing down early on Sundays and stores selling only beer and wine (but no liquor)?

Hardcore baptists have alot of pull in Texas when it comes to alcohol unfortunately.