Affordable Places to Live in Dallas Texas!
So we want to talk a little bit more about affordable housing. I know we said we're talking a little bit more in the under $500,000 range, and we first wanna clarify that you can find some home. In the $300,000 range throughout the DFW area. I mean, some areas may be a little bit higher in the upper $300,000, but you can find it. You're just kind of looking a little bit more towards an older home, a home that needs more updating but today, specifically, While, the housing prices have gone up and affordability is, we're looking at the low four to high $400,000 range here in the Dallas Fort Worth area and that's just kind of how it is with the market thinking of affordability. And while it stinks, if you're looking to relocate here to get more house, to possibly get into a new build house so that you can get something newer and have your money go a little bit further, that's where we want to talk about some of these areas that you may wanna consider.
Affordable Area Options North of Dallas
So first let's talk about the north, let's talk about the cities you may wanna think about because when people are thinking of moving here, they're thinking of Frisco, even Plano, Prosper, because if they want new builds, they're starting to go north, so a couple of the cities that we wanna discuss are Little Elm and Corinth.
Little Elm Texas
Now, Little Elm is about 22 square miles and it has around 50,000 people in it. But Little Elm is a little bit on the crazy side. When you look at the map, it kind of goes throughout the top portion of Lake Lewisville and so depending on if you can get across the bridge, depending on where it is, you're going to commute. Your commute can be a little bit on the crazy side. When we're thinking of, let's say downtown Little Elm which is more on the east side of Lake Lewisville. So it makes it so much easier to get over to the Frisco area and live in Little Elm, there are some great areas. A lot of it is throughout like Lake Lewisville has all these, what we call little fingers that go up and around and so a lot of Little Elm is living in around those finger portions of the lake. So a lot of lake living, which is beautiful, but a lot of these communities where access to the lake is quite easy. The median cost of a home in Little Elm is just around $461,000. But the commute getting into Dallas can be a little bit crazy depending on where you're at, especially if you're down and around the lake. If you need to take a toll road. One of the toll roads across the bridge, or even getting down and through the colony down through Frisco, into Dallas is around 35 miles. And that's, if you're on the east side of Little Elm, if you're down around on the west side, there's so much growth happening. That's what people are saying it gets crazy with the traffic out there. There's so much growth going on. There are a lot of newly built communities, especially in some of the smaller cities that are all around Little Elm that's the number one problem that we're hearing about people moving over there and it's not that it's not a great area, but, if you are working from home, if you just need to drop your kids off at school, if you're not having to commute very often, it is a fantastic area to live because you can go walk down along the lake. They have a great little beach area over there where they brought in sand, sand VO, and volleyball courts. You can dock your boat over there. So the beachfront area over there is fantastic in Little Elm, but getting over into Frisco, up into Prosper, down over into Plano or the colony Little Elm is a fantastic location. That way you don't necessarily have to be right in Frisco or Plano. You're just next door, but little. Depends on where you're looking. People move there for the lake life and people move there if they are commuting down into, you know, there's a lot of, there's a lot of businesses moving into the Plano area and over into the Frisco area. So it's a great location, not having, like I said, to be right in the middle of one of those cities for commuting purposes, but it could get a little dicey if you're thinking of having to commute to downtown Dallas. So we do love Little Elm. We just don't love the commute.
Corinth Texas
Another great city on the north end of downtown. Dallas is a city called Corinth and Corinth doesn't get a whole lot of love a lot of the time, but it's a great little city just right up to 35. That is surrounded by some other cities. You probably haven't heard of like lake Dallas and Hickory Creek, but it is also surrounded by Denton. So Denton is on the west side. Denton is on the north side. So it's just this little pocket of this great little community, just off the 35 freeway, it's also quite small. It's only about eight square miles. And it only has about 23,000 people over there, but the homes are a little bit on the newer side. That doesn't mean that there aren't older homes as well, because it does border the city of Denton but there in Corinth, there are, you know, a little bit of new build has gone, has gone on over there. There are some newer communities, but it is all about location. So access to the 35 freeway, you can also go over and take FM 2499. If you want to head south down into Flower Mound and down into Grapevine or the DFW airport. So it does give you multiple options with the location right there in Corinth. But where its location is, is also a little bit far getting into downtown Dallas, but say you don't wanna live all the way up into Denton where a lot of people do wanna live. I mean, the University of North Texas (UNT) is up in Denton and Denton takes you all the way. That 35 freeway where Denton borders does take you all the way up into Oklahoma. So it's not being quite so far up into Denton. And you do, as I said, have access to get down to Dallas, which you know, with traffic, if the 35 freeway is cooperating it can be a total nightmare sometimes, but it does have HOV lanes to get down there. So if you're driving from Corinth down into downtown Dallas, you're looking at about 34 miles. So give or take however crazy. The rush hour traffic is going to be.
Affordable Areas South of Dallas Texas
Now, if you're moving way down south of downtown Dallas, maybe you want a little bit more of that country life. Well, there are some great cities down south of downtown Dallas that are kind of about the same. If you need to commute down into Dallas, you do have multiple freeway options down there, but one of the top cities with, you know, new builds coming in some of the growth happening and not having to be quite so far down as say, Waxahachie is a city called Red Oak.
Red Oak Texas
It's just over about 15 square miles. It has just under 15,000 people in it and it's almost between, let's say DeSoto or Lancaster. And like I said, Waxahachie. but it, it, it is a little bit closer getting into downtown Dallas if you work right downtown, but you don't want to have, you don't wanna have to be right in the city. It's a great option because it's only 18 miles away. So definitely a lot closer than somewhere like Little Elm or Corinth, because it's about half the distance. So it does have multiple freeway options that you can get up there. Typically you take the 35 freeway right up into downtown Dallas and the traffic isn't quite as insane going that direction, but there is still a lot of growth happening down that direction. The freeways are busy, they are under construction, but it's right off the freeway. It's a great community, new builds happening, and you can get more bang for your buck in some of those communities that are going in down there. Has also been around for a while. So you do get a little bit more of that country feel living down in somewhere like Red Oak, that small town feel like we like to say, and it is just a great community that some growth is happening, but not having to be quite so far outside of the city.
Midlothian Texas
Another great city, which is a little bit more Southwest is a city called Midlothian. That one's a little bit bigger. It is about 50 square miles and has just under 40,000 people living within the city, within the city limits of Midlothian and the home prices are a little bit more expensive. You're looking closer up to the upper $400,000 range, and it is also a little bit further to get into downtown Dallas. It's about 25 miles to get to downtown Dallas and that rural community out there that people are liking. So you can get more homes on a little bit more land by moving out to Midlothian. Which is, like I said, if traffic wants to cooperate, it's gonna be around 30 minutes to get downtown. So again, not quite, as far as some of the cities up north, if you do have to get to downtown, not to mention it makes it a little bit easier if you need to commute down to Austin, we did have one client one time who was saying that he did wanna, sometimes he had to work in Dallas, but sometimes he had to go work outta the office down in Austin. So living south was much more feasible for him because. He was able to do both and not have to spend quite so much time commuting, especially because of the traffic, he didn't have to fight the traffic into Dallas if he had to go around and commute downtown down into Austin. So it was a great area for him to live and he got a lot more homes and newer homes than, what he initially was looking for
Affordable Homes East of Dallas Texas
So, if you move out east, there's a lot of growth going on out that direction as well. And you could be a little bit more east on the south end. You could be a little bit more east on the north end, but just depending on where you need to go, we do have White Rock Lake out there and we do have Lake Ray Hubbard. So if you have to commute in and around one of those lakes, it could get a little bit crazy based on your commuting and what it is you have to do based on where it is you want to live.
Sachse Texas
A little bit more on the Northeast side is a town called Sachse I know the name looks a little crazy. Most people don't know how to pronounce it. You get clients calling all the time trying to pronounce it. And you're like, oh, you mean Sachse? So definitely one of those that, when you give us a call and you're asking about one of these cities, we'll let you know how to pronounce the city. But living up in Sachse, it is gonna be about 26 miles to downtown Dallas and the commuting can get kind of crazy. So a lot of people are living out there and not necessarily wanting to commute downtown. They may be commuting over into Garland or Richardson or Plano and it's a lot easier than working all the way downtown, but it's a little bit on the smaller side, it's just under 10 square miles and it has a population of just over 28,000. So it is a little bit smaller of a town, but it does have access to a lot of these great neighborhoods, a lot of these great cities that are very easy to access and to get to, especially if you wanna go up north to the Plano, the Frisco, in those types of areas, it does make it a lot easier to get to home prices out there, if you're looking for a new build or even some of these newer existing homes is around $450,000. So it is a little bit on the higher side, obviously because it's on the north end, which is what we do tend to talk about. Price points up north have been increasing a lot quicker than the prices down south, but it is a great community, lots of houses out in that area that we would love to show you around and let you get to know Sachse.
Fate Texas
Another great community that is growing leaps and bounds is a city called Fate, it's just outside Highway 30, a little bit more Northeast as well of downtown Dallas and it's east of Rockwall if you've been to Rockwall before Rockwall borders, the Lake Rockwall has a great community, tons of gorgeous lakes, lake houses, a big beautiful lake, lots of shopping and dining and all kinds of things right there within the City of Rockwall, just past that is the city of Fate right off the 30 freeway. Newly built communities are going in there. A lot of the homes out there are newer. Older homes are sprinkled throughout, but we love the city of Fate and so much growth is happening out there. That is a great opportunity to get in there. If you're looking for more homes at a lower price point, and some of these new builds out there are just under $400,000. If you want an entry-level home, if you're coming from somewhere like California or Chicago, and you're thinking you're never gonna get to buy a house, or it's gonna be like a tiny little, one-bedroom condo. We did have clients who moved out here and were able to get a four-bedroom, two-story home, and they loved it. They got home much bigger than where they moved here from and just love living in the city of Fate and it does have a lot of conveniences to get to some of the other cities around there. If you're having to commute to Dallas, it could get kind of crazy because of where it's located and it only has one or two ways to get outside of the actual city of Fate.
Forney Texas
Another great city, which is Southeast of downtown Dallas is the city of Forney home prices out there for some of the new bills are just under $400,000 and it's only about 13 square miles with a population of around 35,000 people. But there is a lot of growth still happening out there. The only downside that we've heard is there's only one way into the city. It's about 21 miles straight out Highway 80 and if you have to go downtown, it's your only shot of getting there. So if there's ever an accident, if there's ever anything going on and you get stuck on Highway 80. There really, aren't a lot of options of where to go. You're either like sit in the parking lot on the freeway to wait, to get downtown. Otherwise, you do kind of have to go straight up north through Heath and Rockwall and across the bridge that way. But that is not taking you downtown. So just fingers crossed. If you are moving out there, you're probably not commuting or you probably don't want to commute to downtown Dallas all the time, but it is growing and there are a lot of newer communities out there in the city of Forney.
Affordable Options West of Dallas
Rhome Texas
So maybe you have your heart set on moving to the west side. Maybe you work in Fort Worth and maybe you want a bigger home with more land. There is a lot of growth that's starting to happen out on the west side, especially way west of the 35 freeway and one of the cities is more on the Northwest side it's a city called Rhome and it's straight out the 114. So a little bit more Northwest of Dallas it's Northwest of Southlake. And, but if you want that rural community, you're probably not gonna be commuting to Dallas, cuz it's probably gonna take you around an hour. It's about 49 miles from downtown Dallas, but it is much closer to downtown Fort Worth. It's also a little tiny town out in the country, which is less than five miles and it's less than 1700 people. So, there is growth happening out there. Communities are going in out there. But like we do talk about all the time, Dallas is pretty flat and it can grow in every direction and that's exactly what it's doing. So if you want more rural land and don't necessarily need to be in the city, Granted, it's not that difficult to get over into the Southlake area or even some of those areas in North Lake. A lot of growth is happening there off the 35 freeway that's not so bad, but in downtown Dallas, you're probably not commuting there quite as often if you're living out in Rhome
North Richland Hills Texas
last but not least, there is not a ton of new bill going there, but it's a city called North Richland Hills. It's almost nestled right in between the city of Fort Worth and the city of Dallas. It is a little bit larger compared to some of the other cities we were talking about. It's about 28 square miles and it does have a population of over 71,000 people if you're commuting over to Dallas, it's about 28 miles. But if you're commuting over to Fort Worth, it's only about 11, but it does have convenient access to the 183 freeway, and the 820 freeway. And if you're working in Fort Worth, it's a much better option. They do have a lot of older established neighborhoods over there, but some of them are fantastic and people love the location. It borders Watauga it borders the city of Keller and it borders the city of Colleyville. So a lot of great areas, a lot of great communities, all right around there, but one of the reasons people wanna move there is because of where it's located. It has easy freeway access. You can get to anywhere you need pretty much all around the entire metroplex because of its location. But it does have a lot of affordable housing. A lot of it just tends to be on the older side.
So if you have any questions about what it's like living here. If you do want something even more affordable than that, obviously we can help and if you want homes, upwards of the millions, we can help you with that. There are a lot of great cities, a lot of great communities, school districts, and things happening all around the Dallas Fort Worth area and that's what we love to do to help show you what it's like and help teach you about where some of these areas are.
So any questions don't hesitate to give us a call, shoot us a text, send us an email reach out, and let us know what we can do to help.
