New with a question

[SageFemme]

Hello everyone!

My husband, daughter who will be 5 in 2 weeks, and I live in OKC. I have a question while I look at y'all in envy! DH and I are looking into buying land near Dallas to build a house and a small family farm on. This is in the way future but I'm still going to look for ideas. I don't know much about the Dallas area, I have family there but that's about it! Is it possible to have land but be near downtown for work? We're in healthcare fields and need hospitals near us (preferably Baylor or Parkland). I know right now we want dairy goats, poultry, and dogs. We might be making a visit down there the end of next month, does anyone have any ideas of where we could look?

Thanks!

[RVcook]

Welcome to the forums!

I would suggest that you contact some real estate companies in the area that you're interested in looking at and ask them your questions. You may even want to try looking on the web for properties on realtor.com. There are lots of options available for doing this short of taking a road trip.

Good luck with your search.

RVcook

[wy_white_wolf]

First visit would be to the county/city zoning office and find out where it is legal to have the animals you want.

As for acreage in the city. Good luck finding it and I bet the taxes would be sky high compared to a more rural area. Most larger places will be in the suburbs because they haven't been subdivided yet or in high dollar areas as the rich always seem to want their large lots.

[Windy in Kansas]

Can't help you with answers, but welcome to the forums with your first post.

My locale isn't a large city by any means but my 16 acres are within a half mile of the city limits since the last annexation.

[Lindafisk]

I'm north of Mckinney so I am kinda local....land to the south or southeast is usually cheaper than land to the north, but there is more money to the north...and there are lots of hospitals in the overall metro area.....Baylor and Parkland are huge but there are also lots of smaller suburban hospitals in outlying areas so maybe you could find work and have your land and animals...and not commute as far or in as bad of traffic?

Pm me if you want and maybe I can help you figure out what areas to start looking in!

[dragonfly65]

We live south of Fort Worth and the reason we live south of Fort Worth is because that was where the land we could afford was. Now, that was almost 10 years ago and this area is developing fast. There is still lots of land and there are hospitals in the area and up into Fort Worth. There is also land west of Fort Worth too. We are about 30 minutes from Fort Worth, Arlington, Cedar Hill and about an hour from Dallas.

The problem is that to get anywhere urban for work you will have to drive. Driving in/through Fort Worth is not near as bad as driving in/through/around or anywhere near Dallas, though. My husband works as a project manager for JCPenney in Plano. There is no way we could afford to live up there so he drives 3 hours or more a day commuting to and from work. They had a story on the news a few years ago that said the Texas residents who commuted the farthest to work lived in the town we live in - an average of one hour to get to work.

But my husband has never expressed a desire to move closer to work. We are just simple people who live in a simple town in a rural -ish county. There is just a different mindset up there. We spend most work holiday parties hanging with just each other because we are uncomfortable around most of those people (who have fancy expensive cars, houses, etc.) and are glad to get back home.

[whiterock]

don't even think about buying within 35 or 40 miles of Dallas, land is way too expensive. I'm 30 miles to the south and developing fast. To the west a bit , and west of Ft. Worth, might be a better area, or to the east of Dallas. North, south, along I35 is prime for development.
Ed

[ladycat]

Wichita Falls would be a good place to check into. Land is still affordable, and they have a fast growing medical center. Since the next nearest places for medical are OKC and DFW, WF is nicely filling that gap in between the two metroplexes.

Also, DFW keeps growing and growing. If you were to buy close to the city there, you might soon be surrounded by city.