Aromatic_Location
2y ago
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In general McKinney is older and more family oriented. There are still things for younger groups though, but not as much as the uptown area. Frisco is close by, and there are some nice entertainment areas there. There is a lot to do in DFW in general and everything is within a 1 to 1.5 hour drive. Even a weekend trip down to Austin is easy, only a 4 hour drive. My girlfriend moved here from the bay area 8 years ago and loves it here… except for the summer. The summer is really brutal, which everyone else mentioned. Houses have gotten more expensive, but should be coming down with the higher interest rates. Our house was 275k when we bought it 6 years ago and is somehow worth 575k now. I do expect it to go down to the 450k range next year though. When prices go down next year is probably going to be the best time to buy. You'll just have to refinance when interest rates go back down.

AvariciousAltruist
2y ago
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So I just moved to McKinney a couple months ago thanks to getting a new job in the area. So far, it's been pretty awesome. This place is growing quickly. There are already a lot of shops, homes, apartments, etc. and more being built.

Collin county has an excellent community college system as well. Everyone around here seems to know someone who goes, is going, or has been to one of the campuses.

There are also lots of great places to eat and hang out. I don't think I've ever been so spoiled for choice when it comes to non-chain restaurants.

I can't speak much for homes in the area, but my apartment is $1500/month for a single bedroom.

My biggest gripe is with the horrible traffic. I won't get into the details of why I think that is, but it can be pretty bad at certain times in certain places. Honestly, though, it's probably not as bad as LA (yet, lol). Unfortunately, there is no public transit at all. The nearest DART light rail station is in Plano, which is 10 miles away from the edge of McKinney.

The only other thing to keep in mind is that this is Texas. It's hot, it's heavily conservative, and it's hot. If you can live with that, it'll work out for you.

Own_Sky9933
2y ago
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I moved from Northern California. I love it here and wish I would have moved sooner. I'm a Libertarian so I get annoyed with some of the bible thumping but I enjoy conservative ass Texas. I got tired of living in a homeless encampment in California and uber liberal things like a Rasta Charlie Brown statue was a major controversy where I am from. Lots of younger people want to live in trendy areas of Dallas and places like Addison. I moved here at 30 and I personally like suburbia and would have done the same at 25 or 18 if I would have been more courageous to leave family, etc. To each their own. There is a cool historic downtown.

1 thing I would say is adjust your housing budget. Property taxes are basically 2% a year and adjust every time things go up. There is no Prop 13 cap. Again, I am from Northern California so the weather was more of an adjustment for me. Its hot as f*** like 6-8 months of the year. It will rain in the summer time and be humid for like 2 days. You will get large hail 2-5 times and year and it might snow/ice storm like a week each Jan/Feb where as a So Cal driver you can't leave because they don't salt the roads. Lots of So Cal people live in Collin County and DFW in general. I guess it reminds them of LA with the traffic and the crazy freeways. I am the rare Nor Cal person that likes it here most of us move to hill country regardless of politics. Reminds us more of home.

Fancy_Sawce
2y ago
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We moved from Mississippi to McKinney a few years ago and have absolutely loved it. I'd mostly echo what everyone else has said but I'll also add that I learned I really was into the Far North Dallas suburbs - primarily Frisco, McKinney, Prosper, and even Celina (where I ultimately live now). If you all are planning to visit, I'd give all these cities a look. Some quick details:

In the order I mentioned (South to North), you'll see they become decreasingly densely packed and become more rural. Though even Celina is growing rapidly and won't be rural for long.

You generally can get more house per dollar the further North you go but your price point should comfortably fit you in any of these. This is one reason we ended up in Celina

If you were to pick a house at random, you'd find a white Christian conservative family of four. Coming from Mississippi, I find more diversity here but you may find less having come from LA.

You can find a ton of recommended places to visit in this subreddit but here are some highlights I'd recommend:

Downtown McKinney is adorable and there are some good restaurants. I personally love The Yard and it's a perfect time of year for that

Check out The Adriatica - it's extremely unique

If you want to see a movie while here, Cut is quite unique. It's a Cinemark dine-in theater in Prosper and I personally love it.

The Star in Frisco is really neat. I don't care for football at all but still find this area really neat

Living in McKinney Texas - EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MCKINNEY TEXAS