SADShooter:
My wife, our boy, our two dogs, and my self live in Richardson, along the northern border of Dallas.
HOUSING
You will find that, in general, housing is really pricey south near Highland Park & University Park and gets cheaper as you go north to McKinney (with some exceptions in pockets). I do not know how much you expect to spend on housing, but the general rule is you can get more sqft for your dollar in new construction the closer you get to Oklahoma. I am not joking about hte "Oklahoma" bit. It used to be, in 1999 when I moved to DFW, that McKinney was considered waaaay out there. Well, now they are building out in Wylie & Melissa. Live out there and work in Dallas & be prepared to spend a lot of time in your car.
We were definitely "starter home" buyers in early 2002. We weighed the benefits of buying new construction in McKinney vs existing housing in Richardson (& a few other places) & decided on a fixer-upper in Richardson. Our neighboorhood was installed in 1959 & still has a few of the original owners. We like the neighborhood. We have a really cool VOLUNTARY housing association. Most people curse theirs, but ours rocks. Also, you can buy from entry-level up to million-dollar 1 acre creekside houses, all withing 1/8 mile of our home. Price per sqft has been going up ~10%/year since 2002.
So much of the new construction is zero lot-line, postage-stamp yards. We have as much yard as the average $500K home currently being built.
I can give you more housing information that dates from 2002. PM me over at THR.
TRAVEL
We are nearly equidistant from two N/S arteries: 75 & N Dallas Tollway. We are also nearly equidistant from two E/W arteries: GHWB Tollway and I635. The monstrous mess of construction at 75/I35 does not effect us, as we are so close it makes no matter. In the morning, we are 15-20minutes from downtown Dallas and aout that far from Allen. A similar amount of time will get you to the I635/I35E junction/Harry Hines.
Traffic can get pretty thick, especially if you are stuck going the way everybody else is. I work north of Rchardson, so my commute is cake.
If your work is near a DART rail station, you can make your commute less a burden by using DART & getting some work done on the train.
SCHOOLS
Richardson, Plano, Highland Park are all considered tops for public education if that is an option you will make use of. JJ Pearce HS (RISD) is one of hte top 500 HS in the USA. Avoid Dallas ISD like a leper. Same goes for several others.
There are lots of quality private schools to choose from.
DINING
There are a whole bunch of good restaurants. I will not go so far as to say I am a Mexican food expert, merely an enthusiastic amateur. I have had the pleasure of eating at some tasty Mexican restaurants from Dallas to Las Cruces, NM. We have some very good Mexican restaurants and a lot of passable ones. Of course, the best in all DFW is Joe T Garcia's in Ft Worth. The best reasonably priced Italian restaurant in DFW is around the corner (Cafe Amore). Good Vietnamese and Cantonese food, too.
SHOOTING
Several public ranges to choose from. They all have their quirks. Also, there are a bunch of gun shops. If you have not already, sign up at the yahoo group THR_DFW (you'll find a link in my THR sig).
CHURCH
We ended up going to "the big church downtown" as my boss calls it: First Baptist, Dallas. It is 15 minutes from the house and we found that it is what we need. There are, however, several good churches nearby.
EMPLOYMENT
It is not as hot as it was during the dot-bomb years, but DFW's job market is larger than that of several states. I don't know what you are looking for, so I don't know if I can help.
When you get up here to take a gander, drop us a line. We can help you with some of the areas, but others would be better able to help with the mid-cities.
Good luck and welcome to Big D.
