Imran,
If you are still out there, I am curious if you have made a decision and purchased a home in Little Elm or Plano and how the pros and cons played out for you?

A little about Plano:Plano, Texas, more than ranches and wide open spaces
It’s true that Plano, Texas, is home to acres and acres of ranches and wide open spaces but this diverse city has much to offer culturally, economically and intellectually too. In fact, Money magazine has voted Plano "The Best Place to live in the Western United States." Anyone interested in buying a home in Plano will be glad to know that the city is rich in the arts, has a strong economy and has schools which rank as some of the top in the country. So, if you’re interested in wide open opportunities, be sure to check out Plano, Texas.

Plano Fast Facts
I have lived in Plano for over 25 year and prefer it over Little Elm in terms of transportion, community and just a great place to live.
Let me know what I can do to assist you, please visit my web site.

I can set up a web site for you that will sent you all the current listings in Plano and Little Elm, this service is at no cost to you. I live in Plano and love the area, being near the Dart Rail system is a plus considering gas cost. Let's talk it over!

I have clients making great sales and purchases in Little Elm right now - not 5 years from now. This is the ground floor. The bridge over I-35 is still under construction, the commercial growth in Little Elm at Hwy 423 and Eldorado has been amazing. Super Targer and WalMart don't go into bad investment areas. The tollway extends all the way through Frisco and into Prosper now, and is going out to the North to Celina before the end of this year - which has been huge for clearing some of the traffic concerns for this area. Plus, Panther Creek Parkway just opened up from hwy 423 to the tollway, giving yet another major East/West thoroughfare to clear Little Elm traffic cutting through Frisco to get to the tollway. This road opening has been such a blessing! Little Elm is a great investment now. If an agent is working and driving in this area now, they know it is not the same infrastructure that it was even a year ago, and the traffic concerns get better by the day with the widening of Hwy 423 and Eldorado Parkway. Investment potential all depends on the house, but I have clients making profits on resale in Little Elm and I see leases going up - these are signs of demand.

Little Elm has wonderful prices and is a nice community with a bit of a rural flavor. It's also to Lake Lewisville. The major problem with Little Elm is access. The means of ingress and egress for Little Elm are limited making rush hour a nightmare. If you don't need to follow that kind of schedule or if you work from home, you won't have those problems. If you work in the Denton or McKinney area, I believe the traffic issues would not be as great.

I think that LIttle Elm has huge potential for price growth in the next 5 years provided the Lake Lewisville bridge is finished and other access is expanded. I had one new home rep tell me a couple of years ago that Little Elm was Frisco without the taxes and the high prices.

I would expect that Plano prices would not increase as much as Little Elm.

Looking 5-years down the road for home values to return is great in my opinion. You can increase the amount of equity by finding a home selling below market value.
The recent trends show buyers not as interested in moving too far from Dallas, due to fuel, toll fees, cost of living etc.
You can get more home for you money in Little Elm at this time, compared to Plano, however the area you referred to in Plano has always been a great market.

Imran.....two totally different markets and in my opinion not really comparable. There's no way for us to predict the future of housing prices moreso than anyone else. Little Elm has about 20,000 people and huge growth over the past couple of years. I think there has actually been negative appreciation the last year or two in Little Elm and a very high amount of foreclosures. I don't have specific stats on Little Elm, but I'd guess your average price home is in the $150s and normal range about $100-$200,000. Plano is more like 250,000 people and average priced home is probably double Little Elm, nearing $300,000 or perhaps a little less. Lots of homes in Plano over 1million. I personally would feel better and will guess appreciation will be better in Plano. You'll often hear it's better to buy the smallest house in the neighborhood vs the largest and perhaps here you can expand it to the city. I'm also personally hearing about people wanting to move closer in due to concern for fuel prices. From an investment point of view you might also want to consdier demand generators. What generates demand for housing in Plano vs Little Elm? What you will likely get in Little Elm is a newer house, a bigger house, and if you are lucky a larger lot. Prices for what you get in Little Elm will make it seem really attractive and that's why people moved there recently I think. Let me know if I can help you make a decision if you don't already have a realtor.