Van English & David Mcgurk

As a current seller AND buyer, I can tell you that our two-person family requires four bedrooms. That's one for us (the master), one for guests (furnished with typical bedroom furniture), and two for offices. Each of the offices can also be used as a guest room when needed; one is furnished with a futon and the other with a daybed, along with the usual residential-office type furniture. I work from home, so this is essential for me; my partner goes to an office every day but brings home a lot of work, so this is essential for him, too. That said, I think you're way better off with the four-bedroom house no matter where it is. More and more people are telecommuting and more and more people are entertaining guests in their homes, with the rising costs of fuel and hotel rooms. Anything can be wowed-up with the right designer. It's a lot harder to add another bedroom. - Sun Jul 6 2008, 16:29

When we were househunting in Irving in 2002, our home inspector and our realtor warned us about the shifting soil all over Las Colinas. We bought an older home (built in 1967) in Northwest Irving that's solid as a rock and have had no problems with cracks, the foundation, etc. I would urge you to investigate some of the lovely older neighborhoods in Irving and not contribute further to the urban sprawl. There are excellent values, including our own home at 3845 Twin Falls, 75062. Just google that address and you'll be led to its listing. We've been promoted and are relocating later this month. And to correct an earlier posting, the DART Orange Line is scheduled to be completed by 2011. I've been to several of the meetings at City Hall confirming this. - Wed Jul 2 2008, 23:01

Everything in that area is overpriced. I have a friend who bought a new home there and then got a new job out of town and had to relocate. Almost six months later, the house still hasn't sold. - Wed Jul 2 2008, 22:53

We bought our current home FSBO and had no problems whatsoever. They had lived in it for 30 years and maintained it beautifully. Our inspector, reputedly one of the toughest in DFW, gave it a good report. The foundation is stable, no cracks, no sloping floors, no doors that won't close--which is unusual in DFW, especially for older homes. We had no problems whatsoever with any of the purchasing process and the owner/sellers were perfectly wonderful the whole time. They were also very negotiable on the price, which was to our great advantage. We have loved this home for six years and are now, sadly, offering it for sale thanks to a job promotion. We're using an agent, though. I would include the link to our listing, but I am not sure whether that is permitted on here. Seems like it would be since agents are allowed to list their Web sites, etc. - Tue Jun 17 2008, 16:16

I would say it depends at least partially on how long you plan to stay in the home. From hard-earned experience, I can tell you that over time, houses near shopping malls decline in value. I don't have the statistics or the scientific research data; however, all you have to do is go to some of the older shopping malls around the DFW Metroplex (or just about any city, for that matter), and with very few exceptions, you will see houses that have declined in appearance, upkeep, maintenance, and overall value. Other than that, the traffic congestion alone would be enough to keep me from buying a house near a mall. - Tue Jun 17 2008, 12:40