Overview of Forney Texas
Forney is located in Kaufman County and it has a population around 30k people and growing fast, especially as it’s one of the top providers of new construction homes within the DFW metroplex.
Highway 80 is the main highway running through Forney and lands you about 20 miles east of Dallas.
It has a total area of just over 13 sq miles and is located just east of Mesquite, which has long been one of the largest suburbs in DFW.
Niche.com gave Forney a B+ overall grade with an A- in Public Schools, B+ for Housing, A- grade for Good For families, B- in Crime and Safety, B- for Nightlife, and an A for Diversity.
There’s a median household income of $96k, and at the time of making this video in mid-December, there have been 1,627 homes sold in 2023 with a low of $65k and a high of $3.25M with a median home value of $297,018 according to the Forney Economic Development website.
The median age here is 33 and according to the Dallas Business Journal, Forney Texas is the sixth fastest growing city in North Texas helping to make Kaufman County the third fastest-growing county in the U.S.
As far as distance from major events go in DFW, and we’ll cover Forney’s location more specifically later in this video, you are you are 24 miles away from the American Airlines Center for Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars Games, 39 miles away from AT&T Stadium and Globe Life Field for Dallas Cowboys & Texas Rangers games, as well as some of the biggest concerts every year, 39 miles away from Six Flags and Hurricane Harbor Water Park.
If you need to travel, you are 42 miles away from the DFW international airport.
This is still a developing town with many rural characteristics, and while East Dallas has had some concerning crime data in the past, Forney is considered one of the safer cities on the East side of Dallas.
Pros of Forney Texas
Pro #1 - Small town vibes
To kick off the list, we’re starting with the small-town vibes that you can experience in Forney.
Although Forney’s population has nearly doubled in the last decade, there’s still a vibe where many of your neighbors know each other, you have a chance to build relationships with people across the town because you see them so often, and there’s a friendly attitude throughout the city. At least to me.
After all, the town is only about 12 square miles and you’ll see later in the cons that it’s still missing lots of commercial development, so if you want a bit more of a rural – small town vibe to your lifestyle, this isn’t a bad place to be.
Pro #2 – New Construction Homes
A growing population demands a higher supply of new construction homes. Look especially when you have so many homeowners sitting on a 3% interest rate and not wanting to sell their homes, here in North Texas – we must have new construction or multi family living to house the thousands of people relocating here.
Forney is another one of those growing suburbs in DFW, especially in East Dallas, so there have been a variety of builders in Forney developing new master-planned communities for you to choose from.
In other words, there is nearly 40 homes closed on that are brand new construction every month in Forney. Not bad for a town of less than 30k right now.
You’ll have more affordable options like Lennar and Centex starting out in the low $200k’s, then History Maker, Trophy Signature Homes and Meritage Homes in the low – mid $300k’s, Perry Homes are in there in the mid-high 300k’s, and then of course Highland Homes are in there higher than that.
You’ve heard me in previous videos reference the advantages of going with new construction, whether it’s the strong assurance they offer with 1-2-10 year builder warranties, the idea of being the only homeowner ever of the home, or just simply a home that’s in good condition and modernized.
As you can tell, Forney offers you plenty of options here.
Pro # 3 - Population growth – especially amongst families
I get it, this could be a con to some of you, but if you enjoy seeing a smaller town get invested in, meeting new people, grow and offer more things to do in the area – then this is a pro.
There’s a huge population surge where I live in Sherman Texas, primarily due to the 4,500 semiconductor jobs heading that way for T.I and Globitech, and Forney is experiencing a similar trend.
World Population Review.com shows Forney has a growth rate of 14% annually and has increased by 49% since the most recent census.
If you’re like me and you’re running a service-based business, you have an opportunity to be apart of a city that’s experiencing major growth within DFW.
Whether that’s through your business, volunteering for a local organization, or simply helping build it with your own two hands – you have a chance to put your thumbprint on a city that can impact many lives in the future.
Not to sound cliché or corny, but to me, that’s exciting man. I’ve mentioned several times that I live in Sherman Texas, and we’ve been a smaller community for many years, and now that we’re expected to basically be the McKinney Texas 2.0, I’m thrilled. How do I help? How do I pitch in?
Trust me – I’ve seen in the comments that some residents are against the growth of these North Texas towns, but seriously, depending on what side of the fence you sit on – this could be a pretty big advantage of living in a growing area.
Pro #4 – More affordable housing options.
At the time of making this video in mid-December 2023, Forney has sold 1642 homes from a low of $65k to a high of $3.2M with a median home value of $339k, per Zillow.
When you consider that 446 of these sales, or 25% of these were homes built in 2023, that indicates their new construction homes are priced very competitively compared to other Dallas suburbs.
And these are pretty good-sized homes for families. The MLS shows the average sq footage on their sales in 2023 were around 2200 sq ft and they averaged 4 beds and 2.5 baths throughout their closings.
Not bad when you consider Prosper Texas home values are $800k+, and the median home value in Frisco Texas is $670k.
Some of the most popular neighborhoods or at least the communities with the most transactions are Arbordale.
Arbordale had 48 homes sell in 2023 with a low sales price of $287k and a high sales price of $375k, and a low square footage of 1500 sq ft to a high of 2700 sq ft.
Many of these are your traditional new builds from 2022 and 2023 and built by Centex.
And then there’s Briarwood Hills that sold 112 homes in 2023 ranging from a low of $255k and a high of $428k. Meritage homes was a popular builder in this neighborhood, and they also provided your traditional brick and stone architectural styles.
Pro # 5 - Forney School District
Forney ISD has a graduated rate of 97.6% compared to Texas’ 90% and Forney has earned an A rating by the Texas Education Agency.
The Forney ISD education system is “A”-rated and offers a diversity of educational opportunities for students to fully prepare for their future lives, whether they go directly into a career or work towards a degree.
There are over 16,000 students in Forney ISD with 2,300 employees and 19 campuses. 2 of these campuses are High Schools – Forney and North Forney, 3 middle schools and the rest are either elementary or intermediate schools.
The latest projections have increased dramatically. In 2019, Forney was projected to have 19,500 students by the end of the 2020 decade, but they’ve since increased their projects to 32,000 students based on the rapid growth Forney and other North Texas suburbs have experienced.
Plus, Forney students reap the benefits of FISD’s recently announced partnership with Eastfield College and Texas Tech University.
Forney and Texas Tech have recently announced over 25 4-year degrees that eligible students can earn while on Forney’s campus as an online or hybrid degree program. Pretty cool if you’re not trying to live out in West Texas.
Drawbacks and Cons of Living in Forney Texas
Con #1 - Location in DFW
Look, I live in Sherman – which is about an hour north of Dallas and obviously being in real estate, I’m used to driving all over DFW to help my clients. An hour – 2-hour drives are normal for me.
But depending on your lifestyle or what your preferences are for things to do, Forney’s location may be a drawback for some buyers.
It's located east of Mesquite over in Kaufman County, and Mesquite is already considered “East Dallas.”
So if your lifestyle is to be closer to a bustling night life, closer to the pro sporting events or concert scenes – your commute from Forney is possibly a drawback to consider.
You’ve heard me reference this in other Dallas videos, but man – the infrastructure development is not on pace to keep up with the population growth around many of these Dallas Texas suburbs.
Forney is guilty of this as well. You have highway 80 as your main highway getting you to the metroplex, but Forney’s population is increasing so fast that it’s common to see traffic get built up here and throughout the rest of Forney.
Highway 80 takes you through Mesquite, which is one of the most populated suburbs of Dallas so you combine the 8am or 5pm traffic there as you get to Forney, you can expect some road rage out there.
I used to live out in Rockwall, another “East Dallas” suburb so I experienced some of the major traffic delays heading into Dallas.
If you work a traditional 9-5 in the Dallas or Plano areas, I’d highly recommend you try to negotiate with your employer a 7-4 schedule as this can reduce your commute times drastically.
3rd con - there are still limited dining options over here.
Yes in the main commercial areas of Forney you still have your Chick-fil-A, Starbucks, Raising Cane’s, Chili’s, the usual suspects or first movers into a growing suburb.
But you shouldn’t anticipate a wide variety of unique dining options here owned by small-medium sized businesses.
Lots of folks relocating here from the West Coast or Northeast have quickly realized that you’re not always walking distance away from your favorite Italian, Mexican or Cajun restaurant.
You’ll have your traditional commercial dining options here in Forney, but don’t anticipate seeing a 5-star restaurant on Yelp that gets people traveling from all over the metroplex to try out here.
I’ll tell you what they DO have that is on its way up here in North Texas – Crumbl Cookies.
Glory, those cookies slap.
4th con – higher property tax rate here compared to many Dallas suburbs.
Property taxes are a bit higher in Kaufman County, ranging between 2.6-2.9% due to the MUDs and PIDs.
MUD stands for municipal utility districts and area subdivision of the State of Texas created to build infrastructure and provide services such as water, sewer, and stormwater drainage in areas where a city cannot provide them.
MUDs are often created for brand new communities that sit outside of public water services, for example.
This allows for more neighborhoods to be built in the DFW and surrounding areas. They’re funded through bonds or investments made by the state of Texas and paid to the MUD to create necessary infrastructure to provide the utility services.
Those bonds are paid off as the MUD collects taxes from the residents in the communities it provides services for.
How much are MUD taxes? They can be up to $1.40 of total property taxes – property taxes typically range from $2.1 - $3.68 for every $100 of assessed value. So for a $300,000 home, the MUD tax could be an additional $4,200 per year in taxes.
These will always be higher in a brand-new development because the new infrastructure must be built. And the tax usually lasts between 20-30 years.
A PID tax – acronym for Property Improvement District, is a special district created by a city or county that allows it to charge an assessment to properties within a certain area (like new neighborhoods) in order to build out additional infrastructure.
While MUDs typically focus on water services, a PID tax would pay for projects like enhanced landscapes, additional open spaces, lakes and fountains, improved city parks, shade structures, and other recreational improvements.
These PID taxes can be spread out over 20-40 years, or they can be paid in full and up front by the homeowner.
So, as you can imagine, with these additional taxes in Forney – you’re going to want to budget for higher taxes to live in Forney than many other Dallas communities.
Call to Action
If you have any questions about Forney Texas, would like to see any homes in person, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. All my contact info is on our website.
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