When you’re a first-time buyer, looking for a place to call home can be daunting — finding the perfect place, scraping together a down payment, qualifying for a mortgage, and so on. But if you’re hunting for a house in Frisco or McKinney, the task might be considerably more pleasant.
A new study from personal financial website WalletHub ranks Frisco as the seventh best city in the U.S. for first-time homebuyers and puts McKinney at No. 8.
Christie Cannon, a Realtor with Keller Williams Realty in Frisco, says first-time buyers are drawn to the suburb by its outstanding neighborhoods, plentiful parks, and easy access to Dallas-Fort Worth amenities.
“The first-time homebuyers see the ample opportunity and growth potential offered by the area businesses as well as a strong and highly acclaimed school system,” Cannon adds. “While housing in the area has gone up, there are still plenty of affordable opportunities in Frisco neighborhoods, with prices ranging from the $200s all the way up to over $1 million.”
To determine the most favorable housing markets for first-time buyers, WalletHub measured 27 key metrics in 300 cities of varying sizes. Those metrics include housing affordability, property tax rates, and crime rates.
McKinney got a big boost from being named the top real estate market among the 300 cities reviewed by WalletHub, with Frisco at No. 2.
Jane Clark, a Realtor with Keller Williams Realty in McKinney, points out that the suburb consistently performs well in rankings of the best places to live in the U.S., based on factors such as housing affordability, education, safety, and health care.
McKinney, she says, “is an extraordinary place to live and work.”
Above Frisco and McKinney in the rankings were Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, claiming the No. 1 spot, followed by Tampa, Florida; Centennial, Colorado; Boise, Idaho; Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Thornton, Colorado. In last place, at No. 300, was Berkeley, California.
Here’s how other Texas cities fared in the WalletHub study:
- Allen, No. 16
- Plano, No. 52
- Grand Prairie, No. 53
- Richardson, No. 62
- Denton, No. 66
- Carrollton, No. 80
- Austin, No. 117
- Irving, No. 132
- San Antonio, No. 136
- Fort Worth, No. 149
- Dallas, No. 195
- Mesquite, No. 213
- Arlington, No. 228
- Houston, No. 269
