McKinney is my favorite city to go home hunting with my buyer clients. First of all, there is a lot of inventory, so the options are many and the prices are very competitive. But McKinney has so many attractions that other surrounding cities don’t. For example, I always take an out-of-town shopper into downtown McKinney and buy him a meal in the plaza. For brunch I take them to Spoons and for lunch or dinner I like Mama Amelia’s or if we feel like we go to Rick’s. How many cities with a population over 125,000 have an old plaza in the center with a 100-year-old granite courthouse located in the center of the plaza?
Most impressive are also the pre-war houses throughout Louisiana on the way to McKinney and in Virginia on the way out. McKinney is the county seat of Collin County. McKinney has a history. It is not just a cotton field as large and old that has developed like so many adjacent cities in recent decades. One piece of information that people like is when I tell them that this city and county were founded by a man named Collin McKinney.
Most of today’s buyers do not want to maintain and maintain a historic type home or cannot afford it. So, we left the old McKinney and headed southwest towards the new McKinney. My guess is that 80% of the homes in McKinney are located west of Highway # 75 and south of Highway # 380. That quadrant contains at least 40 subdivisions that provide an incredible variety of homes. Some subdivisions, like Stonebridge Ranch, have homes ranging from $ 250,000 to more than $ 1 million.
There are 3 great golf courses in McKinney and the houses that line them sell for a premium price. The signature course is Pete Dye’s course called Stonebridge Country Club not to be confused with Stonebridge Ranch course which is also very nice. The third notable course is Craig Ranch, which is a TPC course. They are all private clubs surrounded by beautiful houses.
Lastly, I like to buy houses in McKinney because of its commuter location. This is very attractive to people moving to the Dallas area because the # 75 North Central Expressway runs north to south and of course the # 121 now named Sam Rayburn Tollroad runs east to west. Downtown Dallas is an hour away during peaks and DFW Airport is 45 minutes away.
It’s easy to understand why McKinney is one of the fastest growing communities in Texas. Where else in Texas can you live in a big city and enjoy a historic area as wide and beautiful as McKinney?