West of Penn is better then east, north of Broadway is better then south, north of Lowry is better then south, north of Dowling is better then south, north of 44th is better then south, north of Memorial Parkway is better then south.

In my situation, I bought a new construction home and closed on Memorial Day weekend last year. 

That's what I have seen.As someone above mentioned you may not want to invest in the City of Dallas, but just like many big cities in CA there are smaller cities around the Metroplex that might be attractive for you.Rumor today is Honda is now looking to put their North American HDQ in DFW area...so just one more big company with great pay moving here....probably 2-3 more major moves like this will be announced this year.I respectfully will have to disagree on the property taxes.Bought a house in 2014 for 230K, property taxes were $2,400.2018 property taxes on the same house $7,000, Another property I have 180K 2015, taxes $2,400, current taxes $7,900 and doing this from memory but 2019 they will be right at $10K.I fully believe in certain areas the taxing authorities are trying to stick it to anyone who has a SFH and whose property resides in areas otherwise of interest to MF developers. 

But I'm looking at a total of 11 townhomes in 4 buildings (3/4, 4/5, 1/2, and 3/4 if memory serves).

Stacy,I would ask you what memories or what emotional attachments you may have there?

I would go with refinance first but as Anthony suggested talk to a mortgage person...Also, I suggest make sure you are both on the same page, write it down on paper that you both sign - so later you can revisit if memories fade...

LOL in the moment it was jarring, but hey we now have a funny memory.

I have several contacts in my folders to follow the steps and actually recently closed a RE transaction with an agent - so the memories are fresh...

I cringe at the memory of asking my landlord to come change a light-bulb once when I was in college -opps! 

In addition to the back real estate taxes, they charged me a $27 publication fee (for the ad in the paper), and $149 (from memory) in attorney fees.