Help need some advice on living in New York or Dallas

[Kingyfam]

Hi
I'm in a totally quandary we currently live in Singapore and have been there for a year now and even though the plan was to stay longer the cost of living is too high especially as we will soon have school fees to pay for. My dh is australian and we have an option to go back there to live and work with a new employer. I however am from the uk and even though I have lived in Aus before this move will be a more permanent one and the thought of this I find hard but thats not necessarily to say its out of the question. Since this job opportunity in Sydney came up my dh has had some more oppurtunities come in within his current employer in New York, Dallas and the UK. Part of me would like to come home but this is probably not at the top of the list for my dh which although I find hard I get why.
Are there any New Yorkers or Texans out there that could give me some advice on living in these places with my family ds is nearly 5 and dd is 2.5. Would like to know about cost of living, good areas to live with good schools, any good expat sites I could look at. We have been told about following areas in Dallas - Frisco and Plano (??) & sunnyside and Hoboken in NY. Anyone from here or can suggest other areas to research? I would ideally like 3-4 bed place with a bit of garden if budget allows???? I also read somewhere that you only get 2 weeks annual leave plus public holidays is this true?
Anyway so many questions but would really appreciate some feedback
Thanks in advance.

I've lived in NYC for ten years. It really depends on your budget regarding areas to live. Parts of "Brownstone Brooklyn" are lovely, with excellent local schools, but a 3-4 townhouse will be expensive to rent or buy. Park Slope has good primary schools (at five, your son will be ready for his first year of school on a public level, but depending on his birthday, private schools may not take him if he's a July or August boy).

I have a friend who lives in Sunnyside. It's more garden apartments than actual homes. Forest Hills in Queens is nice, but a long commute to Manhattan. I'm not a fan of Hoboken, and would rather live in Bronxville (first town in Westchester County NY, thirty minutes to Grand Central on the overground train, excellent schools).

Have a look on Corcoran or Halstead to see apartments and homes for rent.

Def check the holiday entitlement - 10 days plus public holidays is fairly standard, at least to start with. Pretty tough if you have two sets of relatives in different overseas locations that you want to visit.