Texas Guys

[ripdog28]

So i have been thinking of moving from SoCal and i like a lot of the TX state views. Im in LE and make a great check here just the average house is $200K+ for only 1000 Sq Ft or $400K+ for 2200 Sq Ft. Just ridiculous. And i have all the politics out here. Again, i love my job and the guys i work with but to make life better for the wife and I, i want to move. Thinking of Austin, TX area and a local Sheriff Dept. I know my 2 trucks will get along fine out there as where they look at me like im crazy out here . I have the wife's approval also and am looking at the living situation in TX. Ooh yea, As a Deputy, i can not buy a Semi Auto AR out here. I love my guns and i cant own crap out here.

[laplander]

Go anywhere in TX besides Austin, that's like a mini-Kalifornia with all the liberals and BS that you want to leave behind. Over here in NM I was carrying open one day and a deputy who was having lunch at the next table started a conversation up about my Colt. After living in IL it was nice to meet some LE that were for a person's right to carry and ENJOYED firearms.

[laplander]

And don't forget, TX is a Class III state, so forget the semi and go full auto.....

[So.Cal.Super]

Originally Posted by ripdog28

the average house is $200K+ for only 1000 Sq Ft or $400K+ for 2200 Sq Ft. Just ridiculous.

Yup, It saddens me I bought when I did. Think of all the truck parts I could have with 200K less tied up in a house!

It's crazy your LE and Can't own an AR. I miss FL and I love my Guns also.

[dwcsr]

Actually Austin is a nice place to live. I like going there when I get time. The people are laid back and it actually has some trees unlike Houston's tall bushes. Pickup trucks and guns fit in here for sure. For 200k you get a real nice house. I got a 2200 sqft house for 140k in a good area of Katy Tx next to Houston.

[laplander]

http://www.city-data.com/forum/austi...al-austin.html

[AustinScott]

I moved from Burbank to Austin 3 years ago..... well just north of Austin "Round Rock"

I'll tell you this.. I will never go back to CAli to live... maybe visit or vaca... be never to live... I'm a Cali boy at heart, but I'm a Texan in Blood!

O and as for Austin, its perfect, you can get city living if you want or just go 20miles in any direction and you can have your small town or country feel all you want... perfect in my book!

good luck with any decision ya make!

Scott

['72customdeluxe]

Seeing alot of "foreign" plates here lately, especially from cali As mentioned before, skip Austin. Houston sucks too

[spankbomb]

I grew up in San Antonio, went to school in Austin, lived in DFW for almost 10 years and now I'm back outside of Austin.

My take:

Houston - Never have lived there, don't plan to ever live there. Everywhere south of Austin is humid, but Houston takes it to another level.
San Antonio - The biggest small town in the country. If you are looking for a slow pace, this is the place. Close to the Hill Country, 2.5 hrs to Port A and Corpus Christi.
Corpus Christi - Navy town on the bay. Close to the beach and some large music acts come to town. Great minor league ball field near the harbor.
DFW - I lump it all together. After all, the Cowboys do play in Arlington. Dallas is the home of the $30K millionaire. Fort Worth has a nice downtown district. You can get a nice place close in to either for a reasonable amount of coin. Just figure out which end of the Metroplex fits your scene. You'll seldom drive to the other side of it.
Austin - I don't live in Austin. We can't afford it. There's plenty of good BBQ, Mexican food and music to the East. The Hill Country is beautiful and the Highland Lakes are awesome.

Anyhow, those are my opinions.

[ripdog28]

AustinScott, I lived in Burbank, North Hollywood for about 2 yrs. Hated it. Im looking for that short drive to the country. Cant do much hunting out here so my German Shorthair is getting bored. Ill look into Round Rock.

[MONTE]

Anywhere around San Antonio or Austin should be nice. Plenty of places in the hill country.

[falvarez12001]

I made the move from SoCAL 3 years ago. My company transfered me out to San Antonio. I love it. we were able to buy a home within a year of moving out here, at the time the in in California this seemed like just a dream. Well I've been in San Antonio for 3 years and love it. Close enough to Austin 2.5 hours away from the coast, 3 hrs away fom Houston. We had to get use to the weather though. The summers are HOT!!! and Sticky. House values are srating to got up but you can still get into a 2000sq foot home for just over 150K. The car culture is different. Thats one of the things I really do miss. Car shows, meet and greats, it's not the same. But all in all San Antonio is a pretty nice place to live. Good Luck

[PanelDeland]

Being a Texas boy myself I have to ask "WHY" would any Texan even consider Houston a part of the state?As for where to live,there are lots of choices with lots of opourtunities.I think just north of DFW is one of the better climates(BTW DFW is NOT North Texas).One third of the state is above there.Housing is a great value almost anywhere in the state.Smaller cities and towns are usually even better.SA is for more mature types while Ausin caters to the younger party types and politico's.I would suggest staying to the eastern half since there is a bit more humidity there.The far north and west areas tend to be hot and dry with the north having some heavy winters occassionally.
As far as employemnt you may have some options that you haven't thought about,or they may be something you're not interested in,but the Tx prison system is spread all across the state and unless it has changed has a great retirement and benis with decent pay.For my opinion one of the best areas to live in would be near Witchita Falls.There are plenty of small towns within commuting distance,you could possibly find a home with acerage(great for car/truck nuts) and WF is large enough to have some employement possibilities.Just a few thoughts on TX.
BTW when I retire I will be doing iot in Tx.I can hardly wait to get back.

[grs]

I plan to move to the Keller, Texas area. Keller is just north of Fort Worth. You can get a large house for $200,000. But the garage is real small. They are like 20ft, by 20ft. And a lot of them are side entry garages. So we will have to spend about $300,000 for a house. I want a garage that is 32 ft. wide, by 24 ft, deep. And it has to be front entry. And look out for the HOA rules. In one area you could not leave you garage door up unless you were in the garage. Real snobs must live there.

[ripdog28]

GRS, The HOA is just retarded out here. All kinds of stuff like that. Some dont even let you have Dogs in a house you bought. like you said, real snobs.

[68GMCCustom]

I think HOA's are in for a major change in the near future. A guy here in Frisco was in Iraq and the HOA sent bills for just under a grand to his house repeatedly...but his wife was in deep depression and couldn't take care of anything. The HOA foreclosed for a $9hundred something bill and sold the house (which was paid for) at auction for $3k something...then it sold again for like $150k. Its all involved in the courts now...

Houston is near South Houston...the armpit of TX.
San Antonio is nice, with a Tex-Mex flavor.
Austin is for the young and liberal.
DFW is a mix of everything with small towns on the outer rim...but mostly flat terrain.
El Paso....dry and hot, almost more Mex then Tex.
Pan handle (Amarillo)...where the cowboys live.
San Angelo...TX desert...amd where the rest of the cowboys are.

[dwcsr]

HOA's are a real problem in Texas but you can buy in an area that doesn't have them.

[grs]

I will try to find an area that does not have an HOA, but I do want city sewer, and water. Maybe I'm just to picky.

[jbristo67]

Originally Posted by dwcsr

HOA's are a real problem in Texas but you can buy in an area that doesn't have them.

What is an HOA

[low'n slow]

Originally Posted by jbristo67

What is an HOA

Home Owners Association.

[68gmsee]

Your diary by next year??? Make sure both you and your wife know about the Texas weather! We've already hit high 90's and approaching 100's where I'm at a couple of hours from Austin.

Some people think this is a "joke." But let me and my buddy from Buda south of Austin assure you, this is Texas. They had water rationing last year and had to make sure they didn't flush unless they had to. Lost all his yard, etc. Luckily, this year was a wet spring...

-----------------------------------

NEW TEXAN'S DIARY

May 30th:
Just moved to Dallas , Texas .
Now this is a city that knows how to live!!
Beautiful sunny days and warm balmy evenings. What a place!
I watched the sunset from a park lying on a blanket.
It was beautiful. I've finally found my home. I love it here.

June 14th:
Really heating up. Got to 100 today. Not a problem. Live in an
air-conditioned home, drive an air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to
see the sun everyday like this. I'm turning into a sun worshiper.

June 30th:
Had the backyard landscaped with western plants today. Lots of cactus
and rocks. What a breeze to maintain.
No more mowing lawn for me. Another scorcher today, but I love it here.

July 10th:
The temperature hasn't been below 100 all week. How do people get used
to this kind of heat? At least it's kind of windy though. But getting
used to the heat and humidity is taking longer than I expected.

July 15th:
Fell asleep by the pool. (Got 3rd degree burns over 60% of my body).
Missed 3 days of work What a dumb thing to do. I learned my lesson
though. Got to respect the sun in a climate like this.

July 20th:
I missed Morgan (our cat) sneaking into the car when I left this
morning. By the time I got to the hot car for lunch, Morgan had died
and swollen up to the size of a shopping bag and stank up the $2,000
leather upholstery. I told the kids that she ran away. The car now
smells like Kibbles and sh*ts. I learned my lesson though. No more pets
in this heat.

July 25th:
The wind sucks.. It feels like a giant freaking blow dryer!! And it's
hot as hell. The home air-conditioner is not working and the AC
repairman charged $200 just to drive by and tell me he needed to order
parts.

July 30th:
Been sleeping outside by the pool for 3 nights now. $1,500 in ****
house payments and we can't even go inside. Why did I ever come here?

Aug. 4th:
It's 115 degrees. Finally got the air-conditioner fixed today. It cost
$500 and gets the temperature down to 85, but this freaking humidity
makes the house feel like it's about 95. Stupid repairman. I hate this
stupid city.

Aug. 8th:
If another wise ass asks, "Hot enough for you today? I'm going to
strangle him. **** heat. By the time I get to work the radiator is
boiling over, my clothes are soaking wet, and I smell like baked cat!!

Aug. 9th:
Tried to run some errands after work. Wore shorts, and sat on the black
leather seats in the car. I thought my ass was on fire. I lost 2 layers
of flesh and all the hair on the back of my legs and ass. Now my car
smells like burnt hair, fried ass, and baked cat.

Aug. 10th:
The weather report might as well be a **** recording. Hot and sunny.
Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. It's been too hot to do stuff for 2 ****
months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week.
Doesn't ever rain in this **** desert? Water rationing now, so my $1700
worth of cactus just dried up and blew into the **** pool. Even the
cactus can't live in this **** heat.

Aug. 14th:
Welcome to HELL!!! Temperature got to 115 today. Forgot to crack the
window and blew the **** windshield out of the car. The installer came
to fix it and said, "Hot enough for you today? My wife had to spend the
$1500 house payment to bail me out of jail.
Freaking Texas . What kind of a sick demented idiot would want to live
here???

[jbristo67]

If you are looking to steer clear of those home prices then steer clear of Austin Dallas and Houston. I live in Lubbock and it is about 250k in population. I just bought a 2200 square foot house here built in 2003 for 159900. I am not saying you have to move to Lubbock by any means. It's flat and not near as pretty as Austin. But there are plenty of cities like Lubbock in tx that are big enough to have tons of opportunity. That being said I will say that Lubbock is a great place to live. Just my .02

[jbristo67]

Yeah if I could live anywhere I wanted it would be San Antonio.

[low'n slow]

Lived in the College Station area for 10 years. We are going to retire near there n spite of the Aggies. We loved it and can't wait to get back.

City sewer is overrated. Nothing wrong with a good system that also waters your lawn. Had one and loved it.

[68gmsee]

Originally Posted by low'n slow

Lived in the College Station area for 10 years. We are going to retire near there n spite of the Aggies. We loved it and can't wait to get back.

City sewer is overrated. Nothing wrong with a good system that also waters your lawn. Had one and loved it.

We try to discourage non AGGIES from coming here....


Just joking... My two oldest are AGGIES and my youngest a Longhorn. Go figger.