mama2cntrykids Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 I'm looking for info on the housing market and job market. I assume it's different in different parts of the state. We're seriously considering re-locating and Texas is a top pick. My dh is a painter by trade (automotive, cabinets, metal) but has also done a little auto body, just no schooling for it. Any insight would be great! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avila Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 :lurk5: We are looking at the DFW area. There are just no jobs for DH to apply for here, and he really needs to make a career move. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WiseOwlKnits Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 The housing market in TX is one of the few places where it's still expanding. Housing prices are lower than most other places, especially as you get away from the major metro areas so there is still a large enough influx of people to support the housing market better than in other places. It's a very easy state to homeschool in and you'll find large homeschooling populations in metro areas. We live in Austin and there are a lot of homeschoolers and a lot of support here. Hope that helps... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy loves Bud Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 We're in the DFW suburbs, and I think things are as good here job-wise as anywhere right now. Housing is definitely affordable here; it was even during the real estate boom. You can get a place in what feels like country, but still be relatively close in, if that's your preference. One area that is predicted to expand tremendously over the next decade is along Highway 75 from Allen north up to Sherman. This would probably be a good area to own a home in for property values, though who can really predict anything any more. Homeschooling is very easy, as was mentioned. There are a million support groups in the DFW area, as well as lots of coops and such. Good luck. If you want specifics, please feel free to PM me. I just wanted to add that even though there is no state income tax here, we pay huge property taxes, so be sure to calculate that into your number-crunching. Where I live we pay around 3% per year on our home. Painful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 We moved to Texas last month from Eastern Missouri. Yep, it's very different here. Here's an outta-state-person's opinion. Here's some negative stuff about it: They've got HUGE property taxes. They also have strange laws when you buy your house. We went through the entire house-buying process and ended up not closing. They told us "another 45 days". We were in tears and ended up just renting a house (just to have a place to live - geez!). We're in the DFW area and they have kinda nasty traffic sometimes. Oh, yeah and the people drive really fast. :auto: After doing lots of reading about their public school systems here, I found out that Missouri schools were light-years ahead of Texas schools. :confused: We moved into a subdivision where the kids are completely wandering alone, unsupervised, at all hours of the day and night. One group of 7 year-old girls was standing in the street when we drove past and they smacked our car with a broom and sprayed "water" (?) or something on our windows. My husband slammed on the brakes, got out of the car and had a little talk with them... Oh, yeah, we were robbed in west Fort Worth the second week we were here. They took everything. They even tried to take my van and took off with my keys (never to see them again). OK, here's some positive things we've noticed: People are very conservative here...(could be good, could be bad) But, a lot of them are financially conservative and I LIKE that (big Dave Ramsey fan here). Most of the people are REALLY family-friendly. In The Land of MO, we usually got weird stares and comments from people about our squad of half-white/half-Asian children. Everybody here has been really friendly and we're usually not the only big family when we go to a store! Woohoo! The groceries are like HALF of what they were in MO. I have no idea why this is and I've asked several cashiers if they "got everything". But, darn it, it seems to be true. The gas prices are really low... :auto: Everything on the north end of DFW is really new, really BIG and flashy. We've driven many-a-places with our faces stuck to the windows. We recently went shopping in a city called Frisco and had to wipe the drool from my mouth several times. We just don't have &*%* like that in Missouri. After travelling through Missouri, Chicago and Detroit, I have concluded that there is no recession in Texas. Experts might say there was, but NO WAY. Our houses lost like 20% of their value and our entire neighborhood was short-selling/foreclosing. The neighborhoods here seem very stable. The stores here are also full of people and they were barren at home (complete with flying tumbleweed). The homeschooling laws are awesome here - especially compared to MO's hours-logging junk that we have to do. There are actually other people who homeschool here. In MO, we were the neighborhood weirdos. There are a lot of cultural places to visit - museums, nature centers, etc. I was ecstatic. If you can find a job here, it's not a bad place to move to. In fact, it's probably one of the "safest" (financially-speaking) states to move to right now. Some of the cities actually have property values that are increasing - hmph, go figure... Well, there's my outta-state-person opinion... :auto: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 I forgot to mention something... We paid almost $200,000 for our house in Missouri. From what we've seen, you can get an absolute mansion for $200,000 here (by my standards). Our house was a little under 1300 square feet and was very old (needed a lot of work). I think something comparable here would be half that price... We were actually laughing at the mortgage payments on the houses here in front of the home inspector...he gave us a strange look...and we told him we had friends in MO and IL who paid 2500-3000 a month for their mortgages - and their houses were NOT that special. Under $1000 a month seems bizarre to us. I don't think he believed us. Oh well...another thing to consider if you move here... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngieW in Texas Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 We've lived in the Dallas area and the Austin area. I like the Austin much better than DFW. Things aren't as flashy down here. The pools are actually open all summer long. Everything is closer. Traffic isn't nearly as bad. Although Austinites complain mightily about their traffic, it isn't anything compared to Dallas. And I know that the traffic in Houston is supposed to be much worse than in Dallas. In the Austin area, the craziest drivers seem to be around Pflugerville. I don't know what it is about that area, but that's where you see people making right turns from the leftmost lane and doing slot-car racing. That happened all over the place in the Dallas area, but seems to be confined mostly to the area around Pflugerville here. This was a fun article: http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_13678448 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FunnyFarmMom Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 We just moved to the TX panhandle right before Thanksgiving. We spent a ton of time researching different areas. (If you're wondering why anyone would choose the panhandle, we're dairy farmers!) One thing to consider is that TX is a HUGE state. The different areas of the state are very different in terms of climate and culture and I'm sure financially as well. A website that helped us in our research was CityData Good luck in your search. We are loving all the sunshine and friendly people, and having moved from NY, the homeschool laws!:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXMomof4 Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 :lurk5: We are looking at the DFW area. There are just no jobs for DH to apply for here, and he really needs to make a career move. The DFW area is very nice, has some very affordable areas, and the job market seems to be steady or even growing there (except in few high-tech areas). We lived there 12 years and I loved it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 In the Austin area, the craziest drivers seem to be around Pflugerville. I don't know what it is about that area, but that's where you see people making right turns from the leftmost lane and doing slot-car racing. That happened all over the place in the Dallas area, but seems to be confined mostly to the area around Pflugerville here. I almost never drive in Pflugerville except on I-35; maybe that's why I haven't noticed that (I live in Round Rock). Of course, last-minute turns from the wrong lanes often happen, IMHO, 'cuz we never-the-heck know for sure if the lane we're in is left-turn-only or straight until we get right up on the light.:glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 We bought a ginormous house in one of the cities on the outskirts of Austin, for mere pennies compared to what we sold in San Jose, Calif.:hurray: On the down side, even though there is no state income tax, property taxes more than make up for that.:glare: On the up side, this is the South. I love the South. People generally tend to be more polite (in public, at least), and stores actually close on Christmas and Easter. Some are even closed on Sunday all year. Central Texas (Austin area) is beautiful; it's called the Hill Country...not much in the way of fall and spring color, but in general, it's beautiful. I like the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, but I love our hills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 :iagree: You're right. It's slot-car racing. I KNEW there was a term for the way people drive here!!! :smilielol5: I went to Fort Worth this morning and had our poor gecko in the van with us (long story), so I was trying not to drive too jerky and people were f l y i n g past me and swerving over to cut in front of me... :rofl: Gecko made it home safely, BTW... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tex-mex Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 We're in the DFW suburbs, and I think things are as good here job-wise as anywhere right now. Housing is definitely affordable here; it was even during the real estate boom. You can get a place in what feels like country, but still be relatively close in, if that's your preference. One area that is predicted to expand tremendously over the next decade is along Highway 75 from Allen north up to Sherman. This would probably be a good area to own a home in for property values, though who can really predict anything any more. Homeschooling is very easy, as was mentioned. There are a million support groups in the DFW area, as well as lots of coops and such. Good luck. If you want specifics, please feel free to PM me. I just wanted to add that even though there is no state income tax here, we pay huge property taxes, so be sure to calculate that into your number-crunching. Where I live we pay around 3% per year on our home. Painful. :iagree: Mortgage taxes are very VERY painful. Our city voted for a slight increase in taxes to make up for a deficit. Where I live in -- Frisco -- is ideal. Hubby works with the local EDC (Economic Development Commission) and has the "inside" ear to what is happening in our town based on them trying to woo more business in Frisco. Our town is nice. But we also have a high percentage of foreclosed homes just sitting empty -- a shadow inventory that banks have yet to disclose as part of the overall % of true homes that are foreclosed. People are hurting in our area. Bankruptcy courts are full with people filing. It is taking 30-60 days to apply for food stamps. TX is finally being sued by Legal Aid for taking too long for lack of services by the state. Locally it is hard to find a job -- my hubby is competing with many others for jobs that pay hourly. And these are former execs willing to take an hourly job to put food on the table. In our HS group, I know personally of 7 families whose hubby has lost work. I don't know if this recession will be another 2-5 years to get out of. The local economy has been hit hard. And another point no one is willing to talk about is when the commercial real estate and credit card companies will tank big time as folks are closing up shops and defaulting on credit cards in record numbers. That will affect everyone. One good thing is that you will get a sweet deal of a home -- just do your homework and buy wisely. Austin and San Antonio are still in "drought" stages and had a bad summer. Lake levels are down. DFW area is doing well -- but 2 years ago we had a bad scare with lake levels being really down and voluntary drought restrictions. You could not water your lawn outside in the summer, for example. Locals call it a problem as more and more move to our state and officials have yet to deal with the water issue. There is not enough water to go around naturally. One thing people need to realize is TX has yet to weather the "bubble" -- CA, FL, NV have had its bubble burst as they were the top picks to move to over a decade ago. TX will have its growing pains with new arrivals. One thing to note if you move to our DFW area is the lousy traffic and road construction. It really makes driving around a pain. So, let hubby plan where to live and avoid a long (hours) commute daily. I don't wish to scare you with all of this info -- but I am a realist. TX is GREAT for homeschooling and folks are friendly. We are not as bad as CA -- thank God -- but there may be a time where our state also has to consider doing drastic cuts to the budget if things do not get better soon. HTH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tex-mex Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 :iagree: You're right. It's slot-car racing. I KNEW there was a term for the way people drive here!!! :smilielol5: I went to Fort Worth this morning and had our poor gecko in the van with us (long story), so I was trying not to drive too jerky and people were f l y i n g past me and swerving over to cut in front of me... :rofl: Gecko made it home safely, BTW... Ironically, I prefer driving in LA traffic to driving in DFW. People have road issues/rage and drive horribly. It can be stressful. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tex-mex Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 (edited) We recently went shopping in a city called Frisco and had to wipe the drool from my mouth several times. We just don't have &*%* like that in Missouri. After travelling through Missouri, Chicago and Detroit, I have concluded that there is no recession in Texas. Experts might say there was, but NO WAY. Our houses lost like 20% of their value and our entire neighborhood was short-selling/foreclosing. The neighborhoods here seem very stable. We're in Frisco... and yes, it is a surreal experience. :D Gotta point out to you that our house took a dive (along with our neighbors) with dropping over 20% in value. It is happening to lots of folks who are trapped in their house and unable to sell. Not as high #'s as in those areas you mentioned (Rust Belt and MO) which tanked first along with CA, FL, and NV... we have yet to do the same. Hopefully, it may never happen. But realistically, it might. TX is in a recession. Edited December 28, 2009 by tex-mex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristineinKS Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 Hopefully we'll be moving to Frisco (DFW-area) VERY soon - DH is already on his way there for his new job. We've been looking into 5-6 bedroom rentals until we can sell our house here & the prices are very reasonable & the houses MUCH nicer than what we've got here. I lived in Dallas several years ago & absolutely loved the area (especially the shopping, LOL), so I'm excited to return. Also, the job market appears to have remained fairly stable there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revwife Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 We live in the DFW area. The military sent us here in 2003 (we are from Los Angeles... MAJOR culture shock:) Anyway, the cost of living is very low and the homeschooling laws are great!! I love the fact that there is hardly any traffic and no long lines. The people...to be honest, we've experienced more racism living here than we have in our entire lives:( But, we've met some nice people, too. We've considered moving back to L.A., but the Lord has closed that door, so here we will stay until He says differently:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama2cntrykids Posted December 30, 2009 Author Share Posted December 30, 2009 You all have been very helpful...thank you!! I have a lot more researching to do I see. I've lived in NM when I was a young adult and for the most part, I liked it! I would want to go back there, but, well I guess I didn't like it *that* much, lol! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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