Compare Florida and Ft. Worth Texas please

[ktgrok]

I'm in Orlando now. (well, outside of it, one of the smaller cities in the metro area). I grew up in the West Palm Beach area, and I lived in Tallahassee for a few years. I've been to Vegas once in July, otherwise never left the south east. DH has a job opportunity in Ft. Worth. I don't think we will take it, too complicated to move, but it would be about 20,000 more a year for a raise...so we are considering it. Tell me how it is different or the same?

 

And we are liberal, I'm Catholic, dh is agnosticish.

[Stacia]

Both are HOT.

 

:lol:

 

(Sorry, I couldn't resist. I've visited both places, but lived in neither.)

[Adrienne_in_TX]

I haven't lived in Ft. Worth, but live "nearish" (about 2.5 hours away) and go to the metroplex often.  The climate is going to be warm from March to October and can get quite hot in the summers.  Winters here are mild.  Ft. Worth, Dallas, and many surrounding "bedroom" communities conjoin to form a very large metro area where you can find all the culture, dining, family activities, and retail therapy a person could want.  Medical care there is some of the best in the state, particularly for children's diseases and trauma. Texas leans conservatively as a whole and is probably more "churchy" than either of the coasts, but in the DFW area you are going to find every political, religious, economic, and social group.  Although you may have to seek it out, you should be able to find a circle of like-minded friends.

 

I don't know how the cost of living compares to Orlando, but if they are comparable, and it was doable with my life circumstances, I'd certainly give it a go for that kind of a raise. 

[ktgrok]

I haven't lived in Ft. Worth, but live "nearish" (about 2.5 hours away) and go to the metroplex often.  The climate is going to be warm from March to October and can get quite hot in the summers.  Winters here are mild.  Ft. Worth, Dallas, and many surrounding "bedroom" communities conjoin to form a very large metro area where you can find all the culture, dining, family activities, and retail therapy a person could want.  Medical care there is some of the best in the state, particularly for children's diseases and trauma. Texas leans conservatively as a whole and is probably more "churchy" than either of the coasts, but in the DFW area you are going to find every political, religious, economic, and social group.  Although you may have to seek it out, you should be able to find a circle of like-minded friends.

 

I don't know how the cost of living compares to Orlando, but if they are comparable, and it was doable with my life circumstances, I'd certainly give it a go for that kind of a raise.

A quick google said cost of living is about the same. Said housing was a bit more, but food was a bit less.

 

That said...we have a lot of other things holding us back.

1. Our house is underwater. We might be able to rent it out to friends or my BIL...but it would increase his commute to work, not sure he'd be up for it, and he doesn't have a ton of money. So yeah....plus not sure we could get another house with still having this one...we don't have money for a down payment, would have to find a rental with 2 med/large dogs, etc etc. That's hard to do here, not sure how hard it is in Texas.

 

2. My son's father lives here in Florida, in Vero Beach. Although he is not a jerk, and would allow a move it if was really in everyone's best interests, we would have to figure out a way to facillitate their relationship. I'm thinking monthly plane tickets which would eat up a lot of that raise...probably $300 a month according to what I'm seeing. Maybe more? And while he could do a week a month while homeschooling, he wants to go to public highschool in a year, and I have NO idea how he would get time with his Dad that way, you know? Miss a day of school a month and do a thign where he leaves friday after school and comes back monday evening? Plus holidays and such?

 

3. My family is about an hour away from us here. They moved there to be close to myself and my sister, and all the grandkids. They JUST moved less than a year ago, leaving hte town they had lived in for 35 years. I'd feel like a jerk. But more, family is really a huge priority, and I'd want to maintain a close relationship between grandparents and grandchildren. It's important. So that means flying back to visit at least a few times a year, and hoping my mom at least would fly out to us a few times a year. And we would HAVE to fly back for Christmas. Non negotiable, lol. (my husband has a brother here, but no other family in the area. His parents are deceased...aunts and uncles are in Ohio)

 

So those are the things holding us back. Plus, my husband, as a liberal non churchy guy (although he will go with me when I ask him too), feels he would dislike Texas...he says he likes guns, so that would help him fit in, but that's it. I think he's worried about nothing there....I think our little area on this side of Orlando is probably just as conservative. Can you be liberal in the Ft. Worth area?

 

The weather is fascinating...everyone keeps saying hot, but it is colder in the winter than here it looks like, and SO much dryer! I think the average MONTHLY percipitation some months is less than we get in one good summer storm! Not sure how I feel about that....my hair loves dry weather but my skin doesn't, and growing up by the everglades I kind of love knowing fresh water was always around somewhere. But my husband HATES the humidity here, so maybe that would be a plus for him.

 

So...in many ways I think it would be an awesome adventure. I have an old highschool friend in Austin, so we could finally visit. Lots of cool stuff in driving distance that we may never see otherwise. But...logistically seems like a bit of a nightmare given the housing issue, exhusband, etc.

[Halftime Hope]

ktgrok, if you love/get along with/enjoy your extended family, I would stay put for that reason alone. 

 

Even though we made numerous trips from DFW to S FL and the Orlando area (we'd meet there sometimes), it is just not the same only seeing grands once or twice a year as when you grow up with them.  That is the one thing I would change.  No amount of wishful thinking will rewind the years that my parents did not participate in my kids' lives.  And now that my parents moved up with my bro (his kids are still at home for another 3-6 years), my parents are so set in their ways that they cannot seem to break out of their "do our own thing" and cross into the grandkids' lives.  It's really sad.    If I could rewind, I would have insisted that one of my parents listen to the others' wishes and move.   

 

All other things added to the mix, the 20K wouldn't be worth it.

 

AFA the liberality or non-liberality of being here: you can pick your crowd anywhere.  It's not a problem.  In the little, old-fashioned, fairly conservative suburb that we commute to for church, 93% of the residents report that they are not affiliated with a church. 

[ktgrok]

Thanks Valerie, family is really the sticking point. For the first few years of my son's life I was half an hour away, we saw eachother on weekends and such. Then an hour away, still saw them a few time a month usually. Then I moved in with my parents for a few years after my divorce, so my son and my parents are really close. Then I moved to Orlando, and they were in West Palm. We saw each other every few months, but they missed us, and my sister and her family, who are also in the Orlando area. So they just moved to Merritt Island, and are 45 minutes from my sister and 1 hour 15 minutes from us. We see each other every other week at least.

 

Plane tickets for my son to go once a month to see his Dad would be about $300 a month. For me and and the other two kids it would be another $600 every time (littlest would be a lap baby for another year, then it would go up. Let's say I went there 4 times a year...between he going to his dad's and me going to my mom's it would be 6,000 a year. The maybe mom would fly out to visit us twice...my Dad maybe once....it is do able but would take a lot to make it worth it. And that's not including what on earth we would do about housing.