Texas

JK LYF

New member
Seriously thinking about packing it up and moving to Texas in the next 12-18 months. About done with California. Looking at McKinney, Plano, Frisco area. Anyone familiar with these areas? Input? Thanks...
 

Jackal01

New member
It is a booming area, that is for sure. I live in Houston so not too familiar with DFW but I dated a girl for a few years in Frisco and it was nice. Tons of shopping and places to eat. Northern DFW seems nice. If you're open to different areas I would also check out Georgetown (north Austin). The misses graduated from a private university in Gtown and we would love to live there but we are just settled here with family for the time being. The wife and I live about 20 minutes NW of Houston and we are tired of it. We are looking into Montgomery area.

I would move to DFW area just to be that much closer to Colorado. We love going to CO to backpack and wheel and that would shave off several hours from the trip to Durango.
 

GoodGuyTX

New member
Seriously thinking about packing it up and moving to Texas in the next 12-18 months. About done with California. Looking at McKinney, Plano, Frisco area. Anyone familiar with these areas? Input? Thanks...

Texas is the place to be. I live north of McKinney, go to church in Plano, and have family south east of all 3. I have lived here my whole life, so I will be a bit biased, but I can't think of living anywhere else. House prices are fractional of those in CA. No income tax. Job market is booming.

McKinney was voted #1 place to live in 2014. Just sayin'.
 

JK LYF

New member
It is a booming area, that is for sure. I live in Houston so not too familiar with DFW but I dated a girl for a few years in Frisco and it was nice. Tons of shopping and places to eat. Northern DFW seems nice. If you're open to different areas I would also check out Georgetown (north Austin). The misses graduated from a private university in Gtown and we would love to live there but we are just settled here with family for the time being. The wife and I live about 20 minutes NW of Houston and we are tired of it. We are looking into Montgomery area.

I would move to DFW area just to be that much closer to Colorado. We love going to CO to backpack and wheel and that would shave off several hours from the trip to Durango.

Thanks for the input! Looked at Colorado as well. It's beautiful country. Heart is set on Texas. Looked around Austin, but not Houston. I will check out Gtown though!
 

JK LYF

New member
Texas is the place to be. I live north of McKinney, go to church in Plano, and have family south east of all 3. I have lived here my whole life, so I will be a bit biased, but I can't think of living anywhere else. House prices are fractional of those in CA. No income tax. Job market is booming.

McKinney was voted #1 place to live in 2014. Just sayin'.

My wife has already contacted a realtor in McKinney! Good to know job market is good. May need one! Thanks for info. Sure good news!
 

thardy

Banned
Seriously thinking about packing it up and moving to Texas in the next 12-18 months. About done with California. Looking at McKinney, Plano, Frisco area. Anyone familiar with these areas? Input? Thanks...

I hear ya on this man. My wife and I have been talking about packing up and shipping out of GA for a while now, just have never found an opportunity that made it worth while. Texas was definitely a front runner of places we were looking at, mainly the areas around Austin. Good luck on whatever you and your family decide to do.
 

Jackal01

New member
Biggest problem with Austin is traffic. Public transportation sucks, roadways often jammed. But the round rock, Georgetown areas are nice. Mckinney is great as well. The Woodlands (far north of houston) is booming. ExxonMobil is building a massive corporate and residential area. It's gonna be nice. Cost of living is lower in the Houston area too. Just living in the city blows. We are too close to it, about 10 minutes NW give or take.
 

thardy

Banned
Biggest problem with Austin is traffic. Public transportation sucks, roadways often jammed. But the round rock, Georgetown areas are nice. Mckinney is great as well. The Woodlands (far north of houston) is booming. ExxonMobil is building a massive corporate and residential area. It's gonna be nice. Cost of living is lower in the Houston area too. Just living in the city blows. We are too close to it, about 10 minutes NW give or take.

We're currently just NE of Atlanta, so I can definitely understand the pains of a big city and traffic.
 

JK LYF

New member
Can't stand traffic. Way too many cars and people here for me. Depending on what time I leave, it will take me 2 hours to drive 50 miles. Tired of it! I need a small home on at least an acre. No more than 30 minutes from work in a conservative area! Looked at Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Texas. Keep going back towards Texas!
 
Well if you do not like traffic Mckinny is really not a great place to move too. HWY 75 is under construction and no matter what time of day the traffic sucks.

We just recently relocated from Jacksonville, FL about 4 months ago. I was offered a job as a Navy contractor and could not turn down the offer. That being said we relocated to North Richland Hills, TX which is part of the DFW Metro Plex. We are building in Justin, TX because it is out in the country but still close enough to Southlake Town Center to feel like we are in the city. If you have school age children look at the school districts. Most are great schools but when you get closer to downtown Dallas you start running into problems.

I will say the only downside to Mckinny being named Best Place to Live in the US is that is where everyone is wanting to move and so the property prices will elevated. I would recommend taking a week trip out here and drive around and see what you like. Christmas of 2013 we came out for a visit and spent 10 days driving around and just looking to see what is available and that is when we found our land in Justin. This worked for us.

Frisco Texas is where the big money lives. Most of the Dallas Cowboys live there.

Plano just south of of Allen and Mckinny on a the busy HWY 75. I have heard on the news that the Plano Police department is hiring.

I am not a Native Texan but we feel at home.

Oh one thing the DFW area has that Austin does not is In and Out Burger.

R/
Will
 

DWiggles

Caught the Bug
I think (at least the oil and gas industry) in houston is taking a big hit right now, I, along with my team, got laid off just last wednesday from a smaller, consultation engineering firm here in houston for the very reason that the company didnt have any mechanical engineering projects for 2015. There are also current financial concerns raising inside houston city limits which bring to light to truth behind the current misconceptions of Houston success. Of course, if you work in houston but live in an neighboring city, this is easily avoided after taking into account property tax, municipal utility districts, and the cost of commuting... Take a look at the attached image of the paper from a few days ago... Houston is great! If you dont mind dealing with traffic every time you want to go somewhere, and the vast majority of people here drive like they own the place (even on the weekends) Also, There is little to no wheeling in the Houston area unless your into mud or sand, and if your riding the dunes in Galveston keep in mind you ARE breaking the law, and COULD be fined.

I have a LOT of good things to say about Austin and the surrounding areas as that is where I grew up, but every time I go back, the traffic is worse, the city is dirtier and less "friendly" and due to the population growth, even Austin is quickly loosing it's once so great "small town vibe"

This is in no means an anti texas post, I love texas, I grew up here, I went to college here, I worked here... but it has been changing pretty drasticly over the past 10 years or so... and I'm not convinced it's for the better. Just a little reality from am insider.
 

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Jeeper4x4

New member
I live in Austin, we have In/Out Burger as well as a few better burger places, gas is $1.57 gal today and we would prefer no one else moves here!! :)
 

Jackal01

New member
I wish we had In/Out burger. We finally got a Chicken Express down here though. First one I saw was Abilene and then Plano I think. Gas is on par with ATX too. We prefer if the peps from LA went back (hurricane Katrina).
 
Seriously thinking about packing it up and moving to Texas in the next 12-18 months. About done with California. Looking at McKinney, Plano, Frisco area. Anyone familiar with these areas? Input? Thanks...

The wife and I are moving back to Texas next year. Frisco is where we are looking to buy a house. If you are into guns, freedom, and 4x4's you will love it there! Check out Plano, Addison, and Frisco. Can't wait to be back!
 

JK LYF

New member
Thanks for the feedback. I think we are gonna take a 10 day trip out there this spring. Keeping in mind everything that was suggested.
 

JokerJKU

New member
Decide what you are looking for (house size, lot size, quality of school district, etc), where you expect to work, and how much of a commute you're willing to deal with, then pick the area that fits your budget. Compared to California, you'll be shocked what your cash will get you out here.

McKinney, Plano, Allen, Frisco are middle class with some upper middle class subdivisions and a relatively diverse population (both economically and racially), you'll find lots of McMansions and people trying to keep up with the Jones' in these areas. Southlake and Highland Park are upper middle class with very little diversity (again, both economically and racially) and virtually no entry level homes short of knock downs and even those are going to run in the $400k range. Large percentage of the residents are business owners, executives, or professional athletes (current or retired). Southlake ISD is widely considered the best in the state (and one of the top in the nation) and the only consistent knock against it is its lack of diversity (99ish percent white). Highland Park scores nearly as high and gets the same knocks for lack of diversity. Frisco, Allen, and McKinney aren't as solid academically but are far more diverse both racially and economically. Though each has solid schools that are far better than the Dallas school district. Plano is on the downturn in my opinion due to years of multi-family housing development dragging down the socio-economic level of the area (same is happening to some degree in Frisco and McKinney presently though they are years away from it actually becoming a real problem).

I'd probably throw Coppell in with Frisco and McKinney in terms of school quality as well, good not great. Also has both middle and upper middle class subdivisions.

Commute wise, unless you're working in North Dallas (which is actually becoming a lot more common), it's roughly the same unless you're on the eastern side of McKinney in which case you get to deal with the traffic on 75 which is nothing short of horrendous at all times during the day. 635 due north of downtown Dallas is the same, terrible traffic 24 hours a day and construction that's been in progress for going on 5 or 6 years and is no where near complete. If you're working in Fort Worth, I'd suggest looking at Southlake, Keller, Grapevine, Colleyville, North Richland Hills, or the surrounding areas.

More affordable areas include Arlington, Irving, Hurst, Euless, Bedford, Mansfield, Burleson, Keller, Colleyville, Grapevine, Flower Mound, Lewisville, Carrollton, and quite a few others. There are also some very cool areas near downtown Dallas, though unless you want to pay for private school, I'd steer away from those if you have kids.

From a cost standpoint, you're looking at $500k and up in Highland Park with most homes over $1mm as you're paying for proximity to downtown Dallas (and $500k buys very, very little down there), Southlake is similarly priced but gets you a far newer home on a generally larger lot (and a longer commute to downtown) with nearly all homes over $750k and most new builds running north of $1mm. Frisco, McKinney, and the rest of North Dallas can run anywhere from sub $100k entry level homes to well over $1mm and anything from zero lot line to lots very near an acre. The more affordable areas will have homes of all sizes that fall in nearly every price range you can imagine though it won't have the number of $600k plus homes that some of the other areas have.

Well if you do not like traffic Mckinny is really not a great place to move too. HWY 75 is under construction and no matter what time of day the traffic sucks.

We just recently relocated from Jacksonville, FL about 4 months ago. I was offered a job as a Navy contractor and could not turn down the offer. That being said we relocated to North Richland Hills, TX which is part of the DFW Metro Plex. We are building in Justin, TX because it is out in the country but still close enough to Southlake Town Center to feel like we are in the city. If you have school age children look at the school districts. Most are great schools but when you get closer to downtown Dallas you start running into problems.

I will say the only downside to Mckinny being named Best Place to Live in the US is that is where everyone is wanting to move and so the property prices will elevated. I would recommend taking a week trip out here and drive around and see what you like. Christmas of 2013 we came out for a visit and spent 10 days driving around and just looking to see what is available and that is when we found our land in Justin. This worked for us.

Frisco Texas is where the big money lives. Most of the Dallas Cowboys live there.

Plano just south of of Allen and Mckinny on a the busy HWY 75. I have heard on the news that the Plano Police department is hiring.

I am not a Native Texan but we feel at home.

Oh one thing the DFW area has that Austin does not is In and Out Burger.

R/
Will
 

JK LYF

New member
Thanks for all the great info JokerJKU. Interesting and a lot to consider. Once we buy, I'm done. So I need to choose wisely. I'm gonna go thru all the cities u mentioned looking for homes, etc. Kids won't be in grade school, but starting college. I don't plan on working full time, maybe part time. So hopefully I won't have to drive too much. I'm looking for something in the $300k range.
 
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