Texas or Florida?!?!?! Help please!!! :) (Dallas, Austin: for sale, renting, high crime)

[dewarsonthemove]

My husband and I (no kids) are relocating to the US from Scotland. I am American (originally from No. Virginia), he is Scottish. We are trying to decide where to relocate back to. We have narrowed it down to two places (finally!) and would like some input. Our first choice is the Austin/Round Rock TX and second choice is Clearwater/St Pete FL. We have family in College Station, TX & Dallas, TX which is making us sway more towards that choice.

We do not have to worry about schools (no kids). My husband is in sales and I will be looking for medical office administration work. He is 41 and I am 38 years old. We like cultural activities and being outdoors. Safety is a big issue for us. Housing affordability is very important too. We are not looking for a huge sprawling house. (We are moving from a one bed flat, UK size) Just a nice neighborhood with a good mix of people.

Thanks for any advice you can pass on.

[scongress1234]

Sounds like Austin would be a better fit for you. The Tampa metro is high crime, and not exactly top-ranked per cultural activities. I would say the only pluses are that you get 3 out of 4 pro teams in Tampa, there are large music venues, and you have St.Pete's beach and access to Ft.Myers/Sanibel, a short hour and a half drive away. Also, housing prices have dropped a lot recently there, and should continue to do so for a spell. Negatives for St.Pete is high crime, a very low educational level, with a prevailing redneck mentality for the most part, and lots of tourist through traffic in the high season. However, some people really love beaches, and can live with the other stuff as long as they can chill at will. Personally, I love beaches, but would not sacrifice quality of life in other areas to have them readily available. Per Austin, let's get the cons out of the way first. Austin is a rapidly growing area, not unlike Vegas. There are lots of cars, streets don't always make sense, drivers are often impatient, and all that goes with the territory. Austin is not a quiet area. It is a very young area, FAR FAR younger than the Tampa-St.Pete's area. You would be VERY hard pressed to find any seniors in Austin. It is very much a young person's city. HOWEVER, they are a great bunch of younger folks. Austin attracts a highly intelligent younger demographic, per University of Texas grads, tech kids from all over, and smart/talented ones that just want to bask in that atmosphere. I consider it a refreshing, enobling atmosphere, and I'm in my mid-40's myself. The summers can be hot, and usually are, but so are south florida's, so that comparison comes out a wash. Positives of Austin......possibly the friendliest big city in the USA. VERY helpful folks. I remember shopping at target, an item falling off my cart, and a gentleman walking over from a distance away to pop it back in the cart. People do look out for each other, and they are very sweet and cheerful for the very most part. People will actually smile at you and chat you up at supermarkets, including the workers. Austin is a very uber laid-back city as well. There are oodles of outdoor eateries, with reams of tables full of people chatting and eating, and not infrequently listening to music as well. There are MANY festivals, and usually quite good ones, many music related, but not all. Many are quite enigmatic and such, like Eeyore's Birthday Party. Some are art-related, like the Cedar St. art festival. All are great fun. Lastly, Austin is very iconoclastic in a good way. Most venues like clubs and restaurants are their own little worlds, sort of like Key West, Fla, but far more extensive. Austin is truly a grand and funky place to relocate to. My only advice is to stay away from Round Rock. If you are kidless, you will find it quite boring and white-bread sterile. Just not much personality or nightlife at all. Great for families, and boring to tears for singles and childless couples. Try renting or buying in Travis Heights or anything in South Austin, and you won't regret it. The whole point of moving to Austin is to enjoy the unique Key West type atmosphere, so no reason to move to a non-descript boring family suburb when you can live right smack dab in an area people come to hang around from all over the nation and world.
Good luck in making your choice....!

[dewarsonthemove]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a thorough response. Neither of us have ever been to Texas. However, our family members rave about it so much! Based on their input and yours Austin sounds exactly like what we are looking for.

Currently, we are living in a town where everyone speaks to you as you walk down the street and everyone helps out everyone. We didn't want to give that up. It is rare these days. We also wanted to be in a place with a mixture of people/cultures. We love concerts, festivals, etc, so that part sounds great as well.

Thank you again!

[Alatex]

I absolutely love FL beaches, but Austin sounds like the better fit for you.

No offense to Round Rock and the other northern suburbs, but if you're looking for outdoorsy things, proximity to concerts/festivals, and so forth, I'd definitely recommend looking on the south side of Austin instead.

[texdav]

I think Florida can be a very good place to live but like so many places that depends on how well off you are. It is a fabulous place if your rich in other words. Also a great place to vaction in the winter. If your not rich then IMO you will live a better lifestyle in austin.I would live as close as possible to work if I were you because the activities are available from everywhere.The constant commute everyday is another thing. good luck

[love roses]

Believe it or not, festivals and concerts also happen North of Austin as well. And West and East of Austin too! And so do farmers markets/market days. Because, whether you pick to live 15-20 minutes from Austin any direction, it takes the same amount of time to get there from where you are. If you can't tell, I live North East of Austin, so I always have to throw my 2cents out there on things like that.

Gotta second texdav on picking somewhere close to where you work.

[dewarsonthemove]

Thanks to everyone for the advice! It has been so difficult for us to pinpoint a place being so far away. Keep the comments coming!!

[Moonlady]

I've lived in Central Florida and moved to Texas 30 years ago. I'd recommend Austin over Florida unless you 1) love the beach 2) love humidity 3) are really into professional sports. Those are the only 3 things the Tampa area has that Austin doesn't and we do get some humidity some of the time! Otherwise, I think you'd find Austin a great fit for you.

[marsardpt]

Hello all, I have found great advice on this site so thanks to all!

My wife and I are mature grad students on 2nd career re-tooling for a long career ahead in physical therapy. We have 3 kids that are active in sports/music and school activities. We are currently in Tampa completing internships for our doctorate degree in PT and would agree with many of the cons of the area but there is a large demand for sales/healthcare here. We do not study here but know many people in healthcare and they are all trying to get us down here, we are from N. FLA.

We just completed an internship in Melbourne, FL and this is a happening spot but also geared to family and culture/sports comes from proximity to Orlando. The living there is definitely less stress than Tampa and geared to beachside lifestyle.

Last summer we drove back from an internship in San Diego/La Jolla and did an overnight in Austin due to some feedback from friends about the area. We did love it but did not have enough time to get all the exposure to the city. We are very active in outdoor activities and enjoy cycling/running and hiking with our kids. We are drawn to the greenbelt area of Austin and have a good friend living in this south/west part and enjoying the outdoor access.

I am concerned about the comments about seniors in Austin since our business is in the retirement sector. Do texans/and others of course like to relocate to the austin area? Are there growth ops in our field? We have read about the Seton system and this seems to be an option for us also.

Thank-you for your feedback and pipe into my comments where you see fit. All the best.

[Carmelo]

I'm from Austin and landing in Florida after joining the military. Imagine that. I've been to Tampa several times, and I didn't really like it. Not enough going on and I got alot of strange stares. In Austin, I could always find something to do. I love the live music venues, and I definitely miss the food. There are alot of non chain restaurants and we're a city that prides ourselves on bucking the trend of conformity. After all the city's slogan is "Keep Austin Weird". I definetely plan on moving back as soon as my military commitment is over.