California Losing To Texas (San Diego, El Cajon: cabins, gardens, bars)

[user_id]

Originally Posted by jifie

Not as nice a home as you could get for 200000 15 min from a major city.

Huh? Not even sure what you're trying to say....

[jifie]

Originally Posted by user_id

You're not getting the point, suburbs don't have "city amenities"...this is true whether you are in Texas or California.

Anyhow, one can get a home in Temecula for $200k, its not in the middle of nowhere (central to tons of events, activities, etc), has good weather, has decent schools, etc.

"Affordable" areas do exist in California, you're just not going to find them in prime coastal regions.

Not as nice as a home you can get in Texas for $200,000, only 15 minutes from a major city, instead of 1 hr or more.

[user_id]

Originally Posted by jifie

Not as nice as a home you can get in Texas for $200,000, only 15 minutes from a major city, instead of 1 hr or more.

Again, what you're saying is essentially meaningless. What you can get in Texas for $200,000 depends entirely on what area you are looking at, if you look at one of the numerous flat ugly Texan suburbs than yes you're likely to get something better for $200k. On the other hand, if you look at an area with some natural features you won't.

[jifie]

Originally Posted by user_id

Again, what you're saying is essentially meaningless. What you can get in Texas for $200,000 depends entirely on what area you are looking at, if you look at one of the numerous flat ugly Texan suburbs than yes you're likely to get something better for $200k. On the other hand, if you look at an area with some natural features you won't.

You are incorrect.

[user_id]

Originally Posted by jifie

You are incorrect.

No I'm not, but you are free to move to Texas and find out.

[jifie]

Originally Posted by user_id

No I'm not, but you are free to move to Texas and find out.

What's moving there going to tell me that doing some decent research online without a head full of discontent for anything other than what I think is the best thing on earth going to do? You are so stuck on CA being the motherland an the holiest of all holies, that you can't for one second think about things with a clear head and realize your state is in the sh*ter and another state may be better off than yours. You have mountains, yay...that's about all California is good for, being able to hop right over the border and the same day be sledding down the snowy peaks Californians are so dam Ed proud of, that it's all they talk about. You think your state is so great because it's geographic location on the globe? Get real, your state has nothing going for it but that, that it got lucky enough to have it's state lines where they are, and that's your whole argument. Just realize what started this thread was an article stating how CA is losing, some Californians have been hanging out with their farm animals too long and gained a pig headed approach to believing and praying that their state can someday scrape the pieces back together to form a decent society for its citizens. Keep praying and wishing, and maybe one day you will become like the great state of Texas.

[user_id]

Originally Posted by jifie

What's moving there going to tell me that doing some decent research online...

A lot, you can't get a feel for a neighborhood, city, etc from online research....

Originally Posted by jifie

You are so stuck on CA being the motherland an the holiest of all holies...

I am? Strange considering I've never said anything about California being the "best state", etc.

Originally Posted by jifie

You think your state is so great because it's geographic location on the globe? Get real, your state has nothing going for it but that...

Yes, nothing else going for it....expect being the largest and most innovative economy in the union.

Originally Posted by jifie

Keep praying and wishing, and maybe one day you will become like the great state of Texas.

Praying and wishing for what exactly? I'm doing just fine here, California is already providing a decent society for me. Furthermore, I'm grateful that I grew up in California, without California's strong social model succeeding would have been much more difficult.

[mongozx]

Pro Texans: Do you realize that the only thing TX has got going for it is being cheap?

Cheaper housing, cheaper taxes, cheaper cost of living. Texas attracts jobs and people. . . .because it's cheap. Nothing more. Nothing less. That's the whole basis of the pro-Texas argument.

Think about this: What state/cities would people desire to live in besides the one you live in, money no object?
Harris Poll does an annual national poll asking this very question and last years results are as follows:

State
1. California
2. Hawaii
3. Florida
4. Colorado
5. Arizona
6. North Carolina
7. Oregon
8. Texas
9. New York
10.Washington

Harris Interactive: Harris Polls > California, Hawaii and Florida the States Where the Most People Would Like to Live

Texas cities don't really fare well in this poll:
Harris Interactive: Harris Polls > New York City, San Diego and Las Vegas Top List of Cities People Would Like to Live In or Near

In fact California has ranked #1 in this poll for almost 10 years despite its well publicized problems.

So yes, Texas is cheap, gots alot of undesirable, boring land in its equally undesirable, boring cities which attracts throngs of the Wal-Mart set. If that's all you've got. . .run with it!

Think of it this way: Texas is a lot like Wal-Mart. Everyone doesn't really want to go there but they have to. BECAUSE IT'S CHEAP!

jifie: If you like Texas so much then move there! Nobody's gonna stop you.

[CarawayDJ]

Originally Posted by jifie

Not as nice as a home you can get in Texas for $200,000, only 15 minutes from a major city, instead of 1 hr or more.

And I could probably buy an even bigger and nicer house in the middle of a cornfield in Nebraska. Who cares. What's around the house matters quite a bit to me. I just happen to love mother nature. Mother nature did not love TX. If she did, that's probably where I would be.

[CarawayDJ]

Originally Posted by jifie

With none of the big city amenities. Also, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Yes, it will take me about an extra 20 minutes to get to the big city museums, zoos, etc, than if I were to live in TX hill country. I have all of the other amenities I need (malls, retail, restaurants, wineries) in my town. Those are the things you do daily, and what matters the most. How often do you go to the zoo? Daily? Weekly? Monthly? Do you even go once a year?

I lived in TX for 6 years. I said I liked TX. I just happen to love mother nature, and she didn't love TX. Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder. There is someone in the fields of Kansas right now looking out his window and saying "geez this is beautiful". Someone does indeed see the "hills" in TX and find beauty in them. I didn't find TX ugly. I'll save that term for Kansas. TX has its charms. Nothing in TX comes close to the CA coast though. There is nothing like our National Parks in TX. Try finding anything remotely as amazing as Yosemite in TX. Is there anything like the Tioga Pass road in TX? Nope! What about a drive along the Eastern Sierras? Any place in TX that will give you a view even remotely like the one you see sitting on a bench in the Marin Headlands? Nope. What about redwood forests? What if I want to find a river to catch salmon coming in from the ocean? And then there are things I can do that take me the same time to get to as it would someone in TX driving from San Antonio to El Paso. Ever drive to the Grand Canyon just for a night? I have. Ever go to Sedona for the weekend? I have. Ever drive to Vegas in 4-1/2 hours? I have. TX does have some nice scenic spots, but they're minor league compared to the awe inspiring beauty we can find here.

And then you have this whole weather thing.... Do we need to discuss that? Yeah, TX has oppressive heat and humidity in the summer and yet can get freezing rain in the winter...even down along the border! I live in an area with worse weather by CA standards, yet better than any place in TX. Any place.

So those are the tradeoffs. If I bought a home for 200K where I live, it would be a nice home. 300K gets me a real nice home. Maybe that home becomes a little nicer in a nice area in TX. Look at everything I would have to give up to get a home that's a little nicer.

Once again, user_id's point is quite valid. There are nice parts of CA that are still affordable. It's all relative. Where I live is not nice when compared to Pacific Palisades or parts of San Diego. Where I live is quite nice when compared to areas in most of the other states; TX included.

But really, different strokes for different folks. Not everyone likes the same things. I have a friend in the hill country of San Antonio. He lives in a golf community. He has a nice house (that wasn't cheap) and his golf course. He has everything he wants in life. I could never liver there, but that's me. Some people would never live in CA because of its politics. That's them.