California & Texas (Los Angeles, San Diego, Fresno: environment, loan, real estate)

[irukandji]

Originally Posted by LAPalms

...........you can't have a comparison where the rudimentary making of that comparison do not exist...
any questions?

Nope!

I think you did brilliantly. There is a reason things are cheaper in Texas. You said it all.

[Kellypink]

About 95% of those of you have voted Texas because of it's affordability in the real estate market! and that's it????
Don't you get out of the house and enjoy the outdoors life. There is NOTHING to do in Texas. Texas outdoors is GROSS.

If you are from California the natives have a personal vendetta against you from the get go. People save money in California because there are so many things to do in California for FREE! Beach, Hiking in the Mountains, Desert Camping, Cave exploration & Gold Panning, all in beautiful scenery. You don't know what you will miss until it's gone. I would move back for the scenery alone.
I second what the OP said: " I would rather live in a Dumpy house in Cali than a Mansion in TX!" any day!!!
California is very kid friendly. I don't know about every city in Cali but my city provided FREE movies to kids during summer break at AMC theaters. Concerts, Magic shows, movies in the park. FREE...

The Cost of Living IS high in Texas! Check out their property tax rates!

Some post stated that everyone in Cali was fake or Plastic! HA! on a Dallas radio station a while back they were giving out FREE boob jobs to certain callers!!!

Another poster stated that we Cali has Organic fruits and Veggies:::: whatever Cali has taste a lot better than the Crap they produce here in Texas!!!

So, give me back my fun loving free spirited people in California... Take me away from these Stuck up, "Texas Pride", Snobbish Boring company in Texas, who wave bumper stickers that say: "I am from Texas what Country are you from?" while waving their state flag higher than the American flag!

I think someone already said it..... You cannot compare California to Texas. It IS a different country!

[Donna7]

Originally Posted by Kellypink

About 95% of those of you have voted Texas because of it's affordability in the real estate market! and that's it????
Don't you get out of the house and enjoy the outdoors life. There is NOTHING to do in Texas. Texas outdoors is GROSS.

If you are from California the natives have a personal vendetta against you from the get go. People save money in California because there are so many things to do in California for FREE! Beach, Hiking in the Mountains, Desert Camping, Cave exploration & Gold Panning, all in beautiful scenery. You don't know what you will miss until it's gone. I would move back for the scenery alone.
I second what the OP said: " I would rather live in a Dumpy house in Cali than a Mansion in TX!" any day!!!
California is very kid friendly. I don't know about every city in Cali but my city provided FREE movies to kids during summer break at AMC theaters. Concerts, Magic shows, movies in the park. FREE...

The Cost of Living IS high in Texas! Check out their property tax rates!

Some post stated that everyone in Cali was fake or Plastic! HA! on a Dallas radio station a while back they were giving out FREE boob jobs to certain callers!!!

Another poster stated that we Cali has Organic fruits and Veggies:::: whatever Cali has taste a lot better than the Crap they produce here in Texas!!!

So, give me back my fun loving free spirited people in California... Take me away from these Stuck up, "Texas Pride", Snobbish Boring company in Texas, who wave bumper stickers that say: "I am from Texas what Country are you from?" while waving their state flag higher than the American flag!

I think someone already said it..... You cannot compare California to Texas. It IS a different country!

If I may ask, why did you move out of CA and to TX (I presume, that's the situation)? May I also ask what city you lived in CA that is "kid-friendly" and has things to do as I'm searching for areas in CA that are indeed kid-friendly. Quality of life to me means enjoying the outdoors, hiking, beaches, water, not night life or club life. Husband and I lived in OC during the 80's, moved back to NE OH so kids could grow up around family. We're looking to to relocate back to CA in the near future. I hope that you are able to move back to where you enjoy life, wherever that may be.

P.S. - Husband and I went through TX briefly while moving back to NE OH in the 80's; took I-40, so whatever city that was that we drove through, it was extremely cold! We were in San Antonio, TX August 2004 for our son's airforce basic training graduation. San Antonio was a great city, was indeed hot and humid. Of course, it was August so not unexpected. I think that all of our states have things that are positive and negative; hopefully, everyone can find something that is in alignment with what they enjoy.

[Kellypink]

Originally Posted by Donna7

If I may ask, why did you move out of CA and to TX (I presume, that's the situation)? May I also ask what city you lived in CA that is "kid-friendly" and has things to do as I'm searching for areas in CA that are indeed kid-friendly.

I grew up in the Glendora / San Dimas area in the San Gabrielle Valley. The parks and recreation dept. really provide for the children. The mountains are a 20 min drive upward and in view of your home windows. Absolutely breathtaking. The desert is behind the mountains. The beach is approx 45 mins (depending on traffic) and disneyland is 20 miles away. However, it's pretty expensive still.. and there is not much "new" construction, many homes are historical homes, and not very big. Unless you get the newer homes, but they run in the one millions. I have been researching my move back to CA and am falling in love with the Temecula area.

My husband and I moved out to Texas (he has family) because we are a young couple just starting out and left when the Ca market seemed impossibly out of our loan range.

[Twinkle Toes]

Good post, Kelly!

Donna, you might look into the Coachella Valley. Yes, it's hot during summer, but it is beautiful the rest of the year AND it is kid friendly as well. Parks and Rec in the different cities here have tons of things for the kids to do.

[Donna7]

Originally Posted by Twinkle Toes

Good post, Kelly!

Donna, you might look into the Coachella Valley. Yes, it's hot during summer, but it is beautiful the rest of the year AND it is kid friendly as well. Parks and Rec in the different cities here have tons of things for the kids to do.

Thank you, Twinkletoes, I will definitely look into that! Wishing you a peaceful and happy evening.

P.S. - I actually was looking at the Coachelle Valley about 6 or 7 years ago, when I first started researching moving back to CA. I will re-look again!

[Donna7]

Originally Posted by Kellypink

I grew up in the Glendora / San Dimas area in the San Gabrielle Valley. The parks and recreation dept. really provide for the children. The mountains are a 20 min drive upward and in view of your home windows. Absolutely breathtaking. The desert is behind the mountains. The beach is approx 45 mins (depending on traffic) and disneyland is 20 miles away. However, it's pretty expensive still.. and there is not much "new" construction, many homes are historical homes, and not very big. Unless you get the newer homes, but they run in the one millions. I have been researching my move back to CA and am falling in love with the Temecula area.

My husband and I moved out to Texas (he has family) because we are a young couple just starting out and left when the Ca market seemed impossibly out of our loan range.

Thank you for your speedy response, Kelly. I definitely understand where you're coming from with moving to Texas due to your husband's family being there and lower cost of housing. At least you now have experienced living somewhere else and have that experience to relate to. I think it is good for all of us to experience different things as we're collecting data of where we would like to live, put down roots, etc. With the home prices going down in CA, I hope that you and your husband can take advantage of that and possibly buy a house or condo and set up roots where you will be happy.

I will definitely be checking out the area you mentioned in your post (as well as Twinkletoes). It helps me very much to hear other people's opinions on different areas. I wish you and your family all the very best. Good night.

[S6Sputnik]

Originally Posted by stkntx

we have lived in Austin tx for almost ten years.Im from chcago originally my wife lived in sa jose ca all her life.This place and texas for that matter is horrible.Here is some reasons why.Allergy capitol of the world most people suffer year round.Bush loving bible thumping hillbillies.My daughter is disabled texas ranks 50 th for disability services.Hot and humid most of the year.My wife who has 5 certifications in teaching and has subbed for 4 years cannot get a full time teachers job beacaus ,certification not required they hire thier relatives or people from thier fundamentalist church,she is white over 40 and not bilingual.Moving here was the biggest mistake of my life and we our desperatetly trying to move back to Ca.For all the complaining i read about Ca. i would take almost any city in Ca. over living anywhere in this state.Oh i forgot a couple things taxes are high 3% property tax to pay for poor schools , toll roads I call them tax roads,and over 8% sales tax.Cant wait to leave!If some Texas so called christian person wants to reply first explain to me why in Texas there is a ten year waiting list for disability services, bunch of bible quoting hypocrits

I am a non religious individual and I know not of your NEEDS. But I have lived in Copenhagen, Phoenix, Toronto and Oakland County Michigan and now Austin and I think you have some other issues, that I doubt moving to California will solve.
I for one love my neighborhood, I love the city of Austin and my kids school is unbelieavable. Maybe you just live in the wrong part of Austin .

I spent hold on to your seats $180 in tolls on the toll roads in 2007, and two of our four vehicles are delivery trucks! The time saved using the toll roads was probably worth $500.
Austin Rocks. Best move of our life!
My $0.02

[shannon94]

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

As an employer I can say that this is so not true. We get screwed w/ workmans comp and other plans because we as employers have no way of checking to make sure an new hire is not prone to bogus "workmans comp" claims. We can not just fire people at will - we can get hit with other penalties and suits. We have had to PROVE that someone was not doing their job, tardy, excess absences, etc.

OH well. No one should live somewhere they are so unhappy and miserable.

BTW, the other poster was severly exagarating. THAT is what gets many of us a big defensive. Blue eye shadow, belt buckles, etc. LOL!!!! Sure

I agree!! Whatever the law is ...it doesn't seem to matter. I have worked at the same place for 7 years (part time) and I have worked with people who should have been fired ON THE SPOT but we had to build a huge file/case before we could let them go. Ridiculous....In California however I HAVE seen people get fired on the spot..go figure Sheri...

[worldlyman]

I've lived in both Houston and San Diego for multiple years. I have literally traveled all over both Texas and California by car. Those who feel that the rest of the country outside of California is inferior due to accidents and exploitation of geography will surely rather live in pitch tents just to be in exalted places like Santa Barbara even though when I visited it seemed like a place for either the extremely well off or the poor service workers who lived in the nearby little towns. Middle class types like me only visit and then leave.

Santa Barbara sucks...and this comes from a leftist like me. I'd rather be in a more integrated demographic stew like Houston than try to be some fake, new-age wannabe in Santa Barbara bragging about beautiful morning fog or organic grapes or such bs. I'm not some pompous type who brags about meditating on some mountains spewing the superior virtues of the Cali coastline heights over the rest of the USA.

Texas is not perfect and some things about it do bother me but I like seeing its good and memorable qualities BETWEEN THE LINES.

Besides, Houston is much more like Los Angeles in its diverse city scape rather than the over-generalizing of state lines, the Texas stereotype of tumbleweed towns.

So what's wrong with flat? No one denigrates New York City, Miami, Chicago or London for being flat! The mountains have always been an irritation to me. They just mess up your vehicle anyway when they are part of your daily commute. (Going up the elevation daily on the 805 in San Diego really wore my automatic transmission that much faster.)

Why does Houston get specially castigated for "being flat?" There's more cultural substance and true cosmopolitan flair in Houston than places like San Diego, Las Vegas, Miami, Santa Barbara, Tampa, Orlando and so forth. But you'd think Houston would get noted for its good attributes and not just "mosquitoes" and "flatness."

Houston: over 80 languages spoken, 2nd largest concentrated performing arts district in the US, 90 foreign consulates, nationally regarded food scene, largest medical district in the world which employs some 200,000,

...great biking trails of the Woodlands and Bear Creek Park, yachting opportunities in the Gulf towns nearby like Kemah/Clear Lake (Houston's the 3rd largest marina in the USA)...and such idiots say "there's nothing to do in Texas?" As if there's lots to do in Bakersfield or Fresno or El Centro or Sacramento?

There's a burgeoning Chinatown with adjacent diversity in SW Houston that makes Valley and Atlantic in the San Gabriel Valley seem ethnically stale. (Where do you find nearby Nigerian and Pakistani cafes in the SG Valley, the Los Angeles equivalent?) Houston's New Chinatown is like mixing Orange County's "Little Saigon" with the SG Valley. The area is sort of like LA's Vermont/Hollywood...the ultimate ethnic diversity but in a wider, quite less grungy concrete environment.

There are tons of interesting mosques and Buddhist temples in Houston...yet the ignorant keep saying "Bible Belt." (Again, Houston is a thing apart from Texas, as Chicago is from the rest of Illinois, NYC is from the rest of Upstate NY...)

Cool Greek nocturnal coffee houses like Byzantio, the Orange Show, odd coffee houses like No Tsu Oh...superb Pakistani restaurants like Savoy...provocative movies at the Museum of Fine Arts...handy Malaysian cafes like K.L...Houston would seem to have it all beyond the stereotyped "cheap prices."

Indeed, it isn't just "cheapness" that comes with Houston...the place really does make us fond of its open welcomeness and oddball eccentricity. The prices surely don't hurt either.

Yeah, issues like crime and congestion and city hall scandals suck, just like they do in any big city, but I'm appreciative that I'm a democratic type who can at least take in a decent middle class existence here while realizing I accept the actualities of an urban mass like Houston.

I'm not going to go out of my way to hide behind facades like a Santa Barbara. If the whole of the Earth is not like that and if not everyone can live in a place like it...then screw it...there is beauty, imperfect or otherwise, in another place then and we can find it. Besides, humidity keeps the skin balanced and thus younger in the long run. May not always feel good but if we consider the glass half full, I'd rather have nice moist skin and my youthful looks.

Houston is a new style of city that does incorporates some of the urbanity of a traditional city like Chicago/San Fran and a lot of the blandness of Orange County. Orange County, except for downtown Santa Ana, really is bland while Houston at least as elements of real culture and urbanity in comparison. There's still an energy you feel coming out of the Uptown Galleria in Houston rather than the REALLY bland upscale facade of the equivalent South Coast Plaza environs.

I would never consider going back to California. Police surveillance in San Diego with all the checkpoints and the roving police scooters examining license plates in private parking lots? What's up with that? Thank goodness I can live in more live-and-let live Houston where I can do some nocturnal cruising and not get potentially checked to see if I forgot my driver's license some night.

And California is such a worker's paradise where everyone is treated well? HA HA HA. Has anyone seen the social dynamics and conditions at, say, the corporate warehouse of Factory-2-U?