Should I move to Dallas, Plano from Boston? can't take this long cold winter! (Fort Worth: sale, real estate)

[jimmy1234]

Hi guys,

I have been living in Boston since the past 7-8 yrs. My wife and I have good paying, stable IT jobs in Boston.

But, I'm just sick of this long cold winter which lasts for 6 months a year! It's all gloomy, gray and depressing. Probably, I'm just getting older (I'm 30 yrs old). Add to that Boston is super expensive! 70 year old homes sell for > 550k$ in good school towns + 6 months of high heating bills + super high property taxes!

I'm seriously thinking of moving to a warmer, cheaper city like Dallas,tx or Atlanta,Ga,, etc.

I love Boston in the summer..but it's hardly there to enjoy. The beaches, the downtown, the harbor, great school system for kids and safe suburbs...its all nice...except for the winter.

I'm not sure if I'm being just a cry baby because of the weather or should I really follow my wishful dreams and make a move to these cheaper,warmer cities. Is it worth starting all over again in a new city?

I see all these brand new homes on HGTV selling for 300k$ in dallas and I feel sad about living in Boston. Are these worth moving for?..or its just grass is greener on the other side?

[Squirl]

70 year old homes in good schools are selling in Dallas for $550K and higher! Plus we have high property taxes ($12K annual property tax approx. on a $550K house) and 6 months of air conditioning bills that are high, high, high. Here's a plan, get a job here first and then you can move to the suburbs and get a $300K house and spend 1 hour each way commuting. Do Not, I repeat -- DO NOT -- move here without a job.

[Lakewooder]

One of those HGTV House Hunter episodes was filmed practically in Oklahoma..you could see the cow pasture behind the house

[ClarenceBodiker]

Originally Posted by Squirl

70 year old homes in good schools are selling in Dallas for $550K and higher! Plus we have high property taxes ($12K annual property tax approx. on a $550K house) and 6 months of air conditioning bills that are high, high, high. Here's a plan, get a job here first and then you can move to the suburbs and get a $300K house and spend 1 hour each way commuting. Do Not, I repeat -- DO NOT -- move here without a job.

I agree. I wouldn't move here without a job. However, there are plenty of areas around Dallas with good schools, good commutes, and nice houses for well under $300,000. But yeah, don't move here thinking you'll snatch up a job because you read on yahoo that Texas has so many new jobs. It's still super tough here. Also, those high heating bills in the winter become high cooling bills in the Texas summer. I adore Boston, but what you think is "hot" is nothing compared to what you'll experience six months of the year in Texas.

With that said, it's a great place to live. I love it here. Come visit and see if you like it. Then apply for jobs in the area and see where you land.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by jimmy1234

I see all these brand new homes on HGTV selling for 300k$ in dallas and I feel sad about living in Boston. Are these worth moving for?..or its just grass is greener on the other side?

Let's be clear about one thing--> those homes are NEVER in Dallas. If you saw last week's episode of House Hunters set in the North Richland Hills area of the Metroplex, those homes were 34 miles from Dallas (about 1 hr, 10 minutes in rush hour) and about 12-15 miles from downtown Fort Worth (about 25-35 minutes in rush hour).

What I see on these boards is this- relos THINK they are going to get a brand new huge honking home IN Dallas for super-cheap, but by the time they realize how expensive real estate is in the areas with great schools that is in town (ie, under 20-30 minute commute to Downtown Dallas), they end up looking in the burbs or ex-burbs that are a 40-75 minute daily grind in heavy, slow moving toll road traffic. The grass is not always greener....though we do have green grass now- no snow here!

I would NOT move here just because you think it's cheap. Property taxes are sky high (approx 2-2.5% of value- or $6,000-$7,500 per year on that $300k home). Car insurance is high becasue of the high number of uninsured drivers. Home insurance is high (up to 1% of home value each year, so add on another $2,000-$3,000 for that home). And possibly up to $700-1,000 per month each summer to cool your huge new McMansion.

It IS a wonderful place to raise a family. There are a lot of good school systems. The economy is fairly stable, though we are still hanging at an 8% unemployment rate.

Just to give you an idea of what you can get for home prices here:

4 bed/ 4 bath 3600sf home built in 1937 in a good inner-city public school district --> $899,000

A $300k home in that district looks like this-->

3 bed/ 2 bath / 1,500sf

Here are homes in the BEST public school district in DFW (and a Top 20 ranked US High School) -->

Brand new home (6 bed/ 8 bath) will run you $2,995,000


$300k will get you this in that school district- a 2/2 duplex with 1,200sf



Now let's go out to Plano, a northern suburb with excellent schools and a 25-45 minute commute into Downtown Dallas.
Brand new house $694,000 for a 5 bed/ 5 bath / 4,877sf home


And here's what $300k gets you--> a 15 year old 4 bed/ 2 bath home (contract pending, btw, so you know that $299k price was just right!)



If you really want the huge new $300k home, you have to go pretty far out from town:


$289k 5/4 / 4,266sf home in a northeast suburb 32 miles from downtown- or over 1 hour in rush hour traffic


$275,000- a 4/3/3,100sf home in a northwest suburb 35 miles from downtown- or up to 1 hour, 20 minutes in rush hour



$300,000- a 4/3 / 3,400sf home in a suburb 30 miles north of downtown Dallas- or up to 1 hour, 30 minutes in rush hour traffic.

[Lakewooder]

Ha, the two Lakewood homes I know from sight! I don't even have to look them up...it's that kind of neighborhood.

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

And here's what $300k gets you--> a 15 year old 4 bed/ 2 bath home (contract pending, btw, so you know that $299k price was just right!)

I freaked because I thought this was a friend's house on Newhall in Plano. I had to look it up because it looks just like the one he had..

And his sold for the same price.

[momof2dfw]

If you BOTH have a job where you are........... STAY!!!! Read the news from here. It is not going to be pretty here either. Not every place is perfect and sometimes thru rough times we just have to suck it up and hunker down and endure to get thru the rough times. This is one of them. I'm being brutally honest w/ you. Others have pointed out the costs of homes as well as the other living expenses. I'm pointing out the job situation and the looming budget deficit. In every single publication and news media here the talks are all about the state budget. Every single school district across the state has already tightened their belts and will be doing even more soon. Teachers are getting ready to get laid off. While you may not be a teacher this IS going to effect you being able to find a job here. Those teachers that see that their pink slips may be coming are going to be out pounding the streets looking for a job. They have an advantage over you....... they are already here.

The entire country is in tough shape right now. Now is not the time to kiss away a job that you already have that is supporting you and your family and take a chance. Now is the time to sacrifice. That means maybe living in a climate you don't care for. Or living in a smaller place. Unless you have a killer savings account to support your family for 2 years (I'm not exaggerating as it has taken friends here 15-18 months to find a job after being laid off w/ 15+ years of experience in jobs from IT to accounting to CPA's) and a commodity that is in desperate need......... moving across the country without a job is not a wise move. It costs money to move. Every move costs money. Think long and hard about it before you go jumping off right now.

[jaime_mac]

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

If you BOTH have a job where you are........... STAY!!!! Read the news from here. It is not going to be pretty here either. Not every place is perfect and sometimes thru rough times we just have to suck it up and hunker down and endure to get thru the rough times. This is one of them. I'm being brutally honest w/ you. Others have pointed out the costs of homes as well as the other living expenses. I'm pointing out the job situation and the looming budget deficit. In every single publication and news media here the talks are all about the state budget. Every single school district across the state has already tightened their belts and will be doing even more soon. Teachers are getting ready to get laid off. While you may not be a teacher this IS going to effect you being able to find a job here. Those teachers that see that their pink slips may be coming are going to be out pounding the streets looking for a job. They have an advantage over you....... they are already here.

The entire country is in tough shape right now. Now is not the time to kiss away a job that you already have that is supporting you and your family and take a chance. Now is the time to sacrifice. That means maybe living in a climate you don't care for. Or living in a smaller place. Unless you have a killer savings account to support your family for 2 years (I'm not exaggerating as it has taken friends here 15-18 months to find a job after being laid off w/ 15+ years of experience in jobs from IT to accounting to CPA's) and a commodity that is in desperate need......... moving across the country without a job is not a wise move. It costs money to move. Every move costs money. Think long and hard about it before you go jumping off right now.

Well said....

and to add to that, if you do happen to land a job here that is exactly what you are doing there, you will not be making the same amount of money you do there. Cheaper living means less in the salary department. Yes you can get more for your money here, but salaries are not what they are on the east coast.

My fiance grew up in Massachusetts and misses it everyday, but he knows that we'd NEVER be able to afford a home out there. He also realizes, he will never make the kind of money he was making there in the exact same job here. Now a higher position than what you're working now, yes that comes with a higher salary.

[Big G]

Originally Posted by Lakewooder

Ha, the two Lakewood homes I know from sight! I don't even have to look them up...it's that kind of neighborhood.



I freaked because I thought this was a friend's house on Newhall in Plano. I had to look it up because it looks just like the one he had..

And his sold for the same price.

I know exactly where the "expensive" Plano house is - I was nosy and went through it at an open house *ten months ago*! The beautiful outside doesn't even begin to show just how nice it is. It's an incredibly gorgeous house inside, and it's a real shame it isn't selling, despite multiple price drops.

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by Big G

I know exactly where the "expensive" Plano house is - I was nosy and went through it at an open house *ten months ago*! The beautiful outside doesn't even begin to show just how nice it is. It's an incredibly gorgeous house inside, and it's a real shame it isn't selling, despite multiple price drops.

They did all of that decorating on the inside of the house and custom drapery in every room, etc. ........... why did they leave the backyard BARE! I mean BARE! Not even a twig of a tree. They totally landscaped the front yard. They couldn't do ANYTHING to the backyard?????

Looked it up on the tax rolls........ I'm not surprised. They bought it in 2006. Already moved back to California (yes, I am assuming they moved here from California but it is not a wild jump to conclussions kind of guess). Guess they have been back in California for at least a year. So they didn't last here 3 years. And people on here wonder WHY we tell them to RENT RENT RENT! Then decide if this is going to be home. These people could have rented a very nice house and moved when their lease was up back to their home state if this was not working out for them and would have saved themselves a lot of headaches not to mention a LOT OF $$$$$.

Oh, and while the house is staged in some of the areas beautifully (family room, master bed and bath) the rest of the house is empty. Another Dallas phenominum, empty houses here do not sale very well. Don't know why but they just do not. Only if they are BRAND NEW. Existing homes..... forget it. The house down the street that may be a wee overpriced, smaller yard/house, less amenities, etc that is occupied will typically sell before an empty house and for more money per sq foot.