Why Dallas vs San Antonio (Austin, Plano: mortgage, school districts, live)

[jeannern]

Hi all,
My husband will be retiring from the air force in about a year. We have pretty much decided that we will not be staying in the great pacific northwest (too rainy, too expensive, too everything). We have been to both SA and Dallas, liked them both. But wanted to hear from people who live there what they liked about it.
A little about us...
We have kids (one with special needs) ages 10 & 11.
We love it outside, golf, tennis, baseball, swimming.
We love our animals; dogs, cats.
We like warm, hot weather!
Thanks for any input!

[lh_newbie]

Both areas are obviously nice. One of the particular areas I love in south TX is between San Antonio and Austin - the area around Canyon Lake - including Greune and New Braunfels. Wonderful areas.

I think the biggest difference is that South TX is dryer and hotter, therefore has a bit more of a desert scape than the DFW area. I personally prefer Dallas over SA - my wife and I like the trees and green in DFW along with the reach of the DFW airport for travel.

That said - you can't go wrong with either - it's a personal preference thing.

[jeannern]

lh_newbie
Thanks!

[TriumphOfTheSprint]

Since your husband is going to be ex-military, you might take into account the huge military presence in the SA area. While there are plenty of retired military people in Dallas, there aren't any active bases.

[smuboy86]

Honestly I always thought of San Antonio being greener and with more vegetation than Dallas. School districts with in the city of San Antonio are great especially North East, Northside and Alamo Heights. In Dallas you pretty much have to look at the far out suburbs like Plano, frisco, richardson.

[CMDallas]

We have kids (one with special needs) ages 10 & 11.
We love it outside, golf, tennis, baseball, swimming.
We love our animals; dogs, cats.
We like warm, hot weather!

wow... Texas is the place for you... each one will suit you needs. Get down to the fine details that will help us tell you.

[Lakewooder]

Originally Posted by smuboy86

Honestly I always thought of San Antonio being greener and with more vegetation than Dallas. School districts with in the city of San Antonio are great especially North East, Northside and Alamo Heights. In Dallas you pretty much have to look at the far out suburbs like Plano, frisco, richardson.

Why do you say that?

[lh_newbie]

Xeriscaping and desertscaping are relatively common in San Antonio. There is quite a bit of prickly-pear cactus in SA area also - there is no doubt that Dallas has more trees, grass, flowers, etc. Dallas gets about 5" more rain per year than SA. It's still a pretty area, but it's simply not as green (color-wise, SA is far more water-conscious and uses much less water per capita than any other major city in TX).

The point of being close to the active military bases may very well be important to your husband. Definitely take that into consideration. SA definitely has that in the bag.

Brian

[nativeDallasite]

My grandparents lived in SA and my aunt, uncle, and cousins still do, so I've been there more times than I can count.

I personally don't like SA; it's very sprawly and it just doesn't look as nice as DFW does; I don't understand the aversion to curbs and covered drains in SA. I don't see it as a great place for single people my age. Retired people, on the other hand, seem to really enjoy it.

I think for someone who is ex-military it may be a better fit because of the strong military presence there; SA is still seen by many as an Air Force town and it might be easier to access veterans' services there just because of the sheer number of active and retired military servicepeople in the area. USAA is also heueueueuege down there; I think they may actually be based there, and my cousin (who has always been a civilian) works in the mortgage industry and says VA mortgages are white hot down there. So...lots of military.

At the end of the day you need to choose the city that best fits your lifestyle and budget, and the one where you think you could be happy. Best of luck.

[TriumphOfTheSprint]

Originally Posted by lh_newbie

There is quite a bit of prickly-pear cactus in SA area also - there is no doubt that Dallas has more trees, grass, flowers, etc. Dallas gets about 5" more rain per year than SA. It's still a pretty area, but it's simply not as green (color-wise, SA is far more water-conscious and uses much less water per capita than any other major city in TX).

Not sure that I agree completely with this - Northside San Antonio (edge of the Hill Country) has significantly more native tree cover than most of Dallas. Just pull up Google Maps for Dallas and San Antonio and compare them on the Satellite setting.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...&t=h&z=11&om=1
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=h&z=10&om=1

Some of this is due, no doubt, to the preponderance of Live Oaks and Cedar trees in SA - assuming that many of the Google sat pictures are taken in winter. I think Dallas has SA beat on variety of tree (since most of the trees were planted at some point).