Question about the Dallas area (Houston, Arlington: sales, apartments, crime)

[BSL63087]

I am currently 19 and living in Southern Indiana right next to Louisville, KY. I can't stand it here and I have wanted to move since I was a little kid.

I have been looking at the Dallas area very closely and I like it a lot. I like all of the newer homes and nice newer looking areas. I don't really like older neighborhoods with a bunch of old 1950s homes like you will find in St. Louis or Cincinnati or Pittsburgh or somewhere like that.

It seems like Dallas and its suburbs have many neighborhoods with newer homes and very very reasonable prices. Almost so reasonable that it almost sounds too good to be true. My question, is it too good to be true or is the cost of living including home prices in the Dallas area a great bargain?

Also, what has kept the prices of homes so low? In most other cities you can't hardly get a house for less than about 200 grand. And its always those ugly old 1950s homes. In the Dallas area you can get a huge newer 2 story 4-5 bedroom house for that.

I'm seriously looking at Arlington and areas around it. I'm not real sure on what I am going to try to do as far as work but I hope to have it all figured out and have a plan ready to go within the next 2-3 years. I would prefer to stay in the Arlington area as I want to be within 20-25 miles at the most of both Arlington and Dallas.

[cs847]

As a current resident of Arlington, I wouldn't recommend it based on the high levels of crime and considering your age possibly raising a family, mediocre school system. I prefer the areas of Keller/Grapevine/Colleyville and they tend to have homes in the same price ranges, as well as being convenient to Dallas and Ft. Worth as well.

[cdelena]

The Dallas area does have affordable housing.. just be sure you are up to the congestion and summer heat before making a commitment.

[momof2dfw]

You can get away from the VERY heavy congestion depending on what part of the Dallas/Ft Worth metroplex you live and work in. Arlington is congested. And I will second the Arlington schools problems. When a school gets at least 2 straight years of unsatisfactory ratings the parents in that district are allowed to move their child to any other school in the district. I guess the Arlington schools have a HUGE problem w/ this as every year on the news they show the people that take a complete week off from work to camp out in the parking lot of the districts office in order to be near the front of the line to hopefully get an open spot at a better school. This has been on the news for years around here. They never show this happening for any other district around here.

[hotcity]

Originally Posted by BSL63087

I am currently 19 and living in Southern Indiana right next to Louisville, KY.

It seems like Dallas and its suburbs have many neighborhoods with newer homes and very very reasonable prices. Almost so reasonable that it almost sounds too good to be true. My question, is it too good to be true or is the cost of living including home prices in the Dallas area a great bargain?.

Yes, housing is cheap in Dallas and Houston and 99% of the cities in Texas, but you have to consider the high property tax and the high energy cost. Then again, you don't have state income tax in Texas and that offset some of the two high cost I mentioned.

Originally Posted by BSL63087

I'm not real sure on what I am going to try to do as far as work but I hope to have it all figured out and have a plan ready to go within the next 2-3 years.

Are you a male or female? Don't mean to be "sexist," but if you're a female, you might want to stay in "good" neighborhoods. Check out Garland, Richardson, Plano...all these three are decent neighborhood with decent communte to downtown Dallas.

What about college? It's not easy these days to make a decent living without a college degree.

[BSL63087]

Originally Posted by hotcity

Yes, housing is cheap in Dallas and Houston and 99% of the cities in Texas, but you have to consider the high property tax and the high energy cost. Then again, you don't have state income tax in Texas and that offset some of the two high cost I mentioned.



Are you a male or female? Don't mean to be "sexist," but if you're a female, you might want to stay in "good" neighborhoods. Check out Garland, Richardson, Plano...all these three are decent neighborhood with decent communte to downtown Dallas.

What about college? It's not easy these days to make a decent living without a college degree.

I'm a male and either way I want to stay in a good neighborhood. I have looked at Garland, Richardson, and Plano and they all look pretty good to me. What is the commute like from there to Arlington?

As far as college, I haven't ruled it out yet and I am still seriously considering it. It seems like the trend now is to be in college the very next August after you graduate HS which is fine but I feel like way too many people act like that if you hold out an extra year that it means you still can't go or something... Holding out a year has positives also. I have had a chance to work and build some money and it also gives me more time to figure something out. College is not for everyone and there are opportunities out there to make a good living without having a college degree.

I don't really know what I would like to do. My main interests are sports, baseball, football, basketball, and hockey. I have wanted to move to a big sports city in the south for a long time and I think Dallas will fit most of my desires and needs. As for making a living, I would like to try to get into something sports related but I'm not real sure what. There are a lot of things out there but not all of them pay very much money. One thing I have looked into is being a sports photographer. I have talked with a guy who works for the AP in Los Angeles and he has a season pass to shoot all of the LA area games and he also does youth sports. He has helped me out a lot with a lot of info and such and basically it takes several thousand up front to buy some of the equipment you need to get started and you should expect to make very little or maybe even no money at first until you get good and establish yourself as a good sports photographer. One good piece of advice he did give me is that it may be a little bit easier to get into youth sports and there is actually more money in photographing youth sports.

What are some other Dallas area suburbs that may be a better choice than Arlington?

[hotcity]

Originally Posted by BSL63087

I'm a male and either way I want to stay in a good neighborhood. I have looked at Garland, Richardson, and Plano and they all look pretty good to me. What is the commute like from there to Arlington?

Any reasons you're so committed to Arlington?

The Sport and photography thing......let's get REAL, that seems more like a hobby than a career. The saying "follow your dream, do something you really, truly enjoy" is really only for rich kids if you leave out "AND make sure whatever that you pick is something practical, reasonably stable, has plenty of jobs out there, and pays reasaonbly well."

If you do decide to go to college, make sure you take that into consideration and major in something (or aiming for somehting) useful such as Accounting, Law, Medicine, Nursing, etc., instead of focus on sociology, liberal art, psychology, history, unless you're want to teach in those subjects or you have a solid plan such as going to graduate school, etc., otherwise, you may end up with a useless degree, tons of school debt, and jobless.

"College is not for everyone and there are opportunities out there to make a good living without having a college degree."

As someone with more than just a college degree, I can tell you that education not only improved my earning power/potential, but it also changed me as a person and allows me to see the world differently. You're right that college is not for EVERYONE, but it's for most people. Consider yourself lucky living in one of small fraction of the countries in the world where going to college is possible and attainable.

[momof2dfw]

If you stay on the Garland/Richardson/Plano side of town you will have many options for college classes. You could start by taking one or two in the evenings at one of the many community college campuses that are located on this side. With Dallas County Community College you have Richland and they are getting ready to start building a new campus in downtown Garland. Collin County Community College has many locations and they have an agreement w/ SMU so you could do 2 years there then transfer right over to SMU. If you want full fledge college you have UTD in Richardson. Great school and they do have a lot of night classes for people that work. Many apartments around that would be an easy commute to UTD and still easy commute for a job that is close by.

[momof2dfw]

As for the job in the sports. Check w/ some of the minor league franchises that we have in the Dallas area (listed below) and even with some of the others that are major league and see if they have any positions open in their office in sales or something. May need some college or a degree though but you could start out working in the the ticket office or something just to get your foot in the door. I know that all of the sales reps for the Stars are all pretty young.

Minors:
Frisco Roughriders - baseball located in Frisco
Texas Tornado - ice hockey located in Frisco

Majors:
Dallas Stars - ice hockey
Dallas Mavericks - basketball
Dallas Cowboys - football
Texas Rangers - baseball
Dallas Desparados - arena football

[hotcity]

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

If you stay on the Garland/Richardson/Plano side of town you will have many options for college classes. You could start by taking one or two in the evenings at one of the many community college campuses that are located on this side. With Dallas County Community College you have Richland and they are getting ready to start building a new campus in downtown Garland. Collin County Community College has many locations and they have an agreement w/ SMU so you could do 2 years there then transfer right over to SMU. If you want full fledge college you have UTD in Richardson. Great school and they do have a lot of night classes for people that work. Many apartments around that would be an easy commute to UTD and still easy commute for a job that is close by.

These are good advice; but your post right above this one about being a sales rep....com'on now, you might be encouraging this young kid to chase after his hobby and try to make a career out of it.