Moving from Chicago to Dallas (Austin, Plano: 2014, foreclosures, leases)

[shahnirav77]

Thanks all for all great info. We are planning to visit Plano in July as that's the best time for us to take vacation. I know july will be really hot but want to see how i feel coming from Chicago. I feel if we can survive Plano in July, we are good weather wise. We are thinking about also visiting Austin and also take a trip Galveston beach, how is that beach for kids and safety wise?

[ChristieP]

Galveston is probably the worst of the Texas beaches. South Padre Island is the nicest, and they get progressively less nice the closer you get to the Mississippi River delta. If you are expecting beaches like Florida with sugar-white sand and turquoise water, you will be very disappointed.

[Data Dude]

Excellent thread to see so many folks from Chicago area that has moved to Dallas. We are in the same boat and are planning to move to Dallas from Naperville area this summer, but are finding difficult to snap the chord here. We have been in Chicago area since last 18 years and are firmly established here. Son is a freshman here and are debating whether it is a good thing to move him during the high school. Job wise I can either work from Chicago or Dallas and company is not providing any relocation, so are torn whether to move or not.

Any opinions welcome as it would help us make a decision soon.

[4Movingeast]

Originally Posted by shahnirav77

Thanks all for all great info. We are planning to visit Plano in July as that's the best time for us to take vacation. I know july will be really hot but want to see how i feel coming from Chicago. I feel if we can survive Plano in July, we are good weather wise. We are thinking about also visiting Austin and also take a trip Galveston beach, how is that beach for kids and safety wise?

Port Aransas (Port A for short) is a fun, family friendly, fishing town. As another poster mentioned you will need to adjust your expectations because Destin it ain't. But it has some great fish restaurants and a laid back beach town vibe.

[pistisan]

Originally Posted by Data Dude

Excellent thread to see so many folks from Chicago area that has moved to Dallas. We are in the same boat and are planning to move to Dallas from Naperville area this summer, but are finding difficult to snap the chord here. We have been in Chicago area since last 18 years and are firmly established here. Son is a freshman here and are debating whether it is a good thing to move him during the high school. Job wise I can either work from Chicago or Dallas and company is not providing any relocation, so are torn whether to move or not.

Any opinions welcome as it would help us make a decision soon.

You have your friends in Chicago, and established yourself, kid is freshman...why don't you wait 3 more years and then make a decision what's next.

[Tyryztoll]

Originally Posted by Data Dude

Excellent thread to see so many folks from Chicago area that has moved to Dallas. We are in the same boat and are planning to move to Dallas from Naperville area this summer, but are finding difficult to snap the chord here. We have been in Chicago area since last 18 years and are firmly established here. Son is a freshman here and are debating whether it is a good thing to move him during the high school. Job wise I can either work from Chicago or Dallas and company is not providing any relocation, so are torn whether to move or not.

Any opinions welcome as it would help us make a decision soon.

You didn't state why you want to move to Dallas. Sure doesn't sound like a good time for you to do it unless your job or something else is making it necessary.

We moved here from McHenry last March to be closer to a specialty hospital my daughter receives treatment at. We love a lot of things about Texas, but are missing a lot of things about Chicagoland and the midwest as well. Thing is, you can't come here and try to make things like they were back there. This is a different world down here and it's a good world if you accept it for what it is and proceed accordingly. The people who come here and become miserable are the ones who want everything to be like it was where they came from. Texas has a ton to offer, but it couldn't be any more different than Chicago.

Again, I would be interested to hear the reasons for your potential move. If your kid is a freshman in high school with a bunch of friends you're really rolling the dice on a cross country move because of that alone - unless it's totally necessary for the well being of your family.

[synchronicity]

Originally Posted by Time for Texas!

You didn't state why you want to move to Dallas. Sure doesn't sound like a good time for you to do it unless your job or something else is making it necessary.

We moved here from McHenry last March to be closer to a specialty hospital my daughter receives treatment at. We love a lot of things about Texas, but are missing a lot of things about Chicagoland and the midwest as well. Thing is, you can't come here and try to make things like they were back there. This is a different world down here and it's a good world if you accept it for what it is and proceed accordingly. The people who come here and become miserable are the ones who want everything to be like it was where they came from. Texas has a ton to offer, but it couldn't be any more different than Chicago.

(emphasis added)

^^^The above x3. Every place has things that are different in ways both great and subtle. Time for Texas is dead-on correct, Data Dude.

As I've noted upthread and elsewhere (IIRC) our adjustment from Chicago was a little easier because this is the 5th city I've lived in, so I'm used to "take what you like and leave the rest". You have to focus on what Dallas is rather than what it isn't. And yes, it's a change and it'll be tough on a teen, so in general I'd only recommend such a move (to Dallas or anywhere) if you have good reasons for doing so.

[Data Dude]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. There is no specific reason for the move - primarily the weather and possibly better real estate appreciation. I agree completely that it is a bad time to move specifically with the teen in middle of high school now and it may be better to move after 3 years.
To give a complete picture, here are the positive and negative points associated with the move
Positive Points:
1) Nice weather (We were tired of the brutal cold in Chicago)
2) I work for a company in Dallas area so there is some stability in a new city from a financial standpoint
3) House prices in Dallas area (we were looking at Frisco) were going up and 3 years from now, it might be too high.
4) After 3 years, teen may want to go to a state university or a university in nearby states. Also at that point of time, I may be working for a non-Dallas company and a move might be very difficult (with #2 and #3 gone)
Negative Points:
1) Teen in middle of high school, with good friends currently in Naperville area
2) Good social life having been here for last 18 years.
3) Spouse has a stable job and would require her to quit for relocation
4) Expense for moving (6% commission for selling house, moving costs, rental costs in new city, etc.)

[Tyryztoll]

Originally Posted by Data Dude

Thanks everyone for your feedback. There is no specific reason for the move - primarily the weather and possibly better real estate appreciation. I agree completely that it is a bad time to move specifically with the teen in middle of high school now and it may be better to move after 3 years.
To give a complete picture, here are the positive and negative points associated with the move
Positive Points:
1) Nice weather (We were tired of the brutal cold in Chicago)
2) I work for a company in Dallas area so there is some stability in a new city from a financial standpoint
3) House prices in Dallas area (we were looking at Frisco) were going up and 3 years from now, it might be too high.
4) After 3 years, teen may want to go to a state university or a university in nearby states. Also at that point of time, I may be working for a non-Dallas company and a move might be very difficult (with #2 and #3 gone)
Negative Points:
1) Teen in middle of high school, with good friends currently in Naperville area
2) Good social life having been here for last 18 years.
3) Spouse has a stable job and would require her to quit for relocation
4) Expense for moving (6% commission for selling house, moving costs, rental costs in new city, etc.)

Weather here is no joke, either. This is a region of extremes. It's basically rained for 2 months straight since we got here, and before that they were mired in a horrible drought. Next comes the infamous heat, but if you can make it through that you get your reward of a much milder winter down the road. Even then, though, the DFW area gets much more of a winter than the southern TX cities, so don't come here thinking it's all palm trees and sunshine in January. It gets quite chilly here in winter, and since it doesn't snow a lot the precip can often wind up as ice all over the roads, which happened to me when I was setting us up down here last February.

This is my second time living in Texas, as my family moved to the Houston area as I was coming into my teenage years. I can tell you that the adjustment for me was extremely hard, as I had a slew of friends, cousins, etc. back home and I wasn't mature enough to understand the reasons for our move, which were primarily tied to my dad's employment. All I knew was that I was suddenly in what seemed like a foreign land with no family and no friends. I eventually made friends, of course, but I never did get over having to leave home.

Ironic that we wound up back in Texas all these years later. My wife is struggling to adapt to many aspects of living here, such as the bugs and being so far from family. This is her adjustment phase, hopefully she can adapt because like I said, Texas has a ton to offer and we worked hard to get here. I'm now seeing things through my dad's eyes 35 years ago.....in that I know this is a great place for our family to be for all the same reasons he saw back then. It's not the Midwest and never will be.......and accepting that fact as a transplant is the first step toward making a good life here.

[shahnirav77]

I have been looking at schools in Frisco and Plano. The ratings on zillow are little misleading compare to the reviews added by the parents. Most of the school ratings are 9 to 10 but reviews don't support them. I am looking for school with AP classes and that has extra curricular activities for my kids. So any thoughts / recommendations on that?

Also, looking at real estate in Plano and Frisco, which one has a better ROI in long term - any thoughts on that?