Possibly moving to DFW from NYC. (Houston, Dallas: sales, affordable apartments, to rent)

[dad2015]

Originally Posted by tcualum

Also, the real estate market for homes in your budget is hot right now. Since your kids aren't in school yet I would rent a small place for 6 months to save for a down payment and start intensively exploring the different areas before you buy or worry about school districts. When you're ready to buy though be prepared to move quickly because the desirable homes at your price points are going fast.
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Yes, we don't mind a small place, in NY that's pretty much the norm. And you have a good point about not worrying about schools just yet.
My wife will go back to work in about 6-8 months from the moment we arrive in Dallas. At that point our combined HH income, I estimate will go back to ~150k. And we do have money for a down payment but I don't think it's a good idea to buy without getting to know the area first.

Originally Posted by tcualum

The suburbs will be less cosmopolitan and more conservative than you're used to. Hollywood does exaggerate how much though.

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I don't mind conservative suburbs. But I do have a little concern about being less cosmopolitan (thus, not welcoming of people of different backgrounds?). We're a mixed race family. I'm Hispanic, and my wife is white. Would that be a problem in these conservative suburbs that you speak of?

Originally Posted by KerrTown

Considering Dallas as being in the Bible Belt, with a Baptist church on every major intersection , people asking which church you go to should not be considered an insult. They just want to know if you might bump into each other at their church, especially if you're new to the neighborhood. I mean your neighbor might be Catholic too and be a parishioner at the local parish and will be happy to show you around and introduce you to everyone (and maybe give you juicy tidbits on how the social structure is set up).

Honestly, I would never be insulted if someone asked me which church I attend. After all we live in a +80% Christian country, so based on statistics alone that's a sort of common sense question.
I wonder, however, if they would feel insulted if I replied saying that I'm not religious so I don't attend church. I don't wear my non-religiosity on my sleeve but if I'm asked I reply with the truth. Would my neighbors or children ostracize us for not belonging to any church?


Maybe the agnostic fellow that commented earlier can chime in with his personal experience.




Thanks for that detailed reply, by the way.


All of you guys have been very informative!

[numbersguy100]

Originally Posted by beerandon

Pretty solid food for thought here. Although, if you want to eventually be a homeowner on a $76k salary, you probably come out ahead here. I wouldn't even think it's doable in NYC.

In Manhattan or most of Brooklyn, probably not. Queens, probably. Though I agree w/ the point you are making.

[ChristieP]

Biracial, especially Hispanic/white, is not a problem at all.

[dad2015]

Originally Posted by numbersguy100

I seem to the lone person advocating for a non-mid cities suburb, but I would be wary of banking on the lower cost of living here if you need to buy, maintain, and drive in a second car. Unless you want to live in a very small home here, you're not going to be able to find rent much cheaper than what you pay in NYC. Yes, you will be living in more space for the same out of pocket expense, and I won't minimize the benefit of that, but in terms of your monthly budget, it's not going to benefit you (since salary remaining constant). And with that space comes the expense of a higher air conditioning bill than you will be used to paying in NYC, water bill because the house is bigger and has a yard, etc (the offset of lower heating bills in winter doesn't offset the high cost of air conditioning in the summer, I've found). Auto insurance costs are a lot more expensive here than in NYC. You will be driving a lot more than you did in NYC, which means gas, tolls, and maintenance on your vehicle.
Just things to think about. Moving here and assuming you will automatically take home more cash each month isn't something that you can do anymore, especially if you will be living on the same salary and incurring additional expenses. One of the biggest cost of living benefits that DFW has is actually one that you won't take advantage of - child care. It's way, way cheaper here but that's not a factor in your household budget for now.
I'm not saying that living here is MORE expensive, given equal living circumstances. I'm just saying that you can't take the savings for granted and adding lots of expenses really does that.

Interesting post. Thanks


Here in NYC when you rent an apartment, 80% of the time, water and heating is included in the monthly rent.
As a tenant you're responsible for electricity and cooking gas. That's a about $120 monthly.


How does it work over there? Is it the same for a house than for an apartment in terms of utilities?


We don't rule out living in an apt if that lowers the monthly bills.


My monthly auto ins. here is $100/month for full coverage of a 2009 Corolla.




Also, as I mentioned in my OP. My wife will go back to work eventually.
That will be in around 6 to 8 months after arriving, so that will double our 76k household income.

[numbersguy100]

Originally Posted by dad2015

Interesting post. Thanks


Here in NYC when you rent an apartment, 80% of the time, water and heating is included in the monthly rent.
As a tenant you're responsible for electricity and cooking gas. That's a about $120 monthly.


How does it work over there? Is it the same for a house than for an apartment in terms of utilities?


We don't rule out living in an apt if that lowers the monthly bills.


My monthly auto ins. here is $100/month for full coverage of a 2009 Corolla.




Also, as I mentioned in my OP. My wife will go back to work eventually.
That will be in around 6 to 8 months after arriving, so that will double our 76k household income.

In an apartment complex, gas for a gas stove if you've got one might be included, but nothing else. Water bill in an apartment complex is probably very low, but electricity will be high. Apartment complexes are not well built from an insulation standpoint because the people building them know the tenant covers electricity and there's no incentive for them to spend their own money saving their renters money when that's not how a potential renter will evaluate an apartment.
You should expect to spend a lot more than the $120 on electricity during most hot or even moderate temperature months here.
A lot of my commentary was based on thinking your wife would stay home with your kids until they are of school age. If she's going back to work in 6-8 months, your options will grow immensely, and you'll definitely need that second car. (though, for the record, I'd still suggest you check out N OC and see if you like it)

[beerandon]

I'm openly agnostic to anyone who asks and have never once had an issue - even my own very religious family. I really wouldn't worry about that. If you want to say you're an atheist and get into a heated debate, I'm sure you can easily find that if you desire, but most people in my experience are open minded or at least not offended by your own beliefs.

Interracial couples are nothing out of the ordinary here.

[lepoisson]

Here's what I pay for my 1br apartment in Arlington per month:

Rent - $900
Water - $20-30
Trash - $5
Pest control - $2
Electric (I have only lived here since April) - first few bills were around $65, past two bills have been around $120 (make sure to pick a plan that matches your needs; it's sort of confusing dealing with the unregulated power stuff)
Internet - $40

My apartment was built in the 1980s and isn't very efficient. I've been using 1000-1200kWh of electricity in the summer. This is with keeping the thermostat on 80 during the day and 75 when I'm home. For comparison, my much larger apartment in Kansas City built in the 1970s used 500-800kWh in the summer. Imagine that your power bill from NYC will double here in Texas. On another note, they really like to nickle and dime you here with utilities and fees. I've never lived in an apartment where I had to pay trash and pest control. Most landlords just include this with the rent.

Having a house will be more expensive. You'll have to pay water, sewer, trash, electricity, gas (if it's there). A coworker owns a 4br home and spends per month $25 sewer, $30 water, $15 trash, $120-250 electric, and $20-70 gas.

No idea how your car insurance will fare. I'd imagine that NYC has more expensive rates than DFW. Just for comparison, I was paying around $75/mo in Missouri and Iowa, I'm paying around $100 here.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

Biracial, especially Hispanic/white, is not a problem at all.

Agree 100%. About 50% of DFW's population was not born in Texas and about 25% not born in the US (Mexico, India, and Central American countries the most common places of origin). Lots of interracial relationships all over the metroplex. We have friends who are Mexican/white, Mexican/Thai, Indian/white, black/white, etc couples.

The bigger cultural difference between NYC and Dallas is in the white population. Here, 90%+ of whites self-identify as just white vs the tremendous pride you find in NYC of Italians, Greeks, Russians, Irish, etc.

[mm4]

Originally Posted by dad2015

*How is the crime situation down there? I was reading that Dallas has double the rate of violent crime that NY has, and NY is 6 times bigger in terms of population, so I wasn't really impressed about that stat.
Is crime mostly concentrated in certain pockets of the city, or is it really ramdomly spread out?

New York City notoriously underreports violent crime. NYPD massages CompStat figures by relabeling all kinds of assaults. This was big news not too long ago.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/29/ny...inds.html?_r=0

[ChristieP]

Think of the crime this way: you know there are certain parts of The Bronx where you do not go. DFW is the same way. There are neighborhoods here that are very high crime where you will never go for the same reasons.