Potential relocation to the Metroplex (Atlanta: centers, job, close to)

[turf3]

OK, OK, I yield: if you have more money than God, you can do pretty much anything you want. For ordinary people, maybe not so much.

[montee88]

Thanks for the responses. No, I am not loaded; however, I don't mind a commute if we can have something a little bit bigger than .25 acres. It looks like that may not be an option for us, and that's okay. There may be a gem hidden somewhere. Who knows...

I am very familiar with the Metroplex. I have family in Frisco and Carrollton. Other than visiting many many times, I have not resided there for any length of time.

We are considering other metro areas, but DFW seemed a better option as far as the IT world goes. San Antonio is another option for us. I just wanted to get opinions.

Thanks!

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by montee88

Thanks for the responses. No, I am not loaded; however, I don't mind a commute if we can have something a little bit bigger than .25 acres. It looks like that may not be an option for us, and that's okay. There may be a gem hidden somewhere. Who knows...

I am very familiar with the Metroplex. I have family in Frisco and Carrollton. Other than visiting many many times, I have not resided there for any length of time.

We are considering other metro areas, but DFW seemed a better option as far as the IT world goes. San Antonio is another option for us. I just wanted to get opinions.

Thanks!

San Antonio doesn't have as large of an IT market for sure, but it has dirt-cheap real estate going for it plus a 90-mile drive to Austin (doable on weekends), two amusement parks, a pretty nice downtown area, and kickass Mexican food.


I'd encourage anyone attracted by a low cost of living to check out San Antonio before Dallas-Fort Worth or Austin.


San Antonio is a majority-Hispanic city and has been since...well...probably forever, so it definitely has a different feel and atmosphere than DFW. That's not to say that you hear nothing but Spanish down there. I have spent lots of time in SA and knew lots of "Texians," plus second/third/fourth/fifth/etc. generation Mexican-Americans. They knew little to no Spanish.

[true_wu]

Atlanta is probably the only major Metro where you can find a 1-acre lot reasonably close to job centers

[montee88]

Originally Posted by true_wu

Atlanta is probably the only major Metro where you can find a 1-acre lot reasonably close to job centers

That is the other metro that we are considering as well.

[montee88]

Originally Posted by BigDGeek

San Antonio doesn't have as large of an IT market for sure, but it has dirt-cheap real estate going for it plus a 90-mile drive to Austin (doable on weekends), two amusement parks, a pretty nice downtown area, and kickass Mexican food.


I'd encourage anyone attracted by a low cost of living to check out San Antonio before Dallas-Fort Worth or Austin.


San Antonio is a majority-Hispanic city and has been since...well...probably forever, so it definitely has a different feel and atmosphere than DFW. That's not to say that you hear nothing but Spanish down there. I have spent lots of time in SA and knew lots of "Texians," plus second/third/fourth/fifth/etc. generation Mexican-Americans. They knew little to no Spanish.

That is our challenge. The IT market in DFW is very good. And just based on job searches, SA not so much--doable, but doesn't seem as hot. The housing prices are reasonable, and seems like a lot to do there.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by montee88

That is our challenge. The IT market in DFW is very good. And just based on job searches, SA not so much--doable, but doesn't seem as hot. The housing prices are reasonable, and seems like a lot to do there.

It may seem "very good," but remember there's a lot more people here competing for those jobs and hundreds more moving here every day.


SA is definitely not a high-tech town but people who do networking and infrastructure should have a lot less trouble finding work there than someone who's a software developer. Plus it's cheap as hell.

[walker1962]

Originally Posted by turf3

Just that over and over and over and over again people post the same thing:


Hey I am coming in from (far) out of town, I have a couple hundred thousand bucks budget and I want to buy a house with acreage, room for a pony, easy walking distance to my job in downtown Dallas, and I don't want to look at a map, contact a real estate agent, or do any kind of research [and the following is the implied part] because I know that moving to a semi-rural area like Dallas, Tex. it'll be easy to get what I want. The main question I have is, will the tumbleweeds drifting in the streets of downtown potentially damage the paint on my car?


I mean, we have people wanting to know if there's any cheap investment land between Dallas and Sherman; whether they can buy acreage within a 15 minute commute from DFW airport; and so on. "Hey, maybe if I move to central Dallas, I can take up horseback riding"... yeah, except there's probably not a horse within 30 miles of the address you listed...

Actually for a person sounding defensive you DON'T know the area. I've seen horses on property in Colleyville, north Flower Mound, Trophy Club, and there IS a Polo Club on Riverside drive in IRVING, TX just west of Luna and the Golf Course. So yea, horses are in D/FW.


And isn't that why people post HERE, to get HELP about what to expect in D/FW?


I'm a native Texan (family here since the 1870s at least) but lived elsewhere

[walker1962]

Originally Posted by BigDGeek

San Antonio doesn't have as large of an IT market for sure, but it has dirt-cheap real estate going for it plus a 90-mile drive to Austin (doable on weekends), two amusement parks, a pretty nice downtown area, and kickass Mexican food.


I'd encourage anyone attracted by a low cost of living to check out San Antonio before Dallas-Fort Worth or Austin.


San Antonio is a majority-Hispanic city and has been since...well...probably forever, so it definitely has a different feel and atmosphere than DFW. That's not to say that you hear nothing but Spanish down there. I have spent lots of time in SA and knew lots of "Texians," plus second/third/fourth/fifth/etc. generation Mexican-Americans. They knew little to no Spanish.

San Antonio is more like 70-75 miles south not 90 miles from Austin.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by walker1962

San Antonio is more like 70-75 miles south not 90 miles from Austin.

Whenever I made the drive I clocked in at 89 miles exactly.