Compared to California, inexpensive housing and abundant employment (Dallas, Austin: houses, option to buy)

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

I paid $2.84 for Supreme at Exxon yesterday. It is lower here.

I am sure it is lower in Dallas, but gas isn't $5.25 a gallon in California. Many of us in over taxes and higher cost of living California want to have a life. We can't seem to do that in California and desire other areas to check out and if everything works out right move to. Not saying that Dallas or anyother place is the garden of Eden or some other promised land. From many points of view it just seems better than where we are from.

Saying that I have no idea what the unknown costs to live in the Dallas area are. What is the property tax, income tax, food tax, or other costs? Someone told me that in Texes it will cost twice as much for cable, phone and internet service. For example I pay $102 a month for HD cable with 150 channels, nation wide phone service, and High speed internet. Does it cost more in Dallas? I don't know.

Many things to consider to get a good basis for what the differance is in cost. Here where I live on the coast I don't even know why I would need an air conditioning. The Pacific Ocean is my air conditioner. My electric and gas bills are the same year round.Maybe a better question to ask is what are the average cost to live in the area, average incomes, and average housing cost.

I do want to thank you for your comments and the additional insight that you bring up.

[TurtleCreek80]

Sales tax in Dallas is 8.25%. Some grocery items are tax exempt.

Property tax rate in Wylie for 2009 is 2.81% of appraised value. There is a $15,000 Homestead Exemption on primary residences if you were in the property by Jan 1 of the tax year. With the homestead exemption, annual property taxes on a $150,000 home in Wylie are approx $3,805.

At 2.62%, Dallas County taxes are less than Collin Co (Wylie) and the Homestead Exemption is bigger (20% of appraised value). Taxes on a $150,000 home in Dallas Co are $3,145.

Home insurance is high in TX compared to the US. Your annual bill should be $1200-1800, depending on the value of your contents.

So that $150k house will be about $1,700 per month->
$725 30 year mortgage @ 6% with 20% down
$315 1/12 of property tax bill
$150 1/12 of insurance
$500 est monthly bills (cable, electric, water, sewer, gas)

[cheekymamie]

I just wanted to thank all the regular poster on the Dallas forum, I've been a lurker for weeks now researching a move to either Austin or the DFW metro and have gained plenty on insight and opinions on "living" in these two cities. My DH and I are visiting the area in about a week (we're from SoCal). Our reasons for moving are to have a better place to raise our 3 kids, bigger home, and better schools. We would be leaving family and great weather behind, but that is what airplanes and air conditioning are for! I am disappointed a bit because it seems like the COL will actually be more in Texas, when it comes to insurance, utilities and even fresh produce. DH has a great job close to home now and we live a mile from the beach, we also bought our small ranch home before the boom and still have a good amount of equity in our home and low taxes and the grandparents are near by to help out with the kiddos. I guess we both just want a change and a great place to raise our family. Our current neighborhood is ok, but we want to live in a younger and newer community with lots of kids and the next house up for us in SoCal is a minimum of 700k. I would have to go to work fulltime to even qualify for a mortgage that size, but we don't want to slave away for a mediocre house with a big mortgage just because of good weather. I've been to Dallas twice as a kid almost 20 years ago and remember it being nice. Looking forward to visting!!!

[aceplace]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

Sales tax in Dallas is 8.25%. Some grocery items are tax exempt.

Property tax rate in Wylie for 2009 is 2.81% of appraised value. There is a $15,000 Homestead Exemption on primary residences if you were in the property by Jan 1 of the tax year. With the homestead exemption, annual property taxes on a $150,000 home in Wylie are approx $3,805.

At 2.62%, Dallas County taxes are less than Collin Co (Wylie) and the Homestead Exemption is bigger (20% of appraised value). Taxes on a $150,000 home in Dallas Co are $3,145.

Home insurance is high in TX compared to the US. Your annual bill should be $1200-1800, depending on the value of your contents.

So that $150k house will be about $1,700 per month->$725 30 year mortgage @ 6% with 20% down
$315 1/12 of property tax bill
$150 1/12 of insurance
$500 est monthly bills (cable, electric, water, sewer, gas)

Let's assume that your $150,000 Dallas house costs $500,000 in LA county. Fair assumption? Since the property taxes in California are at 1% of value, the California house would cost you $5,000 in property taxes.

There is the additional problem that California municipal public services are underfunded compared to the Dallas counterparts. If the general cost of living in LA County is, for example, 150% of what it is in Dallas, then the cost of providing public services is commensurately higher. There is no free lunch. The extra cost of roads, firehouses, libraries and schools has to be supported by a higher level of property taxes.

Unfortunately, the Cali public sector is in a state of near-collapse, with massive funding cuts on the horizon. There is already massive unemployment, which will be made worse by the massive state layoffs to come. I can understand why everyone who can is fleeing the state while they can still find a buyer for their house.

You don't compare Dallas insurance costs to the US average, you compare it to the other top 10 metros. The cost of insuring a dwelling is higher in a major metropolis.

I live in a $170,000 house. My monthly mortgage, insurance and property tax payments are $1,200 per month. My gas and electric are between $150 and $200. My water, sewer, fire protection, etc, is $95. My cable and internet is also $95.

[pappy97]

Originally Posted by Debsi

Personally I don't understand why a commute of 25 miles would be desirable for anyone. My free time after work is very valuable to me and I am so glad I don't spend a ton of it sitting in the car dealing with bad traffic. Sure it can be done if you get laid off and have to change jobs, but choosing it on purpose is just crazy to me. There are great neighborhoods all over the metroplex, in every suburb, every city, and even Dallas itself. Common sense would dictate you find a job, and then buy a house reasonably near it, or you at least buy a house that is centrally located to mitigate the possibility of a horrendous commute.

By the way, I was born and lived the first 25 years of my life in California. Embracing a long commute has nothing to do with being from California in my opinion.

Nothing is wrong in my book with a 6 bedroom home if you want it and can afford it, but a lot of people move here unprepared for how expensive utility bills can be during the long hot summer. Can kill the whole "no state income tax" benefit if you have an enormous house and like it kept on the cool side...

For me it's just a matter of perception (on commute) 25 miles is nothing. It's what I've been doing my whole life, either school or work, I'm used to it and like it. It's not that "I am from CA so I embrace a long commute." It's that I am from the SF Bay Area where we once put an offer on a house that was 70 miles away from work because we wanted something that didn't break the bank. Here that meant low balling $475k on a house listed for $550k. The seller, thank god, went with a higher offer and we rented much closer to work than that hellish commute. (That house with the crazy commute would have been the closest we've seen to our under contract Wylie house, i.e. built this decade with 2500+ square feet)

Here in the SF Bay Area it's common place to commute anywhere from 10-40 miles each way. More so 20-40 miles because the Peninsula and SF is not affordable by most people except the wealthy or those who bought homes in the 70's and 80's. More than that and you get into extreme commute territory but some people do it (usually people with a stay-at-home spouse and they really want the fam to have a nice place for the money). There is a train set up here for people to commute from Stockton, CA to San Jose, CA. It's the ACE commuter train. 80 miles away and from endpoint to endpoint, 3 hours each way. But those trains, believe it or not, are FULL. I wouldn't do that, but 25 miles is what I'm used coming from a suburb that is half-way between Oakland and San Jose and I don't mind sticking to it for value.

I KNOW my electric bills (house is all electric, no gas) will be high in the summer with the A/C running 24/7, but to counter that the house we have under contract is far below what we could get a mortgage for. According to the loan officer, we could have, based on salary/credit/debt, gotten approved for $350k but considering what $210k buys you in Wylie we are VERY happy with that and don't mind property taxes and electricity bills in the summer. Since we were coming to an area where homes are much cheaper, but not taking that much of a hit on salary, we figured we could get what we want, where we want, and still spend well below our home buying power.

The only thing your gaining is a larger house that you still won't get to enjoy because you will be on the road commuting.

What you fail to understand is that I enjoyed my life and commute here in CA, where it was about 25 miles each way. The only part I didn't enjoy was coming home to a 900 sq ft apt or the idea of spending $500k for a house in our CURRENT Cali city and stretching the budget but still living 25 miles away from work. By the way, that $500k in our current cali city gets you this: A home built in the 1950's, 3 bedroom, 1-2 baths, somewhere from 1200-1800 square feet. And still a 25-30 mile commute depending on where you work. Yet the city I live in is a big commuter town where people flock to compromise between the house they want and commute they can handle, all the while stretching their budget to pay a $3500-4000/month mortgage (includes pmi but not home ins or prop taxes). Now I get to have the same commute which is a cakewalk for me, a home built in 2005, 6 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 3600 square feet all for $210k. Still not seeing the problem here.

Now I'll have a life and commute I still enjoy, except I come home to a great "stupid cheap" (From our POV) house. Plus I get to live my dream of having an actual dedicated home theater room. For me, what's not to like?

(And yes as to DART, my wife has no problems driving to Parker Rd Station, getting on the Red line to Victory Station, and after the Sharks kill the Stars yet again, having me drive her (with our Sharks car flags waiving proudly) to Parker Rd Station to get her car and drive home.

As a final point, the last few days I've been using traffic.com (by navteq) to tell me how long it would take for me to get door to door from work to home at 6:30pm and 7:00pm central time (usual time I will leave work for home). It said anywhere from 28-31 minutes door to door. In California with a 15 mile commute and 25 mile commute I was averaging 45 minutes at 6:30pm, 40 mins at 7pm. I had to discover back roads to even try to cut that to 35 minutes, or at least keep it 45 minutes but better psychologically (if you keep moving you feel better than stop and go the whole way). I don't see how I'll never enjoy my house if I enjoyed my apt in Cali except for the fact that it was tiny, no home theater, no room to breathe, etc.

Finally living in FIOS territory was a huge consideration for us. Just being in the Bay Area it killed us that in our lifetime FIOS would never come [because Verizon only builds where it is the local telco and almost all of the Bay Area is AT&T territory and few Verizon spots, Verizon has decided not to build FIOS there] and the only Fiber to the Premises provider, Paxio, is only in a few subdivisions/apts in San Jose, Santa Clara, Emeryville, Oakland, and Brentwood. We want that 50 megabits down / 20 megabits up. As silly as it sounds to some of you, it would kill us to only be a few miles away from it and not be able to get it. We'd live in McKinney or even a bit further out if we could get 100 megabits down / 100 megabits up, which some people do get in sparse places in the United States. I'd cancel my contact now on the Wylie home if we could get those internet speeds with a commute of 50 miles or less each way.

My whole point for chiming in was to give perspective from another California transplant to a potential California transplant.

[pappy97]

To the OP:

Here are some listings of Wylie houses in the 100-150k range. I have limited it to houses that are at least 3 bedroom / 2 bath, and built this decade.

321 Stephanie St, Wylie, TX 75098 MLS# 11298109 - Property Details

219 Cloudcroft Dr, Wylie, TX 75098 MLS# 11157688 - Property Details

301 Lakefront Dr, Wylie, TX 75098 MLS# 11023033 - Property Details

717 Valley Mills Dr, Wylie, TX 75098 MLS# 11238934 - Property Details

Jobs in Dallas would be anywhere from 15-25 miles away, but there are employment opps in Plano too, which would be 10 or less miles away. I've been doing my homework on this for months. Just sayin...

[pappy97]

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

6 bedrooms and 3600 sq ft..................... what are the actual sizes of the bedrooms including the master?

Master = 14 x 16
Bdrm 2 = 16 x 12
Bdrm 3 = 13 x 12
Bdrm 4, 5, 6 = 14 x 12

Plus a room for home theater and 14 x 11 study. Builder was Centrex (Birmingham Farms subdivision in Wylie).

Not bad IMHO. Even better when you consider it's just my wife, myself, and our cat.

[pepper131]

Yikes!

I have friends (family of 3) with a 4/3 4100 sq ft with 3 floors and they are selling because they only use half of their house.

Enjoy all your space.

[Grainraiser]

Back to the original poster. You can certainly find a newer house in the 150k price range. You just want find it in the northern burbs. You would need to look at the southern burbs or the eastern portion of Mesquite to find something fairly close to Dallas. Homes in the northern burbs go for premium pricing due to the location. Anyone who thinks you can't find a nice 4 bedroom home in a good neighborhood for 150k is comparing everything to the northern burbs. Your bang for buck housing is not located in north.

[pappy97]

Originally Posted by Grainraiser

Your bang for buck housing is not located in north.

...except Wylie, which to me seems to be a North burb, where there is exceptional value to have, as I've just demonstrated. Ditto goes for Sashse and Rowlett, but I've been advised by many people to stay away from any area that feeds to Garland schools, but that only matters if you have kids or plan to have kids.