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I usually am anti Texas, but I think you might find it great. My sister is moving to Texas City, Texas, and buying a house for 104,000 dollars. That was like... Get a great aircondition and Welcome to Texas
Sberdrow -
I thought this was a very good response - gives the perspective of a person struggling with the change. TX is different than CA (I'm brilliant, eh? Call me Captain Obvious).
To possibly give a little more insight, what city do you live in?
And I know I've said this a bazillion times before, but when moving from CA to TX, there is one financial thing that you should take into account. Just because an entry home in your area of CA is $1M, don't think that you have to buy a $500K or even a $400K home in Texas. There's this "percentage of income spent on housing" thing that is a little skewed from people moving from California. 40-50% of your income spent on housing is not necessary to get a really nice home here. Look at $200-300K homes, you can get quite a bit here for that range (don't even have to spend that much, just using it as an example). You also need to keep in mind that due to the heat, the utility bills can be pretty high. Cooling a 4000 sq ft home will cost 2x more compared to a 2000 sq ft home. Only buy what you need. Try to resist the wants.
Moving from CA to TX and looking at real estate is like giving a kid $50 bucks and shoving them in a candy store...
Moving from CA to TX and looking at real estate is like giving a kid $50 bucks and shoving them in a candy store...
Brian
This is so true!! It wasn't the original plan, but I'm so glad that we waited 3 years to buy. It gave us time to get acclimated to the area's prices, and allowed us to form our own opinions about neighborhoods instead of listening to coworkers' and relatives' prejudices. Thank heavens SMU started a video game programming school (for hubby, not me ) or it might not have worked out as it did.
I thought this was a very good response - gives the perspective of a person struggling with the change. TX is different than CA (I'm brilliant, eh? Call me Captain Obvious).
To possibly give a little more insight, what city do you live in?
And I know I've said this a bazillion times before, but when moving from CA to TX, there is one financial thing that you should take into account. Just because an entry home in your area of CA is $1M, don't think that you have to buy a $500K or even a $400K home in Texas. There's this "percentage of income spent on housing" thing that is a little skewed from people moving from California. 40-50% of your income spent on housing is not necessary to get a really nice home here. Look at $200-300K homes, you can get quite a bit here for that range (don't even have to spend that much, just using it as an example). You also need to keep in mind that due to the heat, the utility bills can be pretty high. Cooling a 4000 sq ft home will cost 2x more compared to a 2000 sq ft home. Only buy what you need. Try to resist the wants.
Moving from CA to TX and looking at real estate is like giving a kid $50 bucks and shoving them in a candy store...
Brian
Why thank you Brian. To your quesiton, I lived in Austin and now reside in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I did not move from Cali, but I did move from Washinton, and it may have been more like 25 dollars to the kid in the candy store. But it was fun being picky between one 2500 SQFT home and another.
I thought this was a very good response - gives the perspective of a person struggling with the change. TX is different than CA (I'm brilliant, eh? Call me Captain Obvious).
To possibly give a little more insight, what city do you live in?
And I know I've said this a bazillion times before, but when moving from CA to TX, there is one financial thing that you should take into account. Just because an entry home in your area of CA is $1M, don't think that you have to buy a $500K or even a $400K home in Texas. There's this "percentage of income spent on housing" thing that is a little skewed from people moving from California. 40-50% of your income spent on housing is not necessary to get a really nice home here. Look at $200-300K homes, you can get quite a bit here for that range (don't even have to spend that much, just using it as an example). You also need to keep in mind that due to the heat, the utility bills can be pretty high. Cooling a 4000 sq ft home will cost 2x more compared to a 2000 sq ft home. Only buy what you need. Try to resist the wants.
Moving from CA to TX and looking at real estate is like giving a kid $50 bucks and shoving them in a candy store...
Brian
You can buy a nice home in a great area of CA with excellent schools for around 600k (I know, I just sold one, and prices continue to come down from there). For a mill, you get something similar to the high quality semi-custom homes built new up north. I'd say the ratio is 3:1 cost comparing say San Diego to North Dallas
The catch is that the prop taxes are alot higher, so if you come here and buy a 600k home, your property taxes completly erase the cost of living advantage (can you say 16k per year in prop taxes!) If you stay around 300k, it's a nice trade-off.
You can buy a nice home in a great area of CA with excellent schools for around 600k (I know, I just sold one, and prices continue to come down from there). For a mill, you get something similar to the high quality semi-custom homes built new up north. I'd say the ratio is 3:1 cost comparing say San Diego to North Dallas
The catch is that the prop taxes are alot higher, so if you come here and buy a 600k home, your property taxes completly erase the cost of living advantage (can you say 16k per year in prop taxes!) If you stay around 300k, it's a nice trade-off.
Keep in mind that same house that is $600,000 in TX will be 3X that in Cali...other cost of living factors are much higher in Cali too, all forms of energy including gasoline, are higher. Food, clothing, etc... the list goes on... Not bashing Cali just pointing some things out. And you are not guaranteed good schools in Cali when you live in an upscale neighborhood.
California schools in general are bottom of the barrel..that is just a fact.
MBG
The unfortunate fact about California municipal services is... theyare subpar.
The relatively high property tax you pay for a $600,000 house in Cali, compared to a $200,000 Dallas house, buys you less in services. Cali costs are higher, and that includes the cost of providing public services such as police, fire, water, schools.
Last edited by aceplace; 06-15-2007 at 01:52 AM..
Reason: minor misspelling
The unfortunate fact about California municipal services is... theyare subpar.
The relatively high property tax you pay for a $600,000 house in Cali, compared to a $200,000 Dallas house, buys you less in services. Cali costs are higher, and that includes the cost of providing public services such as police, fire, water, schools.
I know, I know....I need to develop calluses to all the scares. Especially before my family moves out. I'm just getting it out of my system.
It's hard because I came from a place where nobody even thought about the weather.
I'm a transplanted Texan...moved from Ohio to Fort Worth in 1996. I was a bit frightened at first of the threat of tornadoes. BUT...you have to keep in mind that there ARE warnings! You know in advance when/if a tornado is heading your way and you can take cover. Most cities have warning sirens...and, they definitely CAN be heard (at least in our area). Also, the news channels have plenty of spotters and state-of-the-art equipment to let us know where rotation is, and where the biggest threats are at.
Just this year with all of the threats...the news definitely did a great job! About a month ago during one of the storms, the minute we heard "rotation over Heritage Trace area"...we knew to grab the mattress and bunker down in the center hallway. We did get pounded with hail...but, no tornado.
I'm a transplanted Texan...moved from Ohio to Fort Worth in 1996. I was a bit frightened at first of the threat of tornadoes. BUT...you have to keep in mind that there ARE warnings! You know in advance when/if a tornado is heading your way and you can take cover. Most cities have warning sirens...and, they definitely CAN be heard (at least in our area). Also, the news channels have plenty of spotters and state-of-the-art equipment to let us know where rotation is, and where the biggest threats are at.
Just this year with all of the threats...the news definitely did a great job! About a month ago during one of the storms, the minute we heard "rotation over Heritage Trace area"...we knew to grab the mattress and bunker down in the center hallway. We did get pounded with hail...but, no tornado.
I hope this puts you a bit at ease!!
We were going to move to the Keller area. All the builders said they lived there all thier lives, some where in the area that is. They all claimed that they never saw a tornadoe in the area. Well, I moved to Austin at the time, and as soon as I moved a tornadoe came ripping thru the areas that the folks said they never saw one. Watch out for people trying to sell you something. You can not exactly trust them. They also said it gets to only around 100 at tops here in Texas, well, maybe the dope forgot about internet research. You would be amazed the crap Ive heard. Texas is texas for what its worth, and has alot going for it. Don't move here for the nice weather. Move there for the nice people, houseing prices, and DAMN good food.
You can buy a nice home in a great area of CA with excellent schools for around 600k (I know, I just sold one, and prices continue to come down from there). For a mill, you get something similar to the high quality semi-custom homes built new up north. I'd say the ratio is 3:1 cost comparing say San Diego to North Dallas
The catch is that the prop taxes are alot higher, so if you come here and buy a 600k home, your property taxes completly erase the cost of living advantage (can you say 16k per year in prop taxes!) If you stay around 300k, it's a nice trade-off.
I say this all the time, and you elude to it here then falter on the logic. If the ratio is 3:1, and you were happy with a $600K home in CA, why would you need three times more home in TX? To make an apples-to-appleas comparison, you need to compare equivalent homes. Price is irrelevant. A $200K home in TX is, by your admittance, comparable to a $600K home in CA:
- In TX, you'll pay $5000-5500 in taxes on a $200K home.
- In CA, you'll pay $6000 in taxes on a $600K home.
Since these two homes are comparable, you actually pay LESS in taxes in TX for the same type of home. Comparing a 1500 sq ft home in CA ($600K) to a 4500 sq ft home in TX ($600K) is apples-to-oranges.
Keep in mind a bigger home = bigger heating/cooling bills, more maintenance and my least favorite... more CLEANING!!! Also, so add that into your budget when shopping. As I always say, get what you NEED, not what you WANT and you'll do just fine and have lots left over to do renovations, take vacations and go to dinner/movies... those are the things that will improve your quality of life (IMO).
EXAMPLE:
There's two houses in my neighborhood of Lake Highlands (inside Dallas proper) for sale. It's inside the 635 loop and there's definitely some good things happening in the area (in 2010/2011, the Lake Highlands Town Center will be completed, which includes retail, small office space and residential... along with a new light rail station). One of the houses is ~2800 sq ft, but looks like it's in need of some updating; one is ~2200 sq ft and looks very nice, well maintained and updated (even has a metal roof - basically impervious to hail and lowers your cooling bills). Both homes are in the $275-280K range - if anyone is looking, they're both in the 75231 area code on Larkspur. We are also about 10 miles from downtown and have great freeway access (Central/75, I-635 and Northwest Highway are just minutes away). This is very affordable living "inside the loop". $101-120/sq ft (of course if you want to offer more, that's wonderful... push up my resale value please... haha). I can't imagine getting housing at this price anywhere this close to a major downtown area.
Brian
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) or it might not have worked out as it did.
