MOVING TO TEXAS??? should I ? (Dallas, Fort Worth: sales, apartment, rentals)

[donavin629]

Hey everyone.

I might have an opportunity to move to Texas from NJ.

All of us are getting laid off here at work.. they gave all our jobs to Costa Rica… nice right…. Makes me so mad…. Anyway..i have been hearing a lot of good things about Texas and that’s where my home office would be.. in Dallas.. so I am thinking of moving around the fort worth or Arlington area…. From what I see the cost of living is so much cheaper..which would be great… but im sure my utilities like electric would cost more because I would have to run the AC 24/7 because I have a dog.. this concerns me a little.

What other items are cheaper out there.. food.. bars..etc?

Also currently I live right next to a lake and love it.. are their lakes close by where I would be able to go out on a boat with friends and hang out.. or do some fishing.

Living by the lake is about the only thing holding me back from going to texas.. I love havin parties out on the boat all day and night.

Thanks in advance for any advice you guys can give me.

Take care

Donavin

[drjones96]

There are lots of lakes around the DFW area. Some offer residential space on the water. About the only one I've really been around is Lake Weatherford (small lake....old houses)

I think you'll find that most everything will be less expensive here than in NJ. You may be right about electricity being higher here. To give you an idea my wife keeps the Thermostat on about 75F at home during the day because she doesn't tolerate heat well. Our electric bills from TXU range from about $275 to $350. We have an average billing plan that takes the average over the last three months to give you a composite bill for the current month. Otherwise my August electric bill would be as high as $500.

[blnkndufus]

can I ask how big is your house?

Also, NJ property tax is high (used to live there until I moved to DE and now moving to TX) but so is TX. That is the only thing that I don't like abt TX is the property tax. With 5 kids, we need a big house so we are still looking and really can not wait to get to TX!!!!!!

[artcgal]

There are plenty of lakes here in Texas. Where we live it is called, "Lake Country"...Eagle Mountain Lake, Marine Creek Lake, and Lake Worth. However...it is quite a distance from Dallas...I wouldn't want to drive from this area of Fort Worth to Dallas everyday due to the traffic.

As far as cost of food and bars? I can't compare it to NJ because I have never been there, and I don't go to bars. But, I do know the prices of groceries seem to be getting higher and higher because of the gas prices. We hit $100 easily each time we go to the market! I do know, however...the cost of food is comparable to that of Cleveland, Ohio (if that helps any).

We JUST moved into a new home...so, we will see what our electric bill is going to be. In our old house, which was half the size...our bill averaged about $185 in the normal summers, and $120 in the cooler months. I'm anticipating it to be 2x the amount (just to be safe). This year it has been cooler than most...so, our bills at our old house have only been the same amount has usual (around $120...although, we did have a month that was under $100).

Good luck with your decision!

[donavin629]

thanks everyone for the help so far... im taking a trip out to texas soon to check it out.. but i have heard nothing but great things about texas so far.. which is great.. only the weather seems to be the only negative thing said

[kt2le]

Don't let the weather bother you. Look at it this way - you'll be trading frigid winters for hot summers! And boating season here is 9 to 10 months or more so you'll enjoy being on one of the lakes. Everything's air conditioned, anyway, so you don't have to be out in the heat unless you choose to be - or unless you're on the lake, of course. But you can jump in the water there. Welcome!

[KewGee]

Isn't NJ very hot and humid in the summer? My folks used to live there and if I remember correctly, they said it was very hot. If that's so, I'm sure it doesn't last nearly as long as it does here. This summer has been great though with all the rain and cooler air, a rarity for sure.

[Roma]

There are Lots and Lots of Lakes in Texas. Especially around the Dallas Fort Worth area. You will have no problem finding a home on a lake here. I live in Granbury on lake Granbury. But if you are looking to live in the Dallas area, I would check out Lake Lewisville. There are several towns around Lake Lewisville that are near Dallas for your work. Off hand, there is Little Elm, Oak Point, Highland Village etc. There is way more then that but that is a start.

Oh, and we go out on our lake in Granbury year round. In the winter just wear a jacket. Our lakes don't freeze.

Good luck!

[beowulf7]

I lived my entire life in NJ until I moved to FW last year. I can make a lot of direct comparisons between NJ and TX (at least FW part of TX). In a nutshell, everything pretty much costs the same, but housing is about twice as cheap. Apartment rentals are much cheaper, too, however, some "luxury" apts. here in FW are almost as expensive as nicer apts. in NJ.

I'll have to write back more in this thread when I get a chance to compare the 2 states non-monetarily. Note that I never owned a home in NJ, so I can't directly compare property tax costs, etc. But I know many people who own homes in NJ and it's more expensive there than here. One nice benefit, financially, is that TX has not state income tax, so that's like adding ~4% to your salary. Sure, sales tax is 1.25% here, but if you buy on-line, you can minimize that difference.

Good luck in your decision.

[jfre81]

You can still fry an egg on the concrete prairies of the "Garden" State in August, yet here it's not likely you can make ice by filling an icetray with water and setting it on the front porch in January.

There are two types of Texans - ones who were born here and ones who got here as fast as they can.

Welcome.