Thinking of moving outside of Ft Worth from MO (Houston: rentals, crime rate)

[caturpilar]

Hello all, I've been reading these forums for about a month now and decided to register. My wife and I are thinking of moving somewhere outside the DFW area like Ranger, Garland etc. We would have to rent a home since we have 2 homes here we are paying on, I've found tons of rentals on craigslist the problem I am having is employment. I currently work for Caterpillar rebuilding engines, transmissions and pumps. 8 years in the Marine Corps working on Heavy Equipment. I currently make around 45k a year. I've searched job boards, but believe not all jobs are posted on those. Also my wife has a B.S. in Psychology and will be going back to school to get here Masters in teaching. She has worked as a director for a daycare, para professional, county juvinile corrections and is currently a substitute teacher. Any help would be great. I'd prefer to work outside of Fort Worth, I'm not a fan of big cities.

[$DFW8$]

Originally Posted by caturpilar

Hello all, I've been reading these forums for about a month now and decided to register. My wife and I are thinking of moving somewhere outside the DFW area like Ranger, Garland etc. We would have to rent a home since we have 2 homes here we are paying on, I've found tons of rentals on craigslist the problem I am having is employment. I currently work for Caterpillar rebuilding engines, transmissions and pumps. 8 years in the Marine Corps working on Heavy Equipment. I currently make around 45k a year. I've searched job boards, but believe not all jobs are posted on those. Also my wife has a B.S. in Psychology and will be going back to school to get here Masters in teaching. She has worked as a director for a daycare, para professional, county juvinile corrections and is currently a substitute teacher. Any help would be great. I'd prefer to work outside of Fort Worth, I'm not a fan of big cities.

Ranger is way outside of Fort Worth over in rural Erath County. You go through Ranger Hill on I-20. It is probably a little too far out than what you are wanting. Garland is a big Dallas suburb not too far from downtown Dallas with a population of about 250,000. If you are wanting something close to Fort Worth, but not too big, then really neither one of those will work. I'd suggest looking at some of the Fort Worth suburbs that are good size, but not like Garland, like Decatur, Weatherford, Aledo, Burleson, etc. Or you can also check into some of the smaller Dallas suburbs.

[ChristieP]

Ranger?!? You've got to be kidding. Ranger started dying about 30 years ago when the oil field there dried out, and it is still on the way down. They have a HUGE drug/methamphetamine problem, and the crime rate is actually pretty high for such a small town. It's also quite a distance from Fort Worth, so if you were thinking of commuting into town for work, you'd spend a LOT of time on I-20...

DFW8 suggests MUCH better places to live. I agree that Garland is not a rural place at all...

[caturpilar]

Thanks for your replies. I really have no idea about any of the towns in that area all I know is what I read on their demographics. The town I live in now has a pop. of around 70k, too big for me. I'm a rodeo fan so that's why I chose the DFW area. The only problem is housing prices. Once I can get one of my houses sold, I plan on buying another. All the reading I have done suggests getting at leas 40 min away from FW. I grew up in Pasadena as a kid and I think we moved around but the only thing I remember about TX was chasing lizards on the front porch and scaring my mom with them. Thanks again, the TX folks posting on here are very cordial.

[caturpilar]

After looking over much of the mid to northern half of tx, I think my wife and I will try abilene. They have a Caterpillar dealership there where I could probably find work. All the things I've read on here about Abilene suggest it is a decent size town with friendly folks. My wife is very community oriented and that appeals to her. With our 3 kids from 7-13 she is always involved in the PTA, teaching Sunday school, youth sports, dance, school book fairs etc. I just want to live in TX! Cost of living in Abilene seem to fit our lifestyle as well.

[Hi Horse]

I have lived in Texas all my life. Raised in Tyler, lived in Houston, Arlington and Fort Worth. If I had a choice right now I would go to San Antiono. Better than Austin on house prices and not as clogged. You are an hour and 1/2 from Corpus and that means GREAT fishing and beaches you are surrounded by lakes in the hill country and the place is bigenough to pay well but small enough to not have too long of a commute in. Everything you could want is there. Educational opportunities abound.

Abilene, Witcha Falls, Lubbock always made me think of kissing your sister, just not very exciting. Fort Worth is pretty mobile, only 35W is in trouble for traffic, Houston and Dallas are about the same...clogged! 80mph to 0 for no apparent reason. Garland is just more of Dallas. If it were not for the signs you would never know the difference. BTW on the gulf coast if you leave a coke botle in the yard over night it will rust.

[caturpilar]

Never thought of San Antonio. How are the people there? Friendly? I want to be able to be mowing my grass and see my neighbor out and stop and chat with him, maybe share a beer. We would like to have a tight community where we end up.

[nsumner]

Finding a place to live will not be a problem. You may want to concentrate on where your job is so you don't end up spending too much time researching a particular area and then having to move somewhere else.

May be you want to check a couple of headhunters in different markets. Monster and careerbuilder are good sites for jobs...

Good luck,

Naima

[Hi Horse]

Originally Posted by caturpilar

Never thought of San Antonio. How are the people there? Friendly? I want to be able to be mowing my grass and see my neighbor out and stop and chat with him, maybe share a beer. We would like to have a tight community where we end up.

After you settle on a comunity, the real research begins if you have children, quality of public school districts vary widely. The people are great, very Texas friendly. Lots of openings for diesel guys too. Better thing of listening to Spanish tapes to learn the language, especially your wife.

[$DFW8$]

Originally Posted by caturpilar

Never thought of San Antonio. How are the people there? Friendly? I want to be able to be mowing my grass and see my neighbor out and stop and chat with him, maybe share a beer. We would like to have a tight community where we end up.

You do know that there is places like that here in the DFW area. No need to go way off to Abilene. And as far as getting a job, you will have much better luck here because the job market is still pretty good here compared to other areas that have been hit hard by the economy.