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Old 10-13-2015, 04:41 PM
 
19 posts, read 38,150 times
Reputation: 24

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Need some feedback:

The # 1 reason we are considering this is namely the cost of housing, and the value you get per dollar here vs. there.

Example: In Los Angeles/San Diego, $ 500k here gets you a 950 sq.ft., 2 bed/1ba. built in the late 50's on a 6,000 sq.ft. lot if you are lucky.

I don't have to tell you all what we could get there for the same amount...which has us daydreaming all about it.

I have spoken to one connection that says there is no place like Texas, and we should make the jump.

We are both 36 with a 6 year old daughter, and we think that IF we were to do something like this, this late in life, we should do it now within the next few years.

My career is entrenched within the construction industry, and my biggest concern would be the market activity there for the next 5-10 years, vs. here in Los Angeles where it is BOOMING, and will probably continue for 15 years after a new football stadium is built.

The short amount of researched i have conducted shows strong economic outlook for Texas for quite some time, but how do the people who live there feel? Confident?

Also, we are a biracial family (my wife is Filipino, and daughter obviously half), and wanted to know the perception of this in Texas. It may sound like a dumb question, but growing up here in So.Cal., this is the norm.

Any/all feedback is greatly appreciated, and I thank you for your time.
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Old 10-13-2015, 07:14 PM
 
234 posts, read 289,271 times
Reputation: 350
Construction is strong in Texas. Contrary to popular belief, we are not totally dependent on the price of oil.

Plenty of ex Kalifornian's have come to Texas for the same reasons you mention. Many are happy. Many are mad that Texas isn't like the People's Republic of Kalifornia, and try to change us. We don't like that.

You are welcome to come. But this is Texas, and we plan to keep it that way.
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Old 10-13-2015, 07:33 PM
 
Location: Upper Kirby, Houston, TX
1,347 posts, read 1,806,139 times
Reputation: 1018
Houston feels like LA in a lot of ways, but in others they seem like they're in different countries. However, with that being said, I think you would overall like Houston. It doesn't have as many tourist attractions or beautiful geography, but it is a very large metropolitan city with many of the same amenities that you've come to expect when living in LA. 500k could get you a 3,000-3,500 sq ft closer into town, (but you'd have to go private more than likely), or could get a 4,500-5,000 sq ft mcmansion out in the burbs where the public schools are good.

I understand that LA is booming as I have seen it myself traveling there for work a lot this year, however, the amount of construction has actually been higher if you can believe that. There's numerous articles you can check online for 2013, 2014, and early 2015 where it states that's the case, like this one. Houston has been going crazy construction-wise the past few years, and will for the foreseeable future, (I count 12 cranes in the downtown area and can see 4 cranes alone from just my balcony in Montrose/Upper Kirby). A lot of investors got spooked right when oil dropped, but are now seeing that the city has resiliently kept growing in the face of the downturn and are back. Not to mention if you catch the right time of the next boom, there's all types of fortunes to be had in the right careers. So I would say Houston, and really any large Texas city for the foreseeable future will be a good career for someone in the construction industry. Houston to me seems it's finally entered that cycle where boom or not it will always have some construction going on, like Chicago and NYC were in the early 20th century.

Lastly, it's possible that in some country bumpkin towns way out in the middle of nowhere you can find some bigotry towards people of biracial or minority descent, but you could say that's true of almost any state in the country including California. Houston itself is technically more diverse than NYC by nationality, even though NYC still feels way more culturally diverse. Point being, race will not be an issue at all in Houston, or any of the other Texas cities for that matter.

I'd suggest visiting several times to get a feel for how the city compares to your current lifestyle. If you have family/friends in the area you can stay with an extended amount of time, say 1-2 weeks, even better.
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Old 10-13-2015, 07:36 PM
 
5,462 posts, read 3,007,154 times
Reputation: 3271
Quote:
Originally Posted by So.Cal. To TX View Post
Need some feedback:

The # 1 reason we are considering this is namely the cost of housing, and the value you get per dollar here vs. there.

Example: In Los Angeles/San Diego, $ 500k here gets you a 950 sq.ft., 2 bed/1ba. built in the late 50's on a 6,000 sq.ft. lot if you are lucky.

I don't have to tell you all what we could get there for the same amount...which has us daydreaming all about it.

.

Where in Texas do you want to come? Becuase for 500k you can get a 4000 sq ft on 5 acre lot in the outskirts of Houston or nothing at all in some areas inside Houston.
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Old 10-13-2015, 10:55 PM
 
Location: Arlington
641 posts, read 795,230 times
Reputation: 720
Don't go to Houston expecting it to be like LA and you will be fine. TX is a great place to live/work. TX is comfortable in it's own skin. I'll say this though. If you want a relative comparison: The most LA like city in TX is Houston. Ex: Large land mass, Cosmopolitan, diverse (even more so than LA-look it up), Not on the water but closest big city to it (don't get too excited b/c the view of the gulf is nothing to phone home about)

The 2nd most LA like would be the DFW area. Particularly the sprawl and collection of small cities making up a metro. Also, lots of pretentious peeps. I'd consider Dallas to be the more "NY like" city of the two though. (again, nothing like NY, not even close just saying most NY like in TX b/c of transportation, plus its downtown/uptown brick like and gritty vibe... plus Dallas's population density exceeds Houston).

Austin is the more liberal, hipster type of place. Great for tech and yuppies. That would be the more Silicon Valley like place in TX. Austin is definitely the more liberal of the three, followed by Dallas, and then Houston. One huge difference will be the weather. It's freakinnn hot here!

Overall Houston is a great city. I live in Dallas and I'm jealous (not going to lie). I'm a TX transplant too. Houston (the city) always get's compared to Dallas (the metro). City to City, Houston wins! City to Metro is an unfair comparison but the fact that it happens all the time is evidence of why Houston is so awesome! I like the diversity and closeness to the water which is why I'm jealous. And I'm talking about real diversity. Not the stuff you see in other cities. Those cities, like LA Dallas Miami Chicago Atl, are diverse as a whole but neighborhoods are very segregated. In Houston, it is truly diverse. Everyone lives amongst everyone with the exception of a few areas of course. It's awesome. 25% blk, 25% white, 43% hispanic, 6% asian.... lot of intermixing... check the race dot map.. Houston is great!
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Old 10-14-2015, 08:24 AM
 
19 posts, read 38,150 times
Reputation: 24
Thank you for the responses everyone.. very insightful!

We are pretty much done with California to be honest. I grew up in Washington State in the mountainous woods, and my wife in the Phillipines, so we both come from backgrounds of open spaces, land, farms..etc. We want a BIG house in the burbs, where our daughter can have a big safe yard to play in, and we can have the quality of life we expect.

We both moved to San Diego around the same age of 18ish, and have been in So.Cal. ever since. I moved down here to be a professional motocross racer (clearly did not work out), and she came with her family for more prosperity.

We do not expect Texas to be like L.A. or California at all, which is what we are looking forward too. We want more liberty, personal freedom and better public schools who do not push the liberal agenda.

Everything sounds great people thank you very much!
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Old 10-14-2015, 08:25 AM
 
19 posts, read 38,150 times
Reputation: 24
Quote:
Originally Posted by curbur View Post
Houston feels like LA in a lot of ways, but in others they seem like they're in different countries. However, with that being said, I think you would overall like Houston. It doesn't have as many tourist attractions or beautiful geography, but it is a very large metropolitan city with many of the same amenities that you've come to expect when living in LA. 500k could get you a 3,000-3,500 sq ft closer into town, (but you'd have to go private more than likely), or could get a 4,500-5,000 sq ft mcmansion out in the burbs where the public schools are good.

I understand that LA is booming as I have seen it myself traveling there for work a lot this year, however, the amount of construction has actually been higher if you can believe that. There's numerous articles you can check online for 2013, 2014, and early 2015 where it states that's the case, like this one. Houston has been going crazy construction-wise the past few years, and will for the foreseeable future, (I count 12 cranes in the downtown area and can see 4 cranes alone from just my balcony in Montrose/Upper Kirby). A lot of investors got spooked right when oil dropped, but are now seeing that the city has resiliently kept growing in the face of the downturn and are back. Not to mention if you catch the right time of the next boom, there's all types of fortunes to be had in the right careers. So I would say Houston, and really any large Texas city for the foreseeable future will be a good career for someone in the construction industry. Houston to me seems it's finally entered that cycle where boom or not it will always have some construction going on, like Chicago and NYC were in the early 20th century.

Lastly, it's possible that in some country bumpkin towns way out in the middle of nowhere you can find some bigotry towards people of biracial or minority descent, but you could say that's true of almost any state in the country including California. Houston itself is technically more diverse than NYC by nationality, even though NYC still feels way more culturally diverse. Point being, race will not be an issue at all in Houston, or any of the other Texas cities for that matter.

I'd suggest visiting several times to get a feel for how the city compares to your current lifestyle. If you have family/friends in the area you can stay with an extended amount of time, say 1-2 weeks, even better.
Great feedback, thank you very much-

Towercranes tell all in terms of construction activity....good sign.
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Old 10-14-2015, 08:26 AM
 
19 posts, read 38,150 times
Reputation: 24
Quote:
Originally Posted by 77030 View Post
Construction is strong in Texas. Contrary to popular belief, we are not totally dependent on the price of oil.

Plenty of ex Kalifornian's have come to Texas for the same reasons you mention. Many are happy. Many are mad that Texas isn't like the People's Republic of Kalifornia, and try to change us. We don't like that.

You are welcome to come. But this is Texas, and we plan to keep it that way.
-

We are coming to get away from this overpriced Disneyland B.S.

(we love Disneyland, but the Park and Hollywood keep the housing prices waaay over inflated.)
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Old 10-14-2015, 08:27 AM
 
19 posts, read 38,150 times
Reputation: 24
Quote:
Originally Posted by curbur View Post
Houston feels like LA in a lot of ways, but in others they seem like they're in different countries. However, with that being said, I think you would overall like Houston. It doesn't have as many tourist attractions or beautiful geography, but it is a very large metropolitan city with many of the same amenities that you've come to expect when living in LA. 500k could get you a 3,000-3,500 sq ft closer into town, (but you'd have to go private more than likely), or could get a 4,500-5,000 sq ft mcmansion out in the burbs where the public schools are good.

I understand that LA is booming as I have seen it myself traveling there for work a lot this year, however, the amount of construction has actually been higher if you can believe that. There's numerous articles you can check online for 2013, 2014, and early 2015 where it states that's the case, like this one. Houston has been going crazy construction-wise the past few years, and will for the foreseeable future, (I count 12 cranes in the downtown area and can see 4 cranes alone from just my balcony in Montrose/Upper Kirby). A lot of investors got spooked right when oil dropped, but are now seeing that the city has resiliently kept growing in the face of the downturn and are back. Not to mention if you catch the right time of the next boom, there's all types of fortunes to be had in the right careers. So I would say Houston, and really any large Texas city for the foreseeable future will be a good career for someone in the construction industry. Houston to me seems it's finally entered that cycle where boom or not it will always have some construction going on, like Chicago and NYC were in the early 20th century.

Lastly, it's possible that in some country bumpkin towns way out in the middle of nowhere you can find some bigotry towards people of biracial or minority descent, but you could say that's true of almost any state in the country including California. Houston itself is technically more diverse than NYC by nationality, even though NYC still feels way more culturally diverse. Point being, race will not be an issue at all in Houston, or any of the other Texas cities for that matter.

I'd suggest visiting several times to get a feel for how the city compares to your current lifestyle. If you have family/friends in the area you can stay with an extended amount of time, say 1-2 weeks, even better.
Excellent feedback...thank you so much-

Going to share all fo this with my wife.
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Old 10-14-2015, 08:32 AM
 
19 posts, read 38,150 times
Reputation: 24
Quote:
Originally Posted by shanv3 View Post
Where in Texas do you want to come? Becuase for 500k you can get a 4000 sq ft on 5 acre lot in the outskirts of Houston or nothing at all in some areas inside Houston.
Going to Texas to go BIG my friend.
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