Left Jersey for Texas (Eatontown: houses, college, living in)

[JoeSo]

Originally Posted by New Jersey Texan

I left Eatontown,N.J. for Keller,Tx Aug.2005. Just packed up with my wife two kids four dogs and drove down. This was after walking away from a job that I had been at for 28 yrs. We sold our house for twice what we bought it for six years earlier. Now we live in a brand new house with no mortage and no real winter.

Congrats and good luck!

[NatasNJ]

How crazy. I could have written this post. I moved from South Jersey to Keller TX in 2006 (Aug). Bought the big house with a pool etc...

Fast forward to today. Moved back. Hated TX. Hated Keller. Hated it.
Now there was SURELY some positive things about the area such as awesome winters and such but overall Keller (North Texas in general) was not for the wife and I.

Keller is a little podunk area that is growing so fast. Its roads are horrible and the traffic is unbearable. Drive down 377 anytime of the day from Golden Traingle and it is a mess. 35W is a nightmare. 114W once you hit Southlake is a cluster bomb in terms of traffic. I felt so isolated in a little cocoon that it made me insane. Everything is a 5-20 minute drive. Can't walk anywhere. The neighborhoods are tract nightmares for the most part. No style or character. (though new and space is nice) Don't even get me started with the foundation/soil issues down there. And the food there (Italian/bread) is horrible.

Yes Keller has better witner weather (but the 4 month 100+ back in 2006 summer was worse than any winter in NJ). We miss Central Market in Southlake. They had killer produce which is way better than Whole Foods up here. Southlake Town Square was nice little area. We miss the Tex-Mex places. Don Pueblos doesn't even come close to comparing to all the places down there.
But that is about it. Not much positive down there.

[JoeSo]

How could the traffic possibly be worse than NJ...the most densely populated state?...Plus isn't it more laid back overall in TX? Those are the things I look for

[NatasNJ]

Originally Posted by JoeSo

How could the traffic possibly be worse than NJ...the most densely populated state?...Plus isn't it more laid back overall in TX? Those are the things I look for

Depends on where in NJ you live and where you drive. I live in South Jersey near Philadelphia area. So I can USUALLY naviagte the roads with little or NO traffic. But when I visit family on Long Island and once off the NJ turnpike then all hell breaks loose and you just STOP and wait...
South Jersey only has real traffic on 42 and parts of 295 and I avoid those like the plague.

TX is similar. Horrible traffic in spots but usually in all the bottleneck areas and there is no easy workaround. Also TX is basically ALL highways. Tons of them. Which sounds great but makes the smaller road cut throughs tougher to swing....

TX is WAY more laid back. If you like that style then it will be a plus for you. No question. But that annoyed me after awhile. I also hated the nice Southern personas. I think they are the fakest thing ever. Nice to your face and stab you in the back.

TX is great if you live near your work (BIG MUST THERE) want a large cheap house (watch out for foundation issues) and like Nascar or air shows or cattle shows. All of those are very popular down there. And their downtown city areas sucks. Downtown Dallas is all business and is a ghost town at night. Downtown Fort Worth is 9 blocks and cute but small and gets old quick.

And TX is urban sprawl at its finest. Never ending sea of houses. No town areas (shopping downtown type areas) walkable from 99% of houses, etc... Just very different layout and design down there.

The summers are bruttle usually and the fall/spring only last a few weeks combined. So you go from HOT SUMMER to mild from Nov - Mar with 2 weeks of COLD in there. So if you like 4 seasons it sucks. But wearing shorts year round is really nice if you like that style.

Kiss ANY good Italian food goodbye and get ready for every fast food chain in the world to appear on the side of the highways.

TONS of more SUV's & Trucks on the road there. Which is annoying. Then factor in I-35 as a MAJOR 18 wheeler route and that area is a nightmare.

More cons than pros for me. But if you like taking a boat out on the lake and watching Nascar you will love it.

[JoeSo]

Originally Posted by NatasNJ

Depends on where in NJ you live and where you drive. I live in South Jersey near Philadelphia area. So I can USUALLY naviagte the roads with little or NO traffic. But when I visit family on Long Island and once off the NJ turnpike then all hell breaks loose and you just STOP and wait...
South Jersey only has real traffic on 42 and parts of 295 and I avoid those like the plague.

TX is WAY more laid back. If you like that style then it will be a plus for you. No question. But that annoyed me after awhile. I also hated the nice Southern personas. I think they are the fakest thing ever. Nice to your face and stab you in the back.


TONS of more SUV's & Trucks on the road there. Which is annoying. Then factor in I-35 as a MAJOR 18 wheeler route and that area is a nightmare.

More cons than pros for me. But if you like taking a boat out on the lake and watching Nascar you will love it.

As far as south Jersey I'm not sure if you only travel 42 & 295 but there are more roads than that that get traffic here! Perhaps it's all the trucks in TX that slow traffic down there,here it's just the volume that's sickening.

And as far as people in TX being 'fake' and 'stabbing you in the back'...I actually look at that as them having enough manners not to just straight out 'stab you in the front' like in NJ

[NatasNJ]

Originally Posted by JoeSo

As far as south Jersey I'm not sure if you only travel 42 & 295 but there are more roads than that that get traffic here! Perhaps it's all the trucks in TX that slow traffic down there,here it's just the volume that's sickening.

And as far as people in TX being 'fake' and 'stabbing you in the back'...I actually look at that as them having enough manners not to just straight out 'stab you in the front' like in NJ

I disagree 100% on the stabbing thing. I rather someone be honest with me and blunt even if offensive then to LIE to me and talk behind my back. No question about that....


Yeah there is some traffic on Rt 70 and other areas. But TX BLOWS all of that away. No doubt. I think comparing traffic on 295 & 42 is not fair either. TX is that much worse than those areas. If you live in Fort Worth/Keller and work in Dallas area (30-40 miles) your commute is easily 90 minutes to 120 minutes depending on time. And the # of people in the DFW region is sickening. You will see.

The crazy thing there is at 6am their roads are already starting to get cluttered. Here at that time it seems to be just starting to see cars. And drive there at 2am and there is still TONS of traffic on roads (moving typically but tons of people out) where here things seem to die down eventually.

Move there and you will see what I am talking about. I would come home from work and REFUSE to leave my house until after 8pm because of traffic. NEVER feel that way here.

[JoeSo]

Originally Posted by NatasNJ

Yeah there is some traffic on Rt 70 and other areas. But TX BLOWS all of that away. No doubt. I think comparing traffic on 295 & 42 is not fair either. TX is that much worse than those areas. If you live in Fort Worth/Keller and work in Dallas area (30-40 miles) your commute is easily 90 minutes to 120 minutes depending on time. And the # of people in the DFW region is sickening. You will see.

The crazy thing there is at 6am their roads are already starting to get cluttered. Here at that time it seems to be just starting to see cars. And drive there at 2am and there is still TONS of traffic on roads (moving typically but tons of people out) where here things seem to die down eventually.

Move there and you will see what I am talking about. I would come home from work and REFUSE to leave my house until after 8pm because of traffic. NEVER feel that way here.

Oh I do Perhaps it's also a psychological thing with me too,I know that being NJ is the most densely populated state there's going to be traffic no matter where I go...in TX once you get out of the city it's all open...

[NatasNJ]

Originally Posted by JoeSo

Oh I do Perhaps it's also a psychological thing with me too,I know that being NJ is the most densely populated state there's going to be traffic no matter where I go...in TX once you get out of the city it's all open...

Yes. Once you leave the URBAN Sprawl towns that surround the metroplex there is open roads. Have fun out in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do in 100 degree heat. If that is your bag then you will love it. But I am sure you can accomplish that in lots of other places outside North Texas and do better. Heck outside Austin or San Antonio is more appealing.

Oh yeah DFW has no beaches anywhere close by and the same goes for mountains. It has to be the dullest landscape area in the world.
2 more reasons it sucks.

[JoeSo]

If I was looking for beaches nearby I wouldn't consider DFW...it would probably have to be Houston or Corpus Christi. Although it'd be for the wife b/c I don't care for water or flooding

[New Jersey Texan]

You specifically negelected to mention how much cheaper housing is here in Texas than it is in Jersey! Isn't it a major consideration that you are going to be paying at least half the price for a house then you would be in Jersey.
The wheather is a big perk. I just saw for the past 2 weeks in Eatontown that it was 35 degrees. It was 70 here! No complaints from me. I don't have a problem with hot weather all summer. The more hot weather the better.
Having sunny days everyday is infinitely better than cloudly cold weather that you get in Jersey.
Still in Keller and appreciating the fact
that we don't have a mortage.