Family Relocating from Orlando, FL (San Antonio, Austin: fit in, apartment, rental homes)

[EWoodall]

I have to start with a smiley face just cause I'm so ready to get the hell outta Orlando.

Husband is finished with the Military late this year - 2016.
We're in our early 30's, family of 2 boys under the age of 10.
He's been with law enforcement more specifically ( Corrections ) for over 6 years now, and want to continue in that field when we move out there.

Austin is his #1 choice mainly cause of Pay, but San Antonio is mine, cause of Low budget living.
We've been stationed in El Paso, TX for 4 years -- Wish we never left TX to come back to Florida, but now we have the opportunity to move back to Texas permanently.
We've narrowed it down to wanting to be anywhere between Austin and San Antonio, but can't decide.
We'll come visit before we make the big move, but we'd like some input;
Obviously we wouldn't be purchasing a house right off the bat, we are flexible, and want to get a feel of the Cities before we settle down. So we'd be renting, and kids would be in Elementary, and Middle Schools. We don't want to stay anywhere near Bad Neighborhoods, Bad Grade Schools.
We'd like to rent a decent apartment/ preferably a house 3bed/2bth -- Under 1100/Monthly.
We don't mind living in the outskirts, but we'd like to stay between 30-35 min from Downtown, cause more than likely he'd be working there.

What are some places we should be looking at?
If it helps -- Reasons why we aren't considering ELP, Not much Nightlife; it gets boring after a while, we ran out of things to do with our Kids, and just as a Couple. We love bars, dancing, drinking and socializing atleast a few times a month. Although the cost of living is very cheap, we were getting Military Pay which was decent, But The Pay for Law Enforcement is very low there. Also ELP was extremely dry for us, and lastly, it was just too far from everything. We like seeing Green every now and then as well, lol.

Any help would be appreciated -- Thanks in advance.

[unintentionallyfunny]

You might like Schertz. It's a very family friendly town but still very close to San Antonio and right off I35.

Schertz or Cibolo would be my suggestions.

[AFMike]

Make sure you look at schools, under $1100 can put your kids in a sketchy one...

[unintentionallyfunny]

Originally Posted by AFMike

Make sure you look at schools, under $1100 can put your kids in a sketchy one...

This is not true at all. Just an overall false and inaccurate statement.

[Paka]

Originally Posted by unintentionallyfunny

This is not true at all. Just an overall false and inaccurate statement.

So PERHAPS instead of trying to say that "lower rent areas" can create school issues they would not enjoy for their kids, you could "tell them" where they might FIND a home that suites their needs for less than the budget they have to spend and still be in a decent school location....

And HOW MANY school age children do you have/worry about placing in the right school???!?!?!?! The concerns for those with school needs make some GREAT areas NOT SO MUCH when children of school needs are involved. There are places I LOVE and would live in a NY second now that our kids are grown and gone, but would have NEVER considered when school/children rearing were a concern.

[Hedgehog_Mom]

It is cheaper to live in San Antonio than Austin, but jobs pay less too.

Since you mentioned your husband working downtown in corrections, I'm sure you looked up the starting salary for Bexar County detention cadets...it's about $2600/month (31,200 per year), not a great amount to support a family on. They pay more once the training is done, and there's an opportunity to move into working as a sheriff's deputy rather than working in the jail. There's also a privately owned jail in downtown San Antonio, owned by the Geo group. No idea what they pay...my husband applied there when it was still Wackenhut and the pay was lower than he was getting for regular, unarmed security guard work, but maybe it has improved over the years. There's a state prison at 1604 and 90 on the west side but I don't think they have job openings there as often as they do at the prisons in more remote areas.

USAA likes to hire ex-military for their security positions...I've heard the benefits are great there and the bonuses are pretty nice too.

By comparison, the Travis county (Austin) jail pays their cadets $38,919 a year. So that's maybe $500/month more than the same position in Bexar county.

[Paka]

Has your husband considered the Dominguez Corrections Facility outside 1604/410 for possible job's?

https://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/unit_directory/bx.html

Just another option if you want to consider something in the SA area besides downtown jobs.

[TexasRedneck]

You might also check with Comal County jail - they have openings from time to time, and the jail is in New Braunfels.....

[Penquin927]

Homes in the Canyon Springs area and north that are in the Comal school district should fit into your price range and the schools are good. Zipcode 78260. Not sure of the rental prices of homes though.

USAA Security positions would be a great option and they do like to hire ex-military. I work there and the benefits are great, there is a holiday bonus (2 weeks pay) and an annual bonus that has ranged from 14-18.3% of your base salary. They do an 8% match on 401K also. Just another options outside of corrections.

[AFMike]

Originally Posted by unintentionallyfunny

This is not true at all. Just an overall false and inaccurate statement.

Not a blanket statement and totally true in my experience...anyway the point was to check schools, which is always a good idea

Like Paka said, can you provide some examples of rental homes UNDER $1100 in areas with good schools? Hard to find at least in NISD..