McAllen, Texas (Houston, Donna, Hidalgo: 2009, insurance, home)

[Bill D.]

I too was born in the RGV and lived in Mcallen. We were from another part of the Valley but moved to McAllen while I was a freshman in highschool. Normally most would think that at that time of life, it would be horrible. Just the opposite. Yes the "gringo" is the minority. "Big Deal". The hispanic people, like every other race, have thugs, gangs, criminals and just plain bad folks but it is a small percentage. Spanish is spoken their but English is spoken too. You wont have any trouble. Can you imagine being hispanic, from their, and not able to speak spanish? Now that would be tuff. What an opportunity your children have to learn a second language. They will only be the smarter for it. Have fun in valley. You will learn to love it. Very few places on earth are largely populated with the feel of small town. I raised my children there. One is fixen to start medical school, one is a junior at A&M and my youngest moved with mom. Someone mentioned the fact about touching blond hair, very true. Go with the flow. It is their belief and they are only trying to be kind. Looking at the postings you are probably there now. I hope your enjoying the Valley.

[owienurse]

I'm not there yet. I was asking about the "kidnapping" of blonde-haired people, not touching it. What's with the touching of blonde hair? I don't think I will care for that at all. I don't like to be touched by strangers. Be it their culture or not. Hmmm. Odd. I don't mind the gringo stuff, I've surely been called worse. Back to the point of my initial post, don't get me wrong, I appreciate all this info., and please keep it coming, but I want lots of different opinions on the BEST place to buy a home. Restaurants? Local entertainment.....laid backpeople, good food/atmosphere that someone just moving to the area with no friends would never find.

[LCC1968]

For the record, I don't think random people come up and touch adult's hair. T I've seen people touch babies' hair and eyes if they find them beautiful. Some people here believe in the "evil eye" and if something that is admired is not touched, something bad will happen. Kind of like knocking on wood. As far as kidnappings of blondes go, I know for sure that's not a common practice in this area. Hope this helps.

[hellpaso]

hey--i'm in south mcallen--nobody's tried to kidnap my bottle blonde a** so far. a lot of the people that post on this site know nothing about the valley. tranquila!!

[tresvinas16]

Mcallen is a grate place to raise a family. Crime is minimal just like any other place in th U.S.A, after all we do live in a unperfect world where crime is inevitable. Mcallen has several hot spots in its interior, shopping centers, a mall, lots of resturants, night life, and nature park,and a airport just nameing some. Also, we are about a one and a half hour drive to South Padre Island, and minutes away from Mexico. There several areas where to live and contractors are abundant, you can check out BBB ( better business bureau ) to serch for contratcors in the area.
you can also check out McAllen online @ City of McAllen, TX. Above all this McAllen is the 38th fastest growing city in the USA. Well I hope this helps.

[land down under]

Originally Posted by owienurse

I'm not there yet. I was asking about the "kidnapping" of blonde-haired people, not touching it. What's with the touching of blonde hair? I don't think I will care for that at all. I don't like to be touched by strangers. Be it their culture or not. Hmmm. Odd. I don't mind the gringo stuff, I've surely been called worse. Back to the point of my initial post, don't get me wrong, I appreciate all this info., and please keep it coming, but I want lots of different opinions on the BEST place to buy a home. Restaurants? Local entertainment.....laid backpeople, good food/atmosphere that someone just moving to the area with no friends would never find.

First time using this so just testing

[land down under]

Originally Posted by owienurse

I'm not there yet. I was asking about the "kidnapping" of blonde-haired people, not touching it. What's with the touching of blonde hair? I don't think I will care for that at all. I don't like to be touched by strangers. Be it their culture or not. Hmmm. Odd. I don't mind the gringo stuff, I've surely been called worse. Back to the point of my initial post, don't get me wrong, I appreciate all this info., and please keep it coming, but I want lots of different opinions on the BEST place to buy a home. Restaurants? Local entertainment.....laid backpeople, good food/atmosphere that someone just moving to the area with no friends would never find.

Ok, got this now!!! Visited McAllen a couple of months ago with my husband with a view to moving there Sept. We have a great lifestyle here in coastal Queensland, Australia so McAllen was a little dissapointing to say the least. We are originally from New Zealand, lived in Laguna Beach, Southern Cal for 2 years (2004-2006) and have travelled extensively around the world. Not all I have to say is negative so please bear with me. We have 2 elementary aged children, so of course as parents you do tend to view things with quite a different set of eyes. One of our children is fair/blond and piercing blue eyes so of course it is natural for a mother to have concerns for a child that stands out like a sore thumb in a boarder city in a country where the trafficking of children is not uncommon. We did our research on the schooling and although a couple of the schools stood out on paper we were disappointed with the school environment. e.g. it appears by the minimal outdoor play equipment that children are not encouraged to play outside (maybe its just tooo hot). To even get outside the children have to wind through long corridors. We are use to schools where children having plenty of natural light in the classrooms, direct access from the classroom to the outdoors and sufficient shaded outdoor equipment for busy little bodies. We have chosen one of the private schools in McAllen and feel it was the best choice out of not a great selection. The place made me quite depressed, I think because of the flatness it felt quite claustraphobic - where do you get a view? Positives coming next.......

[land down under]

Originally Posted by owienurse

I'm not there yet. I was asking about the "kidnapping" of blonde-haired people, not touching it. What's with the touching of blonde hair? I don't think I will care for that at all. I don't like to be touched by strangers. Be it their culture or not. Hmmm. Odd. I don't mind the gringo stuff, I've surely been called worse. Back to the point of my initial post, don't get me wrong, I appreciate all this info., and please keep it coming, but I want lots of different opinions on the BEST place to buy a home. Restaurants? Local entertainment.....laid backpeople, good food/atmosphere that someone just moving to the area with no friends would never find.

... continued... We did find that there were plenty of good restaurants around the place and the food was very fresh. Had some great indian, sushi and of course mexican (who would think!!!) The majority of people (hispanics) seemed very friendly and warm and very happy to converse in english as soon as my kiwi accent came out. We are just going to be renting a house however if we were buying I would probably consider North McAllen in the Gonzalez Elementary and Cathy Middle school zones. There seemed to be a number of quite nice new apartment type rentals in the Mission and Sharyland area. Maybe you could consider renting something like that for a few months where you would have the opportunity to meet a number of people who would maybe socialise a little and help you settle in while you get your feet on the ground and get a feel for the McAllen area before buying. Good luck and all the best

[antgar]

why someone who has travel around the world, had the money to live in laguna beach ca and had a great life, are looking to live in McAllen? Just curious...

[land down under]

Can understand your curiosity - I'm sure you can understand my dissapointment!! Things are very much up in the air if we are going to move after visiting the place however if we still do move it is for my husbands work as he is setting up a manufacturing plant in Reynosa. I travelled (mostly Europe) after working hard and saving 100% for this by myself before getting married and having children and my husbands work has taken him to Asia, Europe and USA. Our rent in Laguna Beach was no different to what we will have to pay in McAllen. Laguna Beach certainly has its fair share of wealthy people but there are also families who live in 2 bedroom apartments and struggle week to week - something you don't see on the dreamy show about spoilt teenage kids. Laguna Beach has a lot of character and charm and a melting pot of different people.