Pennsylvania to Texas

[shady12]

Out of those 3, it's no contest, San Antonio. I love San Antonio. It's a blast, and the prettiest of those 3 cities. Definitely avoid Houston. I'm sure the suburbs are Ok though but you'd still have to go into Houston every day for work it sounds like.

Like some have said there are many other great choices among smaller cities.

[ATurner]

I posted this on another tread also. Try San Angelo Texas. My brother lives in the Hill Country the Canyon Lake area. Gorgeous country with great views but I can’t afford the price of stuff in that area. I live in San Angelo 1 hour from both I10 and I20. Three to three and a half hours from Austin/San Antonio and Dallas/Fort Worth. San Angelo is almost in the center of Texas and just at 100,000 pop. All around us is rolling hills, trees, and wonderful country views. San Angelo and the surrounding area is becoming a very popular area because of property value is much lower but is on the rise. I am a retired Police Officer and I can tell you crime here is very low. San Angelo is a small city or a big town and I would have to suggest San Angelo as one to look in to.

Moderator cut: realtor advertising

[shady12]

Well, I am in San Angelo and have grown up here, and I would agree. I'm moving soon to the Hill Country though, but not because I don't like it here. Cost of living is real low. I'm shocked reading how expensive it is in some parts of the country. I always considered places like San Antonio to be very expensive but apparently not.

[PennsylTexan]

I think we have landed on either Cypress or Katy. More than likely, I will be working in the west to northwest part of outer Houston. The Mrs. works from home, so one of these areas is ideal for us.

[Trainwreck20]

Slippery Rock University

For some reason that I have never looked up, they tell the Slippery Rock football score at every UT football game....I should do look that up, but am too lazy.

As for advice, wherever you end up, you may not want to convert 100% of your value into a larger house. You can save on taxes by not buying the most expensive house you can afford, and you will end up having to cool all the square footage, which will add up. A $300k house in either SA or Houston (or even Dallas, for that matter), will get you way more house than you will probably need.

Chester Ambrose (apparently a SRU alumni) has on his webstie

The announcement of Slippery Rock's football scores is a tradition at University of Texas Longhorn football games. Longhorn fans cheer for Slippery Rock. The tradition was started by Memorial Stadium Announcer Wally Prior.

[Premont]

There's some nice pictures of some Cypress neighborhoods on this thread - http://www.city-data.com/forum/houst...nt-houses.html

[Lakewooder]

Dallas is known for being the most sophisticated and white-collar of the cities you named, so you might not be able to find much at that price - especially close to downtown. You would have to go out but there are some work centers out to the north. I myself live near downtown but you could only find a fixer-upper for that price. But my area is appreciating at 10 to 20% per year over the last 5 years, so you would make money on your home. And I never deal with any traffic being so close-in. We also have good schools in the north and east sections of Dallas.

[Willys]

PennTx, you've made a good choice. Northwest Houston is a really nice area. It trends out of the piney woods of east Texas to the rolling plains of central Texas. It has pine and oak and excellent soil. Yes, there are trees in Texas. It's not far from Brenham which is the home of the contented cow and Blue Bell ice cream.

The Cypress area is on the slope from the higher elevations of central Texas to the lower elevation of Houston and the gulf coast. Houston is at about 50 feet above sea level with elevations increasing to the north and northwest. Katy and the I-10 corridor are at a lower elevation and may tend to flooding. The Katy to Sealy areas have been good ground for rice farming.

You may note from a map, the Barker and Cypress Reservoirs, along Hiway 6, between I-10 and 290. This is to control flooding from the west, as in the early 1900's (maybe 1920 +/-) near downtown Houston sat under about ten feet of water from a heavy rain.

You'll learn to enjoy the weather as it is quite phenomenal in the Houston area with some most spectacular thunder storms.

On a final note, I once drove through Pennsylvania (something like across western WVA, to NYC) on interstate, crossing the Susquehanna. I thought Pennsylvania to be the nicest looking state between Houston and Boston and looking more like the area you are moving to than any other part of the drive.

Good fortune and welcome home.