Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 09-25-2011, 06:03 PM
 
5 posts, read 17,049 times
Reputation: 11

Advertisements

An opportunity is there to relocate to one of the four places listed driving semi. Corpus Christy was another, but have been told that it is more of a retirement area and more expensive. We currently live in a small town in Wisconsin and the pay rate would be the same from one job to another. Wisconsin's taxes have become ridiculous so any info you may have on the property taxes and home prices in those areas would be helpful. We would like to try to stay in the "small town" atmosphere. What is the least desert like area and origin in these towns. Any info that you can offer on high schools would be great too. Thanks.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 09-25-2011, 07:17 PM
 
Location: Blah
4,153 posts, read 9,269,755 times
Reputation: 3092
There is a lot of semi jobs in the Midland / Odessa area due to the oilfield. The problem is housing. People are living in hotels are trailers are work. Homes don't stay for sale long and there is wait list for apartments. So I would locate some housing first before moving.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-26-2011, 07:36 AM
 
Location: Edmond, OK
4,030 posts, read 10,766,952 times
Reputation: 4247
Quote:
Originally Posted by mjfohey View Post
An opportunity is there to relocate to one of the four places listed driving semi. Corpus Christy was another, but have been told that it is more of a retirement area and more expensive. We currently live in a small town in Wisconsin and the pay rate would be the same from one job to another. Wisconsin's taxes have become ridiculous so any info you may have on the property taxes and home prices in those areas would be helpful. We would like to try to stay in the "small town" atmosphere. What is the least desert like area and origin in these towns. Any info that you can offer on high schools would be great too. Thanks.
If you are looking for the least desert like area, you will definitely want to avoid Midland. I lived there for 17 years, and while I love it, it is not for everyone. It is very isolated compared to the other towns you mentioned which are all in much closer proximity to larger cities like San Antonio, Houston and Corpus Christi. Also it will but you much closer to the ocean if you are interested in that. It's a long drive from Midland to a larger city like San Antonio or Dallas (about 5-6 hour drive to each). On the up side you're only about 5 hours away from skiing in the mountains of New Mexico (Ruidoso).

Midlands economy is based strictly on the oil and gas industry which is on fire there right now. It's a very boom and bust kind of industry and town.

I keep an eye on real estate prices there, because DH has discussed moving back there when we retire in a few years. When I look at the prices I am shocked at what I see. As mentioned before, right now, even finding a place at all is hard right now. I saw on line recently a home in our old neighborhood that was for sale. They were asking $369,000 for this particular house. It was very similar but a bit smaller than our house was. We sold ours 8 years ago for $160,000. We had paid $155,000 5 years earlier. So we made a piddly $5,000 in 5 years. We spent more than that on updating it. If we had been able to keep it just a few more years, we could have more than doubled our money. So even with the national real estate market in the toilet, Midland's is booming. When the oil industry cools off, which it will, because it always does, the real estate values will drop like a rock. I've seen it happen there before.

I can't give specifics about the other 3 towns you mentioned because I've only driven through them, never lived in any of them. Just off what I've seen driving through, Alice would be my least favorite choice. I like the Floresville area, and its proximity to San Antonio. And I like Victoria because its a bit larger, plus it's not a bad drive into the southwestern area of the Houston metro area, which would have anything you might want.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-26-2011, 09:29 AM
 
Location: Where I live.
9,191 posts, read 21,881,679 times
Reputation: 4934
Quote:
Originally Posted by debzkidz View Post
If you are looking for the least desert like area, you will definitely want to avoid Midland......On the up side you're only about 5 hours away from skiing in the mountains of New Mexico (Ruidoso).

Midlands economy is based strictly on the oil and gas industry which is on fire there right now. It's a very boom and bust kind of industry and town.

I keep an eye on real estate prices there, because DH has discussed moving back there when we retire in a few years. When I look at the prices I am shocked at what I see. As mentioned before, right now, even finding a place at all is hard right now....

When the oil industry cools off, which it will, because it always does, the real estate values will drop like a rock. I've seen it happen there before..
Tried to rep you on this, but......

That pretty well sums it up. I lived there for 30 years--and my dad had been in the oil/gas industry since 1951.....and the same pattern repeats itself, though I don't think that this next downturn will be as horrible as 1984.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-26-2011, 09:50 AM
 
Location: Edmond, OK
4,030 posts, read 10,766,952 times
Reputation: 4247
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cathy4017 View Post
Tried to rep you on this, but......

That pretty well sums it up. I lived there for 30 years--and my dad had been in the oil/gas industry since 1951.....and the same pattern repeats itself, though I don't think that this next downturn will be as horrible as 1984.
From your lips to God's ears.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-26-2011, 09:56 AM
 
Location: Blah
4,153 posts, read 9,269,755 times
Reputation: 3092
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cathy4017 View Post
Tried to rep you on this, but......

That pretty well sums it up. I lived there for 30 years--and my dad had been in the oil/gas industry since 1951.....and the same pattern repeats itself, though I don't think that this next downturn will be as horrible as 1984.
I hope so, 1984 started a down turn that lasted through the 90's! It wasn't until 2000-2001 when oil started rising and things started turning around for Midland. The oilfield is good money but you really want to put money back for the future.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-26-2011, 10:05 AM
 
Location: Where I live.
9,191 posts, read 21,881,679 times
Reputation: 4934
Quote:
Originally Posted by SVTRay View Post
I hope so, 1984 started a down turn that lasted through the 90's! It wasn't until 2000-2001 when oil started rising and things started turning around for Midland. The oilfield is good money but you really want to put money back for the future.
That is the very hard lesson that some had to learn after 1984. Many lived as if there were no tomorrow....and tomorrow finally came.

I will NEVER forget the day that First National Bank went under. I was working on a jobsite (Amerada Hess) in Seminole. I went to the main trailer to take a report, and you could have heard a pin drop.

Just scary.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-26-2011, 10:07 AM
 
Location: Where I live.
9,191 posts, read 21,881,679 times
Reputation: 4934
Quote:
Originally Posted by debzkidz View Post
From your lips to God's ears.
I don't ever want to see that again for Midland. If the next bust is even close to what 1984 was, you'll be able to pick up a property that has dropped like a rock!

But even now, you still get a LOT more for your money in terms of housing compared to NM/CO.

The schools have deteriorated, though. Some ratings are dismal, and a large part of that is probably the influx of non-English speaking students. That pulls everything down. I hope the new super can turn things around. Thank God they got rid of the last one due to retirement. They should never have hired him.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-26-2011, 11:21 AM
 
Location: Edmond, OK
4,030 posts, read 10,766,952 times
Reputation: 4247
We moved back to Midland from Houston while our kids were in the early elementary years. They are now in college. We found the schools to be very good when we arrived, but by the time we moved back to Houston when the kids were in junior high, I could really see them slipping. After leaving, I would talk to friends there and would hear all kinds of bad things about the schools. Friends that had always been very pro public schools, had given in and put their kids in Trinity and Midland Christian. I thought it was so sad to hear. It's such a nice town with so many well educated people. I just hated hearing that the schools were failing. I do hope they can turn them around.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-26-2011, 11:29 AM
 
Location: Edmond, OK
4,030 posts, read 10,766,952 times
Reputation: 4247
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cathy4017 View Post
That is the very hard lesson that some had to learn after 1984. Many lived as if there were no tomorrow....and tomorrow finally came.

I will NEVER forget the day that First National Bank went under. I was working on a jobsite (Amerada Hess) in Seminole. I went to the main trailer to take a report, and you could have heard a pin drop.

Just scary.
Nor will I. DH was working for a small independent in Midland, and I was working for a local CPA. It was so scary. DH was just waiting to lose his job. His boss had lots of outstanding debt with the bank and the risk/fear of defaulting on those loans loomed over his office forever. I also remember going to the FDIC auction when they sold off all the art/furniture etc from the bank.

Sorry, getting off topic here.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top