Where to live in tx (Houston, Dallas: real estate, daycare, employment)

[melissa813]

We are a family in our 30s with 3 children that are school aged. Budget is 150-300....Semi retired so employment isn't an issue. We're trying to decide between fl and texas. We want somewhere that it's hot all year.

Requirements-
Safe
Good schools
Lots of acreage (15+)
Shopping, grocery stores within driving distance


Thanks!!!

[Cathy4017]

Texas is quite hot enough, but it's NOT hot all year, not even in the southernmost parts of the state. Even Brownsville and the rest of the lower Rio Grande Valley can get down to freezing occasionally.

[ChristieP]

Even Arizona isn't hot all year round! Maybe you should consider moving to southern Mexico?

[melissa813]

it's not nearly as cold as the -10 it's been in Michigan

[Qazulight]

Originally Posted by melissa813

We are a family in our 30s with 3 children that are school aged. Budget is 150-300....Semi retired so employment isn't an issue. We're trying to decide between fl and texas. We want somewhere that it's hot all year.

Requirements-
Safe
Good schools
Lots of acreage (15+)
Shopping, grocery stores within driving distance


Thanks!!!

Semi retired in the 30's?

Hum.

150-300k.

I live in Nac. I like it here, although I have been looking to move north to some.place cooler, like Fairbanks, -50 this week I think.

300K will net you what you want in the Central Hights school district.

If you have some cash, and some business acumen you might consider a chicken farm. I have friend who owns one and sells real estate. We took his plane and flew over his farm, he pointed out the extra 65 acres that he bought to hobby farm this year.

Cheers
Qazulight

[RiceU2008]

You should try Manvel, TX good schools, lots of cheap land, and not to far from downtown Houston or Pearland

[melissa813]

Yes semi retired. We were lucky. We own real estate and my childrens dad owns a large childrens sports club. he no longer has to work as much and can do all remotely. I own a daycare center and I as well don't need to work at it.

Thanks

Originally Posted by Qazulight

Semi retired in the 30's?

Hum.

150-300k.

I live in Nac. I like it here, although I have been looking to move north to some.place cooler, like Fairbanks, -50 this week I think.

300K will net you what you want in the Central Hights school district.

If you have some cash, and some business acumen you might consider a chicken farm. I have friend who owns one and sells real estate. We took his plane and flew over his farm, he pointed out the extra 65 acres that he bought to hobby farm this year.

Cheers
Qazulight

[CptnRn]

If you want land then I assume you probably want land where things will grow, which means rainfall and droughts are important.

Map annual rainfall in Texas http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/c...hermaps/tx.gif

Drought map Texas http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/pics/tx_dm.png

That pretty much eliminates all but a portion of East Texas.

Add good schools into the mix and Nacogdoches, Lufkin, Livingston have a few. There are several good schools North of Houston but the closer you get to a large city the higher the land prices will be, and much of the land is National Forest, i.e. less land available.

Texas School Performance Maps

[Qazulight]

Originally Posted by melissa813

Yes semi retired. We were lucky. We own real estate and my childrens dad owns a large childrens sports club. he no longer has to work as much and can do all remotely. I own a daycare center and I as well don't need to work at it.

Thanks

It sounds like you have the business acumen to run a chicken farm.

Do not think it is quaint, it is not. It is a factory with constraints and contracts and so on.

One other hand, it will pay for your land, provide you with tax breaks for your tractors and other toys.

If you wish to know more, send me and email and I will put you in contact with my friend who owns the farm and is a real estate agent. I cannot tell you more, and I cannot sell you on it as I have not even been able to get my wife to go tour Tommy's farm.

Cheers
Qazulight

[DaynaKH]

I'm seconding the Lufkin/Nacadoches/Tyler areas. We live an hour south of Lufkin and I adore the small city. It has everything anyone could really want without traffic. I wouldn't move south of that area, though. Below that and you enter idiot country. We live in the most poverty stricken area of Texas. High child abuse rates and poor families get infuriating. It also (ironically) looks exactly like Florida landscape (minus the beach).

It's definitely got a temperate climate. We may hit freezing a few times a year, but snowfall and ice storms are rarities. They happen every couple of years where we live, this year we didn't even reach the teens!

If you're looking for beach scenes, you may consider the coastal areas of Texas, but they aren't as pretty as Florida's. That being said, our areas are significantly cheaper.

Tyler and Nacadoches are great cities. I wouldn't hesitate to live just outside of either one. Tyler is close enough to Dallas and Canton to have great shopping days (not that it lacks in shopping anyway) and you can find some nice land outside of the city.

West Texas is dry, the coastal plains are great for farming/ranching (my family owns a small ranch outside of Freeport, Texas), but they're very muggy. On the bright side, Freeport is close to Pearland and Sugarland, two areas with Houston sized shopping!

And close to the coast makes for fun fishing and days in the sun, even if our water is muddy and dirty looking!