Relocation to Fredericksburg (Houston, Dallas, San Antonio: real estate, lease, crime)

[jorgy fdny]

Was hoping I could get some advice to a possible relocation to Fredericksburg. I was a NYC firefighter for 22 years and had to retire two yrs. ago because I have leukemia from being at 9-11-01 rescue operations. My wife and I would like to wait a few more years until our teenagers are finished with high school, not wanting to uproot them as they are settled in their school. Heavy chemotherapy has beaten up my bone structure, so a warmer climate is really needed, as winter really hurts now. Thankfully, I am in remission, but access to health care and hospitals is a big concern. I have heard a lot of great things about Fredericksburg and Hill country. I know this may sound stupid, but are northerners accepted in Fredericksburg? I was in the Army in the south, and not one to constantly mention, "that's not how we do it up north". Are there any local job opportunities for middle aged adults? Also concerned about property taxes, as they are crushing us up here in NY and NJ. My dream would be to live out the years the Good Lord may grant me, on a nice spacious property where I can find serenity, have a few horses and watch the sunset each night. I hope that my children would relocate to the area or to the metro areas of Austin or San Antonio. Does anyone out there feel the surrounding areas offer ample job opportunities for future young families? My son would like to enter law enforcement and my girls seem be leaning toward nursing and the medical field. Any input on potential opportunities in the region? My main goal is to find a region of the country that share my strong views on love of God, Family and Country.I have met many Texans and they all seem to share these views. I am open minded to many views but getting the sense that the "wheels are falling off the country" and would love a new start. Any input and feedback would be greatly appreciated!!!!

[Westerntraveler]

FBurg is very expensive, mainly a retirement town with few good paying job options.Land in FBurg area is around 10-14 grand an acre.Also, Texas has very high property taxes cuz there aint no state income tax.The good paying jobs for your children will prolly be closer in to the San Antone and Austin metros.

[Trainwreck20]

My folks retired to FB almost 20 years ago now (albeit from the Austin area), so I will throw in my 2 cents....

but access to health care and hospitals is a big concern.

FB is good and Kerrville (just down the road) has excellent health care, especially considering how rural the areas are. As mentioned above, the area is a retirement destination for middle- to upper-middle class retirees, and the heath care system has grown to support that demographic. My mom has had both knees replaced and been treated for breast cancer, and my dad has had a hip replacement and had a pacemaker put in. All procedures were performed in FB except the radiation was done in Kerrville, and all were handled very professionally and with competence.

but are northerners accepted in Fredericksburg?

Yes, there are a TON of snow-birds that winter in FB. There is kind of a 'locals' and 'retirees' division, but it is not based on where you are from, just on 'age', and it is not a negative thing at all from what I have seen. There just is a LOT of 'old folks' stuff going on that the younger crowd may not be involved in.

Are there any local job opportunities for middle aged adults?

Not really sure, to be honest. The area is still an active ranching area, but the rest of the economy is tourism (and winery) based. A lot of the retirees work for low-pay (or volunteer), so that doesn't help the job situation.

Also concerned about property taxes, as they are crushing us up here in NY and NJ. My dream would be to live out the years the Good Lord may grant me, on a nice spacious property where I can find serenity, have a few horses and watch the sunset each night.

It is all about budget, but at least you are coming from one of the few places with a higher property tax RATE than Texas. What do you mean 'spacious'? If you get 10+ acres, you can probably manage to qualify for (hopeful, retain from the previous owner) an ag exemption, which lowers you taxable value enormously on ag land. The easiest method is to lease out the land for someone to run some cattle or sheep, or if you have good land, grow hay. Again, if you are not knowledgeable about the specifics, lease it out. The prices quoted above look about accurate as to what I remember, but if you see low-priced property, it is likely that much of it is rocky or unusable (maybe not a problem for you, though).

As an aside, hay for horses has been obnoxiously high for much of the last few years due to drought. Good horse land is harder to come by. My folks sold their last place out there (22 acres, beautifully terraced front 12 for hay/sheep, loading facilities, barn, 2,200 sf house, lunging pen, 12 miles n. of FB proper) for somewhere around $350k - $400k four years ago. I don't remember the exact price, but some horse-people from VA bought it. 20 acres ag exempt and about $100/yr in taxes. Probably about 150-160k value taxed at normal valuation/rate, whatever that is. They probably paid (ballpark) $3,000 to $4,000 yr in property taxes.

I hope that my children would relocate to the area or to the metro areas of Austin or San Antonio. Does anyone out there feel the surrounding areas offer ample job opportunities for future young families? My son would like to enter law enforcement and my girls seem be leaning toward nursing and the medical field. Any input on potential opportunities in the region?

You can hardly think of a better place than San Antonio or Austin currently. LE is always competitive, but both cities are growing (and hiring). Nursing is always in demand. If they decide on something else, there is generally low unemployment. Worst-case, they may have to go to Dallas or Houston, but really not that far, either.

My main goal is to find a region of the country that share my strong views on love of God, Family and Country.

The main churches in FB are the Catholic and Lutheran. Probably make up 90% of the population. Very much an old-school conservative town. Austin is much more liberal, and SA is in between, I suppose.

By the way, I noticed you had two posts, so I went back and looked at you other post. Just as an FYI, probably very few people (locals, anyway) in FB cares a bit about illegal aliens....

[doctorjef]

Just a note on the aspect regarding occupational opportunities for the children. Skilled nursing will always be in high demand and highly paid, but the proliferation of BSN programs and nurses with at least a BSN certainly does mean that the OP's daughters would need to have a 4 year nursing degree in order to be competitive. I am speaking about this from a Texas perspective, having spent many years in Austin in healthcare (clinical psychologist with a lot of hospital involvements). It may be somewhat easier to get a good position outside the major cities, possessing only a 2 year associate degree and RN, but my guess is that in Central Texas, with its overall desirability and the close proximity of Austin and San Antonio, employers are increasingly expect a bachelors degree nurse.

As to law enforcement, a significant aspect of my practice was performing the state-mandated pre-employment psychological screening for prospective hires into departments in numerous counties and towns all around Central Texas (not Austin itself, where the APD operates its own academy program and internal psychological services). The job market for law enforcement is difficult to break into unless one has relevant academic preparation and can gain admission to the academy program of a large urban PD. The people I saw generally were the ones who had been unable to do this, and were often trying to break into a career path by getting on as reservists with small departments (even as constables, who in Texas are basically just legal process servers for the most part), or who were managing to secure full-time positions with very small departments. I also found that many folks tended to take a round-about path wherein they would have experience with volunteer fire companies, work as EMTs, etc, before getting some sort of position in a police or sheriff's department, or in a constable precinct. It just is a really difficult field with higher supply of people seeking positions than positions to fill. There's no sure formula either, because one can have a criminal justice BA or the like, some sort of relevant experiences, and still not be selected for training by one of the good urban departments.

Just a further thought about the children. Although I sympathize with the idea of letting them finish up HS in their current locale, if they really would be relocating to Texas themselves, it could be advantageous to get them into the state before the end of HS so that they could have Texas resident status for in-state tuition purposes. I really would suggest having a good look at the Hill Country, because there are a number of nice towns besides Fredericksburg. A look at property/school taxes in different counties would also be in order. I really believe that Fredericksburg has been a little over-hyped due to its reputation as an historic old German settlement. Its a popular tourist destination for daytrippers from Austin and San Antonio, especially for seasonal things like its Christmas market.

[annals]

Tried to rep you for this post, but the system wouldn't let me. So, thank you for giving such great advice to that NY firefighter!

[ChristieP]

As much as I love Fredericksburg, it's not a good value for a place to live unless you are a retiree. I recently tried to relocate there, and it just was not feasible.

The real estate prices there are significantly higher than in the rest of the state, save maybe Dallas' Park Cities, and some of Austin. Any home that could be rented for income as a "guest cottage" will command a high price. Homes on the outskirts of town with land are also significantly higher than a comparable property elsewhere in the state. To buy a house comparable to the one we currently own in DFW would have cost $75k more in FBG.

No, there are not good jobs in FBG unless you are a nurse or healthcare practitioner at the hospital, or a Realtor. The rest of the town's economy is based on tourism and wineries, so the only jobs you will find are restaurant wait staff, gift shop clerks, or working in a winery's tasting room. Yes, I was looking to relocate there for one of those good jobs, but there would have not been any work for my husband, and we could not live on just my salary, especially with the higher mortgage payment.

I can't speak to the quality of care that Hill Country Memorial provides, but please do keep in mind that it is a small hospital with just 88 beds. If you really need good chance treatment, you will likely be driving to San Antonio or Austin where there are much bigger hospitals.

My honest recommendation would be to look at other Hill Country towns that are closer to Austin or San Antonio. Blanco, Boerne, Dripping Springs, etc. will all have more jobs, better healthcare, and more reasonable real estate prices. You can still go to Fredericksburg on the weekends.

[doctorjef]

Things are getting so built up all around Austin and San Antonio that it is more difficult now to find a small parcel of land on which you could have horses and not be too close to urban sprawl. In northwest Hays County (immediately south of Travis County and Austin) there used to be lots of properties of a few acres, on which people kept horses. Much of this was in the backroads areas fanning out from what used to be the very tiny town of Buda. I'm sure such properties are still available, and this puts one in easy proximity to Austin with its medical facilities and potential job opportunities, as well as pretty close to San Marcos, county seat of Hays County and home to Texas State University (much smaller than UT, but still big enough that it dominates the town). The question, however, would be whether or not there's been too much development around Buda by now. I really don't know. It was still ok ten years ago, but may have become completely overgrown by now. The country around Wimberly is beautiful, but likely to be too expensive, and frankly it isn't what I would identify as a very conservative, traditional area -- there is a real new-agey population segment out that way. Blanco is definitely worth checking into, and I do know someone who has acquired some country property out that way recently. I think the overall problem for the OP is balancing the different factors of proximity to good medical care, a small and rather conservative-minded community, affordable and available real estate, and employment opportunities. There are lots of places that fulfill some of these requirements, but possibly not all of them. There are some very remote feeling areas outside of Bastrop, and one might find something suitable around Lockhart, although it has had increasing residential development for years now. Johnson City is another possibility, which would put one more into the San Antonio orbit. I think for more involved healthcare, one should look at the necessity of getting it from San Antonio or Austin. Another possibility would be to go farther north to a town like Lampasas, which might make Scott & White (in Temple, TX) the best option for advanced healthcare. Less commercialized around Lampasas, so land is likely to be cheaper. Some of these places, of course, are not in the Hill Country per se. Towns out around the Highland Lakes are worth having a look at, although these are probably not going to meet all the desired criteria. Boerne, quite near San Antonio, may be a place where one could find some land and like Buda have both the advantages and disadvantages of close urban proximity.

[jorgy fdny]

Thanks to Western Traveler, Trainwreck20, Doctorjef, annals and Christiep for your replies and insight. Doctorjef ,i appreciate the extensive info on job prospects and real estate. I realize there is a lot of research I need to complete and you have laid out a nice map for me to start with. Trainwreck, I hope you weren't offended by previous post on illegal immigration. I'm not a bigot, but my childhood hometown has been devastated by an onslaught of illegals, causing a huge crime problem, school overcrowding and hospital closings. I moved fifty miles away ,twenty years ago to escape it and now my present hometown is being emaciated by the same problems. Just yesterday, 2 California Sheriff officers were murdered by a repeat felon who had been previously deported on two occasions. How sad. Thanks to you all for your time, stay well and safe.

[louche]

Just wanted to throw it out there that I think FB is one if the cleanest, nicest, most orderly and gorgeous cities in Texas.

The surrounding countryside is the highlight of Texas geography as far as I'm concerned.

It does seem a trifle isolated. As do most cities in Texas where you're hours away from the next big city and a days drive to get out of Texas...but anyways. Gorgeous, gorgeous city.

And sometimes you need a little economic 'barrier' to keep out the riff raff. :shrug:

[doctorjef]

Just to be clear, although Fredericksburg is technically a city in the sense of being an incorporated municipality, it wouldn't fit most person's popular definition of a city -- not that big. I agree it has always been very clean and almost compulsively orderly, which would seem clearly due to its strong German heritage. German did not begin to be abandoned there for public functions (schooling, etc) until the US entered WWI, when the population felt a need to show their proper American bona fides.

I have to say that personally I think there are prettier places in the Hill Country than the area immediately around FB. However, those don't necessarily have the same amenities. Llano has a gorgeous placement on Hwy 71, for instance, but is much smaller.