Central Florida or Central Texas? (Houston, Dallas: rent, insurance, crime)

[puddlejumper101]

Hey you all...I have a decision to make. I currently live in Atlanta, GA but this summer I am out of here. I have narrowed my move to either Central Florida (Orlando area) or somewhere in Texas. Austin-San Antonio area is most attractive. I lived in Dallas before...so want something different. Houston is not for me. A little background..I will start working for a major airline that has bases in Orlando, Houston (Hobby), and Dallas as a pilot. The nice thing is I can catch a plane to work that's why I would rather live in Austin-San Antonio instead of Dallas or Houston. I have a 10 year old...so schools are a very big deal. Overall...I am looking for advice and comparisons. I am gathering info but have yet to narrow it down to location. Please help. : )

[deeptrance]

What else is important to you?
Climate?
Cultural life?
Politics?
Religion?
The land --- flat or hilly?

There are many aspects of your 2 choices that are different and it all depends on what matters to you.

One thing I'd like to advise is that Dallas and Houston are MAJOR metro areas, so any stats you read about them are almost useless because in a huge metro area there are many individual areas that are all unique.

For example, I think Houston is a great city if you find the right way to live there (right neighborhood and the right methods to get from one place to another). Most of the city is a flat, humid, crowded, less interesting and frequently flooded version of Los Angeles. But if you look deeper into Houston you can find some great places to live no matter who you are or what you prefer, unless you want dry air. The one thing you really cannot escape in H-town is the fact that it is humid. So is Orlando, but Orlando has more wind and air movement that makes the climate a bit more tolerable.

Austin and San Antonio are great, but everyone's hyping these areas so I don't need to add to that. You can find a ton of info about why central Texas is the place to be. My take is that it's a great area (I'm here and I love it) but it's only one place of many possibilities and it's not Eden. Every place has its problems.

[AustinTraveler]

I can't speak specifically to Orlando but as someone who lived in Florida for 30 plus years, I will tell you that you couldn't pay me to go back. Austin is a great place to live and so very different from Florida. Florida is experiencing a lot of problems right now with crime, insurance rates, etc. It was a nice place to live until development got out of hand.

If you haven't done so already, I would suggest you post this question on the Florida board as well.

Best of luck to you!!!

[puddlejumper101]

Originally Posted by AustinTraveler

I can't speak specifically to Orlando but as someone who lived in Florida for 30 plus years, I will tell you that you couldn't pay me to go back. Austin is a great place to live and so very different from Florida. Florida is experiencing a lot of problems right now with crime, insurance rates, etc. It was a nice place to live until development got out of hand.

If you haven't done so already, I would suggest you post this question on the Florida board as well.

Best of luck to you!!!

thanks for the info...I have time to decide but trying to make the best choice for my family. I have heard nothing but the best from Austin...it's a shame Florida is turning into what it is. The idea of being close to my parents in Miami is what makes Orlando so attractive but at what price? Thanks for the info.

[210]

Puddle, check your Private Message box.

[stargazer]

Without a doubt Central Texas. I lived in Orlando and it was a nightmare. The Attractions and the beach were a plus but after that, it was pretty bad. My husband started actively looking for another job when the X Box murders happened, we had enough of vulgarity, crime and a high rate of thugs just around. Also my husband worked in a company that was extremely stressful. He was shocked too at how awful it was coming from white collar Dallas where there was a professionalism in all the companies he had worked for. The company he was with in Orlando was one of the better ones and it still shocked me with all the bull that went on.

Don't get me completely wrong, there are pockets of good areas but in general it is a stressful place outside the attractions. I had said this for a long time and everyone I met just couldn't believe it till Orlando was voted The angriest city in America by Men's Health Magazine. My own health took a toll being there and I started having high blood pressure as well. I went to the doctor the day before Frances and I was gripped out by how high my blood pressure was and all I could think about as she screamed at me is if I needed to go back out to my house and turn the power off to the house before going to the shelter. It is amazing how I left that place and my blood pressure went back down to normal when we moved back to Texas.
Also, insurance is going up and rent and prices of homes are extremely high as well.
It was all just too much for us and were happy were home.

[deeptrance]

Originally Posted by stargazer

...Orlando was voted The angriest city in America by Men's Health Magazine.

Talk about irony and surprises --- the "happiest place on earth" is one of Disneyworld's mottos!

I liked Orlando when I visited but I barely scratched the surface of the place. I was just blown away to see tropical vines climbing up the concrete walls of freeway interchanges, that was enough to make me like it there . I guess I'm too easy to please.

[Trainwreck20]

My own health took a toll being there and I started having high blood pressure as well.

I have a co-worker who's sister was having all sorts of health related problems in Miami. She ended up moving to Dallas for work and saw a marked imporvement in her health. Most of the issues were apparently stress and anger related, and Miami is apparently shockingly angry. I had not heard this about Orlando, and it surprises me a bit, but I guess I can happen to places. Anger feeds anger...

[stargazer]

I guess I'm too easy to please.


I am actually a very easy going person and very easy to please. I-4 is a nice road but it is the only freeway that is non toll that is in Orlando and the traffic is terrible to get around due to the city council in Orlando back in the 70's deciding to make money off of land which was slated to be a nice loop which never happened. They sold it off and now it is a huge boulevard that has several lights and has many strip malls. As a result, the traffic is horrenduous and everywhere is mainly boulevards. We lived 17 miles from hubby's work and it took him about 45- 1 hour to get home. They put a new toll road in and that is great but most people stuck in the north western sections of Orlando have a hard time getting around. As I said, The attractions meaning Disney World and Universal Parks are awesome and a WORLD away from the real Orlando and we enjoyed the beach tremendously. We lived only 25 minutes away from the beach so we went every weekend we could but beyond that I never seen so many angry people. It was such a bad situation. The locals did not like people coming in to their community so they were hostile and you had to deal with people coming in who seemed to be escaping something from where they were. Many looking for dreams to be fullfilled and then they get there and they find they did not escape anything. I also saw bad healthcare and if you happen to be in a car wreck on Tuesday or Thursday, you were out of luck with a neurologist if you happen to have a head injury plus OB's were closing their doors due to insurance. Can I tell you when I saw a very very old man at a local Roadhouse shooting the rod in front of my tot and laughing, reality set in about where I had moved too and it was very very earth shattering. We went there because the bottom fell out in Dallas and the day hubby was laid off, a head hunter called from Orlando asking my husband if he was interested in a job there. We were. I just wish it had been diffferent, if it had been we would still be there.

[940]

Puddlejumper, I would avoid Orlando like the plague. My other half's parents and other family members live there and I always dread going there because it's always a nightmare...not the family but the whole set-up there...it seems just so small-town to me acting like a large metro, IMHO. I have to echo one of the previous posters when they mentioned the freeway situation. I'm amazed that a metro of 2 million or so literally has NO real freeways except for I-4. It's all parkways and boulevards with light after light after light and strip mall traffic contributing to the mess. Case in point, San Antonio has a metro about the same size and yet they've got one of the best freeway systems for a city its size including not one but two loops that encircle the area. Even the Austin area is expanding its freeway system at record pace. Orlando has nothing like that. Toll road after toll road or parkway with traffic lights everywhere is more like it there. Orlando is also populated with folks who really don't know how to drive and will cut you off in a second. A left-turn/right-turn blinker on cars doesn't exist there either! Crime is bad and that thug mentality is everywhere. I just left there the other day after the Thanksgiving holiday and the day we left, there was a wild chase including gang stabbings at one of the nicest malls there. Sure that can happen anywhere but it seems to be the norm more and more there, according to the in-laws, who are getting just as tired of the area and are considering a move to Texas. Some of their friends have already moved to Round Rock and to San Antonio just last year. Housing prices are way overblown too..1300 sq ft square boxes with no upgrades, etc sell easily for 225K-250K and up...way up.

We also work for a major airline but we choose to live in the suburbs of our hub city (DFW) b/c we could never commute anymore. Too much drama and playing that game and avoiding bad weather, etc etc...case in point, ice and snow are forecast for the DFW area come Thursday/Thursday night..I would never want to have to commute and deal with the stress of all that. That's just one issue out of many but to each his own. Also, a commute out of MCO can be an issue b/c it's always busy there with families and the like heading to the parks. Rarely do I get a real seat when traveling there..mostly it's a jump seat and I can't imagine having to jump seat all the time just to get to work or to get home.

If Houston and Dallas are not a choice, then I'd definitely pick either the Austin or San Antonio areas over Orlando. The hill country areas of both metros is highly desirable and you can live in a beautiful home in a great neighborhood up in the hills with terrific views all around. And the schools are top notch. I grew up in San Antonio so I'm very familiar with what the hilly northwest/west area of town can offer. I'm not so familiar with Austin but spent a lot of time visiting there while growing up and it's a great city with many advantages too. You'd do well to consider either metro over MCO.