Where to go....... (Houston, Dallas, San Antonio: sales, real estate, rent)

[waqt]

My family and I are moving to Texas from Reno, Nevada. We are leaving Reno for a variety of reasons, but the biggest is the Californication of this area.
A little about us....15 year old daughter very active in Air Force Jr Rotc...wants to be attorney or possibly doctor
14 year old son, races motocross, learning to play guitar (and picking it up quickly)
husband and wife - married 14 years, been together for 18 years.
We are fairly conservative in our values. More conservative than is comfortable in Reno. We believe in taking responsibility for your own actions - which is quickly losing ground in this area, because all the 'nanny staters' want everyone else to be responsible for what they do.
We are very close with our kids, however, we are not our kids 'friend'. Our kids are required to be inside our door by nightfall, unless other arrangements have been made. During daylight hours, they are allowed to go off and do things on their own, however, they are required to check in and let us know who they are with, where they are and what they are doing...and they are checked up on by either mom or dad...god help them if they lie to us!!!!!!!

Mom and Dad don't do drugs. That behavior went out with the 80's, when we had to 'grow up' and get jobs. We like to entertain, when we have time and aren't running to motocross races or whatever the activity is for the weekend. We do like an ice cold beer on a hot day, rarely do we drink 'hard' alcohol.

Mom was raised in the country, and wants to get back to a slower pacedl, country way of life..very tired of the 24 hour a day, rush to get to the next stop light, don't stop to talk to anyone, because they aren't friendly anyway, day to day grind. I don't have to have the newest and best, nor do I want the newest and best...just want to be comfortable. Mom is also very tired of looking at this horrible desert landscape. I see sage green and brown and tan...very few trees and lots of rock...Mom has worked in several different industries, including direct sales - and would like to expand her direct sales business - I will have 3 different lines of products.

Dad is more of a city slicker type...wants to have a slower pace of life, but have the convenience of the city fairly close. Dad will give you the shirt off his back if you need it, is always first to help anyone in need, if it is within his means to do so...almost to a fault. Dad likes the desert landscape, but is ready for a change. Dad has done construction trucking for the past 12 or so years-end dump, belly dump, side dump, also hauls heavy equipment. Our agreement for trucking is no over the road. The occasional overnight haul is okay, but, not for weeks at a time.

We will be renting a home for awhile. We do not want to get entangled into any neighborhood that has a homeowners assocation. We have dealt with those for the past 8 years here, and I just don't care for someone telling me when, where and how I can't do what I want, when it is my hard earned money that bought the house and land.

We are very concerned about our kids education - Reno schools just aren't cutting it...Nevada ranked 49th in the nation for the education given to the kids - need I say more.

We are looking at a couple of different areas and would like some insight to each of them.

Tyler - I am concerned with what I have read about the schools. We do, however, like the climate and the scenery and the lakes and the location. We are spiritual, however, we do not partake in 'organized' religion. One problem that we see, is that Tyler is being touted as a retirement area, so this kind of scares us for employment purposes....

Nacogdoches - The climate seems to be what we are looking for. Not sure on schools, have not been able to find much on here as to what they are like. Not sure on the job climate, especially for local trucking....

Corsicana - Too close to big city for my taste, however, far enough away that I could live with it. Am concerned that it might be more to the desert side, as I can't seem to find much on the local landscape. I know that the High School has Air Force for its jrotc program.

I have been to Amarillo once, my husband has never been to Texas. We have decided on Texas, because we like to be outdoors at all times of the year, we are tired of the people that share our town being so standoffish (especially if you smile and say hi) and Reno just isn't really safe anymore - they have a really, really bad gang problem - we like to see people outside working in their yards or sitting on their porch. the last neighborhood we lived in, the only time you saw anyone is when they were dashing to their cars.
I have always had an affinity for the perverbial southern way of life. I learned during my short time in Amarillo that 'Southern Hospitality' is a living breathing entity - and it was nice to see a smile, and to have someone actually engage in conversation with a stranger.....

I would love insight to each of these areas - economic, education, social and
activities of all sorts.

I am sorry for the novel I just wrote, but thought the info would be good to gain the best insight to each of these areas.

Thank You for your thoughts
Jaci (pronounced Jackie)

[NOTAM]

Californication....yall poor thangs. what a shame. I been to Reno and Fallon. really nice, but yeah, I figured it was only a matter of time for yall.

Central Texas-anywhere near AUSTIN is where i think yall would really like it. REALLY. come check it out. Hill Country is awesome.
Second choice..anywhere on the Ft Worth outskirts (heading west) e.g. Aledo and Weatherford.
WELCOME TO TEXAS!

p.s. if you like to be outdoors all times of the year, forget Amarillo. nice city, love the Panhandle, but bitter cold and windy in the winters. yeah CenTex is for yall. no doubt.

[case44]

Originally Posted by waqt

My family and I are moving to Texas from Reno, Nevada. We are leaving Reno for a variety of reasons, but the biggest is the Californication of this area.

Corsicana - Too close to big city for my taste, however, far enough away that I could live with it. Am concerned that it might be more to the desert side, as I can't seem to find much on the local landscape.


Jaci (pronounced Jackie)

Corsicana is nowhere near a desert. You actually said it's too close to a big city. I think you'll really like it there, but I hope you can get a good deal on a new home. Actually, you might want to try Richland Chambers Lake -- it's about ten miles from Corsicana to the southeast. They have new homes going up there.

Corsicana, incidentally, is located on prairie land. That's what you'll see in East Central Texas.

[destin04]

Tyler and Nacogdoches ......
Tyler....l live in a suburb of Tyler. Our schools are in the top 20 of the state. We are not in Tyler ISD. Trucking jobs are abundent....my husband has been in the freight business for over 30 years. This is pretty conservative town. VERY family .........
Tyler is 10 miles from our home and Dallas is 1 hr 5 minutes. We moved here from the DFW area about 8 months ago. Our child no longer fears school and most of the kids she hangs with are also transfers from the DFW area. (9th grade) We love the slower pace. Housing is still affordable...although...it is becoming more valuable.
Nacogdoches....I went to college in Nacogdoches. Very pretty. Don't know much about the school system...other than Stephen F Austin University has a huge education department and a lot of my friends stayed on to teach there after graduation. About 2 1/2 hrs from Houston , 4 hrs from Dallas.

[ChristieP]

What do you do for a living and how much do you need to make in order to afford the lifestlye you want? Many smaller towns in Texas are wonderful places to live, but the employment possibilities are very limited...

[waqt]

Thank you for info...keep it coming.
I have been in retail, restaurants, fuel distribution (office and dispatch) towing industry, attorneys office. I also have gone through tax courses and was in the quality control offices for H & R Block for a few years. I also run my own direct sales business and am looking to restart and expand that after our big move. I am not afraid of challenge, therefore, have been involved in many different industries. Once the challenge is gone, then I have problems staying focused.
My husband has a cdl - has heavy haul experience, also is experienced operator, ran a crushing operation, knows paving, has towing experience (we met while we worked at a local tow company). Our agreement is that he won't go over the road. The occasional overnight is ok, but not weeks and months at a time.
As for our lifestyle. We are fairly simple people. We don't live our lives for the almighty dollar. We want to earn enough to either rent or buy a decent home in an area with NO homeowners association. I would like to maybe have a couple of acres where i could have a garden, again, and then later raise a beef and pork for the freezer and maybe have a few chickens for eggs. The couple of acres would also be good for our 4-legged kids - 1 black lab/dalmation cross and 1 german shepherd/queensland healer cross. They like to run and play. We require enough to pay our bills and have a little extra for our fun times, like motocross racing and whatever our daughter happens to be into this week. Also, we like to camp, fish, and just generally enjoy the outdoors.

Thanks again for all the info. I knew you would come through for us.

Jaci -

[love roses]

I live in East Central Texas (East of 35), about 30 miles from Austin. My husband also has a cdl and the same rule...no OTR. He does do overnights from time to time, but really, not often. Even with the Dell layoffs recently, he's still managed to stay busy and they've been sending him to Dallas for loads as well. Schools around Austin are all either very good or good. I live in a neighborhood with an HOA right now, but there are lots of homes in the outskirts of the town I live in that aren't HOA run.

I also agree with the Tyler area. It's one of my other favorites. And as for the freight business, there is plenty of work there. My dad lives there and so does my grandmother and her surviving sisters. They all live South Tyler out in the country with no HOA. My dad has 15 acres.

[ChristieP]

Central TX will be great for you. There are lots of jobs for people with CDLs there! And if you're not afraid of work, there are lots of other things to do besides working in an office.

Watch the deed restrictions on your land before buying a pig...most developments (even in rural areas) prohibit swine due to the smell! Cattle are not a problem.

[Rathagos]

Okay... let me get on my San Angelo bandwagon for y'all again. I don't know if you've written this city off because of the distance from other "major" cities, because of the desert-type landscape, or because maybe you just haven't heard of it, but I would like to just give your family another place to consider.

San Angelo, and surrounding areas to include Grape Creek and Christoval (prounounced kris-TOE-vul), is a city of about 100k people. I can't confirm this, but I've been told it's the largest city in the US without an interstate highway running through it. Because of it's distance from major cities (90 mins from Abilene, 3 1/2 hours from San Antonio, 4 1/2 hours from Dallas, 3 hours from Midland/Odessa), many people don't like coming here. But it's that reason that I do. The city itself has many ammenities of larger cities (Best Buy, 2 super WalMarts, Ross, SAM's (like COSTCO), and a mall with the major players (Sears, JC Penney, Dillards, etc.). We are shorter than many cities on the mid-level commercial businesses (no large corporate buildings).

Although maybe not as spiritual as you are, we run our family in very similar fashion. My oldest son is in college in San Francisco, I have another son 16, and two daughters 15 and 10. There are several religious institutes from you to choose from here to include the major ones (Catholic, Presbyterian, Baptist, Jewish, etc.) ane even some contemporary Christian (Tree of Life Church for example).

There is one college (Angelo State University), two high schools (Central and Lakeview), several middle/jr. high, and elementary schools.

There is one lake in the city (Lake Nasworthy) and the Concho river (that is annually stocked with catfish).

There are active sports in the city (to include YMCA, city-sponsored, and public) for football, soccer, basketball, and volleyball. There are also competitive teams for most of these sports, too.

I'm not naive enough to say there is no drugs and crime here, but I will say the prevalence is low. Most "serious" crimes are committed between people that know each other or are related. I have never seen open drug use, nor ever had anyone approach me trying to buy or sell (not that I look like that kind of person), but my kids have told me they have heard of people at their school who have used it. (Find me a school where the students haven't).

We have a city symphony and a performing theater.

If you get behind 5 cars at a stoplight, it's considered a traffic jam.

There is an authorized auto drag-racing strip on the outskirts of town.

There is more to mention, but I'm sure every person can crusade for their city. If you would like more information, let me know. Otherwise, I'll leave it at this. I can attach some links if you would like to check out more (schools, religious services, events, real estate, etc.). I hope you find what you're looking for!!

~ Rath

[wade_word]

Originally Posted by bellestaroftexas

Californication....yall poor thangs. what a shame. I been to Reno and Fallon. really nice, but yeah, I figured it was only a matter of time for yall.

Central Texas-anywhere near AUSTIN is where i think yall would really like it. REALLY. come check it out. Hill Country is awesome.
Second choice..anywhere on the Ft Worth outskirts (heading west) e.g. Aledo and Weatherford.
WELCOME TO TEXAS!

p.s. if you like to be outdoors all times of the year, forget Amarillo. nice city, love the Panhandle, but bitter cold and windy in the winters. yeah CenTex is for yall. no doubt.

Californication. Good one!!