Best Place in Texas for my (growing) family? (Houston, Dallas: real estate, low crime)

[Need2Relocate]

Hello!

I've been browsing and searching the city-data forums for awhile now and I guess its time for me to ask some questions!

I'm currently living in a New York suburb, about 1 hour north of NYC and it looks like we're going to have to move due to a health issue of mine. I can no longer work, maybe part time at best

I'm going to be on a fixed income which will not cut it in NY

The wife and I are looking for:

A nice suburban community
very low crime
good schools (hopefully we'll have kids soon)
not too far from a large city
Tornado free? or low occurance
Mild weather as much during the year as possible for outdoor activities
Close to a good college/university for my wife to continue her studies

I can spend up to 400k but I'd much rather be in the mid 250's to mid 300's if possible.

I've pretty much narrowed it down to Texas or North Carolina. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

[ripley]

Check out Tyler area.

[destin04]

Texas still has very low real estate prices. Just about anywhere in Texas you can get a nice 3/2 for under 250. The place I know the best is East Texas (Tyler) or I just moved here from the DFW metroplex (Frisco) area. Tyler has the University of Texas at Tyler campus. Dallas has numerous choices....but you might find The University of North Texas in Denton which is about 30 miles north of Dallas. I would think real estate would be a good value there. Check that out.

[Megande]

You should check out Bryan/College Station. The population is 150,000. It is the home of Texas A&M, which is a world class institution. We are an hour and a half from Houston, about the same from Austin, and 3 from Dallas. You would not believe the price of real estate here. We just sold our 3 bdrm, 2 bath house for $120,000. For $250k, you can get pretty much whatever you want.

It is an extremely safe area. I don't think twice about walking around my area at night alone. The schools are great, and it is a very, very family friendly environment. College Station alone has 27 parks. It gets hot in the summer (but that is Texas), but the "winter" is fantastic. 65 and sunny for almost all of February.

In the 6 years we've been here, there have been no tornados .

I'm sure you can tell that I love it here and am very sad to be moving. I've never met friendlier people.

[BobTex]

I'll second the Tyler or Longview areas.

If you want to be within driving distance of thje coast .... Lumberton just outside of Beaumont.

Lufkin and Nacogdoches seem OK but I know nothing of the schools.


Temple is nice.

Many of the smaller towns in the Hill Country but prices are rising more rapidly there.

[Steel Man]

How about San Marcos or New Braunfuls? San Marcos is near Austin, while New Braunfuls is near San Antonio. They both meet your criteria.