Drove to Texas from Brooklyn. What to do now? (Houston: houses, job market)

[MovingCouple]

Actually, I'm in Little Rock now. Wife already doesn't want to move to Texas because of the tornado warnings she saw on TV!? We'll be arriving in Plano later this afternoon. Basically I want to get a feel for the areas that I have considered moving to(surrounding communities and downtown). The only problem is that I'm supposed to go to a friend's wedding in NJ on the 18th. Here's my plan(very tight schedule!) -

1. dallas(plano) - Fri, Sat
2. austin(round rock, cedar park, leander) - Sun, Mon
3. houston(sugar land, woodlands) - Tues, Wed

Is San Antonio worth checking out too?(to consder living in, I'm not a tourist)

I plan on going to an open house or 2 to see the quality of the houses in Texas.

About us - both 30 years old. I am in IT(java developer) and my wife is a licensed school psychologist/school teacher. Which city would be best to live in? Wife inherited around 2 million and it kills me that I would have to spend 600 - 1 million to get a nice house in NYC/NJ. down here I could get a nice place for 200 - 350K and have money left over for any kids we have in the future. I guess we should only move down here with at least one job locked in.

during our visit -
What restaurant would you recommend at each location(best bbq, tex-mex etc)?
And one or two important places to visit at each city?

Thanks for any help.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by MovingCouple

Actually, I'm in Little Rock now. Wife already doesn't want to move to Texas because of the tornado warnings she saw on TV!? We'll be arriving in Plano later this afternoon. Basically I want to get a feel for the areas that I have considered moving to(surrounding communities and downtown). The only problem is that I'm supposed to go to a friend's wedding in NJ on the 18th. Here's my plan(very tight schedule!) -

1. dallas(plano) - Fri, Sat
2. austin(round rock, cedar park, leander) - Sun, Mon
3. houston(sugar land, woodlands) - Tues, Wed

Is San Antonio worth checking out too?(to consder living in, I'm not a tourist)

I plan on going to an open house or 2 to see the quality of the houses in Texas.

About us - both 30 years old. I am in IT(java developer) and my wife is a licensed school psychologist/school teacher. Which city would be best to live in? Wife inherited around 2 million and it kills me that I would have to spend 600 - 1 million to get a nice house in NYC/NJ. down here I could get a nice place for 200 - 350K and have money left over for any kids we have in the future. I guess we should only move down here with at least one job locked in.

during our visit -
What restaurant would you recommend at each location(best bbq, tex-mex etc)?
And one or two important places to visit at each city?

Thanks for any help.

wow, you plan on being in Houston on Wednesday and getting back to NJ on Sat for a wedding?/ Good luck. that is a heck of a lot of driving or are you flying? It sounds like you are on the road..

Tell your wife, yes, there is always the possibility of tornados, but everywhere has natural disasters. We lived in Dallas for 13 years, never had a tornado closer than about 15 miles from our house. We did have some horrible winds..

Should you check out San Antonio as well? As much as it is an awesome town, because of your profession I think you are fine to concentrate on the areas you have chosen..Yes, you will be very pushed for time.

Austin is an up and coming city, very popular with the young tech types. It is also very liberal. Dallas and Houston, depending on where you live can be very conservative, liberal or inbetween. I personally am not crazy over Houston, I think it is too spread out. I like Dallas..
when checking out Plano, look in some of the other areas as well. Richardson is older but very nice, Frisco is new and very much suburbia. Don't overlook No Dallas, Coppell, Grapevine, etc. No, you will not have time to see all those areas but see as much as possible..

Nita

[GayleTX]

Mexican food.....Abuelo's - there one on No Central (75) in Plano. You can find good food all up and down No Central from McKinney to So Dallas (about 40 miles maybe?)

The IT corridor is up and 75 Plano/Richardson area....both good places to work and live, reasonable prices for homes, good schools.....you'd probably prefer to live on the west side of the No Central...it's newer, less crime. Richardson has quite a lot of diversity if that's important to you. Plano is newer, smaller school campuses. You can get a great house for the price you quoted!

[lone sailor]

DM sent.

[texdav]

North of san antonio is nice;places like frederricksburg ;Bourne;and then east new braunfels. But north and east of san antonio is some of the nice parts of the hill country. Austin area is the eastern edge.Having a job locked in is always a good idea.

[Premont]

There's some little towns just outside of Austin and San Antonio that are famous for their bbq - Luling, Lockhart and Taylor. You & Your "Taste Buds" will love to travel the BBQ Trail!

For Mexican food Pappasito's is a good place with a lot of locations.

For places to visit, maybe Town Lake and 6th street in Austin. Houston's really spread out. The drive from The Woodlands to Sugar Land will cover a lot of ground. Both of those areas have their own town centers with a lot to do.

[Steel Man]

The Woodlands is nice, but the many houses are pricey. Also, depending on where you work, you would drive 30 miles are more each way to work.

[Glen2Gs]

Dallas is...where people live WELL beyond their means...Very status conscious A lot of what I would call "Flash Cash"...They are driving a Jaguar...but can't pay the Paper Boy...one PayCheck away Homelessness.
very racialy divided....North Dallas, of which Plano is a suburb..."Lilly White" The South Side of Dallas is "Oak Cliff" (Which until about 1923 the northern part of Oak Cliff was called...Brooklyn..No Kidding) I grew up in North Oak Cliff...Upper Middle Class..."Kessler Park"Whites, Browns, Blacks (and Gays) all pretty much live toghether

I now live in a suburb of Fort Worth (Hurst-Euless-Bedford or H.E.B. as the locals call it) But , I'm now moving to New Braunfels to be closer to my Son. (In Fort Worth...You can be a billionaire ..and drive a Ford Taurus or a Chevy PickUp...Most Native Texans find displays of wealth..."Unseemly"..)

GET TO THE POINT....Dallas wanted to be New York City..When it grew up...unfournately..it grew up to be Chicago....

AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

P.S. The "Defining Tex-Mex"....From which all other Tex-Mex is derived...would be "El Fenix" a family owned chain in Dallas/Fort Worth...They are the ones that REALLY brought Mexican Food to the Anglos around 1918

[lone sailor]

Originally Posted by Glen2Gs

Dallas is...where people live WELL beyond their means...Very status conscious A lot of what I would call "Flash Cash"...They are driving a Jaguar...but can't pay the Paper Boy...one PayCheck away Homelessness.
very racialy divided....North Dallas, of which Plano is a suburb..."Lilly White" The South Side of Dallas is "Oak Cliff" (Which until about 1923 the northern part of Oak Cliff was called...Brooklyn..No Kidding) I grew up in North Oak Cliff...Upper Middle Class..."Kessler Park"Whites, Browns, Blacks (and Gays) all pretty much live toghether

I now live in a suburb of Fort Worth (Hurst-Euless-Bedford or H.E.B. as the locals call it) But , I'm now moving to New Braunfels to be closer to my Son. (In Fort Worth...You can be a billionaire ..and drive a Ford Taurus or a Chevy PickUp...Most Native Texans find displays of wealth..."Unseemly"..)

GET TO THE POINT....Dallas wanted to be New York City..When it grew up...unfournately..it grew up to be Chicago....

AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

P.S. The "Defining Tex-Mex"....From which all other Tex-Mex is derived...would be "El Fenix" a family owned chain in Dallas/Fort Worth...They are the ones that REALLY brought Mexican Food to the Anglos around 1918

One of the more humorous posts I've read in awhile. Thanks for the laugh.

[sxrckr]

Originally Posted by MovingCouple

Actually, I'm in Little Rock now. Wife already doesn't want to move to Texas because of the tornado warnings she saw on TV!? We'll be arriving in Plano later this afternoon. Basically I want to get a feel for the areas that I have considered moving to(surrounding communities and downtown). The only problem is that I'm supposed to go to a friend's wedding in NJ on the 18th. Here's my plan(very tight schedule!) -

1. dallas(plano) - Fri, Sat
2. austin(round rock, cedar park, leander) - Sun, Mon
3. houston(sugar land, woodlands) - Tues, Wed

I plan on going to an open house or 2 to see the quality of the houses in Texas.

About us - both 30 years old. I am in IT(java developer) and my wife is a licensed school psychologist/school teacher. Which city would be best to live in?

If your wife is scared of tornado warnings, you'll probably want to avoid areas around Dallas and most of north Texas in general. The warnings seem more common there.

I suppose being from the coastal northeast you're more used to the rare hurricane or coastal storm.

Of your list, I'd concentrate on
- Cedar Park, maybe Round Rock (Austin)
- Sugar Land, Katy (Houston)

Personally, you mention NYC/NJ so I think the Houston area would be a better fit. You might find Austin small and lacking in some big city things you're used to. Also Houston has bigger job market. Concentrate on Sugar Land and Katy for suburbs, but you might also want to check out these closer-in areas of Houston: West Memorial (77079 zip), Bellaire, Meyerland.

Originally Posted by Glen2Gs

Dallas is...where people live WELL beyond their means...Very status conscious A lot of what I would call "Flash Cash"...They are driving a Jaguar...but can't pay the Paper Boy...one PayCheck away Homelessness.
very racialy divided....North Dallas, of which Plano is a suburb..."Lilly White" The South Side of Dallas is "Oak Cliff" (Which until about 1923 the northern part of Oak Cliff was called...Brooklyn..No Kidding) I grew up in North Oak Cliff...Upper Middle Class..."Kessler Park"Whites, Browns, Blacks (and Gays) all pretty much live toghether

There is truth in this.