Moving to Abilene (Dyess AFB) (sales, leases, house)

[skid78]

Moving to Abilene in May going to be stationed at Dyess. Just looking to see what property taxes would be on a $160,000 house as well as normal eletric rates, cable TV rates, internet rates, and if anyone is an outdoorsman looking to get info on local hunting and fishing areas. Thanks

[mpgerma]

If you don't have any exemptions, taxes would probably run $3500. But I suspect you would at least have homestead exemption...so maybe $3200. Go to powertochoose.org to see what electric providers are available and what their rates are. Use 79606 for zipcode. don't know about cable or internet.

[nachirico]

hunting sucks pretty much all over texas, since texas is mostly all private land and there are almost no state parks that permits hunting. I just moved down to dyess a little while ago, you can lease hunting rights on other people's property, the price line for that is around 150.00 a day. or you could try to meet someone who's got some land.

[BobTex]

Hunting is great in Texas ... look at how many out of staters come here to hunt.

I normally kill 2 bucks and 2-3 does avery year (LAMPS program). I found a lease on the internet for 850 bucks/ year for the FAMILY! We ride 4 wheelers, fish, and hunt on this 11,000 acre property year round. I am looking at another lease for $1250/year but it has a 55 acre lake on it. It is 14,000 acres and 65-70 members. Found in local advertising. These are East Texas properties.

Plenty of this around! Hill Country leases are more (($1500-$3000) and South Texas leases can run you much more.

Good thing about lease hunting land access is controlled(numbers of hunters) and idiots that break rules or act like jerks can be kicked off the lease. Try that on public land. Also many leases' stand sites are spaced (by rule) so that one's hunting experience shouldn't be interfered with by someone moving in on you.


Don't know much about Abilene area.

[Ketabcha]

Hunting is GOOD in Texas. As one poster said, you will need to find a lease but there are a lot out there.

I think you will like Abilene. It is a town that loves its military folks. It won't take you long to find that out. My parents loved it so much that my father retired out of Dyess and they stayed in Abilene. I graduated from high school in Abilene and then went off to college. My sister did the same thing.

Abilene has a good feel to it. House sales are good. We sold mother and dad's house last November. It went fast. The economy of the rest of the US never seems to affect Abilene's economy. It's a good place to live and particularly so if you have kids.

[skid78]

thanks for the info

[TT Dave]

It looks like everyone above answered most of your questions except for cable/internet rates. I live in the city of Abilene and I have TV cable and high speed internet bundled through the local cable company for about 100 dollars a month. The last time I checked on AT&T DSL rates it was fairly comparable to the cable service I have but that's been a few years back, I don't know what it is now.

[UWSNYC]

How is the job market out there for a soon-to-be unemployed middle age single fellow just looking to move to Abilene, purchase a place there and hopefully settle to a relatively quieter life than that found along the upper west side of Manhattan? My job of the past fifteen years or so has been a computer-related job as an editorial assistant for a database company. I figure I could purchase a place in Abilene for 80-110k without mortgage. Thanks.

[WillysB]

UWSNYC, you'll need to bring your best networking skills for the Abilene job market. And as much humility with which you can escape your former life style.

And if you had a quest to find the ends of the earth, leaving from the upper west side, you'll have found it in Abilene. After about ten minutes there and you'll be an expert in culture shock.

Good luck.

[TT Dave]

Originally Posted by UWSNYC

How is the job market out there for a soon-to-be unemployed middle age single fellow just looking to move to Abilene, purchase a place there and hopefully settle to a relatively quieter life than that found along the upper west side of Manhattan? My job of the past fifteen years or so has been a computer-related job as an editorial assistant for a database company. I figure I could purchase a place in Abilene for 80-110k without mortgage. Thanks.

I'm not sure what the latest unemployment figures are here but I think the market has tightened a little compared to what it was several months ago. I have a friend here in Abilene that has an IT job who's been looking for another similar position here in town and he hasn't had much luck with that so far. If you get a job offer and decide to move down here you could find a decent home in that 80-110K price range. Someone in my family sold a 3BR house in a nice neighborhood for about 95K a few months back. Good luck to you!