Want to move to Texas -- best parts? (Houston, Dallas: low crime, houses)

[CatInTheCity]

I had already almost settled on San Antonio, but then I read on a couple of threads about the stray animal problem. I'm the biggest animal lover on earth and that would absolutely break my heart, and you might think it's not important, but it's kind of a dealbreaker. For the same reason, I don't want to be anywhere near any stock yards or anything like that.

So... where in Texas? I hate driving freeways, I still have to work for a living (legal assistant), and it's gotta be a relatively crime-free area, cuz I'm a chicken. My parents are in their 80's and will be moving, too.

I'm coming from the cold of Utah and I HATE cold. I want a house that is in the less than $200,000 range, my parents around $400,000. I DON'T want to live in a cookie cutter subdivision or bedroom community. An older house with charm, and just a moderate size city lot.

Any ideas on my best bets? Mom's from Dallas (Commerce), but hasn't been there in 40 years, and I DEFINITELY think we don't want Dallas.

[AmarilloDude]

Originally Posted by CatInTheCity

I had already almost settled on San Antonio, but then I read on a couple of threads about the stray animal problem. I'm the biggest animal lover on earth and that would absolutely break my heart, and you might think it's not important, but it's kind of a dealbreaker. For the same reason, I don't want to be anywhere near any stock yards or anything like that.

So... where in Texas? I hate driving freeways, I still have to work for a living (legal assistant), and it's gotta be a relatively crime-free area, cuz I'm a chicken. My parents are in their 80's and will be moving, too.

I'm coming from the cold of Utah and I HATE cold. I want a house that is in the less than $200,000 range, my parents around $400,000. I DON'T want to live in a cookie cutter subdivision or bedroom community. An older house with charm, and just a moderate size city lot.

Any ideas on my best bets? Mom's from Dallas (Commerce), but hasn't been there in 40 years, and I DEFINITELY think we don't want Dallas.

Hey there. I hate to say it but with all these requirements I honestly can think of no Texas city you'll like very much.

[SoHoVe]

Truthfully, I am not sure either...it sounds like you want to live IN a city (no burbs and no freeway commute) in an older area that is nice with LOW CRIME for under 200k...hmmm so that got me thinking of smaller cities BUT then the whole stray animal issue came back to me and realistically Tx seems to have alot of animals roaming around at large... its just a different mentality. Perhaps since you are such an animal lover you could spend some of your time helping at one of the rescues in Tx (or where ever you end up) and help make a difference in some animals lives. It can be heartbreaking but it can be very rewarding and far more productive than choosing a location based on how quickly abandoned animals are removed from the public eye. I do have to admit I have noticed quite a few homeless dogs that tugged at my heartstrings in Houston but the truth is animal abandonment is a huge issue nationwide. Just FYI Utah really isn't a progressive state when it comes to animal control infact it ranks among the most controversial. You may not see animals typically roaming the streets but the fate of those who are picked up is pretty disturbing in this day and age. At any rate good luck to you...I hope others will be able to offer some suggestions.

[armywifeandmom]

Hi catinthecity. I have to agree with Amarillodude in that I can't think of any town or city that would satisfy your requirements. I'm sorry. I would still check in the major cities perhaps you would find one more to your liking. Houston?

[tstone]

I don't think Houston is a good option here. I don't know about it firsthand but I would be willing to bet going from Utah to Houston would be a culture shock. And $200k in the core of the city will land you in the hood... teardown & rebuild areas where the land is worth $185k, and the shotgun shack is worth $15k. Something I'm thinking of like the Heights area will run you $400-500k minimum for something decent; $250k would be an utter piece of crap there.

Freeways are a fact of life in Texas and in Houston; road-killed dogs on freeways that stay til they turn into dust is a problem. If you decide you want to come out to the burbs or ''bedroom communities'' you can find a non-cookie cutter, 1960s home for $200k such as in Clear Lake, Sugar Land and other areas too, but they are still bedroom communities I guess. There are lots of places to work, but are still predominantly bedroom communities. However from my experience, many of these burbs have stray cat issues so don't be surprised if you wake up to queens howling on your fence at 6am on Sunday. As far as wildlife goes, we have possums too-- and our 15 lb dogs like to brutally kill the babies.

Agree with others in that Texas doesn't sound like a good fit. That is unless you're willing to spend more or slacken your restrictions.

[SoHoVe]

I agree if you are will to consider the burbs you will find more of what you are looking for and not ALL the suburbs are filled with tract homes...many have established areas. You would definately want to find employment if your area of interest beforehand to avoid a freeway commute.

Another option would be combining your resources with your parents and buying an inner city property that either has two homes on a single lot, is a larger home that has been divided into a duplex, or has some other form of dual accomodations. I know in Houston properties such as these aren't very difficult to find in the older areas and you would be able to find something pretty nice for under 600k. The only difficulty with that is you are asking for "low crime" and while many inner city neighborhoods are relatively safe, property crime is pretty much ALWAYS going to be somewhat of an issue when you have many people (from different walks of life) concentrated in one area. I do agree though that Houston would be a culture shock...but combining resources will open your options to many other cities as well. Austin is supposed to be a very charming city but your money probably won't take you quite as far there.

[mavericks3344]

Southlake has beautiful homes and great schools. There are sooooo many nice places to live in DFW. Somewhere in between Dallas and Fort Worth. South Arlington has nice homes and you'll be close to everything.

Next to northpark mall is also nice.

[mayhem154]

You may want to consider the Sherman, Tyler or Waco areas. All of these cities are relatively close to Dallas and all have State and Federal Courthouses, so there should be no problem finding employment. And, since they are smaller metros, the traffic will be a non-issue. Best of luck.

[sandhouse]

I would humbly suggest moving to SA and working to solve the problem....avoiding it won't help a thing.

[joejitsu]

Round Rock.