Alaska to Austin: Any advice? (Houston, Dallas: credit, how much, house)

[amie1225]

My husband and I are trying to relocate to Austin Texas this summer. We currently work for a financial institution, he is a Financial Analyst and I am a Branch Manager. We are so overwhelmed with where to even start when it comes to the job search. We have never relocated like this before and would love any advice that we can get. We live in Anchorage right now, and have visited Austin and fell in love with it. I have a 4 yr old and a baby due in April. Is the job market difficult in the banking world? I have my associates in business management and am currently working on my bachelors in Marketing and my husband has a financial certificate but not a degree. However we both have 8+ years of experience at the same company.

Thanks everyone!

[kittymama]

Amie,

My husband and I live in Fairbanks and plan on relocating to Austin this August. He is a teacher and is in the process of (hopefully) getting his Texas Teaching Certificate. We are looking forward to saying goodbye to winter for good (at least I am, my husband is scared to move because he has never lived anywhere else, but I have lived in four states. I know that when he sees how much easier life is without the aggrevation of winter, he'll be happier). I don't know much about your specific industries, though it can't hurt to start looking for jobs on www.statesman.com and other places to see what they pay and to whom to apply.

--Holly

[shaxs]

My landlords did the opposite. They moved from Austin to Alaska. Anyways, the good news is there are TONS of banks and credit unions here in Austin. They are building new ones everyday. When I moved here from California, I was shocked at the amount of financial institutions here. Also, I would check out monster.com and austin.craigslist.org for jobs.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by kittymama

Amie,

My husband and I live in Fairbanks and plan on relocating to Austin this August. He is a teacher and is in the process of (hopefully) getting his Texas Teaching Certificate. We are looking forward to saying goodbye to winter for good (at least I am, my husband is scared to move because he has never lived anywhere else, but I have lived in four states. I know that when he sees how much easier life is without the aggrevation of winter, he'll be happier). I don't know much about your specific industries, though it can't hurt to start looking for jobs on www.statesman.com and other places to see what they pay and to whom to apply.

--Holly

Your husband has never lived anywhere but AK? And you talked him into relocating to HOT Austin? Where it's hot at least 6--if not 8-9 months of the year....and has very little winter?

Boy, that's going to be interesting to find out how he feels after he's been there for a year or so......good luck!!

I'm familiar with Austin, as my sister has lived between Austin and San Marcos for over 30 years, and I do get down there from time to time. I just quit going in the summer because of the heat and humidity. It's a neat city in the winter, though, what there is of it (winter).

I live in NM now, but one of the main reasons I left TX was because of the heat. After 55 years of it, I'm sick of it.

While I love where I now live, it's also too hot, and the winter that I tracked temperatures here was a colder one, with plenty of snow for skiing at Ski Apache/Cloudcroft.

Didn't happen last winter...and it's not going to be this year, either.....

But...having said all of that, I do beleve that AK would probably be too much winter for me, too.....LOL!!

[kittymama]

Originally Posted by Cathy4017

Your husband has never lived anywhere but AK? And you talked him into relocating to HOT Austin? Where it's hot at least 6--if not 8-9 months of the year....and has very little winter?

Boy, that's going to be interesting to find out how he feels after he's been there for a year or so......good luck!!

I'm familiar with Austin, as my sister has lived between Austin and San Marcos for over 30 years, and I do get down there from time to time. I just quit going in the summer because of the heat and humidity. It's a neat city in the winter, though, what there is of it (winter).

I live in NM now, but one of the main reasons I left TX was because of the heat. After 55 years of it, I'm sick of it.

While I love where I now live, it's also too hot, and the winter that I tracked temperatures here was a colder one, with plenty of snow for skiing at Ski Apache/Cloudcroft.

Didn't happen last winter...and it's not going to be this year, either.....

But...having said all of that, I do beleve that AK would probably be too much winter for me, too.....LOL!!

He's a bit apprehensive about it, though I think he'll do okay. We visited for a week in July and yes, he complained about the heat. Yet, he wanted to go for a walk everyday anyway and we did walk for a half hour or longer in the ninety-something weather everyday. I can tell you that we don't go for walks here anytime the temperature is below zero, which happens every bit as often in Fairbanks as temperatures above 90 happen in Austin. In fact, even though people move to Alaska to spend lots of time in the great outdoors, I've spent the least amount of time outside here of anywhere I've ever lived because it's so miserable for 7 months out of the year. In fact, my husband isn't anymore thrilled about doing anything that involves being outside when there is snow on the ground than I am, so consequently, we spend more than half the year shut in our house and other buildings.

I'm from TX originally, and so I remember what it's like. Given that my husband doesn't do any winter sports and spends most of his time inside yearround, if he doesn't actually like the heat, it's not like his lifestyle will be different than it is here. In fact, he actually asked me "What's the difference? We're going from it being too cold all the time to being too hot all the time?" Yes, but you don't have to brush "too hot" off your car or put on boots and a parka to go anywhere in "too hot." And "too hot" isn't as depressing to go places. Like, I never thought it was "too hot" to go spend a Saturday in an airconditioned mall, whereas here, it feels like a burden to drive in a heated car to a heated building because of all the WORK you have to do to put stuff on and brush it off the car. So yeah, if I were married to someone who wanted to go snow machining on his weekends, liked to ski and snow shoee and actually did stuff in the winter that needed snow, I might not be so pushy about this. But he can surf the internet, read books, watch television, and play roleplaying games just as well in Austin as he can in Fairbanks and we can both go to work in the daylight year round without having to put on the equivalent of a spacesuit to go outside (okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but that's how it feels to me). Sounds like a nice trade off to me.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by kittymama

....whereas here, it feels like a burden to drive in a heated car to a heated building because of all the WORK you have to do to put stuff on and brush it off the car. So yeah, if I were married to someone who wanted to go snow machining on his weekends, liked to ski and snow shoee and actually did stuff in the winter that needed snow, I might not be so pushy about this. But he can surf the internet, read books, watch television, and play roleplaying games just as well in Austin as he can in Fairbanks and we can both go to work in the daylight year round without having to put on the equivalent of a spacesuit to go outside (okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but that's how it feels to me). Sounds like a nice trade off to me.

Oh, OK....since you are originally from TX, you know exactly what you're getting into...and have apparently thought things out well! Good points! Ice and snow really are a different ballgame for sure.

Austin is a neat place, though it has grown so much that it's not as much fun to visit as it was 30 years ago....much more traffic, crowding, congestion, et al.

It will be interesting to see how he adjusts to the heat....enjoy Austin, and good luck!!

[kittymama]

I'm actually from Fort Worth, not Austin. My parents live in Austin and I like it because it seems to be a fun, growing town. My impression (I have been to Austin a few times) is that Austin is more cosmpolitan and liberal, which I consider pluses. It seems that it has a lot of people who have relocated from elsewhere, which also seems nice to me - diversity. Also, Fort Worth occasionally gets snow and ice (though I wouldn't be opposed to living there and we might apply for jobs there too). One reason I'm leaning towards Austin is 300+ days of sunshine a year. I've also thought about San Antonio as well. Dallas and Houston are on the list, though the top 3 are Austin, Fort Worth, and San Antonio.