Relocating Advise. Please help! (Dallas, Fort Worth: rent, homeowners insurance, sex offenders)

[Frozensolid]

[SIZE=3]I have recently received an offer for a new career in Garland Texas. My wife and I have 2 children (ages 2 and 5) and are very interested in relocating to north Dallas. We currently own a single family home in a suburb of St. Paul Minnesota. We are moving to get rid of our Minnesota winter and pursue a better career. We love everything else about the state and the community we live and we are hoping to find something just like it in Texas. We have a few cities picked out to visit at the end of this month; Rockwall, Richardson, Garland, Sachse, Wylie and Rowlett. I ordered them by preference according to what I already know about them from threads and city-data. From what I can tell Rockwall is the closest match to our hometown of Cottage Grove Minnesota, besides the fact that it has a few more sex offenders. I would like to keep my commute to 20 minutes or less with or without traffic. Our budget consists of selling our home for around 200K and buying for less so that my wife can stay home with the 2 children. The housing we would be looking for would have to be in the area of 160K to 180K and a minimum of 3 bedrooms with 2 baths. So my questions are…Is one of these cities a better fit for us than the others? Does anyone have any ideas what the best community would be to raise children and have a social life with other young parents? Should we be concerned about the high amount of sex offenders in Texas? What should be some of my focal points for my visit to Garland at the end of this month? Any advice you can give us would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance for your time. We really appreciate it![/SIZE]

[Squirl]

I think you have done a great job of picking future community matches. I can never remember anyone asking the sex offender question before. Can't respond to that except to perhaps guess our State is more apt to convict. Can't believe we actually HAVE more SO's than other states. Another guess could be that any major metropolitan area has more SO's than less populated areas. Have you actually looked at your local population vs. SO's and done a % comparison before concluding that we have more?

You will want to look into property taxes, utilities and homeowners insurance costs when you target the price of the home you buy -- these may be considerably higher than where you live now and play in to the monthly budget. Although it is a major hassle, people who rent for a year before purchasing almost always report back they were glad they did so in order to get better acquainted with different areas/subdivision.

[5stones]

Can't believe we actually HAVE more SO's than other states. Another guess could be that any major metropolitan city has more SO's than less populated areas. Have you actually looked at your local population vs. SO's and done a % comparison before concluding that we have more?

Exactly rates should be done on population percentage.

Yes TX will have more in sheer numbers it is the one of the largest states in the US (2nd to CA).
As far as SO goes...they are everywhere, in every small town and in every large city. The ones on the registry are not the ones to be too concerned with, you KNOW who they are and where they are and so do local officals. It's the ones that have not been caught yet. So unless you plan on keeping your kids sequestered at home under your thumb... the probility of running into trouble with one will be no different here than in your home state.

ALSO...you do realise that most kids that are sexualy abused are done so by a family member or family friend, someone you have deemed safe and let into your kids lives.

If the job is in Garland then that is where I would focus on looking for a house. They have a good school district and your commute would be a dream.

[Frozensolid]

Thanks very much for your feedback! I looked up another web site for a second oppinion on SO counts and they contradict each other. Not sure where the last numbers came from but it was a scary differance. I have attached the one that i have found and Texas is the same per 100,000 people as MN. Thanks again!

Map: Registered Sex Offenders By State : NPR

[Willsson]

Looks like you'll be safer in Texas and won't be choked in there by South Dakota and Wisconsin.

Remember though, education as well as safety begin at home. Good training and parental guidance can do more to prevent abuse than a cop on every corner.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by Frozensolid

Thanks very much for your feedback! I looked up another web site for a second oppinion on SO counts and they contradict each other. Not sure where the last numbers came from but it was a scary differance. I have attached the one that i have found and Texas is the same per 100,000 people as MN. Thanks again!

Map: Registered Sex Offenders By State : NPR

When I bought a few years back, I actually focused on the "offenses" each S/O had been charged for. Porn or other "non hands-on" offenders didn't scare me as badly as child molesters or those convicted of sexual assault. I actually nixed one home/ neighborhood that I loved because there were 3 violent offenders within a few blocks' radius. It was a "transitioning" neighborhood.....I'd be happy to look there again once that part of the transitioning is done!

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

When I bought a few years back, I actually focused on the "offenses" each S/O had been charged for. Porn or other "non hands-on" offenders didn't scare me as badly as child molesters or those convicted of sexual assault. I actually nixed one home/ neighborhood that I loved because there were 3 violent offenders within a few blocks' radius. It was a "transitioning" neighborhood.....I'd be happy to look there again once that part of the transitioning is done!

Good points. Not all sex offenses are created equal.

[5stones]

^ exactly!
Public urination can count is some states. Also some "consenting" relationships can also end in a sex offender record. Now days teens have been charged with possision of child pronography if they recieve a "sexting" msg. from another teen. etc...

Definately LOOK at the site, read the offenses and look at a map. There might be one within 2 miles, but that could be across a highway, train tracks etc...

[loves2read]

a 17 yr old having sex with his 15 yr old girlfriend can also get a SO label
or some other offensives that I don't want to say should be ignored but don't really rank with rape or child abuse
there are many fine lines--
the true problem is that sometimes the greater charge is plea bargained down to lesser offense for various reasons
--thait may not sound nearly as threatening/dangerous as the original charge--and you don't really know about it just by reading the "classification" of the offense

[vegassurvivor777]

There is no such thing as a 20 minute commute anywhere in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. I just moved from there after three years of putting up with the whole world moving there. There streets and highways were apparently designed by someone on crack and the place is already resembling L.A. According to wiikopedia, The Dallas area has more violent crime than L.A. or New York City. And as far as the weather is concerned...it's like this. In the spring and summer months there is usually a heavy thunderstorm warning including large hail and always, always the possiblity of tornadoes. In the winter they have horrible ice storms accompanied by snow every other day usually in January and unlike Minnesota where my father is from, they have no, I repeat, no snow removal equipment or budget for it. Last winter, because it's always windy there, the wind chill was around 5 above for a whole month. And the humidity is horrible, especially in the summer, but, you may be used to that in Minnesota. And another thing, you better learn spanish, because the entire population is becoming more and more hispanic everyday. According to the congressman from my district and the bureau of census statistics, at least 7 out of every so called immigrant in the state of Texas is living there illegally. On top of that, most of the people are rude and inconsiderate especially when they are driving. If you have a lot of money, you might be able to live in a safe area, but, my brother lives in Lewisville and he has had stuff stolen out of his garage and his car window broken out, and he lives in an upscale neighborhood.