Considering Moving to Texas from BC, Canada (Mckinney, Allen) - Cost of living ?'s

[CREW747]

cost of living here compared to where you are would shock you.Alot cheaper overall.If you were to move here, ray away from a 3500 square foot house with needless ceiling space unless you really need it. Get a decent size house according to what you need.Land appreciates alot faster than the house on it.Steer clear of tiny lots and neighborhoods where houses are overall on op of each other ( unless you specifically want no yard upkeep).Check out Prosper ( right next to Mc Kinney) for larger lot sizes and an upscale town feeling your price range is about $ 225,000 plus range


Mc Kinney would be fine if you want to spend no more than about 170,000...

[mikeh19468]

Originally Posted by ganongrey

Labatt's beer is so much more expensive here, because it's imported you hoser. No Tim Horton's either.

No Tim Horton's here is a bad thing? I'll take week old Dunkin Donuts over that stuff. Blech...

[jhilde101]

we live in McKinney.
We have a 2200 sq ft home, over 10 year old A/C units, and our last month A/C bill was $240.
In the winter with gas heat, our A/C bill is around $60
In the summer our gas bill is $40, and winter it is $90.
We live in a non-HOA neighborhood, and the homes are priced from $150-$190k all built about 15 years ago.

In Texas, if you have a 2 story home, you will need 2 A/C units. Usually a bigger unit for the downstairs and a smaller unit for the upstairs.
We do not have basements in Texas, but 95% of the homes are mostly all brick.

During the summer, we are usually on some sort of water restriction, but this is for watering of lawns or washing of cars.
In the winter, when it snows we have no salt trucks. They sand, and they do have plows, but not many.
The DFW metroplex usually shuts down for a day or two at most when it snows, then 3 days later the snow is gone. LOL


My 2 cents, if we were to ever move again and buy in Texas, it will be a 1 story house, and it would be in a non-hoa neighborhood.

Good luck!!

[JoeMalleck]

Originally Posted by mikeh19468

No Tim Horton's here is a bad thing? I'll take week old Dunkin Donuts over that stuff. Blech...

Agreed! Tim Horton's is nasty. Iced Caps are probably the only thing they have going for them.

BTW a sixer or Labatt's is $13.00 up here, so I bet it's even cheeper down there!

[JoeMalleck]

Originally Posted by jhilde101

we live in McKinney.
We have a 2200 sq ft home, over 10 year old A/C units, and our last month A/C bill was $240.
In the winter with gas heat, our A/C bill is around $60
In the summer our gas bill is $40, and winter it is $90.
We live in a non-HOA neighborhood, and the homes are priced from $150-$190k all built about 15 years ago.

In Texas, if you have a 2 story home, you will need 2 A/C units. Usually a bigger unit for the downstairs and a smaller unit for the upstairs.
We do not have basements in Texas, but 95% of the homes are mostly all brick.

During the summer, we are usually on some sort of water restriction, but this is for watering of lawns or washing of cars.
In the winter, when it snows we have no salt trucks. They sand, and they do have plows, but not many.
The DFW metroplex usually shuts down for a day or two at most when it snows, then 3 days later the snow is gone. LOL


My 2 cents, if we were to ever move again and buy in Texas, it will be a 1 story house, and it would be in a non-hoa neighborhood.

Good luck!!

Thanks for the info! The more we look into it, the more we like what we are finding!

Funny thing is that they have water restrictions up here too. They're on right now. Which is funny, because it's rained for the first 2 months of Summer.

[JoeMalleck]

Originally Posted by CREW747

cost of living here compared to where you are would shock you.Alot cheaper overall.If you were to move here, ray away from a 3500 square foot house with needless ceiling space unless you really need it. Get a decent size house according to what you need.Land appreciates alot faster than the house on it.Steer clear of tiny lots and neighborhoods where houses are overall on op of each other ( unless you specifically want no yard upkeep).Check out Prosper ( right next to Mc Kinney) for larger lot sizes and an upscale town feeling your price range is about $ 225,000 plus range


Mc Kinney would be fine if you want to spend no more than about 170,000...

Yes, we are looking at most likely a 3br house 1300-2000sqft. We see a lot of those in our price range in Mckinney. We don't need anything extravagant!

[LoveDallas]

We have a 2 story with about 3400sqft and a pool and our highest bill in the 100 degree heat has been $600. I live in McKinney and love it. I have also lived in Allen and it is somewhere I would live again. There are lots of homes available for under $160,000 in both Allen and McKinney (although you will find newer homes in McKinney for that price).

As far as HOA fees it just depends on if you live in Stonebridge or a different subdivision.Stonebridge Ranch is one of the larger HOA's in McKinny and has a a beach club, paddle boats, sand volleyball, tennis etc. The fees are about $700 a year but can varry depending on when your home was built within the community and the price point. Many of the HOA's are cheaper than this with some being $150 a year (but you don't really get anything for that).

As far as insurance... would say you could plan on $1200-$1500 a year depending on covereage needed. I only pay $1650 for my home per year and it is insured for over $300k. A good rule of thumb for housing costs would be the 10% rule. If you find a home you like that is $160,000 then you can expect to pay with PITI (principle, interest, taxes and insurance) about $1600 a month. Realistically it will be a bit less but it is always good to error on the high end and be pleasantly surprised every month.

As far as gas, food, clothing, restaurants etc...my father lived in Washington State for a while and it was more expensive than the Dallas area. Just to put it into perspective, I paid $3.30 for gas per gallon the othe day and about $2.65 for a loaf of bread. And, if you end up in McKinney they are putting a Costco in Frisco and there is one in Plano as well as a Sam's club in McKinney and Plano. So, if you like to buy in bulk (and I do too much) you will be set.
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Tanya Endicott

[skids929]

Originally Posted by ganongrey

Labatt's beer is so much more expensive here, because it's imported you hoser. No Tim Horton's either.

Take off ayy