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Old 03-13-2012, 02:38 AM
 
7 posts, read 19,590 times
Reputation: 11

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Hi, We are planning to move to Dallas from Kansas. My husband is working as a software consultant and he is planning to look for next jobs in Dallas area. His present job is in Richardson, TX. He was travelling to and from Kansas to his job for one and half year and now we thought to move to Dallas so that we all can be together.
We have 2 kids ages 8 and 3 and if we decide to move to Dallas we are planning to rent for 6 months and then buy a home. We have to sell our present home in Kansas and then buy a home later in Dallas.
Our budget to rent a apartment /home/ townhome is 1000$ per month and later our home will be in 250000 area.

Frankly I dont know anything about Dallas, I like Kansas alot and I really like our home and neighbourhood and last few times when we came to Dallas (first time in March weather is good then, second time in June - horrible and third time in december Ok). In our present town its really laid back, my work is 20 mins away but I can still get to it in 20 minutes, I guess its not the same in Dallas area. Not sure if we are making a good decision to move to Dallas.

Pros for Dallas:
1. good job opportunities for my husband and better pay than kansas (almost 15k more)
2. Good schools (thats what we heard)
3. Living expenses are less in Dallas (thats what we heard) - for example Montessori preschool in our area starts at 980 per month and in Dallas (Irwing area) I got to know that it is just 750??
4. No state taxes (but this might be offset by higher home tax rates).


Pros for Kansas:
1. A steady good job that I have - I can negotiate to work from home for a slight paycut but that will completely cut me off any future pay raises
2. Our home, its a good home that we built 3500sqft including basement and if we sell it now we will take a minimum of 35000$ loss.
3. Pretty laid back attitude here and almost no traffic. In the last 10 years I lived here I experienced one traffic jam and that too for 20 mins because of multi car accident.
4. My son has adjusted well in the school here. Dont know how it will be in Dallas, I heard that competition is way too much in Dallas, we are pretty laid back and dont push kids to study and study.
5. Home taxes are way too high in Dallas compared to Kansas.
6. For 250k in our present town we are in a upper middle class neighbourhood and in a good school district, with the same money will we be in similar neighbourhood in dallas, dont know.

So please need help in some suggestions to decide whether is it worth moving to Dallas. If you suggest moving to Dallas is a good idea then please let me know some good places.

Thank You all
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Old 03-13-2012, 07:43 AM
 
19,524 posts, read 17,770,771 times
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Frankly, I'd talk to hubby about finding a consulting gig closer to home.

If your "study and study" thinking is code-speak for your family not caring much about education stay away. Speaking very broadly, education around here is pretty much awesome or crap with not much in the middle. If for example your kid(s) ended up at Richardson Pearce they'd be pounded asunder by lots of kids who take school very and I mean very seriously.
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Old 03-13-2012, 07:48 AM
 
Location: DFW
40,927 posts, read 48,890,118 times
Reputation: 54914
If you like Kansas, you'll like TX.

I'd look for something fairly rural here maybe in the Wylie, Sachse, Rockwall area. Good schools, smaller town life and yet just minutes from where he works.

Home taxes are moderate but we have no state income tax. Over the years I've learned it's a more fair tax since so many people (50%) get out of paying income taxes. Everyone pays property taxes, directly or indirectly. Gotta support those schools for your kids somehow.
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Old 03-13-2012, 07:57 AM
 
102 posts, read 236,494 times
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We moved from Dallas and I would just love to go back. I want to live in Richardson Heights again. Great public schools, smaller than what we've got now, and lovely older homes that are remodeled rather than bulldozed and replaced with new construction. Crime was low, the Richardson police were known for responding promptly to every little thing (I can attest to that) and it was close enough to the city that I hardly considered it a suburb. That's me. We live in Houston now where the climate just isn't as pleasant, and it seems if we're not in the city dealing with crime, we're in the 'burbs/fringe looking at new construction only. I miss my middle ground.
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Old 03-13-2012, 09:10 AM
 
Location: Willowbend/Houston
13,384 posts, read 25,616,460 times
Reputation: 10590
What part of Kansas are you coming from?
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Old 03-13-2012, 09:33 AM
 
Location: Simmering in DFW
6,952 posts, read 22,614,554 times
Reputation: 7295
I don't know where in Kansas you are from, but I lived in the midwest for a long time. Winters are harsh and summers are hot. I hate the summers in Texas but midwestern summers can be dang hot, too. We have very moderate weather here about 8 months out of 12. I also think you would like it here....especially in places like Murphy or Rockwall.

You are not native to Kansas and you did not mention having extended family living in the area so I have to assume this decision only impacts your immediate family. Can you work remotely on your present job and live in the DFW area, or would you have to quit?

Years ago, in '90-'93, my late husband and I did the same thing as you are doing. (Before Skype!). We made the decision to work in separate cities because my DH's job transferred him and our local economy was terrible....he was transferred to San Diego -- a much more expensive market than DFW. I had a great job and kids heading off to college in a couple of years. We had extended family in the DFW area. Lots of reasons to stay local! So, for 3 years we were apart. During that time, we each looked for employment in each other's city and we sold our home (plus rental properties we owned at the time). In the end it worked for us to come up with a solid plan and not to rush into a decision. I had a teenaged boy at the time, however, and he would have been better off if my husband was a daily presence in the house.....
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Old 03-13-2012, 10:02 AM
 
764 posts, read 1,649,760 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EDS_ View Post
If your "study and study" thinking is code-speak for your family not caring much about education stay away. Speaking very broadly, education around here is pretty much awesome or crap with not much in the middle. If for example your kid(s) ended up at Richardson Pearce they'd be pounded asunder by lots of kids who take school very and I mean very seriously.
I think this is a little harsh - you can care about education without putting you children in Saturday schools or math camps throughout the summer in order to "keep on pace". A child learning to read is like a marathon. Some do 5 minute miles and others train and train to get to a 10 minute mile - either way, both are successful for starting and completing the race, however long it takes. Hard work can only take you so far until you hit genetics OR genetics can only take you so far until you hit hard work. If you have both, your very happy whatever you're doing. A lot of good "education" happens outside the school. Yes, there are parents (in every 'highly rated' school district training the next generation of highly-educated "worker bees", but there are some who still value creativity and intrinsic motiviation.

You can find a slower quality of life in Texas to match your current situation. Sache, Wylie, etc. would be close to Richardson and would be good areas to consider. However, if you are pleased with your quality of life where you are, don't assume the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. In some cases, it takes more water to keep it as green.

Last edited by BstYet2Be; 03-13-2012 at 10:34 AM.. Reason: As requested before, please use the quote button so the quoted text will have the OP's ID on it.
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Old 03-13-2012, 11:10 AM
 
7 posts, read 19,590 times
Reputation: 11
Quote:
Originally Posted by justme02 View Post
What part of Kansas are you coming from?
Overland Park
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Old 03-13-2012, 11:13 AM
 
7 posts, read 19,590 times
Reputation: 11
Quote:
Originally Posted by Squirl View Post
I don't know where in Kansas you are from, but I lived in the midwest for a long time. Winters are harsh and summers are hot. I hate the summers in Texas but midwestern summers can be dang hot, too. We have very moderate weather here about 8 months out of 12. I also think you would like it here....especially in places like Murphy or Rockwall.

You are not native to Kansas and you did not mention having extended family living in the area so I have to assume this decision only impacts your immediate family. Can you work remotely on your present job and live in the DFW area, or would you have to quit?

Years ago, in '90-'93, my late husband and I did the same thing as you are doing. (Before Skype!). We made the decision to work in separate cities because my DH's job transferred him and our local economy was terrible....he was transferred to San Diego -- a much more expensive market than DFW. I had a great job and kids heading off to college in a couple of years. We had extended family in the DFW area. Lots of reasons to stay local! So, for 3 years we were apart. During that time, we each looked for employment in each other's city and we sold our home (plus rental properties we owned at the time). In the end it worked for us to come up with a solid plan and not to rush into a decision. I had a teenaged boy at the time, however, and he would have been better off if my husband was a daily presence in the house.....
Hi, thank you for your reply. We are from Overland Park, I can work remotely from home . We dont have any extended family in United States so it is pretty much us. I want all 4 of us to stay together can manage kids alone for a year but if there are plans to move I want to do it sooner than later.
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Old 03-13-2012, 11:23 AM
 
7 posts, read 19,590 times
Reputation: 11
Quote:
Originally Posted by carroll4628 View Post
I think this is a little harsh - you can care about education without putting you children in Saturday schools or math camps throughout the summer in order to "keep on pace". A child learning to read is like a marathon. Some do 5 minute miles and others train and train to get to a 10 minute mile - either way, both are successful for starting and completing the race, however long it takes. Hard work can only take you so far until you hit genetics OR genetics can only take you so far until you hit hard work. If you have both, your very happy whatever you're doing. A lot of good "education" happens outside the school. Yes, there are parents (in every 'highly rated' school district training the next generation of highly-educated "worker bees", but there are some who still value creativity and intrinsic motiviation.

You can find a slower quality of life in Texas to match your current situation. Sache, Wylie, etc. would be close to Richardson and would be good areas to consider. However, if you are pleased with your quality of life where you are, don't assume the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. In some cases, it takes more water to keep it as green.
thank you, My son is in 2nd grade now and he is considered as advanced in his class almost to 4rth grade starting level.
All the aquaintainces I talked to in Dallas (most of them live in Irwing/plano area) they say that their kids read books by their 3rd birthday and do addition problems, my son did it when he is 5. My daughter will be 3 soon and she knows very few alphabets and very few numbers.
So getting scared that if I put my kids in school with kids in such advanced level my kids might suffer.
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