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Old 07-27-2012, 10:26 AM
 
Location: HHK
184 posts, read 316,257 times
Reputation: 250

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Wow, pretty much identical to me and my wife. I have 3 cities in mind, Dallas, Charlotte and Vegas. The earliest we would be able to move would be early 2014 as my current employer has me under contract until then (not a bad thing, NYC pays much better than the rest of the US). We were looking at houses in Bergen County, NJ for the schools mainly as we want to start a family sooner rather than later. After looking for almost a year I just couldn't pull the trigger on spending 650k, having 15-20k in property taxes and feeling like I'm getting raped. We stopped looking in June and I started throwing around the idea of relocating when my job ends. Did not expect the wife to be so receptive so now it is looking like more a reality.

We currently both work in NYC and rent on Long Island. Luckily we have rented the same place for 7 years at 1,200 a month so have been able to save a boatload (hoping to buy first house in cash... no mortgage). I work in Finance so to continue my career; Charlotte and Dallas seem like the most viable options (Vegas would be taking a risk on sports gambling being legalized nationwide, hedge funds being created, etc... probably not moving to Vegas). We have never been to Charlotte or Dallas but are planning weekends in each place in October and Novemeber. Dallas is leading IMO as it just seems like a better fit.

Totally agree with you assessment of NYC and the surroundings, I lived in Queens and Long Island my whole life and have been working in NYC since 2000. I just dont want to raise a family here, I dont see the point. Hardest part for my wife is leaving her family, which would be the only hurdle to this not happening. I'm an only child so my parents would most likely follow us down there. Anyway, thank you for all the input, I will be very active on this board in the coming months and your help was greatly appreciated!
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Old 07-27-2012, 10:30 AM
 
13,194 posts, read 28,302,971 times
Reputation: 13142
Quote:
Originally Posted by kelton.curl View Post
If you make 150k in DFW you would be Mitt Romney lite. Yes you would be fine.

NOT TRUE AT ALL. The top neighborhoods/ suburbs with the best schools in the Dallas area (Park Cities, Southlake, Westlake, West Plano) have MEDIAN incomes well over $150k. $150k is a dime a dozen in those areas, and in some (ie, Park Cities), not even enough to buy a home at today's values ($900k-$1M entry level price points in the Park Cities / Westlake and $500k+ in Southlake). I'm assuming you would want to live in a great area with top public schools to make the move from Tri-State area worth it, and it takes $250k++ to comfortably live there. Remember, that $1M home in the Dallas area comes with a $20-25k annual property tax bill.

The $600k homes you were looking at would come with around a $12,000-$15,000 annual tax bill- not that different than the Tri-State homes you mentioned, excpet no state income tax.

Most of the top ex-burbs mentioned on the forum (Allen, Frisco, etc) have median incomes hovering between $90-120k so again $150k is hardly livin' the Mitt Romney lifestyle.



Bottom line--> How much you need to have a comfortable life here depends on what lifestyle you're expecting. We would need more info to give you feedback.
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Old 07-27-2012, 11:16 AM
 
1,494 posts, read 2,722,498 times
Reputation: 929
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coops1981 View Post
Wow, pretty much identical to me and my wife. I have 3 cities in mind, Dallas, Charlotte and Vegas. The earliest we would be able to move would be early 2014 as my current employer has me under contract until then (not a bad thing, NYC pays much better than the rest of the US). We were looking at houses in Bergen County, NJ for the schools mainly as we want to start a family sooner rather than later. After looking for almost a year I just couldn't pull the trigger on spending 650k, having 15-20k in property taxes and feeling like I'm getting raped. We stopped looking in June and I started throwing around the idea of relocating when my job ends. Did not expect the wife to be so receptive so now it is looking like more a reality.
Yeah and I'll bet the 650k house in NJ wasn't very large either. We were checking out Westchester and had the same conclusion, the property taxes were nuts and the properties weren't very nice or spacious for the money and the commute was going to stink. It didn't feel like we'd be trading up by moving, more like trading one hell for another. I think we can both agree that when it comes to starting a family you want something better than trading hells.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Coops1981 View Post
We currently both work in NYC and rent on Long Island. Luckily we have rented the same place for 7 years at 1,200 a month so have been able to save a boatload (hoping to buy first house in cash... no mortgage). I work in Finance so to continue my career; Charlotte and Dallas seem like the most viable options (Vegas would be taking a risk on sports gambling being legalized nationwide, hedge funds being created, etc... probably not moving to Vegas). We have never been to Charlotte or Dallas but are planning weekends in each place in October and Novemeber. Dallas is leading IMO as it just seems like a better fit.
It's great that you were able to stash a nice amount of savings up. That's going to be very liberating when it comes time to buy a house.

We were checking out Vegas too, but we found out that the public schools were so bad that nearly everyone with decent income sent their kids to private schools. That nullified any tax savings for us so we scratched it off the list. It was a pity though, who doesn't love Vegas?

I gotta tell ya I was very pleasantly surprised with how diverse and international Dallas can be. I always had some worry that I'd be giving so much up by leaving NYC (restaurants, different cuisines thanks to the international population) but I'm finding Dallas has the same stuff, it's just a bit more spread out since DFW is so large. What worried me (initially) was traffic and commute times. I've got so many time-sinks in NYC due to commute or population congestion (waiting 45 minutes on line at the Union Square whole foods to get a couple items for dinner) that I was hypersensitive to the traffic issue- I wanted to make sure I wasn't trading hells. But great neighborhoods are in such abundance that it wasn't a problem.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Coops1981 View Post
Totally agree with you assessment of NYC and the surroundings, I lived in Queens and Long Island my whole life and have been working in NYC since 2000. I just dont want to raise a family here, I dont see the point. Hardest part for my wife is leaving her family, which would be the only hurdle to this not happening. I'm an only child so my parents would most likely follow us down there. Anyway, thank you for all the input, I will be very active on this board in the coming months and your help was greatly appreciated!
I hear you about your wife having to leave family behind being an obstacle. You might want to mention the following to your wife in case it hasn't come up: in Dallas you can afford a nice, big house for relatives to visit and there's daily flights from both LAG and JFK to and from DFW. The relatives might be so pleased with the quality of life you'll enjoy in Dallas it might very well get them thinking about relocating too!
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Old 07-27-2012, 11:32 AM
 
Location: Houston, Texas
2,169 posts, read 5,172,355 times
Reputation: 2473
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coops1981 View Post
We have never been to Charlotte or Dallas but are planning weekends in each place in October and Novemeber. Dallas is leading IMO as it just seems like a better fit.
You're coming to visit at the perfect time in terms of weather. Fall is the best time in the Metroplex generally. So, when you're looking around, just imagine it about 30 degrees hotter like it would be between June and September.
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Old 07-30-2012, 09:18 AM
 
Location: HHK
184 posts, read 316,257 times
Reputation: 250
Does anyone have any good hotel recommendations? Looking to come down for a weekend in October (probably 12-14th) just to get a look around Dallas. This is more of a sight seeing trip, so no need to look at apartments/houses. Would like to be in the city in a safe area where we can walk around during Saturday to see the sights and go to a good restaurant for dinner. Looking online, I found The Joule, would that work? Prefer something affiliated with Starwoods as we are Gold members so usually get nice upgrades. Any help would be appreciated
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Old 07-30-2012, 09:26 AM
 
Location: Simmering in DFW
6,952 posts, read 22,690,784 times
Reputation: 7297
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coops1981 View Post
Does anyone have any good hotel recommendations? Looking to come down for a weekend in October (probably 12-14th) just to get a look around Dallas. This is more of a sight seeing trip, so no need to look at apartments/houses. Would like to be in the city in a safe area where we can walk around during Saturday to see the sights and go to a good restaurant for dinner. Looking online, I found The Joule, would that work? Prefer something affiliated with Starwoods as we are Gold members so usually get nice upgrades. Any help would be appreciated
Joule is nice and has a great restaurant. It is downtown & downtown doesn't have much activity on weekend days. But its a fine place and I'd take it over the W at Victory Plaza downtown. If you want to be more suburban, the Westin attached to the Galleria mall is not a bad option.
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Old 07-30-2012, 10:19 AM
 
Location: Texas State Fair
8,560 posts, read 11,216,280 times
Reputation: 4258
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coops1981 View Post
Everyone says commuting is a nightmare... I commute 3 hours round trip right now, I can't see it being worse than that. But, I understand what everyone is saying, and I wasnt just going to buy a house, was just shocked at seeing those 3 houses priced @ 599k. Its almost unimaginable to me, being from NY my whole life.
The first day you posted I looked up those houses on the tax appraisal board. Two were not shown, not sure why. The third (I think middle one) had annual property taxes of about $13,000, best I can recall. So, whatever price you're willing to pay, add about a grand a month to your mortgage payment for property taxes. Those taxes will be collected throughout the year, held by your mortgage company and paid at the appropriate time.

That will be every year.

Should you visit in October, make it to include the 13th, the weekend of the Texas/Oklahoma Red River Rivalry, formerly known as Shoot Out. It will also be during the Texas State Fair, so you'd get a chance to meet Big Tex.

Last edited by Willsson; 07-30-2012 at 10:46 AM.. Reason: 13th
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Old 07-30-2012, 10:31 AM
 
Location: HHK
184 posts, read 316,257 times
Reputation: 250
Quote:
Originally Posted by tofurkey View Post
The first day you posted I looked up those houses on the tax appraisal board. Two were not shown, not sure why. The third (I think middle one) had annual property taxes of about $13,000, best I can recall. So, whatever price you're willing to pay, add about a grand a month to your mortgage payment for property taxes. Those taxes will be collected throughout the year, held by your mortgage company and paid at the appropriate time.

That will be every year.
Thank you. 13k in taxes is still nice as we had been looking Northern New Jersey for the past year and houses half as nice as the ones I posted had annual taxes around 15k. For a house of the quality I posted here, if found in NJ would probably be over 20k annually for property tax. Luckily we have time on our side with this move as I am contractually obligated to stay at my current job until the end oof 2013, so we can do alot of research and visits before hand. NY to Dallas round trip with 2 nights hotel is only around $800, so we plan on coming down once a month starting in October. I figure we will spend the first 3 months just getting to know the city and then in 2013, we can start focusing on apartments/jobs.
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Old 07-30-2012, 10:33 AM
 
Location: HHK
184 posts, read 316,257 times
Reputation: 250
Quote:
Originally Posted by tofurkey View Post
Should you visit in October, make it to include the 11th, the weekend of the Texas/Oklahoma Red River Rivalry, formerly known as Shoot Out. It will also be during the Texas State Fair, so you'd get a chance to meet Big Tex.
The 11th is a Thursday. That wouldnt be possible as we plan on flying out Friday night
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Old 07-30-2012, 10:49 AM
 
Location: Texas State Fair
8,560 posts, read 11,216,280 times
Reputation: 4258
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coops1981 View Post
The 11th is a Thursday. That wouldnt be possible as we plan on flying out Friday night
Fixed, thanx. Was an imported calendar showing 11... which was a place holder for the time.

Should you make that weekend, book hotel asap.

http://cities.starwoodhotels.com/Dallas-Hotels

Last edited by Willsson; 07-30-2012 at 10:57 AM..
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