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My wife and I currently live in San Diego, CA and we're ready to move on and live in another city for a few reasons. We feel life we've explored everything we could in Southern California and we're starting to get frustrated with the cost of life here.
We're currently both working, but would like to find a place where we can live comfortably on just my salary and in San Diego that just isn't possible. I work from home and I have the option of pretty much living anywhere as long as it's in the West or Southwest US while keeping this job.
We're looking for a city that's somewhat affordable, with nice weather (we don't mind the heat and prefer somewhat mild winters), and nice job opportunities. After a lot of research, it's come down to Dallas, Austin and Raleigh with a strong preference for Dallas. We travel a lot to Europe and have friends that come see us pretty often so the fact that DFW is a large airport is great.
I have a few questions regarding Dallas and surrounding areas:
-I work in Marketing and I've specialized in the electronics industry. Are there a lot of job opportunities in the area? From my research, it looks like it's a really good place for IT and electronics.
-I currently earn about $70k/year. Is that income alone sufficient to live comfortably in the area?
-What are some good areas to live in that are safe and affordable based on my description so far? We would like to start a family soon and would probably rent for a year before buying. From my research, it looks like Plano and Richardson would be good areas for us.
-Would $250-350k be sufficient to buy a 1500sq foot 3bd house that's not too old in those areas?
-And finally, my wife is from Europe in France and I wanted to know if people in Dallas were pretty open and nice with Europeans. I've had people say negative things to me about this but I was under the impression that it wouldn't be an issue in metropolitan areas in TX.
-I work in Marketing and I've specialized in the electronics industry. Are there a lot of job opportunities in the area? From my research, it looks like it's a really good place for IT and electronics.
Eh...it's OK, not great. There are better cities for that, but their COL is higher than here.
Quote:
-I currently earn about $70k/year. Is that income alone sufficient to live comfortably in the area?
Depends on what your definition of 'comfortable' is, but you'll have a higher standard of living than you would in SD.
Quote:
-What are some good areas to live in that are safe and affordable based on my description so far? We would like to start a family soon and would probably rent for a year before buying. From my research, it looks like Plano and Richardson would be good areas for us.
-Would $250-350k be sufficient to buy a 1500sq foot 3bd house that's not too old in those areas?
Depends on your definition of 'not too old'. My part of Richardson is mainly houses from the 1950s. I don't think they're too old. Many have been gutted to the studs and remodeled. You can easily find a lovely home in Richardson on that budget.
Quote:
-And finally, my wife is from Europe in France and I wanted to know if people in Dallas were pretty open and nice with Europeans. I've had people say negative things to me about this but I was under the impression that it wouldn't be an issue in metropolitan areas in TX.
Thank you everyone for your help!!!
It won't be an issue. We're not a bunch of ignorant rednecks here. Many of us have even *gasp* traveled to Europe before. Some of us even speak more than one language (not Spanish!).
Of those three cities, you'll probably like Dallas the best. The employment opportunities are wider and housing costs are probably slightly less than Austin. One thing to not forget is that property taxes are steeper in Texas than California -- though the purchase price for an equivalent place is going to be less and there's no state income tax.
As mentioned before, Richardson and Plano are good if you're looking at school districts. Richardson is closer to Dallas if taking advantage of what Dallas offers means anything to you. If you want to live in Dallas, you might try Lake Highlands in northeast Dallas; parts are zoned to Richardson schools. And there are good schools in DISD but, as with most big-city school districts, it's more hit and miss.
My wife and I currently live in San Diego, CA and we're ready to move on and live in another city for a few reasons. We feel life we've explored everything we could in Southern California and we're starting to get frustrated with the cost of life here.
We're currently both working, but would like to find a place where we can live comfortably on just my salary and in San Diego that just isn't possible. I work from home and I have the option of pretty much living anywhere as long as it's in the West or Southwest US while keeping this job.
We're looking for a city that's somewhat affordable, with nice weather (we don't mind the heat and prefer somewhat mild winters), and nice job opportunities. After a lot of research, it's come down to Dallas, Austin and Raleigh with a strong preference for Dallas. We travel a lot to Europe and have friends that come see us pretty often so the fact that DFW is a large airport is great.
I have a few questions regarding Dallas and surrounding areas:
-I work in Marketing and I've specialized in the electronics industry. Are there a lot of job opportunities in the area? From my research, it looks like it's a really good place for IT and electronics.
-I currently earn about $70k/year. Is that income alone sufficient to live comfortably in the area?
-What are some good areas to live in that are safe and affordable based on my description so far? We would like to start a family soon and would probably rent for a year before buying. From my research, it looks like Plano and Richardson would be good areas for us.
-Would $250-350k be sufficient to buy a 1500sq foot 3bd house that's not too old in those areas?
-And finally, my wife is from Europe in France and I wanted to know if people in Dallas were pretty open and nice with Europeans. I've had people say negative things to me about this but I was under the impression that it wouldn't be an issue in metropolitan areas in TX.
Thank you everyone for your help!!!
Keep in mind Texas has about 3% property tax. Over 30 years you'll pay the value of your house in property taxes.
I have been spending a lot of time in Dallas lately and I can tell you it's a much better city than Houston. My mind was blown when I realized Dallas actually has trains that go places. BTW Dallas is a lot cloudier than San Diego.
I thought you had a job and can work from home, now you want to come and get a job here, confused??
Lots of diversity here, even French expats. You can find a house in your price range new and older. Just remember we get much hotter here than in SD so utilities and taxes are higher. Plenty of towns to choose among with houses in your price range and good schools.
Squirl - That's right, I'll be able to work from home and keep my job. Nonetheless, I'm still looking for a place with strong job opportunities mainly for the future, in case I need to find a new job later on.
The property taxes are much higher indeed! But it seems to balance out since there's no state income tax in TX. My paycheck should be around $500/month higher!
My wife and I currently live in San Diego, CA and we're ready to move on and live in another city for a few reasons. We feel life we've explored everything we could in Southern California and we're starting to get frustrated with the cost of life here.
We're currently both working, but would like to find a place where we can live comfortably on just my salary and in San Diego that just isn't possible. I work from home and I have the option of pretty much living anywhere as long as it's in the West or Southwest US while keeping this job.
We're looking for a city that's somewhat affordable, with nice weather (we don't mind the heat and prefer somewhat mild winters), and nice job opportunities. After a lot of research, it's come down to Dallas, Austin and Raleigh with a strong preference for Dallas. We travel a lot to Europe and have friends that come see us pretty often so the fact that DFW is a large airport is great.
I have a few questions regarding Dallas and surrounding areas:
-I work in Marketing and I've specialized in the electronics industry. Are there a lot of job opportunities in the area? From my research, it looks like it's a really good place for IT and electronics.
-I currently earn about $70k/year. Is that income alone sufficient to live comfortably in the area?
-What are some good areas to live in that are safe and affordable based on my description so far? We would like to start a family soon and would probably rent for a year before buying. From my research, it looks like Plano and Richardson would be good areas for us.
-Would $250-350k be sufficient to buy a 1500sq foot 3bd house that's not too old in those areas?
-And finally, my wife is from Europe in France and I wanted to know if people in Dallas were pretty open and nice with Europeans. I've had people say negative things to me about this but I was under the impression that it wouldn't be an issue in metropolitan areas in TX.
Thank you everyone for your help!!!
$70K in SD CA is the equivalent of roughly $110,000 here. You will not live fat but you will be better off here.
Keep in mind Texas has about 3% property tax. Over 30 years you'll pay the value of your house in property taxes.
I have been spending a lot of time in Dallas lately and I can tell you it's a much better city than Houston. My mind was blown when I realized Dallas actually has trains that go places. BTW Dallas is a lot cloudier than San Diego.
Sweet jeeebus where are property taxes 3%?
And no matter how hung up folks get about property taxes here being relatively high - our aggregate tax burden vs. any big city in CA is not even close.
my vote goes for moving to DALLaS, just because of a few reasons, more job opportunity & less accommodation cost. Although the taxes may be a little higher.
Squirl - That's right, I'll be able to work from home and keep my job. Nonetheless, I'm still looking for a place with strong job opportunities mainly for the future, in case I need to find a new job later on.
The property taxes are much higher indeed! But it seems to balance out since there's no state income tax in TX. My paycheck should be around $500/month higher!
Yes but keep in mind, the property tax is high no matter how much you make. You can be unemployed in Texas and still be paying the insane property tax. And when the property value increases, so does your tax. And values will be going up in Texas with all the migration here. And gentrification will make the nice urban neighborhoods even more expensive. That $300k house you're buying? In a decade when it's worth $700k, the taxes will be $20k. You'd have to be making something like $300k to pay that much tax in California.
It's a double whammy--- not only can your income drop, but your tax can increase arbitrarily.
That's how people lose their homes, especially retired people. They get priced out and have to sell. Then what do you do? Move to the suburbs?
In California, your tax is mostly income tax, and it will ALWAYS scale with income, therefore you can always afford it. Lose your job? No income tax. Retire? Almost no income tax. Property value goes up? Doesn't matter because your property tax in California is capped.
Even if it's a slightly higher percentage, that's why I'd take California taxes any day. Most Texans will say otherwise, because they haven't put much thought into it, or take for granted that they'll always make a lot of money, or haven't had the privilege of living in an income tax state (I lived in Hawaii). Don't fall into the trap of thinking this is a low tax or low cost of living state. It's expensive to live in a decent area in any Texas city. And coming from California I doubt you'll want to live in Plano... Look around at the urban neighborhoods and small towns in the metro area.
Last edited by winkosmosis; 05-08-2013 at 09:44 PM..
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