Going from So Cal to TX..... (Dallas, Fort Worth: rent, mortgage, credit)

[Berrie143]

Hi My husband and I are seriously considering moving from So Cal to the suburbs of Dallas/Fort Worth. We were both born and raised in So Cal and our parents and siblings are also still here and we're all within 20 minutes or less of each other. The thing is, we're trying to buy a house out here (our first) and so far we haven't been able to find anything that meets our criteria: safe neighborhood, great elementary school and decent house. We don't need stainless steel and granite and fancy-schmancy finishes or private schools- we just want our children to be safe and happy and get a great public education. Our budget is nothing more than 225K; my husband is the bread winner and I am a SAHM, so our money is budgeted very carefully. We have great credit, almost no debt and own our cars; our mortgage lender told us we're exactly who banks want to lend to.
Anyway, we just can't seem to find anything that is for us; the cities that DO have properties in our price ranges are just not safe and are run-down and/or have crappy school districts. We've been thinking about Texas for YEARS and now that we have our own family we want to be in a place where we can actually afford a house and have some financial breathing room. Being in CA has just been miserable for the last several years, as the costs for everything continue to go up; we've seen the housing market go nuts here the last year and we are afraid that if we don't buy something very soon, we'll be priced out of the market, even when I go back to work (but that won't be for another 3 years when our youngest gets to kindergarten) and there really won't be anything for us.
So, my question is this: is it worth it to leave our families behind and start a new life out in Texas?

[skids929]

Originally Posted by Berrie143

Hi My husband and I are seriously considering moving from So Cal to the suburbs of Dallas/Fort Worth. We were both born and raised in So Cal and our parents and siblings are also still here and we're all within 20 minutes or less of each other. The thing is, we're trying to buy a house out here (our first) and so far we haven't been able to find anything that meets our criteria: safe neighborhood, great elementary school and decent house. We don't need stainless steel and granite and fancy-schmancy finishes or private schools- we just want our children to be safe and happy and get a great public education. Our budget is nothing more than 225K; my husband is the bread winner and I am a SAHM, so our money is budgeted very carefully. We have great credit, almost no debt and own our cars; our mortgage lender told us we're exactly who banks want to lend to.
Anyway, we just can't seem to find anything that is for us; the cities that DO have properties in our price ranges are just not safe and are run-down and/or have crappy school districts. We've been thinking about Texas for YEARS and now that we have our own family we want to be in a place where we can actually afford a house and have some financial breathing room. Being in CA has just been miserable for the last several years, as the costs for everything continue to go up; we've seen the housing market go nuts here the last year and we are afraid that if we don't buy something very soon, we'll be priced out of the market, even when I go back to work (but that won't be for another 3 years when our youngest gets to kindergarten) and there really won't be anything for us.
So, my question is this: is it worth it to leave our families behind and start a new life out in Texas?

Only you can answer that question.

But you can certainly get a nice home in a safe neighborhood in a suburb of DFW with good schools for that price. Trade off will be no family support nearby, which becomes a bigger deal when you have little ones.

[the_nemi]

Hello,

Have you looked at any particular areas online that you are interested in? Please let us know so the forum members can give you more insight and details specifically about those areas and suggest something similar.

Grapevine, Flower Mound, Frisco are some of the really good cities to raise a family. (NOT in that specific order)...

Just trying to get more information so the forum gurus can do what they do best...

Nemi....

[ChristieP]

The bigger question: where would work be located? DFW area is HUGE (kind of like LA), and you do not want a lengthy commute here. You need to know where your husband will be working before you can decide where to live. The good thing is that there are plenty of nicem safe neighborhoods with good schools all over the metroplex.

[Berrie143]

We are interested in basically any suburb 20-30 minutes N/S/E/W of Dallas and Ft. Worth.

[Cowboys fan in Houston]

One thing of notice is that property values in DFW (particularly in the areas with good schools) have skyrocketed. I bought my house in Plano for $185k two years ago, and last week it appraised at $235k.

Still, there should be some good places for 200k. Look at Forney or Midlothian.

[jennifw]

Originally Posted by Berrie143

We are interested in basically any suburb 20-30 minutes N/S/E/W of Dallas and Ft. Worth.

Can you get a little more specific? Downtown Dallas to Downtown Ft. Worth is a good 30-60 minutes. If you lived 20 minutes E of Dallas, but worked in FW, it would be a terrible commute.

[bluescreen73]

We left our family and moved to DFW and while we made some friends we were on an island when it came to familial support. No grandparents to babysit kids for date nights or attend birthdays, Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc. If you're not a close-knit family it won't be as big of a transition, but if family means a lot to you, being 1500 miles away from them is going to be problematic.

DFW may be considerably cheaper than SoCal (hell, what isn't these days?), but it's by no means an oasis.

There's no way to politely say that summertime in North Texas absolutely sucks. The climate is just humid enough that overnight lows near 80 and daytime highs around 100 are commonplace. Unless you're a truly hardy soul you'll spend a vast majority of your time indoors from early June through mid-September. Winters aren't cold by northern standards, but it does get cold enough for ice (and occasionally snow) storms. The slightest bit of frozen precipitation can gridlock the entire metroplex and turn major highways into parking lots.

Traffic will probably be lighter than what you're used to, but it's still a frigging mess. The state is in love with privatizing highway infrastructure to the point where damn near every major road construction project in DFW features tolling of some form or another.

I encourage you to plan a visit during late July/early August when the weather is at its worst. Don't move there sight unseen.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

I can only repeat: visit in the summer, get a job first, rent first to get a feel for the area.

[synchronicity]

Originally Posted by Berrie143

We are interested in basically any suburb 20-30 minutes N/S/E/W of Dallas and Ft. Worth.

Based on this reponse, I'd answer the "should we move" question with a resounding NO...until you've done at least some basic research. Right now you don't have nearly enough information to support picking up and moving your entire family to a new place.

DFW may be an excellent choice for you...but for now it sounds like you're just going by "houses are really expensive here, they're a lot cheaper in Dallas, Texas, so HEY, let's move there." There is no way I'd uproot my young kids to jump somewhere else without a lot more info. Would you need to get new job(s) in Texas, would you husband just be transferring? If your husband would need a new job, are you just assuming he can get another one easily because hey, it's Texas and "everyone says" the economy is good here?

I'm sorry if this is coming across as somewhat snide, but unless you have a bunch of additional info that you haven't related, you need to do much more research before seriously considering a move. If this falls under that, then as others have noted, Dallas and Fort Worth are two separate cities that are a considerable drive apart. If you (your DH, whatever) have a job in SW Ft. Worth you would have a hellacious commute coming from somewhere NE of Dallas, for example.

Edited to add - house prices are shooting up here, too.