What about DFW? (Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth: transplants, sales, 2015)

[FootPowered]

Okay, I know this the Dallas forum, and not the Fort Worth forum, but I wasn't really sure where exactly to put a question about both.

My wife was offered a job in the DFW area two days ago. They said she'd either work at one of their offices in Ft. Worth, or another in Plano. Cool with me. She's got two weeks to accept or decline. This would certainly be easier if either of us had ever been to DFW for more than a pass-through.

So, I figued I'd ask some questions.

1.) I have heard from some people, that in Texas, especially in DFW and Houston, you can make California wages at substantially more affordable housing prices, you just have to adjust for generally high property taxes. Is this true, or is it just North-Texas-booster-hype?

2.) I personally work in logistics. I've done everything from warehousing to purchasing, and prefer the on-the-ground blue-collar work, like driving a forklift or managing day-to-day operations, if I can make enough money doing it. I would assume that DFW has some solid prospects in this field, since most big cities in the U.S. do, and DFW's central location seems like it would facilitate a big logistics industry. Anybody got anything to say about that?

3.) I presently live in Colorado. I can drive 45 minutes into the mountains and be in the middle of nowhere with nobody around and camp and hike and boulder wherever I want. I do not, whatsoever, expect this kind of outdoor freedom in North Texas. That said, I'd love to find some good bike paths, I know the Ozarks are great for bouldering, and Palo Duro and other cool places are an acceptable distance for a weekend excursion. Is North Texas TOTALLY limited for outdoor activity, or if I know where to look will I still find an active, outdoor culture with at least some decent options available to me?

4.) I like cityscapes and my wife is fantastic at land/city-scape photography. We've got some big prints of hers hanging up in the house. I know Houston has a whole bunch of skylines in different places around the city, and DFW obviously has at least two (Dallas and Fort Worth), but are there any other areas of dense high-rise construction that are worth exploring with a camera when the lighting's good?

5.) How's the weather? I know hot and muggy and sometimes rainy, and all that, but can someone describe the climate attributes to me with a measure of specificity so I know exactly what to expect? And please, save me the "it's totally the worst place ever" or "it's completely wonderful!" stuff. Just give me a realistic picture.

Thanks!

[cyrece]

I recently moved here, so I'll do the best I can with the knowledge I've gathered ;-)

1.) DFW def seems to be a step up in income (compared to FL) in some arenas.
2.) Seems like everyone is advertising "Now Hiring". Check out Indeed.com to search for all jobs in one site and you can specify by expertise.
3.) There are TONS of trails here, bikers galore, literally weekends esp. always a gang of them biking. I heard some talking last week saying they were headed to Alaska, on bikes. I was impressed! There are parks on every corner here. The Katy Trail is a popular one, White Rock. Mckinney has a large biking/hiking trial too.
4.) Mostly downtown for the cityscapes. The AA Center is particularly popular with a variation of architecture styles. I only know of a small area in Plano/Frisco that has "higher" buildings, not sure it could be labeled as high rise though.
5.) I'm new..from FL, keep that in mind, but the weather here is comparable and honestly better. People say its super hot, and it is hot, but to me, the lack of humidity makes for a less muggy feel. Also, I always feel like there's a slight breeze. I loved that it snowed this winter (1st time I've seen snow) and then went away in a week. One struggle I had when I first got here was the grey days...I'm totally used to seeing the sun everyday and I didn't get that at first.

I think it would be great if you could get the perspective from someone else who moved here from Colorado b/c I think that everyone's perception often depends on what they've been familiar with.

Anywho..good luck with your decision! City-data is def a great place to come and get a variety of opinions!

[synchronicity]

Originally Posted by FootPowered

Okay, I know this the Dallas forum, and not the Fort Worth forum, but I wasn't really sure where exactly to put a question about both.

My wife was offered a job in the DFW area two days ago. They said she'd either work at one of their offices in Ft. Worth, or another in Plano. Cool with me. She's got two weeks to accept or decline. This would certainly be easier if either of us had ever been to DFW for more than a pass-through.

So, I figued I'd ask some questions.

1.) I have heard from some people, that in Texas, especially in DFW and Houston, you can make California wages at substantially more affordable housing prices, you just have to adjust for generally high property taxes. Is this true, or is it just North-Texas-booster-hype?

2.) I personally work in logistics. I've done everything from warehousing to purchasing, and prefer the on-the-ground blue-collar work, like driving a forklift or managing day-to-day operations, if I can make enough money doing it. I would assume that DFW has some solid prospects in this field, since most big cities in the U.S. do, and DFW's central location seems like it would facilitate a big logistics industry. Anybody got anything to say about that?

3.) I presently live in Colorado. I can drive 45 minutes into the mountains and be in the middle of nowhere with nobody around and camp and hike and boulder wherever I want. I do not, whatsoever, expect this kind of outdoor freedom in North Texas. That said, I'd love to find some good bike paths, I know the Ozarks are great for bouldering, and Palo Duro and other cool places are an acceptable distance for a weekend excursion. Is North Texas TOTALLY limited for outdoor activity, or if I know where to look will I still find an active, outdoor culture with at least some decent options available to me?

4.) I like cityscapes and my wife is fantastic at land/city-scape photography. We've got some big prints of hers hanging up in the house. I know Houston has a whole bunch of skylines in different places around the city, and DFW obviously has at least two (Dallas and Fort Worth), but are there any other areas of dense high-rise construction that are worth exploring with a camera when the lighting's good?

5.) How's the weather? I know hot and muggy and sometimes rainy, and all that, but can someone describe the climate attributes to me with a measure of specificity so I know exactly what to expect? And please, save me the "it's totally the worst place ever" or "it's completely wonderful!" stuff. Just give me a realistic picture.

Thanks!

1) I guess it depends on your field, but in general wages won't be at "California" level. That said, again "in general", housing prices are MUCH better than California (they've gone up here, but less than in many other major cities and are still quite low for this size metro area). Property taxes are high but "no state income tax". There's lots of "yabbuts", however overall tax burden is lower than most other places. Again, as a general statement, DFW offers good wages relative to expenses and is quite affordable for a large city.

2) There are a LOT of warehouses/distribution centers down here. I've never seen so many of those big ol' rectangular buildings with a few dozen truck bays on one side. I know nothing about logistics but would assume given that observation that there opportunities in the field down here. You'll obviously have to research that yourself.

3) Outdoor culture here is a pale shadow of anything you'll find in Colorado. Yes, there's SOME things you can do, but you'll have to look hard and be ready to accept those limitations as a tradeoff to the aforementioned greater affordability. North Texas is generally pretty flat, all the lakes are artificial (flood control and reservoirs), and as I note below it's bloody hot in the summer.

4) Dallas has some nifty sky line bits downtown, but for a large metro area it's lacking in that regard. This is because DFW, like LA and other "newer" cities, it's built around highways and has many scattered employment centers rather than the "hub and spoke, built along old rail lines" model of your older eastern and upper midwestern industrial cities.

There's actually a highway interchange ramp (to people familiar with the area - going from 635 east on to the Bush going north) where I'd love to take a picture with one of those 360 degree cameras (like Google uses on their "streetview", here https://www.google.com/maps/@32.9115...7i13312!8i6656), you can see downtown Dallas in the distance, the area around the Galleria, the offices around Irving/Las Colinas, and a few other employment centers. It's a great view, but points out that DFW is a different type of metro.

5) Summers are HOT but largely dry. There is occasional humidity but less in general than the eastern seaboard or upper midwest. Rainy time of the year is most of March, with frequent thunderstorms that can be very intense and lots more hail than most places in the country (it often causes damage to cars and home roofs). Winters are pretty mild with occasional temps below freezing and about 1 bad snow/ice storm every other year, but that usually melts within a day or two or 3 at the worst.

The worst thing about the hot summers, for me, was that it doesn't cool down at night. It can be 103 during the day and still be 95 at 9PM.

Other things - DFW is totally car culture, and it's REALLY new, as in most areas have been built up in the last 25 years if not last 15.

[Beardown91737]

1. Generally if you were force transferred, you make what you used to make in California and then get raises. Some transplants demand a premium to live here. However my employer pays the lower local wage scale to local hires.

It takes money to run Texas and it comes from somewhere, which includes you. Sales taxes are near California levels, and property taxes are much higher, but remember that if you bought a house in California many years ago, you could be paying tax at 1990s level, come here and pay 2015 tax level, on a house you buy at 2015 prices. Housing prices are lower than CA per square foot, but you will wind up buying more square feet because that is how houses are built here.

2. Logistics, yes. The location of logistics employment will be a factor of choosing between Plano and Ft Worth. From a satellite map you can see where the industrial buildings and warehouses are because it shows up white (the area just east of Ontario, CA is a good example of what to look for). Also ask on Ft Worth which is a separate forum.

3. Bike trails, yes. Mountains.. nothing local... meaning maybe New Mexico or the Apppalachians would be the closest, or Arkansas.

4. Skyline.. Plano and Frisco are just getting to the 15 story level. There is more to see around Addison, North Dallas, and Dallas. Buildings in Irving seem farther apart than what I would call a skyline.

5. I have been here less than a year and all I hear is the weather isn't usually like it has been for the past year. I will say that humidity is subjective. It may seem dry but it is more humid than Chicago and way more humid than the inland area of California where I moved here from.

[synchronicity]

Originally Posted by Beardown91737

5. I have been here less than a year and all I hear is the weather isn't usually like it has been for the past year. I will say that humidity is subjective. It may seem dry but it is more humid than Chicago

I am also from Chicago and have been here over 4 years now, and will note that this year has been an anomaly in that we've had LOTS of rain, so it's been far more humid than normal. Usually by this time it's quite dry and considerably hotter. In my prior years DFW has easily been less humid in the summer than Chicago.

That said, I would expect that even in "normal" years it's more humid here than inland CA.

[Made_it_To_the_Metroplex]

For #3, the closest we have locally would be Cedar Hill State Park SW of Dallas. At least it's a hilly break from the flat monotony of much of this area. Plus there's Joe Pool lake with a marina and rentals.

[bluescreen73]

Originally Posted by FootPowered

1.) I have heard from some people, that in Texas, especially in DFW and Houston, you can make California wages at substantially more affordable housing prices, you just have to adjust for generally high property taxes. Is this true, or is it just North-Texas-booster-hype?

False. You're going to get DFW wages - which are probably within 5-10% of what you're making in Colorado. Your dollar will go a little farther with the lower COL, but given that you're in the Springs and not Denver it won't be as big of a bump as you might expect.

Originally Posted by FootPowered

2.) I personally work in logistics. I've done everything from warehousing to purchasing, and prefer the on-the-ground blue-collar work, like driving a forklift or managing day-to-day operations, if I can make enough money doing it. I would assume that DFW has some solid prospects in this field, since most big cities in the U.S. do, and DFW's central location seems like it would facilitate a big logistics industry. Anybody got anything to say about that?

I can't offer any personal anecdotes, but given DFW's size and location jobs in logistics should be plentiful.

Originally Posted by FootPowered

3.) I presently live in Colorado. I can drive 45 minutes into the mountains and be in the middle of nowhere with nobody around and camp and hike and boulder wherever I want. I do not, whatsoever, expect this kind of outdoor freedom in North Texas. That said, I'd love to find some good bike paths, I know the Ozarks are great for bouldering, and Palo Duro and other cool places are an acceptable distance for a weekend excursion. Is North Texas TOTALLY limited for outdoor activity, or if I know where to look will I still find an active, outdoor culture with at least some decent options available to me?

If a serious outdoor lifestyle is important to you, I'd think long and hard about moving to DFW. It's nowhere near as outdoorsy, and the weather will probably be a limiting factor (see below). The terrain around the Metroplex is largely flat with some small rolling hills hither and yon (south and west). Outside of the Cross Timbers, the topography of DFW is nothing to write home about.

Some have mentioned the Katy Trail - it's decent but very short compared to what you're probably used to (3.5 mi).

Palo Duro and the Ozarks are spectacular - if you don't mind driving 5 and 7 hours to get there, respectively. It'd be like driving from the Springs to Albuquerque to "get away." Turner Falls and Broken Bow are closer - but they can be packed to the gills with people looking to do the same thing you are.

Originally Posted by FootPowered

4.) I like cityscapes and my wife is fantastic at land/city-scape photography. We've got some big prints of hers hanging up in the house. I know Houston has a whole bunch of skylines in different places around the city, and DFW obviously has at least two (Dallas and Fort Worth), but are there any other areas of dense high-rise construction that are worth exploring with a camera when the lighting's good?

Dallas and Forth Worth are the two obvious areas, but there's also decent mid-rise construction along the 75 corridor between Richardson and Plano. The topography of the area tends to lend itself to cityscapes. Not many hills to get in the way of your shots.

Originally Posted by FootPowered

5.) How's the weather? I know hot and muggy and sometimes rainy, and all that, but can someone describe the climate attributes to me with a measure of specificity so I know exactly what to expect? And please, save me the "it's totally the worst place ever" or "it's completely wonderful!" stuff. Just give me a realistic picture.

If you like it hot and humid, you'll love DFW. Now, there are folks who'll be quick to point out that the Metroplex "isn't as humid as" New Orleans or Houston...but it's not dry, either. In fact it'll be noticeably stickier than Colorado Springs. Couple that with average summer temps which are 10+ degrees higher than the Springs and it can get pretty miserable. You'll more than likely have your AC running 24/7 from sometime in June until early September. Windows open at night during the summer - not an option.

Winter is milder, but it's not Palm Springs. Average highs are in the 50s in December and January. Wintry precip (usually sleet or freezing rain) occurs 1-2 times a year. When that happen it's stormageddon because the region has almost no capacity to handle it.