Portland to Dallas but Questions First (Austin, Fort Worth: transplants, apartments, rentals)

[the_potion_darling]

Hey All --

I have done a very thorough search of this website and have found many compelling reasons to move to and stay away from Dallas. Everyone has opinions and we are looking for yours. I was not able to find answers to the following questions on any threads I saw. What I am curious about:

1. Utility cost on rentals or homes? Let's say 1200 and 2400 square foot, respectively? in the Midwest a $400 dollar winter heating bill is not uncommon, what's the story with Dallas? I have to imagine the AC is on all the time in the summer, is it cheap to run?

2. Utilities covered by property managers if renting? In Oregon it's now the normal to pay everything in an apartment, not just a rental home, including W/S/G unless you have a generous property manager/landlord.

3. Bugs/Snakes. How bad? Is it really bad? Will big spiders regularly be in my house?

4. Local Country Music Scene. Love the idea of being close to a city with daily nightly entertainment. Is there a lot of country/bluegrass going on or...?

5. Vehicle licensing fee. What is it?

Bonus: Having a hard time figuring out the outdoor scene in Dallas. We are avid fisherman, which seems to be a good fit, but we also like to hike and backpack. I don't imagine the hiking is anything like the mountain ranges here, and that's OK. What is there to do? Kayak? Can you rock climb? Most hiking I have seen is what I would say are nature trails through parks. But again, not a ton of knowledge in this area.


History: Living in *sunny* Portland, Oregon right now, working in tech and manufacturing management. Looking for a change of weather, and cost of living. For reference, average home price is $405,700 in Portland, Oregon. The average rental for a 2 bedroom is $1780.

Thank you for your input and time!

[GBCommenter]

Originally Posted by the_potion_darling

Hey All --

I have done a very thorough search of this website and have found many compelling reasons to move to and stay away from Dallas. Everyone has opinions and we are looking for yours. I was not able to find answers to the following questions on any threads I saw. What I am curious about:

1. Utility cost on rentals or homes? Let's say 1200 and 2400 square foot, respectively? in the Midwest a $400 dollar winter heating bill is not uncommon, what's the story with Dallas? I have to imagine the AC is on all the time in the summer, is it cheap to run?

2. Utilities covered by property managers if renting? In Oregon it's now the normal to pay everything in an apartment, not just a rental home, including W/S/G unless you have a generous property manager/landlord.

3. Bugs/Snakes. How bad? Is it really bad? Will big spiders regularly be in my house?

4. Local Country Music Scene. Love the idea of being close to a city with daily nightly entertainment. Is there a lot of country/bluegrass going on or...?

5. Vehicle licensing fee. What is it?

Bonus: Having a hard time figuring out the outdoor scene in Dallas. We are avid fisherman, which seems to be a good fit, but we also like to hike and backpack. I don't imagine the hiking is anything like the mountain ranges here, and that's OK. What is there to do? Kayak? Can you rock climb? Most hiking I have seen is what I would say are nature trails through parks. But again, not a ton of knowledge in this area.


History: Living in *sunny* Portland, Oregon right now, working in tech and manufacturing management. Looking for a change of weather, and cost of living. For reference, average home price is $405,700 in Portland, Oregon. The average rental for a 2 bedroom is $1780.

Thank you for your input and time!

My thoughts...

1) A/C bill will be your primary expense. My 800 sq ft apartment was around $75/month in summer? Summer is June to October...

That said, I also wasn't always home a lot and tried to keep the temperature higher when away. Heating also has a somewhat similar expense given less insulation (I'm from the Midwest, so know some of what I speak on insulation and cold) and that Dallas can get cool (35F isn't unheard of in winter, though last few days have been warm).

2) In my apartments and what I saw when searching, you pay all utilities. W/S/G has been not very expensive, around $25/month for me in my single lifestyle?

3) I haven't seen much in the way of snakes or spiders, but have seen "Texas waterbugs" (I'll let you Google that...) Not like a good quality apartment will be overrun with them, but not impossible to have in the house (as compared to my cold former Minneapolis that kills such bugs off to a larger degree).

4) Dallas has less of it than you'd assume, but not impossible. Haven't found it myself as not my scene, but I think Billy Bob's over in Ft. Worth (which, by the way, is 35 minutes freeway drive with no traffic). Maybe others can better speak to the scene.

5) Relatively inexpensive. Around $75-100/year? After your initial visit, you can order your sticker (that goes on inside of your windshield) online. You also don't have to transfer your title, just register your car - so you can save some $$$ on that front.

Note: While less in terms of some taxes, there are some toll roads. You'll order a free sticker and fund your account online, and then drive on those toll roads. The sticker automatically debits your account for the charge, usually around $.50-$1 per section (so not terribly expensive). When your account gets low, automatically charges your credit or debit card. If you don't have a sticker, you'll be invoiced by the toll authority, about twice the sticker charge.

Outdoor scene: There are some options for biking. Check out White Rock Lake (in the city) and Katy Trail. Rock climbing would be through something like REI. Unfortunately for you, there are few lakes in the metro for fishing.

DFW is not much known for it's outdoor activities, partly due to car culture and partly due to super hot summers.

History: Average home price is probably still less than $405K, but going upwards in the popular areas - due to lots of transplants coming from expensive areas, after selling their houses and paying cash for houses out of their equity. $300K isn't unheard of if you want the trendy burbs or an area like Uptown, but possible to get decent for less if you can live in some neighborhoods in the city.

2BR is probably somewhat similar, maybe slightly less. I have a 1BR plus den in an older complex a bit off the trendy areas of Addison at $1060. New apartments are popping up nearby and those in Addison proper are right around your $1780 for 2BR.

[Shysister]

You'll be miserable here because there are no options for the things you enjoy at the level of options you have in Portland. Summer is all year round as it was 80 degrees the past few days this week, yes it was 80 degrees on Christmas. You will run your AC way more than average and your bill will be expensive. I don't think Dallas will be a good fit for you.

[the_potion_darling]

@GBCommentor -- thank you for all the great information. I will have to google Texas Waterbugs. The cost of the electric isn't nearly as bad as I would have suspected. As you know, utilities in the Midwest run quite high.

@Shysister -- I often find people on this forum to be a real drag. A move is what you make of it. I've lived in 34 states. Texas just didn't happen to be one of them.

[jdallas]

I'd suggest looking more in the Fort Worth area than Dallas. It's more 'country' than Dallas (music, rodeo scene, style etc) and most of the outdoor activities you enjoy are more convenient using Fort Worth as your base. check out possum kingdom lake and dinosaur valley. The more west you go, the more varied the terrain.
Summers are brutal so I'd strongly suggest you plan a week in July to visit before making a final decision.
I'd also suggest you look north of Austin. Lake Travis and the hill country is pretty great and they have a pretty strong tech sector for employment.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

I have a 1550 sq ft house with good insulation. My gas (heat) and electric (a/c) bills are usually less than $200/mo. I have never seen a roach in 4 1/2 yrs of living here, nor a snake or scorpion. I have seen a few ants which vanished as soon as I applied an insect produce in the garage and around the baseboards once, a year or two ago. I think the registration on my 2008 Subaru Tribeca was $80 this year. It varies by how new and how expensive your vehicle is; mine keeps dropping. Indoor rock climbing, not the same. Several big lakes to fish. New houses anywhere close to town seem to start around $400K, maybe higher now; course, depends on how you define close. Older houses near to town seem to be around $300K for a good area, fierce bidding on anything less. Old and stay-at-home so can't answer about music scene. Lots of great museums: Perot, Dallas Art, Crow Collection of Asian Art, the JFK memorial area and museum, also the Dallas Arboretum is fantastic any time of year - always something colorful to look at.

[the_potion_darling]

Dallas does seem to offer a lot to do. Thank you all for the suggestions. Overall it seems the cost of living when all things are considered is considerably less than the PNW. Which is a huge motivating factor. There will be trade-offs of course with any move. Appreciate all the thoughtful input.

[Shysister]

Originally Posted by the_potion_darling

Dallas does seem to offer a lot to do. Thank you all for the suggestions. Overall it seems the cost of living when all things are considered is considerably less than the PNW. Which is a huge motivating factor. There will be trade-offs of course with any move. Appreciate all the thoughtful input.

Okay then you should have said from the very beginning that your primary reason for wanting to move here was to save money and your feedback would have been different. You're the one that stated you was concerned with what activities would be available to you such as fishing, hiking, etc. in which none of those activities are prevalent in Dallas.


Next time be honest and you'll get the corresponding feedback. You got the correct feedback that correlated with your questions/concerns.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by the_potion_darling

@GBCommentor -- thank you for all the great information. I will have to google Texas Waterbugs. The cost of the electric isn't nearly as bad as I would have suspected. As you know, utilities in the Midwest run quite high.

@Shysister -- I often find people on this forum to be a real drag. A move is what you make of it. I've lived in 34 states. Texas just didn't happen to be one of them.

OP you are right, there's been a lot of trolling here lately.

1. I too am weirded out by people who base the quality of their lives in great part on how pretty our outdoorsy the area around them is.

2. Generally speaking the horror stories about high electric bill around here are just that stories. With a little care and diligence about alternating between heat and AC you'll be fine. We live in a 4,400+ SF home built in the '60s with 4 older AC units - none never than 10 years old, swimming pool and lots of glass. Our highest power bill last summer was $407 in July. That month we had two exchange students here and our two kids here most of the month. Our average bill for the first 11 mos. of '16 was $212.

I'll go on record guessing you're going to enjoy your time here. Welcome to Texas!

[WorldKlas]

I just asked my departing tenant on a 2 bedroom 1200 sq ft townhouse. I don't consider it to be that well built and its 2-story. She said monthly averages $110/mo. Eor electric. It is fully electric heated and cooled. So that is probably a good number to go by. In that unit, trash and water are included in the rent ($1300)

I have another condo about the same size and tenants pay $1100/mo and then I charge another $175/mo for utilities because the HOA buys all the utilities so individuals cannot arrange on their own.

I compare a lot with typical apartment communities and notice most do have a very marketable rental amount but then have separate water and trash charges and the tenants arrange the rest of utilities on their own.