Moving back to DFW, has anyone done this before??

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by whiteoceanElizabeth

I wouldn’t be so sure about the housing costs. They have gone up double digits every year for at least 7 years. You have to go way out to get something nice for less than $250k. Most homes in the immediate metroplex, in areas with a decent commute and decent schools, are $300-400k and need gutting.

A house in our neighborhood just sold for close to its $330k asking price and will probably need $100k worth of work to make it HGTV-worthy.


Pre-"Fixer-Uppered" houses crossed the $400k mark in this neighborhood 18 months ago. (Hope you like subway tile!)

[lepoisson]

Originally Posted by DTXman34

Speaking of bikes, there has been an invasion of bike share companies in Dallas over the past 6 months. It's practically a news story every week.

Yeah, I've heard about that. I saw that some people have been tossing them in the river and burning them.

We have bike share in Chicago, but it's run by Blue Cross Blue Shield (you can get a subscription discounted through your employer) and there are docking stations on almost every street corner. It works well, but obviously installing the docking stations cost money.

[Gone Again]

Originally Posted by texasoregon24

Hey everyone, I'm new to this site, I registered to look for advice on this matter. Almost 6 years ago, my girlfriend and I (same sex couple) moved from Arlington TX to Gresham OR, a suburb of Portland. I was 18, she was 19, we were both in college at TCC, working horrible paying jobs at awful hours. We were living in an unstable housing situation with no familial supports, and ended up homeless. This was the driving decision to move to Oregon, where I have some family. Fast forward to now, we are married, both have decent paying jobs and college degrees, and we've lived in our cozy 1 bedroom apartment for about 5 years. It may be worth mentioning that we also have 2 cats, who made the first move with us 6 years ago, and are now 8 and 9 years old.

Since we've moved to Oregon, we've gone back to visit Texas at least once a year. All of my friends still live in DFW, and all of my wife's family lives there as well. I have 3 younger siblings, all teen age, that live in Mansfield, who have basically grown up without me. I see them every year, but I know that is hardly enough. They live with their father (not my father). Over the last 6 years I have had many moments where I wanted to move back home, mostly when life got stressful here and I wanted a place of comfort. The summer before last, my wife and I went on a roadtrip across the southwest, and ever since then I can't shake this feeling that I belong back there. It felt so natural to be in the heat, shrubs, and dirt of Texas and westward. Oregon is so beautiful, and I enjoy seeing all of it's breathtaking sights, but there's a homesickness in me that I can't resolve. I am struggling to figure out if this is an urge to run away from the stressors in my current life, or if I really am homesick and need to get back to my roots.

Of course, there is so much that comes with relocating. And even though we didn't notice much as teenagers, I worry about potential issues that may arise from us being in a same sex marriage. I would also be leaving my mother, baby sister (age 10), and closest sibling (age 21) behind in Oregon. My wife and I currently rent an apartment that is way under the average local rent price(which you may or may not know is one of the highest in the nation), so if we moved to TX and decided we wanted to move back to Oregon, we would not be able to afford to live here. That being said, our apartment's rent could go up any minute, and then we'd be forced to move any way. We've talked about moving back home before, and have decided we would have to live somewhere other than Arlington, just because of too many bad memories and that's just not the place for us to move ahead in our lives. I always worry that we may do all the work to move back and absolutely hate it, but I do miss my friends and the culture I grew up in.

So I suppose I'm looking for advice from those who have had a similar experience. Was it a mistake to move back home or the right decision? What situation did you end up in? Thank you in advance for your words of wisdom!

My wife and I, both Texas natives, moved to Atlanta in 2001. Moving back here was the best decision we could have made. Absolutely no regrets at all. Yeah, it's more crowded than when we left, and the highways are now screwed up a hundred ways to Sunday, but we're both so happy to be back. We've been back over two years and still are grateful on an almost daily basis that we returned.

We have friends, ALL of our family here. That is part of it. Then there's the culture, as you say. The Texas vibe, the heavy Latino look and feel to so many things, as well as the 'western' quality also. There's no place like Texas. Truly. I grew up in N. Dallas, and am, ironically, in Arlington. I wouldn't recommend Dallas unless you like the things Dallas is known for. We wanted to land in Fort Worth, because FW is weird and funky, but we had to think of schools for our daughter. Arlington does offer some excellent schools, in some areas of the town. And we're on the border of FW, so, close enough I suppose.

I don't know about Oregon, but I can't imagine why you couldn't afford to live here. It's not as if it's L.A. or New York. I wouldn't worry about the same sex marriage either. If you were moving to rural Alabama or Kentucky, it might be an issue. D/FW is pretty diverse, and pretty cosmopolitan.

I can't tell you whether you should move back or not. But I do believe your fears are unfounded.

[whiteoceanElizabeth]

Originally Posted by lepoisson

Just my opinion, but I think DFW housing is overvalued. I think it will continue to rise for the next few years, then stop.

Rent prices are similar between the two metros. I've got a 3br (with small bedrooms) apartment in Chicago for about the same price as a 2br (with large bedrooms) in the DFW suburbs.

Agree. It is overvalued. Houses have been selling way above asking and way above actual value for several years now. However I don’t see it decreasing anytime soon. Austin has been this way since the mid 90s and hasn’t stopped.