Dallas OR San Diego (Frisco, Fresno: real estate, mortgage, how much)

[light]

Hello everyone,
Cant make my mind here, me and my wife combined make around 120K in philly area and we have no kids right now. We both like warmer weather and like to do outdoor activities a lot. Now i being in IT industry, friends guide me to move to Dallas as cost of living is less and more IT jobs opportunity(dont know if this is true- "jobs"). but we both like san diego as weather is perfect all year around..and that place is beautiful!!
Heart says " san diego" .. but if you look at financial aspect it says " Dallas" is the right place.
Any advice or comments will help us decide our future decision..
Thanks a ton in advance!!

[momof2dfw]

If you posted this same question on the San Diego board I am sure you are going to hear all kinds of horrible things about Dallas. Sadly, most of the people that really knock the place have never lived here much less visited for a short time.

Anyway, here is some info and just a few thoughts.

Real Estate - yes our real estate values are lower than California. I would not say it is "cheap" as our housing is not "cheap". It is less expensive. There are many people that have posted on this board that came from California and they have stated over and over again how the homes in the Dallas area are so much more decorated than where they came from. This is true. Just do a quick search on realtor.com and see for yourself. Here in Dallas we expect higher quality upgrades and standards. On an income of $120K annually you will be able to afford a nice house in a good area w/ good schools and resale values. If you don't stretch the mortgage too far out there you will be able to easily save money and have a nice disposable income to do other things like dine out a lot and travel. You will also be able to easily survive on one income if and when you have children if your wife does want to stay home w/ them. There are TONS of stay at home moms. Living on one income comfortably can be done a lot easier here in the Dallas metroplex than in San Diego.

Jobs - yes, there are plenty of jobs in the Dallas area. New companies moving in all the time. Right now there is a boom going on in the downtown area w/ the older buildings being renovated and new ones being built. We also see a lot of companies moving here for their headquarters. Business taxes are easier on them than other states. We have several customers w/ locations in the Dallas area and in California. Many are shutting down their Ca. operations and moving everything here. This has been going on for several years. Many IT companies large and small.

Weather - we have nice weather here too. While we do have more of a winter than San Diego but not near like what you see in a lot of places in the country. This week we had some BEAUTIFUL weather, convertible weather for sure. Overall we have more GREAT days than icky days (hot or cold). Some years you can heat the pool and swim at Christmas. Today is one of those winter/spring transition days. High low 60's, overcast, chance thunderstorms later this evening coming thru with a chance of hail. Don't be scared off by hail and tornados. I'm a 40+ year native and have only experienced one really bad hail storm that did damage (spring 2003) to a vehicle and had everyone around for miles needing a new roof. This storm was NOT the norm, whew. I have also never been effected by a tornado nor has anyone in my family (parents grew up here as did my grandparents in areas outside of Dallas). They give warnings for when they expect there to be a great chance of one so it is not a big deal at all.

Attractions - just as San Diego has some great attractions so does the Dallas area. Dallas Arboretum, State Fair of Texas at Fair Park, Museums (Dallas Museum of Art, Nasher Sculpture Center, Womens Museum, Science and Natural History, African American Museum and many more), Old City Park, White Rock Lake, Dallas Aquarium, and MANY MORE! Lots of different festivals and such that go on in all of the different cities/suburbs around here w/ great concerts some of which are free. Home of several sports teams:
Dallas Cowboys - football
Dallas Mavericks - baseball
Dallas Stars - hockey
Texas Rangers - baseball
FC Dallas - MLS soccer
Dallas Desparados - arena football
And then MANY minor league teams. BTW, the park up in Frisco where the soccer stadium is also has a great bike track. Concerts galore in all of the different venues around the area: American Airlines Center, Reunion Arena (not as much anymore ), Smirnoff Starplex (located at Fair Park), Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Cotton Bowl, Nokia Stage in Grand Prarie, etc.

In the end you have to follow your heart and see which direction is best for your family. Don't let hype lead you astray thinking that one area is far better than another for whatever reason. Everyone is different and wants different things out of life. You just have to figure out what you want out of it.

[Susyq25]

Originally Posted by light

combined make around 120K in philly area

Have you gone to the cnn money website & used their cost of living calculator? I don't know if you will be making the same amount of money in Dallas.

[shaxs]

Originally Posted by light

Hello everyone,
Cant make my mind here, me and my wife combined make around 120K in philly area and we have no kids right now. We both like warmer weather and like to do outdoor activities a lot. Now i being in IT industry, friends guide me to move to Dallas as cost of living is less and more IT jobs opportunity(dont know if this is true- "jobs"). but we both like san diego as weather is perfect all year around..and that place is beautiful!!
Heart says " san diego" .. but if you look at financial aspect it says " Dallas" is the right place.
Any advice or comments will help us decide our future decision..
Thanks a ton in advance!!

Well, I can say that I currently live in San Diego. I DO absolutely love it here, and then there are things I hate. I cant speak much about Dallas YET, but here is what I have to say about San Diego

The Good
1) Obviously the weather. It really is nice here most the time
2) Its actually not toooo urbanized. There is a lot of San Diego that is not developed and has more of a country feel to it (I hear the DFW area feels very urban, but I don’t know for sure).
3) I feel real safe here. I just don't hear about the type of violence I used to when I lived near Fresno.
4) Lots of fun things to do from the beach to the mountains to the Broadway shows ect.
5) FOOD! I am sure all major cities have good food, but man, you just can’t beat the downtown restaurants- especially the gas lamp district.
6) I love downtown. I have an office there and I spent a lot of my time just watching people out of my window. I love walking around and again, eating there for lunch! 

The Bad
1) Sorry to tell you, but $120k in San Diego will not get you very far. It will possibly get you a townhouse or a 50+ year old home in Allied Gardens. Again, I am speaking of moderately nice areas and not crappy places like City Heights (where I live). And actually, IT is not a huge sector here. You may find you may not make as much here as you did in NJ. I hear Dallas is a hot bed for IT right now.
2) Traffic can be a bear sometimes.
3) The community feel in California is not great. People here in California keep to themselves, for the most part. I grew up in Texas and remember the family oriented, community feeling I had while there.

I think it really comes down to what you want to own. Do you want a beautiful dream home in the DFW area or do you want to settle for a decent place in better weather?

[colt357_2000]

I'm from Dallas and would choose san deigo. lol. Seriously though, my company has 200 + branches accross the US, and I talked to HR about moving to a southern california location. She said salary was higher in california, but not quite as high as the difference in cost of living.

[killer2021]

There is a reason Dallas is cheaper. It is less desirable. If Texas had weather like CA then I am sure the cost of living would be a different situation. I think you nailed it on the head.

Texas = better financial decision.
CA = better lifestyle decision.

Which one is more important to you? Come to Texas if you want to work hard and save up to retire early. Go to CA if you want to have good beaches and a better lifestyle, and well less money. Personally I prefer Texas because IMO having more money and a cheaper standard of living is a better opportunity. I don't care about having a nice house in a nice neighborhood with good schools. I only care about how big my retirement account is and how much money I dump into investments. What can I say? I am greedy and willing to make sacrafices to my lifestyle in order to satisfy my greed.

[pwright1]

Don't laugh but for some reason Dallas seems more cosmopolitan imo. From a cultural aspect again I like Dallas more. I absolutely love Fair Park with all the museums and cultural things. The population is far more diverse which for me is very important. San Diego is nice with sunshine and all but I like 4 seasons. Living somewhere where the temperature remains the same year around seems a little boring. San Diego is not a bad city at all, just way too expensive and not my cup of tea. For a large major city like Dallas it sure is nice to see real estate that's so reasonably priced compared to most large cities including San Diegos'.

[Need_affordable_home]

San Diego is a better location but do you really want to pay 4 times more for the same house? There also is a high state income tax in CA while Texas has NO state income tax(but higher property taxes offsets some of the advantage)

I would definately choose Dallas because weather is not a good reason to pay so much more. So what if the "winters" in San Diego are a few degrees warmer or the summers a few degrees cooler? Do you have a good reason to want SD over Dallas to warrant the much higher cost? Youd be living in a 2 bedroom old house in Dallas or a huge new 5 bedroom house in Dallas.

If this helps, I want a nice big house so I am making that my priority. I could live in NC or TN where theres almost no winter but houses cost twice as much as in PA. I will take a little cold winter weather in order to get a better house for half the money!

[socketz]

Fair Park = nice place to visit, wouldn't want to live there.

Wait till August and let's discuss your love of the 4 seasons :-)

San Diego is nicer, but is it worth the premium. That's the real trade-off you need to analyze. There is an entire thread over in the San Diego forum that discusses how bizarre it is for people to call the weather 'boring'. In a nutshell, weather should not be something you spend alot of time thinking about. In San Diego, this allows you the freedom to spend your time doing alot of other activities that can enrich your life. Again, not to start an argument, but I think most people on the planet would prefer mild weather over harsh weather.

[pwright1]

I don't find calling weather that stays the same boring at all. Some people like myself look forward to the change in seasons, especially fall for me. Also, having all four seasons doesn't always mean harsh winters.