Dallas Cost of Living (Houston, San Antonio: crime rates, home, neighborhood)

[KBilly]

Originally Posted by lh_newbie

But if you rent, ............

And to compare an equal COST home:...............

You are now free to talk about whatever I was not talking about.

Please continue at your own pace.

[socketz]

I paid $6100 per year Prop Tax on a 540k home in CA (cost 3 years ago)

State income tax was a little more than that.

~12k

I'll pay about $8500 per year on a house here that cost more than 200k less and is almost 2x the size - and brand new. Don't want to knock the old house, but the built quality was not even in the same stratosphere as the new one.

8.5k

HOA is twice as much in CA (mine was cheap compared to others in CA)
Homeowners Ins is about the same here, but here your deductible is higher in TX.
Car insurance is the same
Gas is about 40 cents a gallon cheaper here
Certain food is more there, but most things seem about the same
Utils here will be at least 3x CA

I lived 14 miles from work there, 18-19 miles here. But my wife does not need to work here, so there's 40 miles per day saved.

But...

CA is CA and TX is TX. There are the obvious tradeoffs. In CA, you never think about the weather. Seriously, you just live your life and the weather has no affect on you. Here, you really have to think about the weather and the wear and tear it takes on your person and your belongings. Tradeoffs that correlate to priorities at certain points in your life.

[lh_newbie]

Originally Posted by twojciac

The sales tax deduction was only approved through 2007, so it's not something you can factor in long term.

But the cost of living is less here imho...

If you work harder/smarter for a promotion or get that second job, you pay no additional state/local tax. You choose your destiny with the choice of your home. If you want lower taxes, live below your means, sock away the savings and live extremely well in the future.

Just my 2 cents.

I heard that it was a temp deduction... oh well. On the second part - I strongly believe in living below our means. We max out our 401K's and Roth IRA's and even manage to pay extra every month on the home. ********** working thing. I wanna retire.

[socketz]

Am I the only one that isn't interested in retiring ? I max the 401k and contribute to the Roth during years I qualify, but when I'm older, I look forward more to something like owning my own sports bar than I do truly retiring. Or maybe teaching extension classes at CC.

I think I'd miss the 'workplace intensity' if I was retired, the kids would be gone, so the house would seem too big and lonely,

People would also expect me to want to golf or play bingo...I've already traveled the world a couple of times with Uncle Sam, so the thrill is gone there..

Is it possible to actual dread retirement ?

[KantLockeMeIn]

I'd retire tomorrow if I had the means... and I'm 36 years away from the traditional retirement age

I see myself giving back to the community when I retired. I'm a geek at heart and once the kids are out of the house I think I'd really enjoy building networks in third world countries. I feel the Internet has the capability to be a great equalizer.

Sorry for straying so far off topic!

Insurance is higher here... seems about 30% more for homeowners compared to VA, and about 20% more for auto. Power is about 15% more, but that just prompted me to switch over to CFLs and set my computers to sleep when inactive. Gas is about the same, food is about the same.

What I do like though is that my tax money seems to go much further here. Back in VA my tax money got us not much other than 4 walls for the schools. Here (at least in Wylie ISD), there's a lot of technology in schools, they're building more schools and don't have kids in trailers. We have parks, nice libraries, tons of police (good and bad, heh)...

[socketz]

twojciac - in 36 years we will be working on 10G cell technology and there will be Wimax networks in third world countries that automatically authenticate to a global carrier that provides free internet access to disposable cell phones.

The network will be ubiquitos to the end user.

This message has been brought to you by Sprint/Nextel

[lh_newbie]

Originally Posted by socketz

Am I the only one that isn't interested in retiring ? I max the 401k and contribute to the Roth during years I qualify, but when I'm older, I look forward more to something like owning my own sports bar than I do truly retiring. Or maybe teaching extension classes at CC.

When I say retire, I mean work because I want to, not because I need to. My wife and I have discussed this before, and in a perfect world, in about 10-15 years, I would love to take on 6 month contracts in different parts of the world, take 6 months off, then pick a new contract somewhere else. We love to travel and to have the opportunity to live in France, Germany, England, etc for 6-8 months at a time is very appealing to us. Since I'd have 30 years in Networking at that time - shouldn't be overly difficult to get the contract work.

And while we're back in the states, we'll swing by your sports bar for a couple drinks.

[socketz]

I guess the bottom line is that we both equate the work retirement to 'options'.

Options/time are what I consider the true measure of success. What money/limited debut buys you is options.

I like the Sports Bar avenue because I've known some people that have went this route, and while they work their tail off, it's a labor of love. I'm social, so I can't imagine not being around alot of people, even in retirement/option period.

[lh_newbie]

Agreed - I'm the social type, too. While I can work from home and (and do a couple days a week), I couldn't do that all the time - would totally miss out on the social interaction with my coworkers. My wife's cat just doesn't communicate well.

Sounds like we are totally in line with the living below our means, save and invest philisophy so we do have those options in the future.

[momof2dfw]

Retire? Did someone say "retire"? Where's the "for sale" sign?

We plan on retiring in no less than 8 years. Less if it happens. Anyone wanna buy a business? Had offers but not serious so still looking. The door is open and there is always room for discussion.

What will we do? Hubby already has a few friends that have retired early (40-42 years old) and they do play golf some. Some have started a small business that is of more personal interest than what their career was. Many friends that are self-employed too. They all hang out a lot together and hubby does get to take advantage of that. Just wishes he had more free time for more golf. And he will NOT be staying home all day w/ me. ACK!!! We will both spend more time having lunch at school w/ the kids. Volunteering at their schools, etc. Plan on staying right here in Dallas. When the kids are grown and out of the house we might downsize but that is up for debate. Depends on what is available. We also plan on having another place somewhere else. Been looking for several years for something to buy and have yet to find the place that is calling us. Although I think we finally have and it is not in the states.

As for dealing w/ the property taxes as so many gripe about, it is just a way of life that we are used to. Our parents are retired and on fixed incomes and so were our grandparents and they all survived w/ rising property taxes here in Texas. But the amenities that are offered that come w/ those taxes is too great to give up. We live in a suburb that has a WONDERFUL senior center and lots of activities for the senior citizens. VERY active to say the least. Overall the cost of living in the Dallas area is very reasonable. That is why we will keep a place here and have finally found a place that we may do the second home on. The cost of living is one deciding factor on that location. The property prices are a little on the high side but the overall cost of living is very low.