Now that you've moved to Texas.... (Dallas, Plano: transplants, movers, how much)

[HeadingtoTexas]

We are visiting the big D in a couple of weeks...just to check out the environment and to see if we could actually live there. We're in the burbs of DC now. Dying to get out of here.

For those of you who relocated to Dallas from other places, what was the biggest shock? Was it worth it for the better stanadard/cost of living alone? Do you find the salaries in check with where you came from? Are the people in general, really nice, or is that simply a stereotype. I hear there are many many transplants. Does that mean there are less local accents?

Was it hard to make friends? We tend to make friends easily, but do people reach out?

Is there more to it than strip malls and SUV's? I've heard North Dallas, near Plano, is very consumer heavy.

In a nutshell, if you had to do it again, would you?

Also, how much did you spend to move out there?

[socketz]

Yes to all your questions.

The biggest shock for me was topography and weather. But I came from San Diego and we had some of the best of both in the world. These two are trade-offs, but did not scare me away. It's also hard to go from a town where you felt you knew everyone, to one where you know almost nobody outside of those you deal with via work. That was expected though.

People are friendly here, but I never thought people in Socal weren't friendly. So it's tough to say on that one.

North Dallas is burbmania, so shopping/parks/sport utils, etc. are everywhere. However, even Dallas proper has these ammenities if you go to the right area. Nothing here feels really 'urban' to me. I grew up in DC by the way.

My move door to door will cost me well under 10k. I used PODs to move.

[LOK222]

Originally Posted by HeadingtoTexas

We are visiting the big D in a couple of weeks...just to check out the environment and to see if we could actually live there. We're in the burbs of DC now. Dying to get out of here.

For those of you who relocated to Dallas from other places, what was the biggest shock? Was it worth it for the better stanadard/cost of living alone? Do you find the salaries in check with where you came from? Are the people in general, really nice, or is that simply a stereotype. I hear there are many many transplants. Does that mean there are less local accents?

Was it hard to make friends? We tend to make friends easily, but do people reach out?

Is there more to it than strip malls and SUV's? I've heard North Dallas, near Plano, is very consumer heavy.

In a nutshell, if you had to do it again, would you?

Also, how much did you spend to move out there?

we ,,moved here from the DC burbs.. PM me and we can talk if you'd like..

[GoPadge]

Culturally Texas can be very different from DC. Dallas is more a part of the South than DC is, and you should expect a more conservative and openly religious experience than Metro DC. You shouldn't have any fears about being persecuted for being from DC, but at the same time, most people I've run into here, don't really care how the world ran in DC. (It's a "when in Rome" type change.)

We moved ourselves with two Uhaul trucks, one 26' and one 24', and two tow Dolly's. As I recall the move from South Carolina cost us about $1500. but we had family and friends to help with the packing and unpacking.

[HeadingtoTexas]

I don't know how to PM on this thing yet!

[HeadingtoTexas]

I have to get quotes from movers. We're moving an entire house, which we'll pack ourselves.

[GoPadge]

There's a 24 hour timeout before you can send or receive PM's. (It helps keep the trolls / spammers at bay.)

[socketz]

Originally Posted by HeadingtoTexas

I have to get quotes from movers. We're moving an entire house, which we'll pack ourselves.

Go to PODs.com

[GoPadge]

I'll second the Pods suggestion. It's a great way to move especially if you're going to have to store your stuff for any amount of time. Pods brings a box (8x8x24 as I recall) and you load it once. They take it away and move it to where ever you're going, storing it if necessary. You call and they deliver it to the new site. You unload it once.

This is so much better than when we moved to Texas. We packed two U-Haul trucks. Drove here, towing our vehicles, and unloaded our stuff into two storage units. A month later we reloaded a different set of trucks, drove to our new home and unloaded again.

[sblackwell]

I've lived in Oklahoma, Arizona, California, Oregon, and Washington (State, not DC) - I've lived here going on 4 years now. My biggest shocks were how big Dallas is and how there are so many little pockets where people truly never leave (I met a woman who lived 30 miles north of downtown her entire life and had never even been downtown). The transit system is good, but doesn't serve all suburbs yet. The really odd shocker to me was how many churches there are and how religious people are in general. I've never lived with that, and it took me awhile to get used to every single person I met inviting me to their church. (I certainly am not saying that is a negative, but it is really weird if you're not used to it.)

It is a fun place to live, though - but I've lived a lot of places and can say that no matter where you move, you will generally end up living the same lifestyle. All our moves have been corporate paid, so sorry - no info on that angle. Good luck!