From Ohio to DFW (Houston, Dallas: transplants, real estate, apartments)

[Stuck Here]

My family has a chance to move from the Cleveland (Elyria/Lorain/Avon) area to the Mesquite/DFW area. My husband has a job that has a plant in Mesquite that he can transfer to. I work for local government and have found jobs in the DFW area that I can apply for. We have a 6 year old and 4 month old.

Please help me! I have looked at housing (rentals) on craigslist and it seems to be cheaper than Avon, Ohio. Typically, a 3 bedroom in Avon will run at least 12-1500/month renting but on craigslist it seems they run from 800-1200/month. We are not in the market to buy a home.

I have also looked at cost of living calculators online and it seems that Texas is cheaper than Cleveland by a few thousand. I did a comparison of my income (about 38/year) to the DFW area and they said I would need to make about 35-36 to maintain the same cost of living as I do here. I never know how true those are though.

I know electric is more expensive- I think here I pay about 6-7 cents per KW. I also understand that some costs that I would forego here would be made up in other areas down there (for example, no winter attire or winter wear on the cars would make up for the excessive AC usage in the summers there).

How are the schools in the DFW area? How do the schools compare to national/state averages? How do I find that information out- is there a website that I can compare them too?

What are daycare costs like? We currently pay 205/week for daycare for our infant son.

Are there any kind of county/state job and family assistance programs that we can see if we are eligible for?

We do have some friends in the San Antonio, El Paso, Richmond (Houston, I believe) area and they have told us that as far as jobs go, we will probably not find employment that pays as well as Ohio because the cost of living is lower. They have also told us that housing depends on the area. But I believe they have purchased homes instead of renting like we would do.

We are really considering this move because we feel that a it would be good for our family- we are hoping it will at least! We have priced plane tickets for September for 200/person and are trying to fly down for a few days to look around the area since we have never been to Texas before. We just need to find out things to do and specific areas to look around since obviously we would be on limited time. Any suggestions?

Any information would be of great help!

[ChristieP]

Mesquite is a suburb of Dallas, not Fort Worth. You will have more luck posting in the Dallas forum...

[Westerntraveler]

I would try the Dallas forum like ChristieP said.

[Stuck Here]

I understand but according to the maps I have looked at, Mesquite is only about 45 mins from Fort Worth- that is a reasonable distance for us- therefore I posted in both Dallas and Fort Worth forums.
Thanks though

[Squirl]

Originally Posted by Stuck Here

I understand but according to the maps I have looked at, Mesquite is only about 45 mins from Fort Worth- that is a reasonable distance for us- therefore I posted in both Dallas and Fort Worth forums.
Thanks though

Mesquite is an eastern suburb of Dallas. Fort Worth is west of Dallas. It would take about 30-40 minutes to drive from Mesquite to Dallas during rush hour and then approx another 45+ min more to drive on to FTW. So, count on about 60-90 minutes each way with traffic.

You can look for a website called greatschools.com Texas schools also provide up to 2011 school ratings on a website: Texas Accountability Rating System

Plan on spending $1100-$1600 for any decent house. There are so many transplants flocking into Dallas because the economy has been less awful than other parts of the country. That means extreme competition for rentals which has been driving the rent prices up....especially for houses. I am a landlord and last time I had a vacancy, I had 48+ online inquiries within 3 days of posting the vacancy on Zillow.com Apartments are plentiful and many are very, very nice!

Research the weather here. Its good you are visiting during the hot season. We have about 4 months a year of unbearably intense heat....the rest of the year its quite nice & mild.

[ChristieP]

Originally Posted by Stuck Here

I understand but according to the maps I have looked at, Mesquite is only about 45 mins from Fort Worth- that is a reasonable distance for us- therefore I posted in both Dallas and Fort Worth forums.
Thanks though

It is not logistically feasible to commute from Mesquite to Fort Worth every day! I make that drive every couple of months, and it usually takes over an hour. When there's an accident or rain, it can take closer to 2 hours. Sure, the traffic usually moves pretty well on I-30 between the two cities, but when there's a Ranger game at the Ballpark in Arlington, it slows to a crawl. And once you get east of the Mixmaster, traffic just crawls. There's also this city that's between the two that always manages to snarl traffic: Dallas.

If you are working in Fort Worth, you need to look in Tarrant County. Cities in Tarrant County that are demographicaly similar to Mesquite: Bedford, Euless, Hurst

[texas_nightowl]

Agreed with everyone else telling you NOT to try to live in FW if your DH is working in Mesquite. He would be spending 2+ hours of his day in traffic...every day. If he will be working in Mesquite, then look to live in Dallas, not FW.

I personally have an acquaintance who commutes from FW to Dallas (not sure exactly where, but Dallas, not Mesquite) every day. She does this only because she had already purchased a home some years before her job moved from FW to Dallas. Her commute is an hour each way (& sometimes longer) and that is just to Dallas, not Mesquite.

Bottom line. Don't do it.

[Stuck Here]

Thanks for the information. We will look more at Dallas and Mesquite itself then and ignore Fort Worth.
Are Dallas and FW similar in costs? What are daycare prices like there? Someone gave me a website for school comparisons in another forum. I will check that out this week. He also told me that electric will be more like 8-12 cents per KW.

[dkagriffin]

I have lived here for almost 50 years & raised 2 kids here, I wish I knew where your husband was transferring to as I could give you a best area of Mesquite to live in.

With that said, daycare is pretty comparable to what you are paying now. Yes the KWH for electricity is more expensive here and plan on using your a/c from mid to late may to Oct., there might be times when you can open your windows in the evenings but they are RARE!! There are parts of Mesquite that are nicer than others as with any city. I worked as a rental agent for a real estate company in Mesquite for 4 years, I would suggest looking in the Creek Crossing area for home rentals. They are newer homes and have the most amount of upgrades for your money. There are real estate agents in the area who managed homes and it might be easier to visit one of those to help you locate one. It doesn't cost the renter anything but the application fee. They also have access to the MLS system to get you the most of rentals available. Since the area is newer the schools in Creek Crossing are newer.

If you don't want to live in Mesquite you can also try Forney, Rockwall or Rowlett, however they may be a little more expensive. I would DEFINITELY avoid Balch Springs, any part of East Dallas or numerous parts of Garland.

My fiancé is from Ohio (New Philadelphia), he said you will definitely experience a culture shock in the weather and the traffic. Hope some of my responses help you! Good Luck with your search!!

[Stuck Here]

Originally Posted by dkagriffin

I have lived here for almost 50 years & raised 2 kids here, I wish I knew where your husband was transferring to as I could give you a best area of Mesquite to live in.

With that said, daycare is pretty comparable to what you are paying now. Yes the KWH for electricity is more expensive here and plan on using your a/c from mid to late may to Oct., there might be times when you can open your windows in the evenings but they are RARE!! There are parts of Mesquite that are nicer than others as with any city. I worked as a rental agent for a real estate company in Mesquite for 4 years, I would suggest looking in the Creek Crossing area for home rentals. They are newer homes and have the most amount of upgrades for your money. There are real estate agents in the area who managed homes and it might be easier to visit one of those to help you locate one. It doesn't cost the renter anything but the application fee. They also have access to the MLS system to get you the most of rentals available. Since the area is newer the schools in Creek Crossing are newer.

If you don't want to live in Mesquite you can also try Forney, Rockwall or Rowlett, however they may be a little more expensive. I would DEFINITELY avoid Balch Springs, any part of East Dallas or numerous parts of Garland.

My fiancé is from Ohio (New Philadelphia), he said you will definitely experience a culture shock in the weather and the traffic. Hope some of my responses help you! Good Luck with your search!!

The job is called Morrison Products Inc, its a factory and the address is listed to US HWY 80 in Mesquite.

Someone else mentioned Creek Crossing- is it a development of some kind or like a town inside Mesquite?

New Philadelphia is about 1.5 hrs South of where we are in Avon.
I understand a shock to the weather lol but the traffic is awfully congested in Cleveland, especially in the downtown area. However, I'm sure all big cities are like that!

So I can call a real estate agent and they will help me find rentals, free of charge?