Looking to move to Fort Worth or surrounding area (lease, homes)

[godzilla67]

Me, my husband and my daughter are wanting to move to the Forth Worrth/surrounding area within the next 12-15 months. I have heard conflicting things regarding housing prices, property taxes, utility cost, state taxes, employment opportunities, etc. I know that I can pretty much work anywhere because I do medical billing and accounts receivable. My husband on the other hand, he is an industrial electrician/maintenance mechanic and is looking to quit that type of work. He is looking at truck driving as an alternative career. We need something that will pay approximately what he makes doing his current type of work. We live in Des Plaines, which is a suburb of Chicago. Even though we live near the city there is little opportunity for the type of work my husband does now. So, if anyone has any information on living in the Fort Worth/surrounding areas it would be greatly appreciated. I would like an idea of what living in this area would be like.

[Guingirl]

We have some friends that are looking at getting out of the Chicago area and are looking at Fort Worth as an alternative as well.

First big point...is that there are no state income taxes. Property taxes vary from city to city, county to county and depend on Independent School Districts (ISD)s, you can count on property taxes being anywhere from 2.5% to about 3.5% depending on where you live.

You can also apply for a homestead which is for your primary residence. It allows a certain amount to be deducted off the appraised amount of your home. So if you have a taxed appraisal amount of 200K, if you file a homestead and its your primary residence (as example) you might be able to take 20K off that 200K and you would be taxed at the rate on 180K instead. There are various types of homestead whether you are over 60, vet etc.

Home prices themselves can be less expensive depending upon where you look, but dollar for dollar you get more for your money down here.

There are quite a few commercial carriers down here so as long as he has a clean driving record and is able to get his commercial driver's license, he shouldn't have too much of a problem. We have a friend of a friend that drives a truck and does pretty well. You might want to go to the local news talk radio station WBAP - you can search for their site and they have a local night time truckers show that talks about different companies that are hiring.

Good luck and take care!

[loves2read]

you REALLY need to think about being a truck driver -- from what I hav read most drivers who work independently and either own or lease their rigs are getting really torqued by the high diesel prices--they are having great difficulty passing that along to their jobbers--and are seeing their income drop---
and many trucking companies what their drivers to be contractors not employees...
check out this job posting for work at Alcon labs which is fort worth company and see if it is something your husband qualifies for--there are many plants like this in DFW area--so he might be able to get work in his field that I think would be better choice than truck driving...

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