Folks moving to Houston : Why are you moving ? (Orange, Katy: apartments, insurance)

[wheretogo]

hmm....as of now (July 6th), 33% folks moved to houston due to job related reason.. I never knew we have such a great job market!!!

[redstripe]

My wife & I are moving because she is starting optometry school (at UH) in the fall.

[person]

For those who are worry about rain, this much rain and long stretch of cloudiness is kind of unusual.

I am curious to the folks who posted about moving due to jobs, can you share what kind of jobs you are holding?

[jfre81]

I grew up in Texas City and spent many nights in Houston, but I moved to North Carolina a couple years ago before moving again this January with my fiancee.

We could have gone anywhere. Maybe not the West Coast, New England or South Florida - cost of living is sky high - but most anywhere else. We wanted to go where we could find work that pays well and a place that doesn't cost so much to live that you are working just to cover all your expenses. It doesn't matter where you are if you have no means to enjoy yourself. Interestingly enough, it turns out that our best option was none other than good ol' Houston, Texas. We drove from just outside Raleigh to Houston, going south on I-95 then west on I-10, leaving on Monday morning (January 29th) and getting in on Wednesday afternoon, stopping in Lake City, Florida and Gulfport, Mississippi (stopping twice because we have two cats on board).

Now that I'm here, I am kind of a local and kind of a transplant at the same time. It is indeed wild what people's image of Texas is on the West Coast - apparently in their heads the Sabine River is where the Louisiana swamp ends and the desert abruptly begins.

This is the first time to make my residence in Houston proper - I feel like we've made a good choice. She's a country girl from NC, so the size and scope of the city and the difference in attitude here was a bit of a shock, but she digs it and says she doesn't really miss NC. She thinks Houston is beautiful, which is contrary to what so many people who visit here say.

[neverendingsummer]

Picture this... Bypass Fall and skip right into cold weather winter in about September, by November you've hit -10 below and still now snow, so now it's just freezing cold. Christmas comes and you've got a hint of snow that dropped onto the ground but left after 1 week of warm enough weather to melt it and then re-freeze it into ice on the ground.
Jan-Feb brings a bit more snow, dumps two or more feet onto your doorstep in a record 1 day, but 2 days later it reaches 40 degrees and melts that snow on top of the ice already causing you headaches. With nowhere to drain into the frozen ground it creates floods everywhere.
Finally Spring comes about April and it reaches 50 degrees for a record high. Raining non-stop for weeks and just barely draining into the ground so you still get floods.
Summer hits in July & Aug and you do actually get some nice summer days above 70 degrees for about 2 months and then guess what, back to the same old thing.
And that's Minnesota for you... So my answer to why we are moving to Houston... Mostly the weather if you can understand.

[blockbuster]

Does it really get cold enough to make trees shed in houston as well?

[davidt1]

Originally Posted by gmh1013

It sure seemed that way, it rained everyday we were there ...HARD.
For 8 days. It rained more in one hour than Phoenix gets all year.
We are moving from the driest place in earth to the dampest....seems that way...

Does it rain like this often? I wonder how all those small businesses make a living when it rains for 8 days like that. It sure rains hard there, don't it?

[person]

Originally Posted by davidt1

Does it rain like this often? I wonder how all those small businesses make a living when it rains for 8 days like that. It sure rains hard there, don't it?

This long period of rain is really unusual. It does rain hard, but usually very quick and sunshine comes through.

[jfre81]

This much rain at this part of the season is excessive for not having rain caused by a tropical system. Average is ~47 in/yr and we are about two thirds of the way there already. Usually it is one month of the year (usually in spring or fall) where it pours 10-15 inches and for the rest of the year the rain is pretty sporadic. It has only not been very hot here this summer because we have been under so much cloud cover - that said, this evening before the storms rolled through felt downright pleasant for the middle of the summer.

I visited Houston last October from NC for a couple weeks before moving early this year, and while I was there it only did not rain the two Friday nights. Everything else was like a constant monsoon. It didn't make me change my mind though, but it was sure a sign of things to come this year.

Regarding the cold - The north part of town and the northern suburbs usually have some point, no matter how brief, each winter where temperatures drop to at or below freezing. It will at least get into the 30s. This winter there was a rare ice storm shortly before I got here. The trees will keep their leaves later in the fall than in the north, but they will come down. We do own rakes here. (At least you are aware there are trees here to start with.)

That said, you will most likely prefer our winters to Minnesota's.

The weather doesn't keep Houstonians from working, but it does make them need to leave home much earlier...

[Texas Tornado]

Left Texas thinking I could get away from my problems........... little did I know you can run but you can't hide. Finally solved my probs and now I want to come HOME