Young man considering Houston (Detroit: college, income, to live)

[houstan-dan]

Originally Posted by Manimarco

Yea I am definitely not looking to pay 1000 a month. If the only places one could find a reasonable apartment at a reasonable price are very far from the city/work, that would be a huge problem for me. To the point where I would rule out the city. My definition of "urban" is very lenient though. I am definitely not expecting it to look anything close to Chicago. But at the same time I don't want to feel like I am living the life of a 45 year old guy with kids when I am 23 and single.

There has to be some middle ground between the best spots in the city and the suburbs miles and miles away. Right?

Certainly, just expect driving distance and not walking. Maybe 3 miles as opposed to .5 miles of the "happening" spots.

[WhatUpFLA]

Originally Posted by Marlin84

I've lived in both areas and this is a pretty inaccurate statement. I love Tampa, and truthfully the two cities are just so different that a comparison is very difficult.

I would personally choose Houston over Tampa.

It seems like most of the folks from Florida hightailing it to Texas, specifically Houston, are new graduates who picked a stupid major in college and can't secure gainful employment in one of the better-paying industries in Florida (financial services, healthcare, etc.); skilled blue-collar workers; unskilled, low-wage workers of both the blue-collar and service-industry variety; and, to a lesser extent, business owners.

[houstan-dan]

Originally Posted by WhatUpFLA

It seems like most of the folks from Florida hightailing it to Texas, specifically Houston, are new graduates that picked a stupid major in college; skilled blue-collar workers; unskilled, low-wage workers of both the blue-collar and service-industry variety; and, to a lesser extent, business owners.

Exactly. I know several of your "blue-collar" workers that can make 200k in Texas as opposed to 50k in Florida..

[Manimarco]

Originally Posted by houstan-dan

Certainly, just expect driving distance and not walking. Maybe 3 miles as opposed to .5 miles of the "happening" spots.

I can get a pretty nice place at a reasonable price within 3 miles of the happening spots? That would be amazing if that were true. I did not even think there was housing within 1 mile of the happening spots in Houston from the way people talk about it. I thought the prime real estate was the stuff within 3 miles.

[jek74]

Originally Posted by winkosmosis

What you're looking for isn't Houston. As a young person that wants to live the city life, Houston is a very difficult place to do that. There are fewer good urban neighborhoods than other cities, the ones that do exist have less in the way of restaurants and bars (and they tend to close after short periods), those neighborhoods are expensive, and public transit is severely lacking. Look at Dallas and Austin.

BTW the weather is not that great. Winter in Houston is downright gloomy. I was really depressed this past winter. I have no idea where this myth about Houston being full of sunshine came from--- a lot of people seem to confuse it with LA.

Houston has an awesome city life. Great bars and restaurants. Great arts scene. Beautiful women. Beautiful parks. Come on man, you simply are not being honest. And I LOVE the weather here. Yes, this past winter sucked although 98% of the board was attacking me because they thought it was to die for. I love the heat and I love the sun. Usually we have a stretch of 4 to 5 months of low 55 high 75 that is to die for. The cold that does come actually comes just around the holidays which is nice for those of us from up north that like to put on a coat around Christmas time. Call me a traditionalist.

[crono_clone]

Originally Posted by Manimarco

I can get a pretty nice place at a reasonable price within 3 miles of the happening spots? That would be amazing if that were true. I did not even think there was housing within 1 mile of the happening spots in Houston from the way people talk about it. I thought the prime real estate was the stuff within 3 miles.

More like 10-15 miles, actually

[crono_clone]

Originally Posted by winkosmosis

What you're looking for isn't Houston. As a young person that wants to live the city life, Houston is a very difficult place to do that. There are fewer good urban neighborhoods than other cities, the ones that do exist have less in the way of restaurants and bars (and they tend to close after short periods), those neighborhoods are expensive, and public transit is severely lacking. Look at Dallas and Austin.

BTW the weather is not that great. Winter in Houston is downright gloomy. I was really depressed this past winter. I have no idea where this myth about Houston being full of sunshine came from--- a lot of people seem to confuse it with LA.

I have a cousin who lives in Austin and living in their urban core is just as expensive as living inside the loop would be in Houston. Austin is so small though that you can basically take three Houston neighborhoods (Downtown, Midtown, and Montrose) combine them, and you'd basically have Austin. It seems easier to get around only because there's not as much ground to cover.

I'm not sure what you mean by "the city life" but I'm guessing you mean like in NYC or Chicago. Sorry to say, but no city in Texas will really give you "the city life" that you'd experience in any of the northern cities. Just like in LA, we drive everywhere here, it'll be true whether you're in Austin, San Antonio, or Dallas. I live in Westchase about 20 minutes away from the Inner Loop so I can pay about $800 a month for rent but I still enjoy the city life just as much as my peers who can afford to pay the Inner Loop rent. You can check the threads I've posted on to see that I know all the places to go to in the city and I've never once felt left out just because I don't live in one of the "good urban neighborhoods".

In short: be nice to your car, it's your grand equalizer when it comes to urban living in our big Texas cities.

[jek74]

Originally Posted by WhatUpFLA

It seems like most of the folks from Florida hightailing it to Texas, specifically Houston, are new graduates who picked a stupid major in college and can't secure gainful employment in one of the better-paying industries in Florida (financial services, healthcare, etc.); skilled blue-collar workers; unskilled, low-wage workers of both the blue-collar and service-industry variety; and, to a lesser extent, business owners.

Florida is home of the retail worker and not high end. Honestly, retail and tourism is about all they offer. Yes there are hospitals and god knows how many nursing homes which have some jobs but compared to the medical research that is done at the TX Medical Center, not even close. The truth is, I wish FL did up it's game with their economy. I wouldn't mind living there. But the state is full of drifters, corrupt CEO's who homestead there because of their bankruptcy laws and old retired people. Yeah, sign me up for that deal. LOL.

[jek74]

Originally Posted by Manimarco

I can get a pretty nice place at a reasonable price within 3 miles of the happening spots? That would be amazing if that were true. I did not even think there was housing within 1 mile of the happening spots in Houston from the way people talk about it. I thought the prime real estate was the stuff within 3 miles.

You can live across the street from hot spots if you want, but yeah, you're going to pay for it. Just find a nice place. If you are in the loop you can get anywhere pretty fast and they have a party bus that drives you anywhere you want to go around the loop for one fixed cost.

[Manimarco]

Originally Posted by jek74

You can live across the street from hot spots if you want, but yeah, you're going to pay for it. Just find a nice place. If you are in the loop you can get anywhere pretty fast and they have a party bus that drives you anywhere you want to go around the loop for one fixed cost.

Yea I don't need to live across the street from the hot spots lol. I would be very happy with anything within 5 miles.