Family thinking of moving to Texas from Los Angeles.>Need some Feedback< (Houston: homeless, area)

[Clothahump]

Originally Posted by FJB327

Austin is the more liberal, hipster type of place. Great for tech and yuppies. That would be the more Silicon Valley like place in TX. Austin is definitely the more liberal of the three,

There is a reason we refer to it as the People's Republic of Austin.

[Hopeful for Life]

Originally Posted by madrone2k

Its interesting that, despite the far-right-wing tilt of Texas' legislative and executive branches, a lot of people still vote Democratic in presidential elections. In 2008 and 2012, for every 4 Republican voters in Texas, there were 3 Democratic voters. (I have yet made the calculation for 2016.) However, I think if Texas does eventually turn blue, it won't be the disaster than many conservatives fear; it will be with more moderate Democrats. Like we used to have in Texas.

I don't understand what has gone on in California ... perhaps its due to a perception of unending wealth expansion due to housing prices and Silicon Valley salaries, etc. Despite all the gloom and doom predictions, its economy overall seems to be doing pretty well, though. As for Texas at large, I am optimistic also. Except for Houston, which (as much as I love it) is pretty much a 1-industry town that gets more and more frequent flooding events. And ... neither the medical center nor the port bring in enough outside money to compensate for the eventual collapse of the oil industry (in which I spent a 35-year career).

How is oil going to collapse? I don’t see any evidence of that at the gas pump. It would take more than floods to keep the Californians away from here.

[sid s]

I will see you guys end of next year!

I am coming from socal as well, will be looking for a job over there next summer.

[Liljo22]

Originally Posted by HookTheBrotherUp

I read all the posts thus far, but one important topic has not been discussed, and that is politics.

OP, obviously you know Texas is a RED state? It may be affordable, but the people may drive you crazy, depending where you are in the spectrum of the political world. People love their guns, religion, and are some of the best people you will ever meet.

If you put too many people in a canoe, it will sink. That is what is happening in Texas, or will, I think. Texas is great because it is not run by politicians of the tax and spend mentality of the Left, yet a good amount of people from far Left states/cities are coming here because the Left policies have left their state/cities in economic shambles, unaffordable housing, high fuel costs, and debilitating taxes. They come here to enjoy the fruits of the Right, but they don't change their politics.

What will happen, they may continue to vote Democratic, and elect politicians with the same tax and spend beliefs, and it will become the exact thing they ran away from, and ruin it for everyone else in the end. Decades of Democratic rule have ruined many of the great cities. Almost all major cities run by Democrats are suffering.

I guess what I am trying to say is that when people see how much Texas is better than other states, they perhaps should devote a fair amount of research of why that is. You will see that Texas is a free-spirited state that actually allows people to be themselves, live and let live, but most importantly, expects people to be responsible.

The further you get out of the center of Houston, the more "Red" it will be.

Welcome to Texas (hopefully)!

While its a red state overall, Dallas, Houston and Austin currently have Democrats as Mayor. San Antonio has a non-partisan mayor.

Unaffordable housing in Democratic cities has more to do with demand vs supply than it does with liberal policies, ie New York, Chicago, LA high populations vs availability of new housing. Texas cities do not have this problem as they can just keep expanding into the suburbs at the moment.

[Farink]

We did the opposite and moved to OC from The Woodlands (about 30 miles north of Houston). We were done with the heat and humidity in Texas and that's the ONLY reason we moved. We love to be outdoors but hated the weather back home. I've always said if mosquitoes, heat, humidity, and the flat land and lack of beautiful landscape doesn't bother you, you're crazy not to live in Texas. Cheap land, plenty of work, no state income taxes, better schools than SoCal, higher salaries than SoCal (many have the false belief salaries are higher here), wait, did I say no state income taxes? LA is pretty gross and I would have never moved away from Texas to live in LA or San Fran. If the weather won't bother you, Houston area (I have a bias towards The Woodlands and LOVED it--not the weather, but everything else about it) should make you very happy. I've lost track of how many acquaintances are leaving SoCal for DFW/Austin/Houston.

[groovamos]

Originally Posted by fnh

What a strange myth to cling to. High housing costs in "left" cities and states reflect booming success, not ruin. .

False. Regulations and building codes are a huge driver of housing costs. I have investment properties in both Washington and Houston region. I built two decks for a house trailer in Montgomery county TX, no permit, and the county has photos of them for appraisal, but did not red tag me. Mason County Washington made me tear down a code compliant STAIRWAY to a deck that would have provided a second fire escape route from a second floor unit, because I didn't want to go to the several hundred dollar expense of getting their permission to put in a stairway.

California, Washington (and I think Oregon not sure) mandate 2 x 6 studs on outside walls for all dwellings, Texas does not. CA is preparing to pass legislation to mandate solar panels on all new single family dwellings, with the rationale that they will pay for themselves over time. I have an architect friend in Houston whose firm gets work in SoCal. He has to make trips out there to meet with code enforcers who are wannabe designers and who put arbitrary aesthetic mandates on the firm that are not based in the codes. They had one situation where the guy insisted on a type of glass facade that was nowhere in the codes that raised the cost of an apartment building by significantly more than $100,000. This friend votes D and admits that his experiences in CA are not anything like working in Texas.

Here's a good one for you. A couple decades back, Washington lawmakers thought they were brilliant and passed a law that required outside wall studs and insulation to be encased in plastic film. This required ventilation systems on timers to be built into the walls. The point supposedly was to control the loss of heat due to the natural air seepage that happens in normal outside walls. Well guess what. The brilliant lawmakers didn't consider what would happen when those ventilation systems get clogged with dust over time or otherwise fail. And so a few years later they had a massive mold problem epidemic in all those buildings, and all the wallboard had to be ripped out to remove the plastic film. The reason I know about this is that one of my buildings has the timed ventilation units and the various ports for the system. I met the builder and he told me they ripped out the plastic after inspection before drywall was hung.

Here's another one, a 20 story building that sat empty for years in Olympia because the cost of renewing the certificate of occupancy was to rework the building according to state codes, with the rework costing more than a new building would cost. I could go on and on. A car dealership building in Shelton, WA sits empty for years because of the cost to get a certificate of occupancy. I know of that one because my builder acquaintance wanted to rent it to place a bunch of classic cars in there with his buddies. The owners of that building are in CA (oops) and have sued the county. The idea of grandfathering clauses doesn't exist out there any more. You do what they say or you suffer. You have no say over your property.

Originally Posted by fnh

The fruits of the "right" are low-hanging but a good option perhaps for those who can't reach higher in more economically successful, desirable places. Still, few people move to Kansas or Oklahoma for the easy pickings.

Laughable propaganda. Contributor doesn't mention booming states like Tennessee, the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Arizona and Idaho. If you don't think these are desirable places, watch this video from WGN Chicago which documents the flood of people leaving Chicagoland for the Nashville metro for exactly the reasons contributor doesn't want you to know:

Illinois residents fleeing state for financial reasons | WGN-TV

[fnh]

One, building codes and regulations raise the cost of housing/development everywhere. Personal anecdotes do little to support any position vis-a-vis Texas vs anywhere, because anyone can cherry-pick them. One's perspective of building regulations in the aftermath of Harvey, for example, depends on whether you are a homeowner who flooded or are a taxpayer bailing out irresponsible developers and homeowners. Of course there can be unintended consequences of regulations (including higher costs) but the reflexive mindset that "regulations BAD!" reveals an immature lack of consideration for why regulations are drafted in the first place.

Two, the fundamental driver of housing costs remains supply and demand. It's undeniable that more people want to live in those "ruined" west coast cities with their booming economies, than can be accommodated. It's a strange definition of ruined.

Three, purportedly we are taxed like crazy in "left" cities, but our Houston property taxes are triple what we pay in Seattle, where we also live, while the sales tax rates are about the same. Seattle provides so much more in public services there is simply no comparison, at a fraction of the cost. Where does all that money go in Houston? Also home insurance is WAY higher in Texas, why do you think that is? At any rate, it is a myth that Texas is some kind of low-tax haven. You will indeed pay, yet get practically nothing in return.

[Surfertx]

Originally Posted by Farink

We did the opposite and moved to OC from The Woodlands (about 30 miles north of Houston). We were done with the heat and humidity in Texas and that's the ONLY reason we moved. We love to be outdoors but hated the weather back home. I've always said if mosquitoes, heat, humidity, and the flat land and lack of beautiful landscape doesn't bother you, you're crazy not to live in Texas. Cheap land, plenty of work, no state income taxes, better schools than SoCal, higher salaries than SoCal (many have the false belief salaries are higher here), wait, did I say no state income taxes? LA is pretty gross and I would have never moved away from Texas to live in LA or San Fran. If the weather won't bother you, Houston area (I have a bias towards The Woodlands and LOVED it--not the weather, but everything else about it) should make you very happy. I've lost track of how many acquaintances are leaving SoCal for DFW/Austin/Houston.

I did the opposite, moved from OC to Houston and plan to move back. I tried but I really miss the Cali lifestyle.

[groovamos]

Originally Posted by fnh

Seattle provides so much more in public services there is simply no comparison, at a fraction of the cost.

Fraction of the cost? I'm laughing.

Public services? Yes it certainly is easier to get taxpayer funded services there if you are homeless. That's why the flood of homeless are flocking there.

https://www.seattletimes.com/categor...meless-crisis/ <<<< Collection of many pieces on the problem. quote:
"The Seattle area is experiencing a homelessness crisis as we struggle to get people off the streets and out of encampments."

[mizdarling]

Originally Posted by chmike

Hello,
We are also a biracial couple and moved from Glendale to Houston (The Woodlands) with kid some months ago. It was a very good decision and in glad we had the courage to do so.I want to emphasize two things which I find important:
1. Only move when you guys have jobs
2 . Houston has way cheaper housing. Use it!!! Don't go for the 500k mansion. We bought for 260 and hope to pay off in 5 years. House is still double the size of our Glendale house.

Wish you all the best

Chmike

Chmike, are you still around? Just moved here from Glendale, CA and wanted to see your thoughts 3 years later!