I'm Jumping the gun a bit but...Houston 2010 (Corpus Christi, Galveston: affordable apartments, condos)

[lilacjamila]

Okay, first off I've been addicted to this site for the past few weeks, like seriously. I think I went to bed at 2am last night, I couldn't stop myself from reading this forum!

Okay, so I officially won't be leaving NYC for another 2 years, but hey, its good to start planning early. I'm a 25 yr old AA single female, and I will have my MA in elementary/special education in two years. A much as I love nyc, I've been here my entire life and really need a change in scenery. At first I was researching NC -Raleigh/Charlotte, but it seems that teachers are getting the short end of the stick in those cities in terms of salary/benefits.

Which led me to Houston. Like I said, I'm projecting, but with a teachers salary, single and ready to mingle (with hopes of getting married with children in a few), and hoping to eventually purchase property, is Houston a good choice? I like warm weather, suburban-urban, big nature person--I need trees, shopping, music, theatre, FOOD, beaches, socializing. I do realize that I will have to drive/own car , but nothing is perfect.

I know that if I stay in nyc, I will probably stay single and property-less for ages, and that is not my destiny! Let me not start ranting against my hometown. Any and all comments are greatly appreciated...Whaddaya think?

[AK123]

Originally Posted by lilacjamila

... I like warm weather, suburban-urban, big nature person--I need trees, shopping, music, theatre, FOOD, beaches, socializing. I do realize that I will have to drive/own car , but nothing is perfect.hometown...

Houston sounds like a good fit for you!

[Topaz]

This is the type of place where people with normal salaries (like teachers) can still have a nice quality of life. The West and East Coasts, on the other hand, have a lot of cities where the costs of living are so high, it requires a stratospheric salary to live well.

[Bike4Life]

You want to come here; I want to go there. I love Manhattan but can't afford it.

[lilacjamila]

Originally Posted by Bike4Life

You want to come here; I want to go there. I love Manhattan but can't afford it.

sigh..isn't that the story of life . I love Manhattan too in many ways, but the $$$ isn't loving me.

[warpedhybrid232]

there's a group that would help you settle in + joining it is free...it's called "new to houston" and they do a lot of things (salsa classes, going to openings of films/art events, casino nights, movie nights, dinners, etc., etc). I think it's found on meetup.com I'd recommend it to new ppl. in the area. good luck w/ your future plans!

[Spade]

Which led me to Houston. Like I said, I'm projecting, but with a teachers salary, single and ready to mingle (with hopes of getting married with children in a few), and hoping to eventually purchase property, is Houston a good choice? I like warm weather, suburban-urban, big nature person--I need trees, shopping, music, theatre, FOOD, beaches, socializing. I do realize that I will have to drive/own car , but nothing is perfect.

You will need your own car but try to live in the loop. Because you won't use it as much as you would if you lived outside the loop. If you didn't know, inside teh loop is anything inside 610. In fact, you can live on the new rail lines because affordable apartments and condos are popping up right along them.

[Texas Mack]

Houston isn't perfect, never claims to be, but all things being equal, you can get a little bit of everything for the most part. Just take your time and shop. Figure out what you want, what you need, and then go from there.

Even if you don't live along the rail line, you can live along some solid bus routes that will take you pretty much right where you want to go without much of a hassle. Having a car can be optional inside the Loop, as some have mentioned, but again... take your time and shop. Not all neighborhoods are the same and not all offer everything you want.

Be prepared to make some concessions, though they may be small in the grand scheme of things. So to review:

Warm Weather: it's at least warm here about 80% of the time, if you consider anything above 70 degrees warm. It's straight up hot for about 35% of the time. Rarely is it frigid but it can by chilly for a good number of days between December and February.

Suburban-urban: pretty much. The urbanity is southern-style, which means you definitely won't get that northeastern/early colonies vibe at all, but it's evident in some of the inner Loop neighborhoods. From the loop to the beltway it becomes more suburban and even more so outside the beltway.

Big nature person--I need trees: plenty of those, for sure, but don't expect rolling hills. For that, you'll have to go about 45 miles to north at least. And even then, we're not talking about the Catskills. But to be sure, much of it is very green.

Shopping: Heh. Some might say we have a little too much of it.

Music: Sure.

Theatre: Of course.

Food: You betcha.

Beaches: you won't mistake it for a scene out of Hawaii Five-Oh. It's there, more or less, within an hour's drive. The water will have a brown tint to it most days. Sometimes it's bluish-brown if we've not had much in the way of rain (the water's "browness" comes from clay deposits in river and stream banks that carry out to the Gulf from about the Mississippi Delta to just north of Corpus Christi). Yacht, ski and what have you, but swimming probably won't be especially appealing. But who knows. Galveston has a lot of cute little shops and restaurants, and the town's trying very hard to be more tourist friendly, which may or may not be a good thing in the long term.

Socializing: this is tricky. Know yourself and your interests and you should be fine, but it's like with most things... quality is in the eye of the beholder.

Good luck!

[crbcrbrgv]

Originally Posted by lilacjamila

Okay, first off I've been addicted to this site for the past few weeks, like seriously. I think I went to bed at 2am last night, I couldn't stop myself from reading this forum!

Okay, so I officially won't be leaving NYC for another 2 years, but hey, its good to start planning early. I'm a 25 yr old AA single female, and I will have my MA in elementary/special education in two years. A much as I love nyc, I've been here my entire life and really need a change in scenery. At first I was researching NC -Raleigh/Charlotte, but it seems that teachers are getting the short end of the stick in those cities in terms of salary/benefits.

Which led me to Houston. Like I said, I'm projecting, but with a teachers salary, single and ready to mingle (with hopes of getting married with children in a few), and hoping to eventually purchase property, is Houston a good choice? I like warm weather, suburban-urban, big nature person--I need trees, shopping, music, theatre, FOOD, beaches, socializing. I do realize that I will have to drive/own car , but nothing is perfect.

I know that if I stay in nyc, I will probably stay single and property-less for ages, and that is not my destiny! Let me not start ranting against my hometown. Any and all comments are greatly appreciated...Whaddaya think?

Come to Houston. There aren't many major cities in the country where teachers can live comfortably. The shopping isn't NYC quality, but the food is. And it has something for everyone. If you want to be single until your 40, not a problem. If you want to settle down soon, that's not a problem either. And no matter what kind of person you like, you will find him in Houston. Nature isn't too far away. You have to drive a good hour out of the NYC area to get to nature anyways, and the same holds true for Houston. We moved from Chicago, and would never dream of moving back.

[Visitor2007]

Originally Posted by lilacjamila

I'm a 25 yr old AA single female.

Is that Asian American or African American?

I know that if I stay in nyc, I will probably stay single and property-less for ages, and that is not my destiny!

What makes you think that Houston or any other area in the country is better for singles than NYC?