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No, that's bullsh*t. Economics is only one of the knocks against CA. There is a difference between saying something is expensive and saying something is over valued. I don't think CA is expensive. I think it's over valued. You simply get no value for the same amount of money. Also, people talk about the divide between the rich and the poor in TX all the time. The divide in CA is multiples of that. Sure, living in CA on the beach is great. But most people don't. I have no problem for paying up to live somewhere nice. I use to live in NY. I lived both in a sh*thole and then somewhere nice. The problem with CA is you don't get what you pay for. The economy is done there. The government is absurdly corrupt. Crime is out of control. The schools are pathetic.
OK, so TX has mosquitos. Nice comeback! And greedy developers? Dude. Have you seen the crap developers built out on Cali in the desert with the lowest quality construction? Come on man. Get serious. Look, CA was awesome in the 70's and 80's. It peaked. They got greedy, the state over spent. And now most of the major industries have left. You know at one time Detroit was the wealthiest city in the US. Look at it now. Every dog has it's day. California's has long past.
And one more thing, your last comment, you get what you pay for? No, actually you don't. TX you get FAR MORE then what you pay for. CA you get FAR LESS. I don't mind paying up, just don't rip me off.
You can call it over-valued, a rip-off, over-priced, whatever, fact is there are plenty of people that are moving in the state of California currently to have the cost of homes be where they are.
I'm not saying that California has everything priced at where it should be, I do agree that homes there are over-priced, but the fact of the matter is that there are people that are willing to pay more for it than you, so either you pay-up or leave.
Just because it's overpriced for you, doesnt mean that there aren't people that can't afford it. You dont sit and complain about a Ferrari being over-priced do you? you just buy something more practical and affordable and let the people who can afford one, buy one and enjoy it.
And I agree people are leaving California, but that isn't because they want to, its because they just cant afford to live there anymore. That doesn't make Texas some wonderful place that has all these great features and lovely, unique, eclectic areas. It's ugly, hot, and flat, Lets call it what it is.
These greedy developers try to put some pretty make-up on the ugliness by putting up these artificially hip and trendy locale's for people to throw their money at on the weekends.
And for the young, single, college grads that have gotten a new job and disposible income, the developers are right there again with these fancy new condo's, apartments, THAT ARE EXTREMELY CHEAPLY BUILT! for the rich suburban kids to spend their paycheck on. They advertise these areas as "hip and happening" and quickly gentrify the area. Now if all that doesn't epitomize greedy developers then i dont know what does.
Every dog has its day, you're right, especially about Detroit, and if you're implying that Texas has its time now and in the next decade, then you are correct again. Every dog does indeed have its day but at least in California's case the dog was something fun and nice to look at, not the ugly mutt down here in Texas.
You can call it over-valued, a rip-off, over-priced, whatever, fact is there are plenty of people that are moving in the state of California currently to have the cost of homes be where they are.
I'm not saying that California has everything priced at where it should be, I do agree that homes there are over-priced, but the fact of the matter is that there are people that are willing to pay more for it than you, so either you pay-up or leave.
Just because it's overpriced for you, doesnt mean that there aren't people that can't afford it. You dont sit and complain about a Ferrari being over-priced do you? you just buy something more practical and affordable and let the people who can afford one, buy one and enjoy it.
And I agree people are leaving California, but that isn't because they want to, its because they just cant afford to live there anymore. That doesn't make Texas some wonderful place that has all these great features and lovely, unique, eclectic areas. It's ugly, hot, and flat, Lets call it what it is.
These greedy developers try to put some pretty make-up on the ugliness by putting up these artificially hip and trendy locale's for people to throw their money at on the weekends.
And for the young, single, college grads that have gotten a new job and disposible income, the developers are right there again with these fancy new condo's, apartments, THAT ARE EXTREMELY CHEAPLY BUILT! for the rich suburban kids to spend their paycheck on. They advertise these areas as "hip and happening" and quickly gentrify the area. Now if all that doesn't epitomize greedy developers then i dont know what does.
Every dog has its day, you're right, especially about Detroit, and if you're implying that Texas has its time now and in the next decade, then you are correct again. Every dog does indeed have its day but at least in California's case the dog was something fun and nice to look at, not the ugly mutt down here in Texas.
Not to nitpick here, but the key difference in the Ferrari example is that the price of a Ferrari for all practical purposes is the same everywhere. It's a better car then a Toyota Camry and is priced accordingly. In my opinion, I can show you homes in Houston that are 250k that are 10 years old, solid brick, 4 bedrooms and pool in the backyard and in an upper class neighborhood with the best schools in the state. I can then show you a 1200 sq foot ranch house in the valley in southern cal built in 1955 next to a crappy school that sells for 650k. In this example, you are paying 150k for the Camry and I'm getting the Ferrari for 25k. That is my point.
Now on to this ugly factor. I don't understand this. Flat? Sure. Hot? Pretty much. But ugly? No way. Houston is located in the middle of the East TX pine forest and is a very green city. The TX hill Country is also very beautiful. Even Dallas is nice. Ugly to me would be Las Vegas, Phoenix or Reno, but not Houston. I think Houston has a beautiful skyline. Beautiful parks. Cool and eclectic neighborhoods. And beautiful trees. You want to see ugly? Come to Chicago. Also flat. Also ice cold. And block after block of nothing but concrete and old pre-war buildings.
And CA? Look, there are "parts" of CA that ARE beautiful. Particularly northern cal where the Redwoods are. But southern Cal? No dude. No. It's a dessert. Brown everywhere. No green. Sure the most expensive areas are nice with their forced irrigation, but a majority of southern cal is dead tumble weeds, brown dirt and asphalt. Not that pretty dude. Yes, the mountains are nice. But 99% of the people don't live in them. They live in the concrete jungle that is the valley. Dull, lifeless, soul less and plastic. The people are kind of like that too.
It really amazes me the lengths some Texans will go to justify how much they dislike CA. You simply don't see Californians writing paragraph after paragraph in the same thread to expound their hatred for Texas. It just doesn't happen.
End of the day, CA is a much cooler state. Blame MTV, blame Hollywood, whoever.
Having spent time in both cities...there are differences.
LA is actually zoned fairly well for being such a huge city. Houston has always tried to spin the lack of zoning as a good thing, but it just looks messy.
LA is one of those cities like NYC/London/Paris - that you know you're somewhere important and culturally significant when you're there. Houston is important as well, but LA is arguably better-known than NYC across the world because of the movie industry. It's just not a fair comparison, there is a reason the cost of living is so high in LA, people want to live there, opposed to moving there because of affordability.
I live in Tx, Houston for years and Dallas area currently so I dont have a problem with where I live...
I accept your statement of salary differences in your fields....but reject it as true across the board.
I like Houston and enjoyed living there for over 30 years and find Dallas area a good place to live as well..
I see way too many California related threads in Houston for my taste... so hearing Houston is hot and Ca is expensive is rather repetitive which isnt what I find of interest on CD.
It is nice to meet someone from Ca who has an understanding and appreciation for what Texas and Houston can offer.... The fly over country tripe gets old as well as its assumptions that everyone wants to live on one of those coasts when most of us who arent there now are here by choice..... I dont go to Ca threads and beat up on Ca but when we get a barrage of it in Tx city forums.......I reacted today..
Location: Central Bay Area, CA as of Jan 2010...but still a proud Texan from Houston!
7,484 posts, read 10,450,730 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnhw2
I live in Tx, Houston for years and Dallas area currently so I dont have a problem with where I live...
I accept your statement of salary differences in your fields....but reject it as true across the board.
I like Houston and enjoyed living there for over 30 years and find Dallas area a good place to live as well..
I see way too many California related threads in Houston for my taste... so hearing Houston is hot and Ca is expensive is rather repetitive which isnt what I find of interest on CD.
It is nice to meet someone from Ca who has an understanding and appreciation for what Texas and Houston can offer.... The fly over country tripe gets old as well as its assumptions that everyone wants to live on one of those coasts when most of us who arent there now are here by choice..... I dont go to Ca threads and beat up on Ca but when we get a barrage of it in Tx city forums.......I reacted today..
Thanks
I totally understand...especially thinking that I am from there. I get pretty sick of the TX bashers on the CA fourms as well.
BTW I am from Houston...lived there for 44 years and had a blast growing up and living there! It is my home and I will always think highly of it!
In my opinion, I can show you homes in Houston that are 250k that are 10 years old, solid brick, 4 bedrooms and pool in the backyard and in an upper class neighborhood with the best schools in the state.
As a product of the Texas public school system, just want to point out that the best schools in the state here aren't exactly something to brag about. Texas public schools are pretty abysmal, and rated one of the poorest in the nation pretty consistently. I mean, we are the people who tried to remove the words slavery, imperialism and capitalism from our textbooks.
There's a lot of great things about both California and Texas. I'll be moving to Los Angeles in a few months after over a quarter of a century here in Houston. I'll miss a lot about the city; it's sprawling international cultures and businesses, booming job market, and a culture that I really didn't understand was specifically "Texas" until I traveled around a little more. I won't miss the humidity, mosquitoes and politics, though!
Ultimately whether you prefer California over Texas depends a lot on where in those states you live (I'm moving to Los Angeles, for example, which is really comparable to Houston. If more expensive!) and what you're looking for in each. If you're an oil and gas engineer, obviously Houston's a better choice. If you're in animation, entertainment, or Asian studies industries (business, law, etc), obviously California is going to be a better choice.
I don't think there's a definitive one is better than the other answer here. After all, we both trade off each year to see who has the worst air pollution.
As a product of the Texas public school system, just want to point out that the best schools in the state here aren't exactly something to brag about. Texas public schools are pretty abysmal, and rated one of the poorest in the nation pretty consistently. I mean, we are the people who tried to remove the words slavery, imperialism and capitalism from our textbooks.
There's a lot of great things about both California and Texas. I'll be moving to Los Angeles in a few months after over a quarter of a century here in Houston. I'll miss a lot about the city; it's sprawling international cultures and businesses, booming job market, and a culture that I really didn't understand was specifically "Texas" until I traveled around a little more. I won't miss the humidity, mosquitoes and politics, though!
Ultimately whether you prefer California over Texas depends a lot on where in those states you live (I'm moving to Los Angeles, for example, which is really comparable to Houston. If more expensive!) and what you're looking for in each. If you're an oil and gas engineer, obviously Houston's a better choice. If you're in animation, entertainment, or Asian studies industries (business, law, etc), obviously California is going to be a better choice.
I don't think there's a definitive one is better than the other answer here. After all, we both trade off each year to see who has the worst air pollution.
Regarding the schools, this is specifically why I mentioned in my example living in an upper middle class suburb, like say, the Woodlands, whose schools are rated one of the best in the entire country. In Chicago, one of the best "public" schools is called New Trier. It's located in Evanston. But in order to send your kids there, you have to buy a home for 1.2 million in Winnetka. I can get that same education at TWS for buying a 250k home in the Woodlands.
Look, unfortunately our school system in this country is very much dependent on "where" you live. If you can afford to live in a nice area, you are going to get a great school. Yes, even in Mississippi. But if you live in a poor area of Boston or NY, you are going to get a bad school. Same in CA. The difference here is, in TX, good areas are actually affordable. And that makes all the difference.
Not to nitpick here, but the key difference in the Ferrari example is that the price of a Ferrari for all practical purposes is the same everywhere. It's a better car then a Toyota Camry and is priced accordingly. In my opinion, I can show you homes in Houston that are 250k that are 10 years old, solid brick, 4 bedrooms and pool in the backyard and in an upper class neighborhood with the best schools in the state. I can then show you a 1200 sq foot ranch house in the valley in southern cal built in 1955 next to a crappy school that sells for 650k. In this example, you are paying 150k for the Camry and I'm getting the Ferrari for 25k. That is my point.
Now on to this ugly factor. I don't understand this. Flat? Sure. Hot? Pretty much. But ugly? No way. Houston is located in the middle of the East TX pine forest and is a very green city. The TX hill Country is also very beautiful. Even Dallas is nice. Ugly to me would be Las Vegas, Phoenix or Reno, but not Houston. I think Houston has a beautiful skyline. Beautiful parks. Cool and eclectic neighborhoods. And beautiful trees. You want to see ugly? Come to Chicago. Also flat. Also ice cold. And block after block of nothing but concrete and old pre-war buildings.
And CA? Look, there are "parts" of CA that ARE beautiful. Particularly northern cal where the Redwoods are. But southern Cal? No dude. No. It's a dessert. Brown everywhere. No green. Sure the most expensive areas are nice with their forced irrigation, but a majority of southern cal is dead tumble weeds, brown dirt and asphalt. Not that pretty dude. Yes, the mountains are nice. But 99% of the people don't live in them. They live in the concrete jungle that is the valley. Dull, lifeless, soul less and plastic. The people are kind of like that too.
You think Houston is beautiful? and you think Chicago is ugly? are you serious?!? I'm sorry I have lost alot of respect of your opinion after that. I love how you compared the pretty parks and eclectic neighborhoods to the old, run-down areas of Chicago, to get us to believe that all of Houston is what you described so nicely and Chicago is all of what you described as so ugly.
As far as you mentioning the nice home inside of Houston for 250K that are safe, nice, pool in the backyard and in an upper-crust neighborhood is ridiculous. I think what you meant was in the Houston area, which is actually a spread-out mess with large suburbs of bland, dull, plastic, soul less areas built for people to have kids and raise them.
250k in the Houston metro area? really, with all of the things you mentioned? really? please show me!
I love how you jumped from the Houston area to The Woodlands in your next post, you're talking about a 30 mile difference, for alot of people in the country that is a huge difference.
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