Anyone From California Here? (Houston, The Woodlands: power lines, for rent, houses)

[rb4browns]

Originally Posted by Texas User

Anyone who use to live in CA live in Houston now?
What was your main reason for relocation?

Grew up in San Diego, college in Berkeley and lived in city of L.A. for a number of years. Left California for lower cost of living and to live in a state that was not crumbling around my family and me. Lived in Dallas for a year and a half, left for the east coast (job) for six months and hated it, just transferred back to Texas for a job with my company in Houston.

[plaidfrogg]

I grew up in Arlington, TX. Lived briefly in Monterey, CA then moved to San Diego for grad school and stayed. Never thought I'd move back to Texas, let alone Houston, but my husband got a big career promotion so we made the move. Before the promotion, we'd been thinking about leaving CA b/c home prices were through the roof making it impossible to upgrade to something comfortable and affordable, so when the Houston opportunity arose, we carefully weighed the pros and cons. It wasn't the best time to leave since we had to sell a home while prices were plummeting. There are many things I miss about SoCal (friends, weather, being able to spend all day outside w/o having to desperately seek a/c and/or a pool, scenery, terrain, and general lifestyle). But, I see those as sacrifices to come to an area where the state economy is healthier, schools (in general) are far better, and our housing dollar will go ~3x farther.

I think much of my adjustment has been more about living in the far-flung 'burbs as a stay-at-home mom (compared to living central/urban as a working parent). There are lots of smaller points about Houston vs. SD that are different (weather, religion, politics, etc) but having grown up in DFW, those haven't been a surprise.

[movingtohouston]

We moved from Ca (Huntington Beach and San Diego) three years ago for work and to be closer to some family. We are originally from the midwest so it wasn't too much of a culture shock for us. After 7 years in Ca we were ready to get somewhere "normal". LOL

About the only thing I miss is the beach and the scenery. Other than that haven't missed it at all.

[ShelbyGirl1]

We've lived in Napa 4 times. Huntington Beach,Newport Beach,LaJolla....DH's job

[AK123]

Originally Posted by joejitsu

In the Austin forum there would have been 30 replies by people from California.

Originally Posted by Texas User

Because of Silicon Valley 2.

I think that's just another title invented by the tourism bureau there, just like Live Music Capital. Not exactly true.
More likely because they hear that Austin is supposed to be the most like CA/least like TX. In reality it's more like TX than anything else outside the state. I wonder how many of them end up surprised.

[Cassino]

My wife and I are both born and raised Californians currently living in the Bay Area. We will be moving to Houston in September and are moving because the company I worked for offered me a transfer. We decided to take it due to several factors including the price of housing in Houston compared to the Bay Area and the state of the California economy.

Moving will also be quite the adventure for us and we are eager to spread our wings. On a personal note, I officiate high school football and the football doesn't get much better than in Texas.

[ejonestexas]

I moved to Houston in 2005 from Los Angeles. At the time I moved with a girlfriend and we bought a house in Cypress. In 2007 we broke up and I sold the house and moved to the Gallaria. My Ex moved to Chicago with her job. I did try for a year trying to move back to CA but after my sister left the state so I stopped looking. This is well before the CA enconomy went to crap.

[BearBranch]

Berkeley, San Francisco, Sacramaneto, Fresno, Seattle.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Originally Posted by Cassino

My wife and I are both born and raised Californians currently living in the Bay Area. We will be moving to Houston in September and are moving because the company I worked for offered me a transfer. We decided to take it due to several factors including the price of housing in Houston compared to the Bay Area and the state of the California economy.

Moving will also be quite the adventure for us and we are eager to spread our wings. On a personal note, I officiate high school football and the football doesn't get much better than in Texas.

Check out the Katy area... well known for their football programs, and Katy High School has been state champions many times (relatively speaking), including the present.

[Cassino]

Funny you should mention that, my wife and I have been looking at apartments in Katy east of there towards Houston since I will be working in Bellaire.