Moving to Lubbock Texas (Houston, Dallas: apartment, rental, house)

[Borboleta]

Without meaning to hijack the thread --- does anyone have recommendations as to what apartment complex would be better for a single person, not a grad student, moving to Lubbock for work. From what I can tell the prices are pretty much equivalent, except for student housing. If anyone wants to chime in, please do. Thanks.

[Westerner92]

Originally Posted by Borboleta

Without meaning to hijack the thread --- does anyone have recommendations as to what apartment complex would be better for a single person, not a grad student, moving to Lubbock for work. From what I can tell the prices are pretty much equivalent, except for student housing. If anyone wants to chime in, please do. Thanks.

I'm not sure any apartments are going to be better for singles than others. There are so many choices that I think you can afford to be picky. As long as you stay west of University, I think you'll be fine.

[Borboleta]

Thanks, Westerner. I was starting to think that might be the case so glad of the confirmation.

[csofficer]

Westerner - I don't live in Tech Terrace. I'm out in what used to be the boonies, NW Lubbock, outside the Loop (which is more than a geographical designation I quickly learned).

I wish it were just 3-4 days a year of blowing dirt. It is at least a dozen. Then there's the hail, but I'll leave that for the tornado thread.

Frankly, the bulk of the jobs in this city pay minimum wage or *less*. Most are in the service industries. My husband has had two jobs here where we had to file with the appropriate state agencies for him to receive overtime pay. They like workhorses putting in 16 hour days but don't want to pay for it.

I'm "lucky". As a state employee most things are above board.

And as someone who has lived a variety of places, this one is at the bottom of my list.

In the past 10 years crime (esp violent crime) has been on the rise. The sock puppet city council does nothing but find ways to raise our bills.

The bid for the water pipeline came in half of expected. Do you think they'll lower rates? No.

I have been stuck here for reasons beyond my control, but as soon as possible, I'll be out of here.

[Westerner92]

Originally Posted by csofficer

Westerner - I don't live in Tech Terrace. I'm out in what used to be the boonies, NW Lubbock, outside the Loop (which is more than a geographical designation I quickly learned).

I wish it were just 3-4 days a year of blowing dirt. It is at least a dozen. Then there's the hail, but I'll leave that for the tornado thread.

Frankly, the bulk of the jobs in this city pay minimum wage or *less*. Most are in the service industries. My husband has had two jobs here where we had to file with the appropriate state agencies for him to receive overtime pay. They like workhorses putting in 16 hour days but don't want to pay for it.

I'm "lucky". As a state employee most things are above board.

And as someone who has lived a variety of places, this one is at the bottom of my list.

In the past 10 years crime (esp violent crime) has been on the rise. The sock puppet city council does nothing but find ways to raise our bills.

The bid for the water pipeline came in half of expected. Do you think they'll lower rates? No.

I have been stuck here for reasons beyond my control, but as soon as possible, I'll be out of here.

After I posted, I remebered that parts of the NW part of town have quite a few college kids as well. There's cheap rent because there because, like you said, the homes tend to be smaller and far from everything. I'm sorry you've had such a bad experience with Lubbock. It's clear I haven't had the same experiences as you, but wherever you go, I wish you well.

[caty0818]

Hello Everyone,
I am looking into a job opportunity in Lubbock and was wondering what areas were good to live in.
I heard there has been a lot of changes with addition of restaurants and small shops. I would love to live walking distance to those, if possible, as long as it's safe. Which areas do you think would be a good match...? Even maybe by a lake...? Any feedback would be great.
Thanks!

[Westerner92]

Originally Posted by caty0818

Hello Everyone,
I am looking into a job opportunity in Lubbock and was wondering what areas were good to live in.
I heard there has been a lot of changes with addition of restaurants and small shops. I would love to live walking distance to those, if possible, as long as it's safe. Which areas do you think would be a good match...? Even maybe by a lake...? Any feedback wouldbe great.
Thanks!

In general, everything west of Avenue Q or University is nice and safe. You are correct that Lubbock has been getting many new amenities lately, but Lubbock is not a very walkable city. It's a young city even by American standards, so it is largely auto-based and doesn't cater very much to pedestrians. There are some walkable areas around Tech if you're willing to put up with college kids. Overton (the area bound by University, 4th, Avenue Q, and 19th) has had a lot of revitalization lately and is quite walkable, and Tech Terrace (bound by Indiana, 19th, University, and 34th) has some great older homes with a nice shopping center in the middle of the neighborhood. There is a new neighborhood called Vintage Township which is based on the "New Urbanism" concept, and it is designed to be very walkable, but it will be a few years
before the businesses come to the neighborhood. One thing to consider is that though not designed around pedestrians, many neighborhoods are compact. My home is about a 20 minute walk from several shopping centers, one (soon to be two) grocery stores, a movie theater, and three parks with lakes. Most neighborhoods have a park with a small lake. I'm not able to post the link right now, but if you google "walk score" the first result takes you to a website that allows you to enter any address to rate how walkable the area is. Good luck with your decision.

[triwing]

Originally Posted by gcp52

Hi, I recently got accepted to the Texas Tech Law School and my wife and I with our two children will be moving there. I have driven through Lubbock before and to be honest it doesn't look like there is much there. The city looked a little run down and everything was brown. If you have lived in Lubbock before I would like to know if you enjoyed it, and if so what specifically you liked about Lubbock. If you had kids while living there, how were the schools, parks, and other family activities in the community?

You are right. There isn't much to do there and the town is a bit run down.

I'm kinda surprised that you jumped right into it and decided to move there. Not a great place to be married and raise kids.

csofficer, I was a Texas Tech student for a semester and I agree entirely with you, which is why I transferred out. The social life at Tech was great but I couldn't put up with Lubbock for several years.

I wish it were just 3-4 days a year of blowing dirt. It is at least a dozen. Then there's the hail, but I'll leave that for the tornado thread.

This sounds like an extreme exaggeration there but it's actually true. I washed my truck at 7:30 AM one morning before work. When I went back to my truck at 12 noon, not only was it covered in dust, a mobile car wash operation actually left a business card on my windshield wiper.

Frankly, the bulk of the jobs in this city pay minimum wage or *less*. Most are in the service industries. My husband has had two jobs here where we had to file with the appropriate state agencies for him to receive overtime pay. They like workhorses putting in 16 hour days but don't want to pay for it.

It's to be expected in a desolate town 300 miles out in no where... there's simply no industry to sustain it outside of Tech.

And as someone who has lived a variety of places, this one is at the bottom of my list.

In the past 10 years crime (esp violent crime) has been on the rise. The sock puppet city council does nothing but find ways to raise our bills.

Yes, I heard about a few home invasions while I was there. I remember some idiot from Lubbock a few months back trying to argue with me about the town "but, but, there's some nice neighborhoods!" Every pro he said about Lubbock, you can find anywhere else.

[Westerner92]

Caty, I advise you to ignore everything that triwing posts. I have thoroughly proven him wrong on several of his off-the-wall statements about Lubbock.

[Westerner92]

Originally Posted by triwing

You are right. There isn't much to do there and the town is a bit run down.
How much there is to do is completely subjective. I personally enjoy all the the athletic and cultural events Tech offers, the live music scene which is actually great for a city its size, going to Palo Duro Canyon, First Friday Art Trail, etc. And again, Lubbock is not run-down at all west of University.

I'm kinda surprised that you jumped right into it and decided to move there. Not a great place to be married and raise kids.
What is it that makes it bad to raise kids? Is it the incredibly friendly people, the amazing schools, the lack of rat race, or the fact that most of the city is very safe despite your unfounded accusations?


It's to be expected in a desolate town 300 miles out in no where... there's simply no industry to sustain it outside of Tech.
Again, we've gone over this before. Tech is a large part of the economy, but so are the advanced hospitals, agriculture, and being the retail hub for the entire West Texas region.



Yes, I heard about a few home invasions while I was there. I remember some idiot from Lubbock a few months back trying to argue with me about the town "but, but, there's some nice neighborhoods!" Every pro he said about Lubbock, you can find anywhere else.
I think I'm the idiot you're referring to. Is it not true that everything west of the University/Avenue Q area is generally middle/upper class, virtually crime free, and not run-down? If it's not, please tell me and back it up with some sort of evidence because my experience and Google maps says you're very wrong.

I'm interested in hearing your reply.