Left Jersey for Texas (Lakewood, Princeton: new home, buy, subdivision)

[66nexus]

Originally Posted by New Jersey Texan

You mentioned missing the shore. Thats the only thing Ireally miss out here in Texas. My home in Monmouth County was only about 15 min. from Long Branch boardwalk. I used to have a great time riding my bike and jogging on the boardwalk. If you wanted to take a little bit longer of a ride say 25 min. you could be in Belmar on a much better boardwalk.
Hey, but thats the tradeoff. In Jersey today its about 56 degrees and probabley cloudly. In Tarrant county where I am now it was about 75 plus at lunch time and gorgeous outside like summer. You hardly ever get a perfect day like that in Jersey even in the middle of summer. The amount of sunny days you get in Texas seems to be almost year around.

You never seen a 75 degree sunny day in Jerze and you've been here 28 years? Are you sure? Jerze summers to me are EXTREMELY sunny.
I was stationed at Ft. Bliss for 6 months and the heat was crazy. The winter was actually nice(like Spring time) but the summer was dreary and terribly hot.

[ccjus1]

Good for you. I'm planning on moving to NJ from NYC within the next year or so (but only temporarily). I don't plan to stay there for more than 10 years (as I hear the raises on the taxes are ridiculous). Anyhow I know that it would be a better way of life for my family.

I'll be following right in your footsteps, after Jersey I'll be in the south maybe Florida or Georgia. After I sell (my future house in NJ), I'm sure I'll be able to buy 2 houses in the south. LOL!!!

[kowpot]

I would just like to inform you that New Jersey is not part of New Enland.

[Diane Giam]

Originally Posted by New Jersey Texan

PattyNJ
No tornado rooms that I've seen. I think there more prevelant in Kansas and Oklahoma.
Yea,house prices are alot more resonable then Jersey. A median price three bedroom two bath house is about $160,000. And its all brick on the outside. In Jersey you would tack on alot more money for the brick exterior.

You sound like me with Tennessee when I say all brick on outside unlike NJ. There are houses that price also in Tn but I wanted to live in a close comutable area for my husband, and he wanted a larger home, but we paid $30,000 less than the one we sold in Manalapan, but taxes less than half.
No tornado rooms here also, and not even a watch this year. It's just to hilly in Nashville/Brentwood Area for that.

[tbone65]

I did a few years in Frisco, TX. I say "did" as in doing jail time.
Yes, you can buy a nice home for an affordable price. The problem is when you try to sell it. There are so many new homes that you will have to compete with large builders offering incentives etc..
Also, there is nothing in the DFW area with the exception of shopping and restaurants. If shopping and eating is all you like to do, then Dallas is the place for you!!!
Also, get ready to be hammered with the Bible. Christians, as they like to call themselves, are everywhere. IMHO, they are, for the most part, totally full of sh8t.
With regard to topography, it is quite simple in Dallas, FLAT!! You can drive down the highway and see every cookie cutter subdivision for miles. Just think rooftops everywhere. When I built my home, I paid thousands just to put in a few 4" diameter live oak trees
Dallas, in general is a shallow consumer driven dump.
Folks like to mock and complain about NJ. After living in both TX and NC, all I can say is that you get what you pay for. In the case of leaving NJ, the grass is certainly not greener on the other side.
I am not commenting on Austin, Houston or San Antonio, since I do not have a lot of experience.

[tailoma]

Well, I moved from NJ in '76 as a young adult. If you're looking for the perfect place to live, you are on the wrong planet. I loved coming to Texas then and I love being here now.

I can't compare the difference between the two states then and now but coming with the right attitude and being open minded sure helps.

All the large cities (Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, ) everyone speaks of, are large because of the large number of people living there. That means major highways and lots of cars. Unless you're in the urban city itself, there is very little mass transportation. Texans love their vehicles.

I live in Bedford, between Fort Worth and Dallas. Major highway expansions are overdue but getting underway due to the influx of people. Look for more toll roads in the future.

You'll either be in a suburb that means a commute to one of the big cities or living in the city. The commute from the Mid-Cities to Dallas is long. Can't imagine why anyone would drive either way from Fort Worth to Dallas. There is the TRE train. You'd have to drive to the station but many of you probably did that in NJ also. We take it into Dallas for some occasions but now, there's too much in Fort Worth to enjoy, why bother with Dallas. I love the more laid back attitude in Fort Worth.

There's no income tax, most of you have sold your home at a nice profit in NJ and can afford to now really live.

I don't miss the cold winters, or digging the car out. It can get pretty hot. Some towns in NJ would flood easily whenever it rained (neighboring Cranford still comes to mind). There are good things and bad things about any place you might live.

I've heard of tornados but have never seen one. We had some bad hurricanes in NJ also.

Hope you can enjoy your stay here. If not, I'll wish you well as you move on.

[tbone65]

Actually, I went to TX with much anticipation.
Unfortunately, I found that it fell well short of even my most modest expectations.
I am certainly not alone. For the most part, my neighbors were all from outside of TX. With one exception, all said they would get out if the opportunity presents itself.
It is just my opinion, but all what I said in my post above is fact.

[Cybersimple]

Originally Posted by New Jersey Texan

I left Eatontown,N.J. for Keller,Tx Aug.2005. Just packed up with my wife two kids four dogs and drove down. This was after walking away from a job that I had been at for 28 yrs. We sold our house for twice what we bought it for six years earlier. Now we live in a brand new house with no mortage and no real winter.

I left Eatontown, NJ in 1976 for military and stationed in Ft. Monmouth (CECOM) in 1987. I am now retired and settled in El Paso, TX. I love NJ and my relatives in NJ (Ocean TWP, Colts Neck, and Long Branch) want me to come back but I am in the same boat along with many folks, just can't afford to live there. Of course, there are exception to those earning mega bucks. I started a thread "What's so good about New Jersey?" to get some opinions and information. I found a few posts very interesting, however I can sacrifice what NJ can offer for my comfortable lifestyle.
I am not promoting El Paso, TX but here is some info.
- RE prices are low, a reasonable 2000 sqft home at 150K and low property tax.
- A beautiful 350 days sunshine weather (dry and almost no snow).
- Snow and Skiing is about 2 hours away in NM.
I spent one week vacation in NJ and returned recently and enjoyed every minute of it. Since I live in El Paso, TX, my budget allows me to take vacation at any given time.

[BrianG]

Originally Posted by ccjus1

Good for you. I'm planning on moving to NJ from NYC within the next year or so (but only temporarily). I don't plan to stay there for more than 10 years (as I hear the raises on the taxes are ridiculous). Anyhow I know that it would be a better way of life for my family.

I'll be following right in your footsteps, after Jersey I'll be in the south maybe Florida or Georgia. After I sell (my future house in NJ), I'm sure I'll be able to buy 2 houses in the south. LOL!!!

As a former brooklynite i would say come on over
We will use that 10 yr window to try to change your mind about leaving us!

[dgz]

No, although we do get get tornados every year in north Texas, most people do not have tornado rooms. When there's a tornado warning, there will be a special weather alert on TV. If the tornado gets really close to where you live, then in many neighborhoods (like mine in Plano), a siren will go off. And usually, you are supposed to go to the most interior room in your house, which is often a bathroom or a closet.

I moved out here from Philadelphia in 1990 (I was born in and grew up in southern NJ), and in the time that I've lived here, fortunately I've had to act only twice on tornado information. And please note... I did not SEE any of the these tornados. Once, when a tornado was reported to be in my close area on the TV news, I took cover in the interior bathroom of the house when I heard the sirens go off. Then more recently, when a tornado was spotted near Irving where I work, and everyone was evacuated to a large lower interior room in the building. In both cases, the tornado did not go through the area.

Having said this, every once in a while, I do run into someone who has a tornado room. I had a neighbor across the street who had a major concern about tornados, and he had a room build into the ground that he could access through his house. But this is still unusual.

As far as home prices go... yes, they are much lower out here; so are taxes. I live in central Plano, which is known for having good schools, lots of shopping, close proximity to the city, etc. The homes in my neighborhood are older ranch homes. These houses average between 1800-2200 sq ft (considered small here in TX) and quite a few have in-ground pools (which is common here). They sell on average for about $140k and the taxes here are about $2500/year (although there are some fixer-up houses closer to $120k). For about $160k, you can get about 2500 sq ft, and then keep going up. But these are ex-urb prices. Real estate within the city of Dallas, just 5-10 minutes south has increased dramatically. Some of the more desired areas of Dallas, like around White Rock Lake, the M streets, Uptown, SMU area, etc. those have become expensive (relatively speaking).

My family often asks if I'll move back east again, but when I see the home prices in NJ/PA/DE/MD, I just can't imagine being able to afford it (and I have a good salary). And my sister's taxes in Cherry Hill seem almost double mine in Plano.

And yes, Texas has lots of lakes, Most of them except for Caddo Lake are man-made (i.e., created as reservoirs). No diners unfortunately (and yes, I miss that! :-) ) Depending on which city you go to in TX, each city is in a different eco-region. Dallas is in a prairies/lakes area, Houston is coastal, Austin is in hill country, and then as you head out toward El Paso, everything gets very dry. The one downside here is that unlike in NJ, where you can drive for 1-4 hours and you're in NY or DC, or you have the feeling of being in a different place... In Texas, if you drive a few hours, you're still in TX.

One other comment... restaurants in the Dallas area are fantastic.

Originally Posted by patty nj

Any regrets? I was watching house hunters and Austin texas episode came on, I was very surprised at the price of homes, very reasonable. 1 question, Do most people in Texas have tornado rooms? I'm under the impression there are many bad and frequent tornado's there. Aside from Mother Nature, I did see some beautiful lakes in Texas. And, overall it looked pretty nice. Any diners?