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TX, and its economy is the envy of the country. They must be doing something right besides land, and infrastructure. Not sure why you left a miracle state for a dying one but good luck
They certainly aren’t the envy of the country when they lose power for several days for not properly maintaining their electrical infrastructure.
TX, and its economy is the envy of the country. They must be doing something right besides land, and infrastructure. Not sure why you left a miracle state for a dying one but good luck
You missed low cost and warm weather. That’s the secret sauce. Combine that with a few cities big enough to have an urban core to attract younger people. That’s it. I mean, the economy is growing because it’s poaching from other states. There’s relatively little innovation coming out of TX. When I lived there, Rick Perry would go on his national tour begging companies to relocate there. It was frankly embarrassing. And I actually enjoyed living there, still have lots of friends there. But it’s not some utopia.
And why did we leave? We initially more than doubled our salary by moving to NYC. And relative to the not quite 2x cost of living delta ended up coming out ahead. Some industries benefit by being in NYC. Other people find TX to be more advantageous. There’s no one size fits all solution. But there’s no denying that there are more high paying jobs in NYC then the entire state of TX combined.
And if you like suburbs (I don’t), NJ absolutely blows TX out of the water. In TX they are cookie cutter tract homes plopped onto the prairie. No hills. No trees. No transit. Highland Park, TX being the exception, it’s gorgeous (and as expensive as anywhere in NJ).
You missed low cost and warm weather. That’s the secret sauce. Combine that with a few cities big enough to have an urban core to attract younger people. That’s it. I mean, the economy is growing because it’s poaching from other states. There’s relatively little innovation coming out of TX. When I lived there, Rick Perry would go on his national tour begging companies to relocate there. It was frankly embarrassing. And I actually enjoyed living there, still have lots of friends there. But it’s not some utopia.
And why did we leave? We initially more than doubled our salary by moving to NYC. And relative to the not quite 2x cost of living delta ended up coming out ahead. Some industries benefit by being in NYC. Other people find TX to be more advantageous. There’s no one size fits all solution. But there’s no denying that there are more high paying jobs in NYC then the entire state of TX combined.
And if you like suburbs (I don’t), NJ absolutely blows TX out of the water. In TX they are cookie cutter tract homes plopped onto the prairie. No hills. No trees. No transit. Highland Park, TX being the exception, it’s gorgeous (and as expensive as anywhere in NJ).
I have relatives in Sugarland. It was quite a nice suburb in my opinion.
You think real estate in NJ has only appreciated 50% in the last 20 years?
I see neighborhoods around Toms River that are only 10% to 20% more than 2001. There is a huge gap between price changes in commuting distance of NYC/Philly versus not. The biggest problem is the huge per taxpayer debt burden relative to other states and cities which cause taxes to be much higher, especially if you earn above median. $50k versus other states in the $10k to $20k range.
NJ does have great location and smart people though, so I would not say the situation is dire. But I would not expect it to grow at the rates that other regions will.
I've lived in both states, 10 years in the DFW area and now approaching 10 years here. Have you been to Texas? NJ will never grow like Texas, nor is it even reasonable to believe that it ever could. Consider:
- NJ is the most densely populated state in the nation and sandwiched between two large cities. It has limited buildable land within close proximity to them (well, at least NYC) and has many geographic quirks, swamps, flood zones etc. Texas is not densely populated, is flat as a pancake, and nearly every square inch is buildable.
- NJ was largely founded in the 1700's with towns set up forever ago; Texas was founded in the 1800's, but nobody really lived there until the 1900's. Why is this important? Because NJ has antiquated infrastructure and dysfunctional towns that don't need to be nearly as large, but we're long past the point of amicably "breaking them up". In Texas, the major cities just annex land and expand that way. Even the suburbs are 15 miles wide with 300K people (Plano, Frisco, Arlington, etc.)
- Texas is significantly cheaper than NJ, and it's infrastructure is much newer. People want to move to less expensive places, and so do the companies that employ them. The cost to NJ of being adjacent to the high-paying job markets of NYC is steep, and the aging infrastructure is costly to maintain (doubly so because we are so crowded work sometimes needs to occur at odd hours). Yeah, we could be more efficient, but there are REAL reason why taxes in crowded, older states are higher. It all becomes a costly feedback loop.
- People like warmer weather. It is what it is.
People will continue spreading out to less densely populated and cheaper areas, as has been the trend in this country for 300 years. It doesn't mean that we can't have a steady population and a steady-state economy without the "perpetual growth" that props up many of our economic institutions like the house of cards that they are. But we will not see double-digit growth unless the west *literally* catches on fire and the south becomes too hot to inhabit.
I was watching an engineering fail show a few months ago that centered on the flooding in Houston that happened because they built on land that was supposed to be used for flooding overflow. They decided to release dams during Harvey without warning resident downstream who woke up to 4+ feet of water after being dry from the initial storm.
I couldn't remember what town it was, I thought Dallas, which also floods, so does Fort Worth and many other towns. Austin is in 'flash flood alley.
Texas Is Tornado Capital. Texas ranks 11th among the 50 states in the density of tornadoes, with an average of 5.7 tornadoes per 10,000 square miles per year
You think real estate in NJ has only appreciated 50% in the last 20 years?
Yes. Maybe being from Hudson county you feel differently... but when you average out the entire state its only 50%/20 years.
When you look at higher end homes ($1.5M+ its even less. Possibly around 30%). Obviously you have areas in NJ where its even less than 50%
50% for 20 years is nothing. In the Bay Area of CA... in most areas they have seen 400% to 500% gain in these 20 years. That is the difference between a successful state, and a failing state.
*Note if you purchased anywhere in NJ between 2005-2008 you probably would not have broken even until post 'rona. Thats how pathetic we are.
I know reality hurts.
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