move to san antonio (Houston, Dallas: houses, neighborhood, buy)

[colleenoshea]

Me and my husband are moving to San Antonio from Orange County, California. We are so pleased with the housing there and plan to move into an area "The Dominion".

What can we expect?

What are the primary differences between Southern California and San Antonio?

We are very interested in health care. How does the health care compare to Southern California?

Is there any prejudice against "non-Texans"?

What can we expect as far as weather?

Is the air quality good? I am a cancer survivor and get very ill when exposed to mold. Is the climate generally healthy?

My husband is a golfer. How many months of the year is the weather good enough to play golf?

Is there good airport connections to the rest of the country and internationally?

Sorry for the abundance of questions, but I am very curious about the differences between the area we are leaving and the one we are going to.
Any help you can provide would be very much appreciated.

Thanks.

[Steel Man]

Originally Posted by colleenoshea

Me and my husband are moving to San Antonio from Orange County, California. We are so pleased with the housing there and plan to move into an area "The Dominion".

What can we expect?

What are the primary differences between Southern California and San Antonio?

We are very interested in health care. How does the health care compare to Southern California?

Is there any prejudice against "non-Texans"?

What can we expect as far as weather?

Is the air quality good? I am a cancer survivor and get very ill when exposed to mold. Is the climate generally healthy?

My husband is a golfer. How many months of the year is the weather good enough to play golf?

Is there good airport connections to the rest of the country and internationally?

Sorry for the abundance of questions, but I am very curious about the differences between the area we are leaving and the one we are going to.
Any help you can provide would be very much appreciated.

Thanks.

Welcome to Texas and San Antonio!

1. The Dominion is a nice place to live (Country singer George Strait and SA Spurs basketball legend David Robinson live there). BTW, Twinkletoes just moved to the Dominion from Southern California, so you might send him a PM.
San Antonio is a big city that doesn't know it (city is spread out with two loops, Loop 410 is 53 miles around SA and the outer loop (Loop 1604) is 100 miles around SA. People here are more diverse and get along well. Some people say SA is conservative, but I would say it leans more to moderate.
2. I'm originally from Southern California (well...34 years ago...parents still live in La Verne though). Traffic is better, though can get somewhat congested during the usual to work/from work times. Prices are definitely cheaper. Gas is around $2.10 now and electric rates here are the cheapest in Texas for big cities. Houses are definitely cheaper. No big mountains, but we do have the nice Hill Country next door.
3. Health care is pretty good here. We have the medical center and many hospitals with more new ones coming.
4. Prejudice against Californians? I haven't seen any. This city likes to celebrates its cultures (Texas Folk Life Festival) and has other yearly celebrations.
5. Weather: Hot summers (upper 90's) and cool winters (60's). Humidity can be high sometimes, but nothing like east of us in Houston or the south.
6. Air Quality: Generally good. No smog, like S. California. Being a large city we do have some hazy days during summer (some of the haze comes from Southern Mexico). Mold is light here, but some people have allergy problems from cedars in Hill Country.
7. Lots of places to golf here. You can golf here year-round as there is no snow. BTW: The PGA should be building a large course on north side in the future.
8. Airport connections are improving with more direct flights being added all the time. Normally, you will go through Dallas airport or other hubs. The city is expanding the airport at this time.

Hope this helps. Go through the San Antonio thread for lots of good info.

[210]

Originally Posted by colleenoshea

Me and my husband are moving to San Antonio from Orange County, California. We are so pleased with the housing there and plan to move into an area "The Dominion".

What can we expect?

A great city. A great new life.

What are the primary differences between Southern California and San Antonio?

I couldn't answer that for you as I have no idea how life is in SoCal.

We are very interested in health care. How does the health care compare to Southern California?

Health care is good here. SA is home to the second largest medical center is Texas as well features smaller medical centers (Stone Oak, Southeast, and soo Westover Hills).

Is there any prejudice against "non-Texans"?

Nope.

What can we expect as far as weather?

Weather is fantastic during the fall and winter months anbd early in to the spring, then summer hits and some people don't like Texas summers. Mid to high 90's during the summer.

Is the air quality good? I am a cancer survivor and get very ill when exposed to mold. Is the climate generally healthy?

Air quailty is good.

My husband is a golfer. How many months of the year is the weather good enough to play golf?

Year round. Plenty of places to play and as mentioned before the PGA is building two 18 hole courses on the far north/north east side. It wll be a PGA Village and add to SA's already fantastic golf scene.

Is there good airport connections to the rest of the country and internationally?

The SA International Airport is currently going through a massive upgrade. They're building new parking structures and two new terminals. Direct flys to cities are always being added, and we have more direct flights than at any other time in the history of the airport.

Sorry for the abundance of questions, but I am very curious about the differences between the area we are leaving and the one we are going to.
Any help you can provide would be very much appreciated.

Thanks.

My answers are in the quote.

[neddy]

Hello there, The Dominion is right down the road (highway from me). Love the area around here butthe traffic is getting worse. Currenty we have one new large mall in the area (about 5 mins from the Dominion that have Neimans,Norstroms and about a 100 other well know and liked stores) across the street from it they are building another mall (the Rim, and that has Bass Pro shop, Imax, Target,JC Penny and Best Buy with loads more shops to come. On the side of the street (the street is the intersection of Loop 1604 and I10 but the way) is University of Texas-San Antonio about 25000 people at that school most don't live on campus but drive. Then across the hwy from that is going to be another mall. Lots of constuction in the area and not enough roads as Twinkletoes is finding out. She said the traffic reminder her of LA . It is not always as bad as it was the morning of her first trip out but it is trying over on this side of town sometimes. There is lots of mold here in SA. My son is allergic to lots of stuff and mold is about the only thing he is not. My hubby however is. If you want I can give you my allergist phone number and you can call someone that might be able to give you real numbers on that but it is present almost all reay round. Golfing - all year. Dad has semi-retired and has a house on the 9th fairway up at Riverhill in Kerriville in the HIll country and he golfs all year round. Family tradition that he started is to go golfing on Thanksgiving bright and early and on Xmas also after the kids open presents if he is in town and not in CO. (Thats where we go to see snow!) He like the Dominion course, loves playing at Tapatio Springs Golf course. It's a little gem not to far from yall. The airport has gotten better at offering flights but like 210 said lots of building going on over there but no to bad. Lots of direct flights to US cities and into Mexico others international flights connect in Dallas, Hou or some hub most of the time. Can not compare the areas cause I only went to SoCal as a kid and don't remember that much.

GL

[Twinkle Toes]

Hi Colleen,

I'm Twinkletoes, but you can call me Twinkle! Seriously though, if you want to PM me, please feel free as I would love to hear from a fellow Californian! Don't worry Texans - I love you too!!!

I just moved here from Palm Desert, I've been here for a little over two weeks now. I grew up in OC (Newport Beach) and went to college and worked in LA county. We moved to Palm Desert in 2000 after tiring of the hustle and bustle of LA/OC and then we just decided on a totally new adventure called Texas!

We are in the Dominion and have just had a new Toll Brothers home built. Where are you in the Dominion? So far I love it here except there is still so much construction going on around me and most of the homeowners have not moved in yet. At certain times of the day I get stuck in traffic and then I start thinking to myself "Holy crap! What have I done!!!" But I am just realizing through a process of trial and error that I need to steer clear of certain places, roads, freeways at certain times of the day or I'm going to be "trapped" in traffic.

Do you have any kids? I have two sons, a 12 year old who is here with me now, and a 21 year old who lives in Palm Desert, CA. I would love for my older son to move out here and buy a home, but he is making a lot of money in CA and doesn't want to give that up. I talk to him every couple of days and I miss him, but I haven't gotten to the point yet where I miss him so much that it's unbearable. My younger son needs to make some new friends because he tells me everyday that he misses his CA friends and he wants to go "home". I tell him we need to give this some time and if after a sufficient period of time none of us like it here then we can consider going back to CA, but not to the desert because I never really liked it there and it was hotter than hell.

Right now I have no plans to go back to work, but I do have plans to get into the Lifetime Fitness which is at 281 and the 1604 Loop as soon as things are settled down here. I am a competitive ballroom dancer and since I haven't been working out on a regular basis because of the move, I am rapidly becoming out of shape! I can't have that!!!

Well, anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it! Please PM me and stay in touch! We Californians gotta hang together!

Welcome to San Antonio and the Dominion!

[colleenoshea]

Thank you all very much for your information!!

It is so uncertain when you relocate to a new area. I know what I like and don't like about Southern California but I am uncertain about San Antonio.

The information provided by all of you helps to ease my mind a great deal.

One final question, I have an 18 year old daughter. What are the best private colleges or universities (both public and private) in the area?

Thanks again.

Colleen

[neddy]

Trinity University, Our lady of the Lake University,University of the Incarnate Word, St. Mary's University are the major private ones, University of Texas at San Antonio(UTSA) is the major public one. UTSA is right down the street if you are looking at living in the Dominion. If you just want her in the area (2 hour drive or less) There area alot of schools, Texas State in San AMarcos, University of Texas in Austin, St. Edwards in Austin, Texas Luthern College in Seguin, Schriener college in Kerriville. Some schools are large, some are small. San antonio also has Alamo Community College District with 4 campuses.

Good Luck

[210]

ACCD actually has 5 campuses. SAC, St. Philips, Palo Alto, Northwest Vista, and Northeast Lakeview.

As for private university, imo, UIW would be my top choice.

http://www.uiw.edu/

[210]

FYI,

About.com is about to add a San Antonio section and the person in charge of it is a former So-Cal resident now residing in San Antonio, she moved here about 5 years ago. Once the site is up make sure to check it out, I know her and she loves San Antonio and will give some great information.

[hello13685]

Hello there,

I also moved from SoCal over two years ago. Natives here will never say even one negative thing about their state or city therein (whereas those in other states would). It's because state pride is very personal here. You can see my more negative assessment under the thread "Still hoping for SA."

As for your general concerns, SA is just fine. Good medical services, cost of living, great weather, very friendly people, no prejudice against non-Texans that I can tell. Many newcomers are moving into new developments. If you are looking for a Costco house in a Costco neighborhood, with Costco plastic ivy decorating the top of your kitchen cabinets, the SA aesthetic will be perfect. There are no hip people here at all. They are in Austin. Good luck!!