Traveling from state to state searching! (Utopia: ghost)

[supfromthesite]

I like San Antonio because it has a smaller feel than the other big cities. If you are in a nice area you shouldn't have to worry about crime. What is your budget for a townhome?

[flashfearless]

Gated communities make a dent in that property crime issue.

[Bo]

Originally Posted by flashfearless

Gated communities make a dent in that property crime issue.

My gated, North side neighborhood has seen a car stolen from a garage, a carjacking in someone's driveway and no shortage of minor vehicle burglaries. That's why I'm convinced there is no avoiding it. In neighborhoods around mine, hardly a week goes by where someone isn't posting still camera pics on Nextdoor of suspicious people looking into parked cars in the middle of the night.

[huckster]

There is no excaping crime. This is sure, as sure as will people misspell words there will be crime everyplace.
If there is a way to get around doing honest work and a quick easy way to make money without work, people will find it. Whether there is a drug habit or not.
A gated neighborhood merely makes the process more difficult. This is not to say a gated neighborhood will be as secured as Fort Knox, Kentucky of course, but a gate and a wall makes any crime more difficult to execute. Communities with a guard at the gate will be even more secure.
The underbelly of society in San Antonio, criminals, plan crimes, it is not a random process. The walls are not bulletproof and can be easily scaled by a person in good physical condition. If there is a gate, it slows the process down. Criminals looking for an opportunity in the neighborhood are slowed- obstructed by walls and gate.
It does become a more random process then; to commit a property crime. Seedy people can have access
through relatives or some other process to get inside, it is merely a little more difficult.
It depends on how desperate they are and if they are risk takers or not.

Originally Posted by Bo

My gated, North side neighborhood has seen a car stolen from a garage, a carjacking in someone's driveway and no shortage of minor vehicle burglaries. That's why I'm convinced there is no avoiding it. In neighborhoods around mine, hardly a week goes by where someone isn't posting still camera pics on Nextdoor of suspicious people looking into parked cars in the middle of the night.

[StealthRabbit]

while SA may be a good choice in TX.... for starting a new law career, TX will have significant barriers (good-ole-boy-club). We keep property there, but challenges exist (businesses, lawyers, contractors, schools...)

For another Income tax free state that is virtually 'barrier free' (social / cultural / financial) Washington State ... a climate similar to England +/-... AND... FREE FT college instead of High School (Excellent for moving to a new area during HS) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_Start Can't say enough good for RS program since my kids paid their own way through college. They had excellent experiences and were DONE with college and well employed by age 20 (undergrad).


Will need to check for your law specialties...
Some excellent areas of WA are: (Choose your favorite climate, there are MANY)
Vancouver / Camas (Next door to sales tax free Portland (PDX is excellent airport within 15 minutes))
Olympia
Bellingham / Ferndale
Wenatchee
Walla Walla
Spokane Valley (adjacent to ID)

If you go to WA,,, you will THANK me in Aug - Oct!!!! (Texas is murder on HEAT!!!)
water? plenty of water in WA!!! (not so in much of USA)

Hint: while traveling the world with our homeschoolers... we stayed in Home School Guest Homes (Free to $20 / night including meals!) It is GREAT, staying with locals gets you the STRAIGHT scoop! and is very fun and educational for the family.

Thousands of excellent stays during last 30 yrs. (usually farms by choice)

Our homeschool group, and several of my favorites are not listed here, but you will find / get referred to them when you start staying!
https://wikitravel.org/en/Hospitality_exchange (Never used couchsurfing)

[resonator]

Washington is not bad, east of the mountains. Electricity is almost free due to the hydro and no homeless and their lefty enablers like the more coastal cities. And lots and lots of local berries.

[sdpnoy]

Great info. Thanks all.

[Azure110]

If someone steals a car from inside an garage in an gated community, they must really want it!

That being said, it goes to show that gated communities are mostly a false sense of security. The pizza guy, UPS guy, FEDEX guy, etc...probably all know the codes.

[prim8]

The main idea of the gate, at least in my community, isn't so much to keep bad people out, it is to force them to stop at the gates to get good video of at least their vehicle, if not them.
Not that it matters, it seems like property crime is extremely low priority here.
It also makes it slightly more difficult to get in, which might make it a slightly less desirable target.

[Pancho-Villa]

People "piggyback" all the time. They don't stop. Yes, you're right, property crime is plentiful and a low priority.