Where should we consider in Texas? (Houston, Dallas: sales, apartment, house insurance)

[CampingMom]

Good morning everyone,

We are 3 years away from leaving the Vampire State-also known as NY. I have no reason to stay as both my parents are now deceased. They moved here in the 50's from NC/VA for their jobs. All the rest are still there or the mid-West.

We are struggling here greatly-the Hubby lost his job in 08 and hasn't been able to find a job that's more than 25hrs a week at $10hr. He used to be a concrete dispatcher-but construction here has died. I am a school bus dispatcher and have my CDL B-so I figure I can still go either way for work or with my degree in hospitality and tourism.

All our kids will be either grown or in college at that point. So school isn't a issue-the one still in high school has been looking in the south for schools that have the art teacher program and one she can play soccer at since she's a goal keeper. She's been looking at D3 schools.

So give me a idea of a area that's good for a couple who will be just 50-51 when they pick up their bags. I do have friends in League City, Southlake, and Harlingen, TX. My Hubby and I like the outdoors, we've been camping since we dated back as teens. He hunts and fishes-both fresh and salt water. I'd like to avoid areas that are big in snow-I shattered my ankle on black ice and I walk with a limp so I have a real aversion to it now.

Also looking to get ideas about what cost of living is on average. Such as car insurance, house, driver's license, etc. What the outlook is there for jobs. Do they tax you on personal property like NC does? I know I can ask my friends too-but want to get a broader knowledge about the state we are looking to call home. I just want a nice simple life that's not the go-go-go here in NY-nor the liberal brew-ha-ha. I just want us to live to our old age happy again.
Thanks.

[Willsson]

Texas Travel Guide < Discover the seven regions of Texas, so by time you get here, you'll know where you are. Send off for your own FREE copy

Texas Government < info on what to do

Work in Texas < search all jobs, use keywords

For a good area, check a google map. Locate Interstate 10, 20, 35, and 45. They will form a bit of a triangle. This is the good area and maybe extending a hundred miles or so outside that outline. This is not meant to exclude any area in Texas not within that triangle. Such as Lubbock, Tyler, Midland/Odessa, Beaumont, Gulf Coast. There's so much to choose from that one just can't really be too specific.

[CampingMom]

Originally Posted by tofurkey

Texas Travel Guide < Discover the seven regions of Texas, so by time you get here, you'll know where you are. Send off for your own FREE copy

Texas Government < info on what to do

Work in Texas < search all jobs, use keywords

For a good area, check a google map. Locate Interstate 10, 20, 35, and 45. They will form a bit of a triangle. This is the good area and maybe extending a hundred miles or so outside that outline. This is not meant to exclude any area in Texas not within that triangle. Such as Lubbock, Tyler, Midland/Odessa, Beaumont, Gulf Coast. There's so much to choose from that one just can't really be too specific.

Thanks for all that! We'll have 3 years to visit and pin point which areas we do like that's for sure. And it's nice to see that my CDL won't cost me what it does here in NYS-a $180 for my drivers license.

Lots to see and do that's for sure! Sometimes I wish when Texaco wanted my Dad to transfer there back in the early 80's they'd have gone. I'd have known where to have moved to.

[losttechnician]

As much as I would love to invite you to check out the Panhandle (Amarillo) or South Plains (Lubbock) areas of Texas, I am afraid the weather gives us ice a few times a year.

As for jobs though, there is plenty of construction going on in Amarillo and Lubbock and for someone who works hard, it would not be too difficult to land a job.

Keep your attitude too! That attitude goes a LONG way in Texas towards happiness.

[High_Plains_Retired]

The western side of Texas has much to offer as far as outdoors activities. The one thing that I enjoyed when I first came to the Texas south high plains and eastern New Mexico many years ago was that New Mexico and its mountains and natural beauty was just a hour or two away. When I was much younger, I hunted elk in northern New Mexico and deer in the southeastern part of the State. We have camped all over the State. I just can't walk the steep hills, or stand the cold, anymore.

According to many Texans, and my perspective of currently having homes in both States, house insurance in Texas seems to be higher than New Mexico but I can't give you any actual facts and figures. Also, you should know that a very small handful of Texas poorer counties assess a county property tax on POVs but these are so few that most Texans think that such a property tax became extinct in the 1950s. Property and sales taxes in general in Texas tend to be high and I base my observation of property taxes on my current ownership of a home in Albuquerque, two in Texas and having had a home in Maryland. Texas property tax rates can vary widely between the 254 counties and sometimes even between taxing districts within a county. Before buying any Texas home, check the taxes on that specific property and make sure the appraisal matches comparable properties. In somewhat of a balance to high sales and property taxes though, Texas does not have an income tax.

The High Plains of west Texas and eastern New Mexico tend to be politically conservative. During my working career, my family has lived in several heavily populated areas of the country that were largely liberal. We returned to the Texas High Plains for retirement for the same reasons you seemingly are seeking to leave New York.

I once had a Texas CDL but that was too many years ago for my experiences to have any value to your own. I do know that CDLs are in high demand in and around the Lubbock area.

Many of us in Texas simply seek a simple life. However before you decide on the Texas High Plains, heed LostTechnician's warning. Brutal and icy winters seem to have almost disappeared from the South High Plains but I am sure they have not disappeared forever.

If you do decide to come to Texas, best of luck and be safe.

[Cathy4017]

High_Plains:

Homeowner's insurance in NM is quite a bit less in my experience. I left Midland in 2007, having sold a small townhouse of about 1300 sq ft. My homeowner's insurance was (and still is) with State Farm.

Alamogordo, new construction, about 1425 sq ft, homeowner's was 50% less than what it had been in Midland, in a house I had lived in for 25 years.

Farmington, 2007 house, 1875 sq ft, homeowner's still less than in Midland, but only a few dollars higher than Alamogordo.

It's one of the reasons I am struggling to decide whether I want to come home--and pay higher homeowner's insurance, vastly higher property taxes and far higher utility (gas and electric) rates.

It makes no financial sense at all for me to come back to Texas. I want this homesickness to GO AWAY.

[BobTex]

If DH wants construction type work he should check the oil and chemical refineries along the Gulf Coast from Orange to Corpus Christie. With the booming petro chemical discoveries most of these refineries have expansion projects. For camping East Texas is hard to beat with all their water resources and multiple camping areas. Fishing along the coast can be very productive thus addictive. I can see Texas being a good match for y'all! The only thing I see wrong is y'all waiting 3 years to come down.

[TX75007]

Originally Posted by BobTex

If DH wants construction type work he should check the oil and chemical refineries along the Gulf Coast from Orange to Corpus Christie. With the booming petro chemical discoveries most of these refineries have expansion projects. For camping East Texas is hard to beat with all their water resources and multiple camping areas. Fishing along the coast can be very productive thus addictive. I can see Texas being a good match for y'all! The only thing I see wrong is y'all waiting 3 years to come down.

The Houston area is your best bet given your skill set and desire for outdoor stuff. The fishing and boating off the Gulf Coast is year round. And you are close to the Piney woods and the Davis Mountains are doable.

This project by itself will create 100K jobs in the next ten years. I'd find out where the plant will be built then relocate within 20 min of it.

Dow Chemical board authorises capital for Texas propylene project

FB Page for the project.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dow-C...71718286234622

One related thought is to find out what you can do now to upgrade your skill set given the job skills in demand in the Gulf Coast area.

[Qazulight]

Originally Posted by CampingMom

Good morning everyone,

We are 3 years away from leaving the Vampire State-also known as NY. I have no reason to stay as both my parents are now deceased. They moved here in the 50's from NC/VA for their jobs. All the rest are still there or the mid-West.

We are struggling here greatly-the Hubby lost his job in 08 and hasn't been able to find a job that's more than 25hrs a week at $10hr. He used to be a concrete dispatcher-but construction here has died. I am a school bus dispatcher and have my CDL B-so I figure I can still go either way for work or with my degree in hospitality and tourism.

All our kids will be either grown or in college at that point. So school isn't a issue-the one still in high school has been looking in the south for schools that have the art teacher program and one she can play soccer at since she's a goal keeper. She's been looking at D3 schools.

So give me a idea of a area that's good for a couple who will be just 50-51 when they pick up their bags. I do have friends in League City, Southlake, and Harlingen, TX. My Hubby and I like the outdoors, we've been camping since we dated back as teens. He hunts and fishes-both fresh and salt water. I'd like to avoid areas that are big in snow-I shattered my ankle on black ice and I walk with a limp so I have a real aversion to it now.

Also looking to get ideas about what cost of living is on average. Such as car insurance, house, driver's license, etc. What the outlook is there for jobs. Do they tax you on personal property like NC does? I know I can ask my friends too-but want to get a broader knowledge about the state we are looking to call home. I just want a nice simple life that's not the go-go-go here in NY-nor the liberal brew-ha-ha. I just want us to live to our old age happy again.
Thanks.

I have lived around Texas a while. In South East Texas, Houston, down the road a bit in Friendswood, and now in Deep East Texas.

From what I can tell, Houston is a low cost city. There may be some places down in the valley the beat it for costs, I.E. Brownsville or Del Rio, but for the industrialized part of the state it is pretty inexpensive. Of course this is anecdotal and some years out of date, but when my wife and kids were living in Orange and I was spending my weeks in Houston, I found that not only were the houses less expensive, (New construction) the Whataburgers were less expensive also.

This last year my sister retired and moved from Midland back to the east side of Texas, she looked at moving to Nacogdoches in Deep East Texas and decided to move to Kingwood. The new houses in Kingwood were less expensive than the new houses in Nacogdoches.

My son just moved from Lake Charles to Lufkin (Deep East Texas) he is paying a little more for an apartment in Lufkin than he would pay for about the same quality and security in the Houston metro area. On top of that gas is cheaper there than here, food is cheaper there than here, and the pay is better there than here.

While I personally will not return to the Gulf Coast, Houston has a lot going for it when one considers that one must make a living.

Having said all that, the Keystone XL portion of the pipeline is being built now. It may or may not be a union job, if it is the wages will be outstanding and the work will be safe. Three years from now, who knows.

On the other hand........

The hill country can be enchanting and when I drive from East Texas down to Houston I feel sorry for all the poor folks that have to live there, feel the same way about Dallas, and Beaumont too.

Finally, if your husband can find work, and this may be doable, and it may not, Tyler is one of the nicest small towns around.

Cheers
Qazulight

[jdrtx]

Wherever you find a job, that is where you will live.