Perfect Town on or near Good Sailing Lake (Dallas, Austin: low crime, homes)

[kidseven]

Hi all. Continuing my nationwide search for the best spot for my family. Tired of the cool, wet Pacific Northwest and looking for the some sunshine.

Our libertarian nature and owning our own business make Texas look pretty attractive generally. Since my business is sailing related, I'd visited the Corpus and Rockport area, but nothing seemed like quite the right fit. In particular I'm having a hard time finding a place that strikes the right balance between low crime and quaint, and having good schools and some members of the "creative class," entrepreneurial energy, etc.

From asking around on this forum and elsewhere it sounds like most of the things we want (besides the water) are found inland in Texas. And between (what I perceive to be) hurricane flooding risk, nuclear power plants, chemical plants, and relatively high crime rates, the coastal towns I investigated didn't seem like they'd work for us.

We're also looking at the North Carolina Coast, but that's an even bigger move and probably a bigger adjustment in terms of weather, insects and critters, culture, etc. We're still planning a trip to the Carolina Coast, but I got to wondering of there might be a lake region inside Texas that could meet our needs.

Dream scenario:

1. Safe with decent schools
2. Less than 50,000 population
3. Near active sailing area
4. Decent family homes for less than $250k
5. We're not religious, fwiw.
6. Prefer touristy type towns with quaint downtowns, old movie theater, good restaurants, culture, etc.
7. Within 3 hours of major airport.
8. Bonus if there's a college or some other intellectually stimulating institution nearby. \
9. Reasonably clean environment not next door to any huge chemical plants, smoke stacks etc.
10. Reasonably friendly business climate and good for personal freedoms (I assume all of Texas qualifies here).

I realize it's a tough list but would love to hear any suggestions we should investigate.

Thanks!

[Qazulight]

Originally Posted by kidseven

Hi all. Continuing my nationwide search for the best spot for my family. Tired of the cool, wet Pacific Northwest and looking for the some sunshine.

Our libertarian nature and owning our own business make Texas look pretty attractive generally. Since my business is sailing related, I'd visited the Corpus and Rockport area, but nothing seemed like quite the right fit. In particular I'm having a hard time finding a place that strikes the right balance between low crime and quaint, and having good schools and some members of the "creative class," entrepreneurial energy, etc.

From asking around on this forum and elsewhere it sounds like most of the things we want (besides the water) are found inland in Texas. And between (what I perceive to be) hurricane flooding risk, nuclear power plants, chemical plants, and relatively high crime rates, the coastal towns I investigated didn't seem like they'd work for us.

We're also looking at the North Carolina Coast, but that's an even bigger move and probably a bigger adjustment in terms of weather, insects and critters, culture, etc. We're still planning a trip to the Carolina Coast, but I got to wondering of there might be a lake region inside Texas that could meet our needs.

Dream scenario:

1. Safe with decent schools
2. Less than 50,000 population
3. Near active sailing area
4. Decent family homes for less than $250k
5. We're not religious, fwiw.
6. Prefer touristy type towns with quaint downtowns, old movie theater, good restaurants, culture, etc.
7. Within 3 hours of major airport.
8. Bonus if there's a college or some other intellectually stimulating institution nearby. \
9. Reasonably clean environment not next door to any huge chemical plants, smoke stacks etc.
10. Reasonably friendly business climate and good for personal freedoms (I assume all of Texas qualifies here).

I realize it's a tough list but would love to hear any suggestions we should investigate.

Thanks!

Well if it starts raining, Austin might work for you. Also, lake Palestine outside of Tyler has some sailing on it. Avoid Sam Rayburn and Toledo Bend. They do not have a sailing culture.

Sailing Texas is in Lakeway I believe, on Lake Travis. It is not a big lake, and last time I was there it was drown proof. (No water)

Cheers
Qazulight

[ChristieP]

Rockwall has all of that!

[ETex2]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

Rockwall has all of that!

Yes it sure does. Lake Ray Hubbard is an extremely popular lake for sailing. We even had an Olympic champion from here, and the lake was considered for the location of sailing competition for Dallas' Olympic bid a few years ago.