Young family thinking of moving from Sacramento, CA to Texas

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by BigDGeek

The real estate market in north Texas is white hot and Texas itself is only middle of the pack when it comes to unemployment. People who do what you guys do will struggle anywhere, regardless of the relative health of the job market.

Most of the "photographers" I know here are semi-professionals who supplement their income with photography, or who have a part-time "real job" to pay the bills since photography doesn't cut it. It's an extraordinarily competitive field and the pay is relatively low, even by Texas standards.

I don't know anything about recording or working as a sound engineer but the number of media outlets here relative to the enormous population should give you an idea of how competitive it really is. Dallas doesn't have much of a recording industry to speak of...nor does Austin compared to some other major cities...and in Austin it'll be 10x more competitive. If your husband is going to work installing satellite TV systems, he's going to love the summers here. Not. Peoples' attics and crawlspaces here can be 20-40 degrees over the temperature outside, and it gets over 100F regularly here.

It's very likely that neither of you will make as much here as you do in CA, so you'll have even less to spend on rent. You won't be able to find a 3 bedroom house in a decent area for $1400 a month. Not unless you want to live in the middle of nowhere in a really crappy suburb with crappy-to-mediocre schools and more property crime than you're probably comfortable with.

As for houses, good 3-2s with a nice yard in my neighborhood are going for $215-$230k. We're in an area with older homes with character and excellent schools. Your budget won't stretch to renting a house in my neighborhood. Not a 3-2, anyway.

I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer but you need to hear this. Better to hear the reality of it now, than to be unpleasantly surprised once you get here.

You will struggle here. I'm sorry.

With apologies to BigDGeek, I don't think his post is an accurate representation of all of the Dallas, Fort Worth or Austin areas. I am positive that you can find less expensive but decent areas to live in, but I agree growth is driving prices up.

I own a 1300 SF rental property, 3bdrm, 2 bath, built in 1981, in a good area of Austin, TX (SW) that I currently rent for $1300/month. I probably could rent it for more but the current tenants have been decent so I have not raised it as much as I probably could have. The rental market is white hot, occupancy rates are really high, the last I heard was 96%. That house is currently appraised at $178,000 but I'm sure I could sell it for more with the current market.

[dee936]

Please read this Dallas is a metroplex with over 7 million people the largest metro in the south.
Dallas has over 20 suburbs and most of them or over 100,000 to 800,000 people.
Dallas has alot diversity and have alot of shopping everywhere actually more shopping per cap then any other city in the country a shocker hun.Dallas has alot of affordable places to meet your income.
Dallas just as massive as L.A. because driving around you can get lost and find a place that you can be close to your job because traffic can be crazy in different areas.FunkyTown is more of a west coast city and Dallas is more of a midwest city like Chicago.Dallas has a lot of recreational areas as far as lakes and other activities to relate to home California.Dallas also has tons of malls and tons of skyscrapers like L.A.
Dallas does not feel rural at all it is like the New York of the south.Atlanta is like a big country town but Dallas is a city that making the city feel like a future city if you get that the future city of america.
Northeast is Nyc, west coast is L.A.,midwest is Chicago and the south is Dallas because Dallas doesn't have to be by the coast line to jump and thrive.Dallas have huge lakes around it that look like the ocean and believe or not people in Dallas treat them like beaches with people getting sun tans and water skiing.
Dallas is very similar to L.A. even the down town size seem to be the same.Dallas has a great economy bring in over 100,000 people year and trust me they have reason why and thats because of the affordable living.

[RezNez]

Me and my husband have considered moving from Sacramento to Texas. We basically have everything to lose so what would encourage it you might ask? We don't care for how liberal California is and we were born and raised here. To many restrictions higher taxes and government imposes on your civil rights way to much in California. Smaller house sizes and we homeschool so bad schools are not an issue to us. Not that Sacramento schools are anything to brag about and that's coming from someone who was raised in the heart of silicon Valley where schools and medical field are really good. Just some food for thought if your liberal you might actually miss California way to much. I thought Sacramento was conservative when I moved here compared to Silicon Valley but Texas is way more conservative and a republic state. I think in the long run if you and your significant other decide to go to Texas you could do well there just not in the choosen careers, maybe as side jobs but I would see if your boyfriend could come up with a better paying job in Texas to help support your growing family and hobbies. If you stay at home with your daughter and work on the side doing photography and he finds a good paying job it could really work. Maybe fiber optics, my husbands brother dose this but he has to travel a lot. It pays well though and could really help support the family well in Texas.