Low Rent, Good QoL, Close to Shore? (Houston, Dallas: fit in, spring break)

[anyuser19]

Hi All,

I'm living in Md. atm (Wash DC suburbs) and am committed to moving somewhere less expensive, especially with regard to rent/real estate. I've thought of moving to Texas since my teens.

Now that a move is imminent I've been hoping to find someplace close to the ocean. I'll be renting an apartment by myself and my first priority has to be keeping the rent as low as possible. Low crime and a reasonable degree of local economic vitality would be next in importance. On any other point I'm flexible.

It's always been a dream to live somewhere close to the beach, but of course such locations always carry a premium price tag. I'm hoping that with the amount of shoreline in Texas and the generally affordable real estate state-wide that I might find such a place in Texas at a price I could afford.

I'd appreciate any help you could give me in my search. Thanks to everyone.

Brad

[jfre81]

Houston area is not an expensive place to live - beaches are not like California's though, but neither is the expense.

[FarNorthDallas]

Texas beaches are not that great, but you might look at Galveston or Corpus Christie.

[buluga]

Brad,

Unless you are into dirty beaches, closed minded city council members and a high population of hispanics with ten kids who live totally off of welfare and drive brand new cars, I definitely would not recommend moving here. If you are looking for a progressive city-STAY AWAY FROM CORPUS. Need I say more!

[NOTAM]

totally agree. what buluga says might not be pc, but it's the god honest truth.
after 3 years stuck in Georgia, i was so excited to come back to what i thought was Texas....and how i talked to my friends in Georgia, "oh you have to come visit me, you will see how great Texas is!"..now i wont extend any invitations until i am back north of San Antonio...........(moving to Central Texas/Hill Country area e.g. Lampasas)...originally from North Texas (between Wichita Falls and Ft Worth)

Originally Posted by buluga

Brad,

Unless you are into dirty beaches, closed minded city council members and a high population of hispanics with ten kids who live totally off of welfare and drive brand new cars, I definitely would not recommend moving here. If you are looking for a progressive city-STAY AWAY FROM CORPUS. Need I say more!

[ddm2k]

Originally Posted by FarNorthDallas

Texas beaches are not that great, but you might look at Galveston or Corpus Christie.

I second that - I have no hard data, except a friend of mine moved to Galveston years ago as a career musician and has not returned to NC. Says he LOVES it.

[SugLandDAd]

How is it you plan on making a living? that makes a difference as to where to live.

[jackalope48]

Corpus has a pretty good supply of new apartments in good neighborhoods at affordable prices. We didn't really hit the national recession and have been in and out of a shale boom for about 7 years. Economically we have the 4th largest tonnage port in the country, a military base, and tourism as the core industries. For stuff like healthcare and education we are the regional center. Industry has been diversifying away from oil refineries because we have so much natural gas production steel and other energy intensive industries have been locating here.

There is 200 miles of public beach, in fact Texas doesn't allow private beaches and requires landowners to provide public access. Because of that Texas has a poor reputation for high end beachfront homes and resorts(they want private beaches) but it's paradise for middle income people and rents and housing costs on the beach or near the beach tend to be lower. Because of our wind we are a world class sailing and kite boarding location. Overall our beaches are nicer than Houston area but our water is not as clear as further south. Basically the Mississippi river puts out a huge amount of muddy water that makes the water look less tropical. It isn't "dirty" like many people claim it's just soil washed out from rivers that haven't been shut off from flowing by dams.

Beaches there are a ton of options. Everything from the National Seashore(North Padre Island) which is a 75 mile long National park that's so isolated you don't get cell reception to Mcgee beach which is Downtown and Port Aransas which is a more traditional Spring Break beach. There are city, county, state, and federal beaches each with their own vibe and bay(calm water) and Gulf(real waves) beaches. Sand on all of them is very fine quartz sand(not rock) which tends to be tan in color rather than white. It's not Carribean or Hawaii white coral sand with crystal blue water but our price points aren't that either.

Crime is a mixed bag. While the economy has gotten much better over the last 20 years we still have mid sized middle income city crime problems just like anywhere else. Like pretty much anywhere else most violent crime is either domestic family stuff or people involved with drugs or alcohol. Stay out of those issues and your morning drive to work is the most dangerous thing you will do all day.

Since so much of our employment is plants and the base and not Downtown office building type stuff we have very low traffic congestion(people are going different places at different times) and tend to be a top ten city on low commute times and hours stuck in traffic.

We are a Hispanic majority city. If that's a problem then we aren't the place for you. Both LULAC and the GI Forum were started here and we were a city that was a birthplace for the Hispanic Civil Rights movement. We peacefully integrated for the most part and earlier than most of the rest of the South in public accommodations in the 1950's through city council action and in schools by lawsuit in the late 60's and early 70's. We generally aren't still sorting through all that b.s. A big protest march here is 50-100 people. There is a large Hispanic middle and upper class. People used to implicit segregation like is found in other areas(including northern cities) tend to not get it. You may notice comments in this thread from folks like that. We also are pretty easy going so if high intensity east coast wheeling and dealing is your default way of living life you won't fit in.

Feel free to come for a visit! Before I got married I lived at Bay Vista Downtown which was a block from the beach and five minutes from work and the baseball stadium, it was a lot of fun. 1000 square feet in anew building with a water view was about $1200 a month. Maybe a few hundred more now but an $800-$900 single near the beach in a nice place isn't outside the norm.

[C24L]

Originally Posted by ddm2k

I second that - I have no hard data, except a friend of mine moved to Galveston years ago as a career musician and has not returned to NC. Says he LOVES it.

ya the beaches here in the Great State of Texas aint the best.

[Mark Senior]

Originally Posted by jackalope48

Corpus has a pretty good supply of new apartments in good neighborhoods at affordable prices. We didn't really hit the national recession and have been in and out of a shale boom for about 7 years. Economically we have the 4th largest tonnage port in the country, a military base, and tourism as the core industries. For stuff like healthcare and education we are the regional center. Industry has been diversifying away from oil refineries because we have so much natural gas production steel and other energy intensive industries have been locating here.

There is 200 miles of public beach, in fact Texas doesn't allow private beaches and requires landowners to provide public access. Because of that Texas has a poor reputation for high end beachfront homes and resorts(they want private beaches) but it's paradise for middle income people and rents and housing costs on the beach or near the beach tend to be lower. Because of our wind we are a world class sailing and kite boarding location. Overall our beaches are nicer than Houston area but our water is not as clear as further south. Basically the Mississippi river puts out a huge amount of muddy water that makes the water look less tropical. It isn't "dirty" like many people claim it's just soil washed out from rivers that haven't been shut off from flowing by dams.

Beaches there are a ton of options. Everything from the National Seashore(North Padre Island) which is a 75 mile long National park that's so isolated you don't get cell reception to Mcgee beach which is Downtown and Port Aransas which is a more traditional Spring Break beach. There are city, county, state, and federal beaches each with their own vibe and bay(calm water) and Gulf(real waves) beaches. Sand on all of them is very fine quartz sand(not rock) which tends to be tan in color rather than white. It's not Carribean or Hawaii white coral sand with crystal blue water but our price points aren't that either.

Crime is a mixed bag. While the economy has gotten much better over the last 20 years we still have mid sized middle income city crime problems just like anywhere else. Like pretty much anywhere else most violent crime is either domestic family stuff or people involved with drugs or alcohol. Stay out of those issues and your morning drive to work is the most dangerous thing you will do all day.

Since so much of our employment is plants and the base and not Downtown office building type stuff we have very low traffic congestion(people are going different places at different times) and tend to be a top ten city on low commute times and hours stuck in traffic.

We are a Hispanic majority city. If that's a problem then we aren't the place for you. Both LULAC and the GI Forum were started here and we were a city that was a birthplace for the Hispanic Civil Rights movement. We peacefully integrated for the most part and earlier than most of the rest of the South in public accommodations in the 1950's through city council action and in schools by lawsuit in the late 60's and early 70's. We generally aren't still sorting through all that b.s. A big protest march here is 50-100 people. There is a large Hispanic middle and upper class. People used to implicit segregation like is found in other areas(including northern cities) tend to not get it. You may notice comments in this thread from folks like that. We also are pretty easy going so if high intensity east coast wheeling and dealing is your default way of living life you won't fit in.

Feel free to come for a visit! Before I got married I lived at Bay Vista Downtown which was a block from the beach and five minutes from work and the baseball stadium, it was a lot of fun. 1000 square feet in anew building with a water view was about $1200 a month. Maybe a few hundred more now but an $800-$900 single near the beach in a nice place isn't outside the norm.

Good response, covers most everything, through, for the majority of us.