Moving to Rio Grande Valley (Houston, Dallas: insurance, crime rate, credit)

[DWKENT]

living in Weslaco is boring, safer than most places I've been. Fishing is just a short drive and the traffic is certainly bearable east of McAllen. Once 83 Expressway is completed it will be one heck of a nice road. I am learning to speak Spanish and consider that to be an advantage, not a road block. If you have sinus problems the humidity in the area will be most welcome. Air quality is better than average and the people are friendly. So come on down.

[j96g]

i want to leave the valley for the weather, not much else. When i was young, i wanted to leave for other reasons. no radio stations, no tv stations, too much spanish. but the valley has really grown since then. Example, about 10 years ago, the valley had only CBS,NBC, ABC. One country station, top 40, Variety, and pretty much everyting else was spanish, but now we Have a rock, two country, oldies, old school motown, top 40, adult contemp. The Dodge Arena in Mcallen has good concerts and attracts big names, Lonestar, akon, ciara, tracy lawrence, and a boxing event was recently televised on HBO. We have a new convention center, mall, movie theatre. I'm choosing to leave the valley only because it's too hot and humid in Summer (APRIL-OCTOBER) and want the 4 seasons. if you choose to live down here, get ready for high 70s or low 80s at night in summer and consistent high 90s in the day. I would choose Mcallen pop 120,000 if too big pick Mission 45,000.

[scottyc]

conanS is right, if you are looking for trouble you can find it anywhere. The drivers are crazy, but I have never had a problem. I am white 60 years old do not speak spanish and get along just fine. If you golf it is a bargain price to play compared to other places. In your everyday life the people you meet speak english

[conanS]

Usually the only time they "don't" speak English is in the wrkplace when they don't wanna work. At least in my experience.

[GausJAMS]

We've lived here for 3 years (Brownsville) and absolutely hate it! Don't get me wrong, there are nice people around, but as a whole experience, you'll do much better most any where else. Pay can't be that great for IT down here and I bet Houston or Austin would offer better competitive pay. McAllen/ Mission does seem a bit nicer, but I'd absolutely not move here unless you had to or had family/friends close by. If you are bilingual, you'll do great, but prefessionally speaking, not many people perform by excellent standards down here. The standard of living down here has definitely been compromised and isn't up to par, compared to other great TX cities - those of us who aren't from the Valley, but are from Tx always say that this is not Texas, it's more like Mexico. If you want to experience TX, get your self to San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Houston - even the out skirts of all these cities are up and coming.

[j96g]

Gaus Jams i have to disagree. 5 or 10 years ago I would have said what you did. That big gap from corpus christi to the valley by the king ranch seemed to separate us as far as being more like mexico than a texas city. one example, there is a church that gives service to spanish and english in every city, but there are 8 services for spanish and one for english as corpus has 11 english and 10 spanish. that showed the strong spanish ties, along with the other examples i typed in my earlier post, but now the mcallen/mission area would be better to choose to live here. plus if you like hot weather the valley is for you about 5 times average a year a cold front stops just south of San Antonio or Corpus Christi, leaving the valley a little warmer than the rest of texas.

[shannon247]

I have lived in 6 diffrent states and visited a total of 38 states in my lifetime. I have lived in Ma, NH, SC, NC, GA, TX. The crime that people were talking about. I don't see it. It's just like everywhere else. You have your good spots and your bad spots. You know where you don't belong. As far as not really having adequate jobs for IT professionals, You check the colleges. Start with Pan Am. You can check out this link http://www.utpa.edu/humanresources/Emopp.htm#listings be sure that you check both staff and faculty jobs. Yes, it is hot here and you will need to dress for the occassion. This is good news if you like golf, because you can play all year round. In addition, if you would like more positive information about The Rio Grande Vally, you can visit www.rgvpride.com

[NOTAM]

once again.......i agree........this here aint Texas. it may be GEOGRAPHICALLY but not culturally, not by the least!
they laugh at me for listening to country music (i listen to Texas country, not Nashville country)
they look at me funny when i say the word "kinfolk" or "kin"
they laugh at my sayings and my "accent" (what accent? it's a TEXAS accent if anything!...ok maybe slightly diluted after 3 years in Georgia but nothing strange to the ear for a real Texan!
this is NOT Texas.
i have a friend who lives in Castroville and he says that kids there are "Texan" and wear Wranglers and Carhartts, active in FFA, and listen to country.........so even places near San Antonio still retain some "Texas country lifestyle"....but apparently 2 hours south of SA and down to the border, you lose it ALL. you are NO LONGER IN TEXAS

Originally Posted by GausJAMS

We've lived here for 3 years (Brownsville) and absolutely hate it! Don't get me wrong, there are nice people around, but as a whole experience, you'll do much better most any where else. Pay can't be that great for IT down here and I bet Houston or Austin would offer better competitive pay. McAllen/ Mission does seem a bit nicer, but I'd absolutely not move here unless you had to or had family/friends close by. If you are bilingual, you'll do great, but prefessionally speaking, not many people perform by excellent standards down here. The standard of living down here has definitely been compromised and isn't up to par, compared to other great TX cities - those of us who aren't from the Valley, but are from Tx always say that this is not Texas, it's more like Mexico. If you want to experience TX, get your self to San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Houston - even the out skirts of all these cities are up and coming.

[i_catch_tree_bass]

I will vouch for the fact that the Valley is different culturally than the rest of the state, but after spending a few months in Omaha on business, I've learned to temper my comments. Omaha is nothing like Texas. The Valley is different than the rest of Texas LOL.

Not trying to tick off people on either side of this debate, but I had no problem with my time in the Valley while also noting that much of the cultural makeup of the rest of Texas isn't quite the same there. I heard "you guys" (instead of "yall") as much in McAllen as I did in Omaha, and I couldn't find a good chicken fried steak, and BBQ was hard to come by

Having said all that, different does not always mean worse (or better). I liked the weather in the Valley, the proximity to Mexico and to South Padre, the gas station breakfast tacos and I liked seeing the differences in culture down there.

I did get slightly beaten down by the Mexican food snobs there trying to look down upon me for my Tex-Mex preferences. One of the most curious things I encountered was a general disdain for burritos, which I found odd, because they have burritos, they just call them tacos

[NOTAM]

yeah the cafeteria at the hospital i work at did not understand me when i asked for a breakfast burrito.........i finally found out it's called breakfast taco.
i always thought taco was hard shell!