Is Texas where I should look? (Houston, Dallas: rental, health insurance, crime)

[slowdawg]

I’ve posted in the Florida and US forums….people told me to look at TX instead of Florida.

I’m 42, divorced, no kids. No real social circle. No degree, have a few issues like Diabetes, ADHD, neuropathy.
Currently work as a parts sorter/Milling operator in an auto parts facility. Have been in security and food delivery as well.

I HATE snow. Can’t stand it. Never want to see it again.
Florida has a great climate and is supposed to be the best place for dating in your 40s. But the people in the Florida forum keep saying it’s getting too expensive and competitive. They were telling me to look at Texas instead due to better job and housing options.

I liked Knoxville, Tn but couldn’t find any decent jobs and everyone there is a very religious Protestant. I’m Catholic and Protestants do NOT like that and won’t date us for that reason alone.
It also gets a bit cold there.

Michigan and it’s weather is causing a lot of physical and emotional discomfort.

I found affordable mobile homes in Florida- but most are in 55 and over communities, which seems discriminatory to me.

I have found a few rooms for rent in Texas that might be affordable.

A few ?s:

I am Caucasian and not bilingual. San Antonio shows great potential, but would my inability to speak Spanish make it harder for me to get a job? How would I be received? Discomfort? Respect? Neutrality? Is bi-racial dating common?

How does Texas health insurance compare to Florida? Which is more favorable to Diabetics?

Which has better social programs-job placement/career counseling assistance, unemployment (in case of layoff), disability (should I ever get to that point).

I am a bit introverted, don’t go out much, politically center-right, basically more concerned with job availability, housing affordability, and no snow.

Is someplace like San Antonio, Waco, maybe Tyler a more reasonable consideration than Florida? I’d probably start out by renting a room. If I have $ left over from selling my house, I might consider, eventually, getting a cheaper mobile home with an extra bedroom so I can get a roommate (goes back to the whole Diabetic thing-not comfortable living alone with a health condition).

[supfromthesite]

Texas sounds like a solid choice.

[Dopo]

I believe that San Antonio has great medical services and that’s the reason a lot of veterans retire there (aside from all the military presence)

[ChristieP]

All of the big cities in Texas have good medical services, with Dallas and Houston being world-class. Tyler is a regional medical hub, and it has a couple of very good hospitals. I would not consider Waco to have very good medical services. I will warn you that Texas did not expand Medicaid under ACA, so if you need that, you may want to look elsewhere. Disability is a federal, not state, program.

Mobile homes in Texas are limited to rural areas, and a few old, grandfathered-in trailer parks inside city limits. I cannot think of any decent-sized Texas town that will allow you to bring in a new mobile home into the city limits. Florida is totally different, and mobile homes are much more common there. The 55+ communities are perfectly legal, and they exist in both states.

You won't have a problem in San Antonio not being bilingual Spanish unless you try to live in a predominantly-Hispanic neighborhood. San Antonio has LOTS of Catholics. Yes, bi-racial dating is common.

[Raider Scott]

You do not have to know Spanish to live in San Antonio.


However, learning some will happen over time, because you will interact with many Latino peoples in that or any other major Texas city.


I would pick San Antonio over Tyler any day.

[BobTex]

Plenty of Catholics in SE Texas (including Houston) due to :

1. Migrations form northern Catholic areas

2. Influences from South Louisiana's French Catholic populations (especially in the Beaumont area). Get up into East Texas and the Catholics are far less numerous and dominated by Baptist populations.

Prices are extraordinarily high right now on housing. Mobile homes have doubled in price in the last 3 years so good luck. Sharing a home with an unknown person is beyond risky and I'd rather die alone than suffer that indignity. Your better off with a Medic Alert pendant or bracelet.

Jobs should be easy to find although high paying or jobs providing medical benefits will be a challenge.

No snow requires staying along or south of the I-10 corridor. DFW/Tyler have had snow this year. And are having sleet and possible ice storms now north of I-20. Some snow will happen almost everywhere in Texas but at DFW latitudes it is a yearly thing and usually multiple times. I-10 corridor it happens more like once every 3-4 years. By IO-10 corridor I mean 100 miles north or south.

Galveston might work for you with a rental unit and the University of Texas Medical Branch hospital there. Medical insurance will be a challenge because of the pre-existing condition. Obama care? Medicaid? UTMB offers indigent care. No MH's on Galveston due to hurricanes. Even along I-10 I'd get a Wind Zone III unit as they are tied down and built stronger. $100K for a decent one minimum. (I just went shopping for my son a MH this past week so he could put it on my property until he builds).

[ChristieP]

ACA made it illegal to deny insurance coverage due to pre-existing conditions, so getting an individual plan is much easier than it used to be. That being said, I feel that it is more cost-effective to stick with employer-based insurance coverage. In the major metro areas, almost all full-time jobs will come with insurance. The employment market in Texas is very competitive, and employers who don't offer good wages and insurance coverage have a had time keeping good employees.

I completely agree about not sharing a home with some unknown person. I'd be too afraid the end result would be a True Crime documentary...

[Trainwreck20]

San Antonio is a solid option for a lot of people, although Houston would work as well - more job options, but more expensive as well.

Renting a room is not bad if you are smart about it. My mom has an elderly friend in Fredericksburg that rented out a room of her house to a middle aged man for quite a while. He basically traded rent for care-giving - he mowed, took care of the fences (it was some acreage), and helped her with computers/cars/etc. She eventually let him put up a trailer on the property. The critical issue, though, is that they had been acquaintances for some time and it was not nearly so risky as it sounded.

OTOH, renting a room is not nearly as cheap as it sounds. I think there may be a possibility of setting up a trailer on someone' land once you get to know someone, but you are then generally talking about more rural areas, perhaps west of SA or SE of Austin. Kerrville has a decent medical center for how rural it is.

As for bi-racial dating - I don't think I would even notice it. Hispanic/Caucasian relationships seems to be about as common as H/H or C/C.

[Arkay66]

I perceive a fair amount of negative impressions here, regarding mobile home communities. Ignore them. There are at least six large (and I do mean large), nicely kept mobile home communities in and around San Antonio proper, and many more around the region. They are not 55+; around here, those tend to be high-priced sticks and bricks communities.

If you want to stay in the manufacturing world, Toyota builds all its sold in the US Tacomas in San Antonio. Seguin, east of San Antonio on I-10, is also a large manufacturing location (and has lots of mobile home communities).

New Braunfels, just north of San Antonio on I-35, has manufacturing jobs, mobile home communities, and excellent medical care.

Lots of folks around this area are doing the owner with a roommate thing. Works out okay for the most part.

Lots of Catholics in the area. Lots. San Antonio started off as a Catholic mission. I haven't noticed any Catholic vs Protestant conflict here in the area -- folks seem to get along fine. Lots of interfaith marriages (my family included).

San Antonio area has thousands of veterans and retired military, so interracial relations are far calmer here than elsewhere. We're mostly in the live and let live mode.

It does get cold here, but that doesn't last long at all. Snow is so rare it's a huge event, but it also melts in a day or so -- you'll not need a snow shovel. Yesterday, it was 82. Cold front moved in last night and it's presently 35 with a bit of much needed moisture falling. We'll be back in the 60s and 70s by Sunday. I think you'll find the winter weather most congenial.

Good luck in your search.

[slowdawg]

Good responses. Balanced, in-depth, and informative. Thanks.