The state of Texas is huge, where to start? (Houston: crime rates, home)

[occdn]

My wife and I are looking for a fresh start in a new state. We both are tired of the California way of life, and have a few criteria set on where we'd like to move. Here they are:

1) The pace of life needs to be a bit slower than California. IE We would love to meet friendly people that aren't so rude and self absorbed.
2) Weather has to be nice almost year round. I was born in Canada so I am sick of rain... absolutely sick of it. My wife was born and raised in the Los Angeles area of CA, so she is used to the good weather here.
3) Home prices need to be reasonable. We make 100k a year and can't come close to affording a home here.
4) Need to be within 3 hours of the ocean. We don't go as often as we should, living 10 minutes from the water. But on a day we want to see the ocean, I'd like to be able to day trip.
5) Good schools. We plan on having kids and I'd like to make sure our children aren't part of a degrading school system.

Those are our 5 top requirements. We've looked at the DFW area (Arlington specifically) but the crime rates seem slightly higher there than in smaller communities.

Where would you suggest we start looking?

[Canine*Castle]

Living in the DFW area, you will have a very long drive to the Gulf. If you were to live three hours from the Gulf, you may experience some very humid weather even worse than the DFW area.

[awecelot]

Try Kerrville.

[Lakewooder]

You are three hours from most beaches in the USA, Mexico or the Carribean in Dallas. We can fly there faster than you can drive to the beach in California.

* my sis lives in SoCal.

** I always find cheap fares to CA,FL, etc. usually $300 or less. Many times you can get weekend Netsaaver fares for much less.

[Jezer]

Given what you've said I'd say check out the 'Hill Country' of which Kerrville is a part.

It is the most beautiful area.

Check this out.

Texas Travel - Hill Country

[NOTAM]

Kerrville or Georgetown or Castroville

[Topaz]

Because you mentioned friendly people, I think maybe you should explore the suburbs of Houston. Houston has a great welcoming spirit and is not pretentious at all. There are wonderful master planned communities offering a terrific family friendly lifestyle and great schools. Places like Katy (especially Cinco Ranch), The Woodlands, Cypress, Kingwood, Sugar Land, etc. Houston is more lush and green than most people realize (check out the photo threads here on CD). The beaches here aren't like California beaches but they are nice enough for a day trip with better ones at South Padre Island six hours away. Some people will tell you the weather is awful but I don't find the heat and humidity to be as oppressive as some others do. You could visit in August and see what you think. I'm from California and I'm very happy here.

[Canine*Castle]

Originally Posted by Lakewooder

You are three hours from most beaches in the USA, Mexico or the Carribean in Dallas. We can fly there faster than you can drive to the beach in California.

* my sis lives in SoCal.

** I always find cheap fares to CA,FL, etc. usually $300 or less. Many times you can get weekend Netsaaver fares for much less.

Huh? Did I miss something? I thought the OP meant driving to a beach. How does one fly to a beach from Dallas in less time than it takes him in CA to get to the water which he said was 10 minutes? It would be a mighty long day trip to fly or drive to the gulf. I doubt fighting the airport would be enjoyable for anyone.

[j96g]

You could also try the Sharyland/Mcallen area in the Rio Grande Valley. they have a good school system though med high in Mercedes would probably be the best down here. The beach is 1 hour and a half away. You said you hate rain and it hardly rains here. Houston/Pasadena gets 25-30 more inches of rain than we do. they get average 47.84 inches a year, Next Dallas gets 37.05, San antonio gets 37.92, Kerville gets 32.58, Mcallen gets 22.61 inches a year. In my opinion, Kerville looks like a good place overall also because of its location near central texAS, Mcallen may have cheaper housing. the only bad thing in moving here is you isolate yourself from the rest of Texas, it takes about 3-3.5 hours to get to San antonio and 2-2.5 hours to get to Corpus Christi, so you are usually stuck here in the Valley unless you plan to take a day trip elsewhere.

[ShaneSA]

Did I mention San Antonio? It meets all the criteria.