any suggestions on a new place to live (Houston, El Paso: private school, contractors)

[BruinsFan77005]

The division I work for in my company relocated from Massachusetts to Houston, TX 3 years ago. Of the 60 people employed, 4, including me, choose to move. 3 years later, 2 moved back to the Boston area, 1 retired to FL and I am in the final round of interviews at a tech firm in Waltham, MA

I moved to Houston after doing little research. Keeping some extra $$$$ was reason enough. Only problem, Texas sucks compared to New England!!

Weather ~ oppressively hot and humid for most of the year…
Parks ~ nobody uses, too hot, too humid, too dangerous…
No public transportation ~ terrible traffic and smog not to mention tolls tolls tolls…
Low taxes ~ awful public schools, expensive private schools, no trash pickup in my subdivision, high fees… city, county, municipal taxes!!! Texas should have NO TAXES AT ALL considering the trillions of $$$$ the energy industry and government contractors here rake in annually!!!
Politics ~ as a Republican, I detest that Evangelicals have control of the party down here… they stifle innovation and progress.
Wages ~ my base w/incentives = <30% of what I made in Massachusetts three years ago…
Texans ~ disingenuous, sicky sweet, over accessorized, over processed, dated a Bunny and a Muffin over two years LALALALA

...any suggestions on a new place to live? Yes, anywhere but Texas!

[NOTAM]

Texas sucks compared to New England, and you are basing that just on your experience in one of our biggest cities, Houston?
and one question-what is a "Muffin" ?

Originally Posted by BruinsFan77005

The division I work for in my company relocated from Massachusetts to Houston, TX 3 years ago. Of the 60 people employed, 4, including me, choose to move. 3 years later, 2 moved back to the Boston area, 1 retired to FL and I am in the final round of interviews at a tech firm in Waltham, MA

I moved to Houston after doing little research. Keeping some extra $$$$ was reason enough. Only problem, Texas sucks compared to New England!!

Weather ~ oppressively hot and humid for most of the year…
Parks ~ nobody uses, too hot, too humid, too dangerous…
No public transportation ~ terrible traffic and smog not to mention tolls tolls tolls…
Low taxes ~ awful public schools, expensive private schools, no trash pickup in my subdivision, high fees… city, county, municipal taxes!!! Texas should have NO TAXES AT ALL considering the trillions of $$$$ the energy industry and government contractors here rake in annually!!!
Politics ~ as a Republican, I detest that Evangelicals have control of the party down here… they stifle innovation and progress.
Wages ~ my base w/incentives = <30% of what I made in Massachusetts three years ago…
Texans ~ disingenuous, sicky sweet, over accessorized, over processed, dated a Bunny and a Muffin over two years LALALALA

...any suggestions on a new place to live? Yes, anywhere but Texas!

[Stephanie P]

Originally Posted by BruinsFan77005

The division I work for in my company relocated from Massachusetts to Houston, TX 3 years ago. Of the 60 people employed, 4, including me, choose to move. 3 years later, 2 moved back to the Boston area, 1 retired to FL and I am in the final round of interviews at a tech firm in Waltham, MA

I moved to Houston after doing little research. Keeping some extra $$$$ was reason enough. Only problem, Texas sucks compared to New England!!

Weather ~ oppressively hot and humid for most of the year…
Parks ~ nobody uses, too hot, too humid, too dangerous…
No public transportation ~ terrible traffic and smog not to mention tolls tolls tolls…
Low taxes ~ awful public schools, expensive private schools, no trash pickup in my subdivision, high fees… city, county, municipal taxes!!! Texas should have NO TAXES AT ALL considering the trillions of $$$$ the energy industry and government contractors here rake in annually!!!
Politics ~ as a Republican, I detest that Evangelicals have control of the party down here… they stifle innovation and progress.
Wages ~ my base w/incentives = <30% of what I made in Massachusetts three years ago…
Texans ~ disingenuous, sicky sweet, over accessorized, over processed, dated a Bunny and a Muffin over two years LALALALA

...any suggestions on a new place to live? Yes, anywhere but Texas!

I agree with NOTAM. You can't base the whole state on one city. I was born and raised in North Texas, lived in West Texas for 3 years and have been outside of Houston for 5 + years. I have to tell you, I REALLY do not like Houston, either. I also might have the same opinion of Texas if this was the only place I had lived in this state.
New England is beautiful and I love Boston! With that said, I hope you can venture out, travel the state some, before you make your final opinion about Texas.
Regardless, I wish you the best of luck! My husband and I are moving to PA this year (just to get away from Houston.)

[tstone]

Bruinsfan,
Being native to Houston, I agree with you on some of those things.

But... Nice labeling of Texans. I noticed your user name, which includes 77005. If that's your zip code, it's no wonder you feel the way you do! That's possibly the most pretentious area in town!!! It also leads me to believe that maybe you didn't get out to explore much.

[atxcio]

The transition from New England to Texas is very difficult, as is evidenced by the earlier post; NE is possibly the most difficult area to be from if you have to relocate. I went through it myself as a child. It took awhile to adopt the mindset of pretty much the rest of the country. There are some very, very ingrained feelings that nothing of value exists outside of the eastern seaboard, and the attitudes are so different. It's difficult to explain, but the simple friendliness of the South, Midwest, even California is annoying to many northeast-coast people. The "newness" of everything (new populations w/o generations of families entrenched there, new buildings, new houses) is unsettling and uncomfortable. There are too many variables compared to back east, where family history, class and social structure are much stronger. Also, in the Northeast it's more about the religion than the church -- if you are Lutheran, you go to the Lutheran church in your area regardless of how nice it is. In the south, it's a bit more about the church -- if you are protestant, you might go to your denomination or you might go to a megachurch or another denomination (if it's a nice church that you like). That's also difficult for people from New England to grasp.

I grew out of the attitude myself; I think for some people, it can take 2 years or more... or may never even happen.

People moving from other areas of the country usually don't have this problem, AFAIK.

[AnFcowboy]

High_plains_retired thanks for the info and ill keep an eye out for those winds and tumble weeds, thats crazy that they get that big im not really sure what a tumble weed is exactly im guessing a bush or a part of one, ive never been west of ohio so its all gonna be new to me

Muhnay i havent ruled out el paso, ill do some reading up on it since you thought it was worth mentioning, the low income jobs dont sound overly appealing tho, what does a house go for down there compared to average pay, up here i make 20/hour (not bad but not great for my area) and id say the average house costs 220k or so

[AnFcowboy]

wow theres a 4th page already....awesome

bruinsfan thanks for the advise im keeping and open mind with everything, but it sounds like where you lived and where i want to move to have some differences in that im trying to avoid major cities, i prefer the small town atmosphere more, you spoke of the heat and humidity, that will definitely be a change from up here but i think it will be a welcomed change for me as id rather be hot and be able to do things outside, than have it be -10 and be stuck indoors. this is just my opinion, and thankyou for taking the time to tell me yours

[AnFcowboy]

atxcio thats good to know, i agree with you on the mindset of most people up here, i will admit i have some of those traits myself but i dont see anything that i dont think i could get over relatively quickly, there will be some adjusting for sure tho. thanks for the input

[AnFcowboy]

Stephanie p thanks for posting im in allentown pa born/raised which is about and hour north of philadelphia, so if you have any questions i might be able to help you out with about certain areas, schools, anything... feel free to ask and ill do my best to help

[catman]

BruinsFan77005: I wouldn't want to live in Houston because of the traffic and hot, humid climate; they are bad enough in Ft Worth. And the property taxes are awful all over Texas. But we have no state income tax. If I had my druthers, I'd live in the Fort Davis-Alpine-Marfa area, the antithesis of Houston, or in New Mexico. I like dry climates and mountains. But I can't make a living out there...I may retire there.

AnFcowboy: Good luck with whatever you choose to do.