Low Taxes, Low COL in a Texas Metro area? (Houston: renting, low crime)

[havequestions]

I want to say thanks in advance to all those helpful posters I see on city-data. I've already gotten some useful information. I also want to thank in advance all those willing to help. I do realize that some of these issues are covered in other posts, but I'm hoping to get more insights, so I appreciate all for "bearing with me" on this.

I am self-employed and am currently considering moving from my current location. I'm a mobile professional so I travel a lot, making it fairly unimportant where exactly I live, provided I am close to air transportation. Part of my reason for seeking a new place to live is that I'd like to reduce my tax liabilities. Texas, which lacks personal and corporate income tax, seems like an obvious choice. The two downsides to Texas tax-wise seem to be the franchise tax and the high property taxes. The former, however, won't affect me as I'm not that big, and I have some questions about the latter.

Unfortunately, I know little about cities in Texas except what someone passing through town would see. I've traveled in the past to Dallas area, Austin, and San Antonio, and all three looked like nice places to live from a casual viewpoint.

I do feel I need to be in a metropolitan area. I need a major airport close at hand for work. I also, for personal reasons, would like to have a sizable South Asian/Indian-American community in the area in which I live. Don't get me wrong, I have no desire to self-segregate, but I hope all reading this will understand that have access to that community will definitely be of help in getting established in a new area.

So, I'm figuring that those requirements right there are going to limit me to Dallas Metroplex, Houston area, Austin, or San Antonio. Trouble is, that's still a lot of ground to cover, one which I'm very unfamiliar.

I'm not all that concerned about climate, or schools, the issues that many other posters probably consider important. I am concerned about cost of living, property taxes. I'm probably look at suburban areas by default due to likely costs, but I'm open to a more urban area as well, provided it's a good area and, of course, safe. My experience, however, is that good urban areas in major cities tend to be expensive.

As for property taxes, I am looking at renting initially, so I won't be paying those directly at first, but ultimately I will want to buy a place to live in. I don't want property taxes to eat up any tax savings that I would have from the lack of income tax. The property tax issue does loom large, then, and the information on property taxing districts, school taxing districts, MUDs, etc is a bit on the byzantine side, if you don't mind me saying so. For example I have read on this board that Stafford, Texas (near Houston) may have lower than average property taxes (for Texas), but it's unclear as to how much lower, and if it's an "apples-to-apples" comparison, or if Stafford is a worthwhile place to live.

What I'm hoping posters can help is to find a suburb/neighborhood that has the following:

- Lots of well-educated, professional, career-oriented people in proximity.
- Low property taxes and other expenses.
- Low cost of living expenses including housing costs.
- Low crime
- within an easy drive of a major airport
- Close to a concentration of South Asian / Indian-Americans.
- Conveniently located (i.e, not located at the very outer edge of the metropolitan area), though this is not a deal-breaker.

[MakinNewFriends]

Questions,
I'm sort of partial to Georgetown, which is just north of Round Rock, has a population of around 50,000 (10,000 of those live in Sun City), and is a 'carefully' growing area. Property taxes in Georgetown are lower than any of our neighboring cities, partially because Georgetown owns our own Electric service which subsidizes some of the tax burden. (The Outlet Mall buys the electric from Georgetown, thank you very much). You can be at ABIA in 35-40 minutes by using the 130 toll road, north Austin in 20-25 minutes, and be downtown Austin in a half an hour.

Your desire for a "Close to a concentration of South Asian / Indian-Americans" neighborhood may need to be addressed by visiting known retail establishments where you can ask that question. I do know that our community has grown in diversity as well as size. There are some fantastic medical facilities being built just at the southern most part of Georgetown, that might help you as well.

If you would like more info about Georgetown and cannot get up here for a visit, let me know and maybe I can get some info sent to you from the Chamber of Commerce.

Meanwhile, I'm out Makin New Friends

[havequestions]

Good post, Makin' New Friends. This is one reason why I posted on this forum because I would probably have never heard of Georgetown before. I'll definitely do some research into that area.

Any other ideas will be greatly appreciated!

[Cowboys fan in Houston]

Originally Posted by havequestions

What I'm hoping posters can help is to find a suburb/neighborhood that has the following:

- Lots of well-educated, professional, career-oriented people in proximity.
- Low property taxes and other expenses.
- Low cost of living expenses including housing costs.
- Low crime
- within an easy drive of a major airport
- Close to a concentration of South Asian / Indian-Americans.
- Conveniently located (i.e, not located at the very outer edge of the metropolitan area), though this is not a deal-breaker.

Hello havequestions! I will try and help you answer those questions as much as I can.

I both Dallas and Houston you can find lots of inexpensive housing, and a major airport with nonstop flights to almost every corner of the globe. Though Texas does have high property taxes, they have no state tax.

The crime in both cities seems concentrated in certain areas (South and East Dallas, South and East Houston).

As far a South Asian population both Dallas and Houston have an almost identical number of people from India and Houston has a few more Pakistanis. However the largest concentration of people from South Asia in one area in Texas is Richardson which is a suburb of Dallas. This might have something to do with the Telecom corridor that runs through there.

I hope that helps.

[compSciGuy]

Coppell may be a fit for you near Dallas. Definitely too close to the airport for me.

On a side note, your requests for "Lots of well-educated, professional, career-oriented people in proximity." and "Low crime" runs counter to your request for "Low cost of living expenses including housing costs.".

[AK123]

Originally Posted by havequestions

What I'm hoping posters can help is to find a suburb/neighborhood that has the following:
- Lots of well-educated, professional, career-oriented people in proximity.
- Low property taxes and other expenses.
- Low cost of living expenses including housing costs.
- Low crime
- within an easy drive of a major airport
- Close to a concentration of South Asian / Indian-Americans.
- Conveniently located (i.e, not located at the very outer edge of the metropolitan area), though this is not a deal-breaker.

Take a serious look at Stafford, TX in the Houston metro. I think it would fit all of your criteria. Well-educated (home to several companies including Texas Instruments), large Indian/South Asian population (home to this large temple), low cost of living (the city of Stafford is one of the few with no city property tax), and closer to Houston than many of the other suburbs.

[love roses]

Austin has the highest cost of living of any city in Texas. I'd recommend Houston.

[havequestions]

Thanks for the help, everyone. To respond to the comments here:

I do realize that it's a bit unrealistic to say that you want an area of low COL filled with highly qualified people. But, on the other hand, one of the reasons I'm interested in Texas generally is the relatively low COL and taxes. So, I guess I'm trying to look for that "happy medium" to the extent that it exists.

I'll definitely check out both Stafford, TX, near Houston, and Richardson and Coppell, near Dallas, based on your helpful suggestions. As I said, I had already read that Stafford had low property taxes, and its interesting to know of a temple in that area.

Any more ideas would be welcome.

Based on information gleaned from city-data, I've now also seen that Stafford appears to be an island of relatively low property taxes in the Houston area. Is there an equivalent in the Dallas area as well?

[imaterry78259]

San Antonio comes to mind

[Mr. Solis]

I dont think property taxes will be so different in any areas. Not enough to say I wouldnt live there, or I would live there just because of the % of property tax.

A metropolitan area, with Asian/India people. Dallas or Houston.

Dallas is nicer in my opinion, not as hot or smelly from all the oil refineries. Dallas has cooler winters. Both have airports. Both have many suburbs to choose from.