Vermonter looking at San Juan (near McAllen) Texas...need feedback! (Houston: sales, apartment)

[perfectsaralee]

Hello everyone! Well I'm as 30 y/o White Female who have lived in Vermont my whole life. The reason why I mention that I'm White is because I have read much of the Forum and that seems to be an issue at times. I have a 30 y/o husband who is 100% Mexican and has lived here in the States for over 10 years. I know some spanish and he is bi-lingual. We also have a 7 month old daughter.

His mother owns a small house in San Juan, Texas but only stays there once a year. We are looking to move down there into her house temp. but I do have some reservations about the area. The reason for the move...

I'm a Back Wood's Vermont Girl who grew up on a farm and have always lived in a town with with no street lights, red lights and only a small gas station with the basics. We make a trip to the city (2 hours away) once a week for groceries and the like. (Partly because of the price of gas $3.09 gal) We have been at our full time jobs for over 10 years and have decided that living in this beautiful state is not all that it is cracked up to be. Renting a one bedroom apartment costs us $800.00 a month and that includes nothing. Heating oil is $3.19 a gal and keeping the thermostat at min of 68we still spend $2000.00 in heating. Property taxes have tripled last year.
So saving $100 a month is tough to say the least. It has never really bothered me until I realized that we are in a rut and there is no chance in hell that we are going to be homeowners in Vermont. We make good money right now, don't have any debt but what we make, we pay all to living expenses. And the closer you get to the city, the higher rent goes; $3000.00 a month for a 2 bedroom to be exact.

Our thinking is to live at him mom's for a bit and save up some money to purchase our own place. No, I'm not looking for a hand out, but the opp. is there and I would like to do it before my child gets much older.

So I guess what I'd like to know is a little about that neck of Texas. I doesn't bother me to drive 30+ mins to Wal-Mart or the fact that McDonalds is the only eating joint in town ( I cook at home anyway) I want to know about the crime, gangs, are there really tons of uninsured motorist on the streets? Weather? What kind of jobs are in the area? How welcoming is the area to a white girl with a white baby and a mexican? I have read some forums that stated whites are a minority. I can handle my own, but I want to know about physicial danger.

ANY help from anyone would be greatful. I have done a ton of research on the web, but I'd like to get some first hand views of the place from the folks who live it day to day. Please be honest and direct. I'm a country girl. I have big shoulders and can handle the truth. Thank you so very much...

[RGV]

Hey perfect$:

San Juan's an interesting choice. If you want a better return if you resell your home you might want to try McAllen, Mission or south Edinburg:


take a look at some of these links.


http://rgv.7.forumer.com/


http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/


http://www.valleymorningstar.com/


http://www.themonitor.com/


And here's a RGV site with many local links:

http://valleychamber.com/links.shtml


This particular site will lead to all the chamber of commerces in the RGV:


http://www.valleychamber.com/listings.php?mid=25&subid=35 (broken link)

Good luck.

[perfectsaralee]

Thank you for the quick reply. However, we don't own the house down there; we would like to move into his moms house (which is empty) and save up some cash to purchase our own place. The links are helpful, but I would like to know a little bit more about the area.

[RGV]

Well San Juan is considered the poor area of that area of the Valley.

The more affluent, and area with more going on as far as restaurants, businesses, shopping entertainment is McAllen, Mission, southern Edinburg.

You'll find all the shopping you need there. McAllen's La Plaza Mall is on par with Memorial City Mall here in Houston, and in fact there is more sales per square foot in La Plaza Mall than any other mall in the nation.

There is a building boom in retail going on in those three cities as well. The medical field/industry is exploding. With a couple of new hospitals going up in Edinburg right now. They just finish expanding hospitals in McAllen and Mission.

As for crime, there's not any more crime down there than in any other area of Texas. There are some notorious gangs in the San Juan area, though such as the tri-city bombers, I think they're called. That's why I thought San Juan was an interesting choice you were making.

Residential: there are new neighborhoods going up all over McAllen/Mission/Edinburg, especially Mission. Very nice neighborhoods.

Weather. There's no doubt about it, it's hot in the summer, but this is true of most of Texas. You won't see any snow in the winter, but you can get a couple of good coldfronts from time to time.

Also, you're about an hour from south padre island.

Adios

[luzababy]

I grew up in the Valley. And as many, moved out as soon as I could...for my own personal reasons. San Juan is minutes away from McAllen, which has everything you need now. San Juan is a small but it's a city within a city. I don't know if San Juan would be the poor area of the Valley. To me, it all looks the roughly the same. I'd like to say that 90% of the population are Mexican/Hispanic but I've NEVER had any issues with race. On the contrary, the people are always accepting and try to converse with you even if they can't speak English well.
It's very hot down there in the summer -- especially because of the humidity. But as long as you have AC, it's doable...especially if you're trying to save money for a house.
The cost of living is definitely less than Vermont. I don't know what the job market is like down there.
Good luck with your decision--It's going to be a tough one. You and your husband should try to visit before moving. It's definitely going to be shocking coming from one environment to another.

[Torrey]

Two of my wifes brothers live in the McAllen area. They are both doctors and one lives in a gated community called LaMansion. However, the other lives in a nice house there in town which is not gated. He has told me that if you do not keep your garage door shut and it is unattended, there are roving bands of thieves who come across from Mexico and will drive the alleys behind houses looking for open garages etc, so they can steal the owner blind.

So be careful of that. Otherwise, the regular residents of south Texas are pretty friendly, just be careful of the crooks from Mexico. Be on your guard at all times, and don't get suckered.

Good luck.

I am moving to New Hampshire myself...

[coastlover]

I'm from MA originally, and lived in Houston for 7 years before, and now in Seabrook for about 9.5 years. I haven't been down to the valley since one visit in the 90's, but used to go there weekly in the early to mid 80's. I had no problems being Anglo, and everyone was pretty friendly. The pace down there is slower, which it sounds like you're used to. If the house is free, I say go for it. I think you will enjoy the milder climate, although you will probably want to go back to visit VT for some snow occasionally. If you don't like San Juan, you can always move to a different area. I think you will probably want to look at employment in the larger cities in that area, such as McAllen, and should do that prior to moving. I'm not sure about the public schools in the area, because everyone I know/knew there attended Catholic schools. Good luck!

[perfectsaralee]

You guys are great! Thank you for all the information. I have never been in any kind of forum and I'm glad I took the leap. It's hard to beleive that there is life outside of my little village of 120 people.

I think we are going to visit the area for a few weeks this summer, see how miserable the heat and humidity really is, check out the area and then make up our minds from there. Some people say that it's humid as all hell down there and then I'll hear just the opposite. That it's dryer than a popcorn fart. Which is it? I will check out the job market also. My husband is in Precision Metal Fabrication and I'm an EMT/Firefighter part time and Office Manager full time. I hope the job market is good. Any thought?

I can't believe you're able to buy a cucumber for pennies down south and up here in Vermont one, that right, one cucumber costs $1.88 each. And that's a rinky dick one at that. Oh it's going to be an interesting trip that's for sure.

Well thank you all again for your information and I'll take anymore feedback that anyone has!

[RGV]

Here's a portion of a recent Monitor article about crime in Hidalgo County:

..........................


Report: Crime rate down in most Valley cities
Jeremy Roebuck
May 9, 2007 - 10:14PM

McALLEN — Despite nationwide concern over escalating border violence, the Rio Grande Valley’s largest cities led the state in crime reduction last year, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Crime rates in McAllen, Edinburg and Mission all dropped by double-digit percentages in 2006. McAllen’s rate decline was surpassed by only two other cities in its over-100,000 population category. Edinburg and Mission had the No. 2 and No. 3 largest rate decreases, respectively, in their 50,000-to-100,000 population group.

............................

“All this stuff about border crime escalating — I don’t think the statistics support that,” he said. “Hidalgo County has become a much better and safer place to live.”


http://www.themonitor.com/news/crime...nt_crimes.html

[hellpaso]

sara----

mcallen is fine!!!!!! i'm from far west texas, and this place is very cosmopolitan compared to many other places in the state. el paso has a population of about 750,00---mcallen has an an official pop. of 125,000. it is much more like a big city than el paso. there are all kinds of upscale stores for shopping, groceries (H-E-B), stuff you won't see anywhere in new england. reminds me so much of key west, too. the flora and fauna are so great!! Welcome to the valley!!!!!!!!