Moving to Texas from Arizona (Houston, Dallas: to rent, movers, low crime)

[blmccloud]

I wanted to see if I could ask some of you a few questions!

My family & I currently live in Arizona & are looking to relocate somewhere there is a better job market and lower cost of living. Also, decent schools and nieghborhoods.
I have started some research and texas came up alot for jobs and low cost of living! But I am not sure exactly which cities to look more at or anything!
Any help you could give would be great!

***Background***
My husband has been working as a "Cable Dog" telecommunications Installer for 2 1/2 years, but has been laid-off! Unable to find work, no jobs! He also has experience in different fields of construction, labor jobs, and is also currently in the process of getting his Automotive Tech Certificate from local college.
I myself am a homemaker and unable to work due to disability.
My daughter is 11 (be 12 in 2 months) is in 4th grade (be 5th in August) and my son is 12 (be 13 in Dec) is in 6th grade (be 7th in August).
We curently own mobile home on rented lot.

We need somewhere there is a good job market thatt my husband will be able to find work?
What cities should we look at?
Would it be cheaper to move our mobile home or sell and get something already there?
How is the crime rate in Texas?
How are the public schools?

[debzkidz]

Wow, those are some prety broad questions for a state as big as Texas. I can't speak directly to your questions about your husbands industry, maybe someone else here can. I think in general you will find Texas to have a lower cost of living than Arizona, and probably a better job market. As for what cities to look at, I guess a lot of it depends on what size area you are wanting to be in. Do you want a large metropolitan area, midsize city, or smaller town? Texas has lots of all of those. Are you looking for a specific climiate? Texas has more than one of those. As for the crime rate, well, again, that's all relative to your general location. Yes, there are some that aren't that safe, but I would say that all in all Texas is generally a pretty safe place. Same for schools. There are lots of excellent schools in the state, too many to mention, and the same for the not so great schools.

I have no idea what it would cost to move a mobile home all the way from Arizona, but I can't imagine that it would be inexpensive. I think I would contact some local house movers in your area and get a general idea of cost, but I wouldn't do that until I had narrowed down my search to a more specific region. My guess is they probably charge by the mile, and if that is in fact the case, there's no way they can give you even a ballpark figure until you have a general idea of location. Keep in mind, Texas is so large that it's about 800 miles just to go from the northern panhandle of Texas to the southern tip of Texas.

My advise would be to do some online job searches and see if your husband can find anything he's interested in, and then start working on the specifics when you have a better idea of a general region of the state you are looking at.

[blmccloud]

well, a few places we've been looking at include, but no limited to:
1. Austin
2. Dallas
3. Fort Worth
4. San Antonio
5. Houston
6. Odessa
7. Killeen
8. Abilene
9. Bryan

[gguerra]

Why does he not do some online job searches (statewide if possible) for the type work he is seeking.. I would start with the Texas Workforce Solutions and some of the more well known site such as careerbuilder.com and monster.com.. That way he can even apply and/or interview for the job before you even move. Once you have some prospects choose the best based on other factors (cost of living, schools etc).. I dont know if you can move a mobile home that far but it all depends what you like, big city or small town.. You make the choice. The idea is to make the decision after you have at least some job prospects.. I would actually not make a move until I secured a job (but that's me)

[debzkidz]

Originally Posted by gguerra

Why does he not do some online job searches (statewide if possible) for the type work he is seeking.. I would start with the Texas Workforce Solutions and some of the more well known site such as careerbuilder.com and monster.com.. That way he can even apply and/or interview for the job before you even move. Once you have some prospects choose the best based on other factors (cost of living, schools etc).. I dont know if you can move a mobile home that far but it all depends what you like, big city or small town.. You make the choice. The idea is to make the decision after you have at least some job prospects.. I would actually not make a move until I secured a job (but that's me)

I agree. We have never even moved to another town, much less another state until the job was a "done deal".

[texasdiver]

Grande Communications is doing a huge amount of fiber optic expansion. They are currently burying fiber in my neighborhood. I would check with them for telecommunications jobs. Beyond that basically any of the faster growing urban areas in Texas are going to be where the jobs are. Take a map, draw lines between Dallas/Fort Worth, San Antonio and Houston to form a triangle. Any larger than 50,000 that falls within or near that triangle is going to be a prospect. Personally I would scratch Abilene and Odessa from your list and add Waco. And I would especially concentrate on the fast-growing suburbs near the major cities.

Around Dallas/Fort Worth I'd look at the cities to the north like Keller, Frisco, Allen, McKinney, etc.
Around San Antonio I'd look to the suburbs along the north and northwest
Around Houston I'd look to Katy, Woodlands, Spring, Sugar Land, Cypress, etc.
Around Austin I'd look at the northern suburbs like Round Rock, Leander, Cedar Park, Georgetown, etc.

Basically the schools are going to be similar and pretty decent in any of the newer upscale suburbs around the major cities that I mentioned.

Oh, and sell your mobile home. You'll have a hard time finding any place within an urban area to park it unless you want to buy some plot of land way out in the country and sit a mobile home on it. Better to rent until you get established.

[Steel Man]

Here is a good job search website. I used San Antonio Auto Tech for search but you can put anything/anywhere you want to search:


Auto technician jobs - San Antonio, TX | Simply Hired

Good Luck!

[Arizona Heat]

Just stay away from Daniel's Moving and Storage based in Phoenix. They will scam you! Good luck.

[shootertoo]

Originally Posted by blmccloud

I wanted to see if I could ask some of you a few questions!

My family & I currently live in Arizona & are looking to relocate somewhere there is a better job market and lower cost of living. Also, decent schools and nieghborhoods.
I have started some research and texas came up alot for jobs and low cost of living! But I am not sure exactly which cities to look more at or anything!
Any help you could give would be great!

***Background***
My husband has been working as a "Cable Dog" telecommunications Installer for 2 1/2 years, but has been laid-off! Unable to find work, no jobs! He also has experience in different fields of construction, labor jobs, and is also currently in the process of getting his Automotive Tech Certificate from local college.
I myself am a homemaker and unable to work due to disability.
My daughter is 11 (be 12 in 2 months) is in 4th grade (be 5th in August) and my son is 12 (be 13 in Dec) is in 6th grade (be 7th in August).
We curently own mobile home on rented lot.

We need somewhere there is a good job market thatt my husband will be able to find work?
What cities should we look at?
Would it be cheaper to move our mobile home or sell and get something already there?
How is the crime rate in Texas?
How are the public schools?

I used to live in Arizona but Texas is home so I'm here. The job market in most of the metro areas will be better than in Arizona, cost of living will be better in most areas of Texas and crime is like in most places, if you're in a big city crime will be awful but Austin, Ft. Worth and San Antonio are relatively low crime compared to Dallas or Houston. I wouldn't recommend either of those places, Dallas or Houston. I think you will find schools quite good in most areas of Texas except in East Texas (Longview, Texarkana, Lufkin etc.), the Panhandle or what's referred to as the "High Plains", such as Wichita Falls to Lubbock. Midland/Odessa is a nice area except might be a little remote for some. You might also consider some of the smaller cities such as San Angelo and Abilene. Both are very nice small cities with the things you mentioned.
And I can't imagine anyone considering moving a mobile home to Texas from Arizona. It would be horribly expensive plus the mobile home would be destroyed by the time it got here. It would probably be cheaper to give it away in Arizona and buy in Texas, although I'm not suggesting you do that.

[blmccloud]

Thanks, so much for your input. Arizona at least where we are is getting worse & worse. We are tryin to deal with it untill my husband is done in school for his auto tech, but it's getting harder!