Most of our family now live in Texas and the wife and I are thinking of moving there but are undecided as to location. I have children and grandchildren living in Houston and San Antonio. She has brothers and their families living in Dallas. We are semi-retired and will be completely retired if we move. We don't need to be too close to family but would like to be within a few hours drive to them. We now live in Brandon and still have some family in Mississippi. Anyone have suggestions that is affordable with amenities available such as restaurants, movie theaters, etc. Housing costs will be a major concern.
OT: Where to live in Texas
- Thread starter Hotdiggydawg
- Start date
Check out Cedar Park, Leander and Round Rock in the western Austin area. We live in Steiner Ranch right now but will be moving to one of these areas in 4-5 years after my son finishes high school. It puts you in between the three cities you mentioned. San Marcos is pretty good as well.
I would never move anywhere in Texas except for Austin, but I'm a younger guy. So, I might be biased.
AUSTIN area for sure. Safest city I've ever lived in, tons to do
Housing costs are high though and property tax will eat you alive. You don't pay state income tax, but the property tax more than makes up for it. That being said, it is an awesome place to raise a family. I would look toward Dripping Springs if I were you for best value and possibly Round Rock. Jackie Sherrill lives in Wimberly which is about 30 minutes from downtown Austin and would have much better housing values as well. If you and your family like music, there isn't a better place to live. Imagine bringing your middle school aged kids to Jubilee Jam. Now imagine that times 100. Now imagine letting your kids run free and not being worried about them. That's ACL!
Housing costs are high though and property tax will eat you alive. You don't pay state income tax, but the property tax more than makes up for it. That being said, it is an awesome place to raise a family. I would look toward Dripping Springs if I were you for best value and possibly Round Rock. Jackie Sherrill lives in Wimberly which is about 30 minutes from downtown Austin and would have much better housing values as well. If you and your family like music, there isn't a better place to live. Imagine bringing your middle school aged kids to Jubilee Jam. Now imagine that times 100. Now imagine letting your kids run free and not being worried about them. That's ACL!
West Austin or West San Antonio is the best due to great communities and the hill country. Round Rock, Georgetown, or North Dallas suburbs would be next due great schools and communities. Stay away from Houston.
Look at Salado, 45 minutes N of Austin. OLD town, 23 B and Bs, good restaurants, close proximity to Temple and Scott and White Hospital (one of the best hospitals I know - if you need a cardiologist - you are a senior - PM me for the best I have ever had). Beautiful little town, good golf course, can't say enough about it. And you can be in Round Rock in 30 minutes, Temple in 20 minutes, and downtown Austin in an hour. Salado is on I - 35.
It was an early stagecoach stop. The Stagecoach Inn has great Prime Rib, and Johnny's has the bet chicken fried steak from the Red River to the Rio Grande. Also an artsy place with a lot of galleries and resident artists. If I were moving back to TX I would move to Salado in a heartbeat!
It was an early stagecoach stop. The Stagecoach Inn has great Prime Rib, and Johnny's has the bet chicken fried steak from the Red River to the Rio Grande. Also an artsy place with a lot of galleries and resident artists. If I were moving back to TX I would move to Salado in a heartbeat!
Personally I would not live in Texas unless I was making big money in the oil field. But considering that you are retired, if you are dead set on it, I'd go where the children and grandchildren were, so Houston or San Antonio. I'd pick one where you can be very close to at least some of them. Dallas is only 3.5 hours from there so you can see your wife's brothers once a month.
Me personally, I would stay in Mississippi. There are direct flights from Jackson to Houston and Dallas. Take advantage of that. Then you'd still be able to make ballgames. I mean, if you are retired you could just go spend a month out there if you wanted.
Me personally, I would stay in Mississippi. There are direct flights from Jackson to Houston and Dallas. Take advantage of that. Then you'd still be able to make ballgames. I mean, if you are retired you could just go spend a month out there if you wanted.
Before last weeks tornado Granbury was a real nice little town. About 35 mi. SW of Fort Worth, close enough to pop into the metroplex for some fun (Rangers) and not spend a whole lot of time traveling. I'd live near Fort Worth rather than Dallas. Down town FW beats Dallas any day. I've only been to Austin a few time but would move there in a heartbeat. Years ago I worked out in west Texas and lived in the little town of Alpine, down in the Big Bend area. Nice little town you may want to look into if you can go that far west. Avoid the Midland/Odessa area, it is the armpit of the universe.
I love San Antonio. Cheap housing, great economy, and tons to do, along with great food. It's a quick drive up the 85MPH toll road to Austin, but with 1/10th the traffic Austin has. Austin is great, and I would live there if I was 25, but I'm not. I live in the heart of San Antonio, with a nice neighborhood, and close to anything you need. Plus the hill country is right down the road, multiple lakes nearby, and two hours from the beach. And I never thought I'd live in Texas. Plus, 70 degree february days are pretty nice. You want a movie theater? Best one in the country, Alamo Drafthouse. Serve beer and full food during movies. Absolutely awesome.
I would not live in Houston.
I would not live in Houston.
Considering you wouldn't go to Hawaii even if someone paid you, I'd consider
that a recommendation.
that a recommendation.
+1. One of the coolest places I've ever been.
I have two friends, 23 and 26, who live in San Antone and they said as younger people they get bored there. I've been once and I liked it, but I can see where they're coming from when they describe it as an older person's town.
Houston has a lot to offer to recent graduate and very little other than that. It's got to have the worst infrastructure in the US too.
I live in Cypress (it's a suburb on the NW side of Houston) and have lived in the Houston Area for a while now. Where in Texas to live depends on what you want to do. How close do you want to be to the things a big city offers? (Houston, San Antionio, Austin, Fort Worth) Would you rather be in a tourist town? (Bandrea, Brenham), somewhere off the beaten path (Shiner, Taylor), a hellhole in the middle of nowhere(Midland, Odessa), a collgeg town ( Bryan or a forgign country? (Laredo, El Paso, The Valley)
The Hill country is nice, but for me is too dry and brown. Houston is flat and ugly, but has more to do, growing fast, and cheap to live. That said, people love it or hate it.
The Hill country is nice, but for me is too dry and brown. Houston is flat and ugly, but has more to do, growing fast, and cheap to live. That said, people love it or hate it.
Anywhere BUT Austin!
We have too many people moving here as it is. Please visit, have a good time, spend money, but do not move here.
We have too many people moving here as it is. Please visit, have a good time, spend money, but do not move here.
You live in S.A. now? I lived there 4 years, and loved it. I went every Sunday to the Alamo café for the chicken fried steak and a Lone Star. My wife loved their fajitas, though I was partial to La Margarita's fajitas. I lived in Alamo Heights, but on the fringe, and crime became an issue. If I ever returned, I thought I'd consider living a little further out, maybe Helotes or Boerne maybe even New Braunfels, unless traffic has gotten a lot worse in the past few years and the commute would be too long, Where in the "heart" of town are you?
Been here five years. I live in the Alamo Heights area, which has fantastic schools, though the OP probably doesn't care about that. There's also a new development at the old Pearl Brewery that's pretty awesome. Condos, restaurants, bars, etc. Lots of cool places for younger folks that weren't around even 5 years ago.
Fort Worth
I grew up north of Dallas, lived in San aantonio for three years, then Fort Worth and Dallas proper for a year. I now live in Houston. I also dated a girl who lived in Austin,mso I've spent a lot of time there too.
1. Fort Worth
2. Austin
3. Dallas (if you can deal with the pretension, but I went to Ole Miss so it's easy for me)
4. Houston
5. San Antonio
And if you go to West Texas or he Panhandle, just kill yourself.
I grew up north of Dallas, lived in San aantonio for three years, then Fort Worth and Dallas proper for a year. I now live in Houston. I also dated a girl who lived in Austin,mso I've spent a lot of time there too.
1. Fort Worth
2. Austin
3. Dallas (if you can deal with the pretension, but I went to Ole Miss so it's easy for me)
4. Houston
5. San Antonio
And if you go to West Texas or he Panhandle, just kill yourself.
Dripping Springs or west Austin
I just wanted to chime in and echo the recommendations for west Austin. We were out here for eight years or so (NW Austin, Wimberley, Oak Hill) before we moved to Atlanta for five years in 2006. We missed it so much we sold our house in Georgia and moved back.
We're just west of Dripping Springs, which puts me a little under an hour from downtown San Antonio down 281. We're about 3.5 hours from Dallas (almost 4 to Richardson, door to door). YEWstun's probably 3 hours.
The scenery around here is pretty great. There's always a breeze, and with the exception of the last week or so, it's almost never really humid, despite what the locals think qualifies as humidity.
Property taxes suck, as somebody else pointed out, and in my experience more than offset a state income tax (where at least you can claim deductions). They're random as hell, too. You can have two similarly priced properties a quarter-mile apart with the same essential features, located in the same school district, and one will have a property tax bill of $12k while another is $6,500. It makes no sense other than how often a place has been bought and sold. Properties that haven't been sold in many years benefit from the cap on annual appraisal increases, which I think is maxed at 10%.
If you're looking at listings, make sure you scroll down to where they list property tax and shop accordingly (www.escapesomewhere.com). If you're over 65, you'd get a senior citizen exemption in addition to homestead.
Housing is tight here at the moment, and it's back to a seller's market. The pricing is going up quickly, and I'm sorely tempted to sell and get my money out of this place because I lost my *** selling in Georgia in 2010.
For a retired couple, San Antonio might be pretty good, too. You have typical hill country scenery with big city conveniences, but the housing is cheaper.
And San Marcos is an awesome college town. It's always sort of vaguely reminded me of Starkville.
I just wanted to chime in and echo the recommendations for west Austin. We were out here for eight years or so (NW Austin, Wimberley, Oak Hill) before we moved to Atlanta for five years in 2006. We missed it so much we sold our house in Georgia and moved back.
We're just west of Dripping Springs, which puts me a little under an hour from downtown San Antonio down 281. We're about 3.5 hours from Dallas (almost 4 to Richardson, door to door). YEWstun's probably 3 hours.
The scenery around here is pretty great. There's always a breeze, and with the exception of the last week or so, it's almost never really humid, despite what the locals think qualifies as humidity.
Property taxes suck, as somebody else pointed out, and in my experience more than offset a state income tax (where at least you can claim deductions). They're random as hell, too. You can have two similarly priced properties a quarter-mile apart with the same essential features, located in the same school district, and one will have a property tax bill of $12k while another is $6,500. It makes no sense other than how often a place has been bought and sold. Properties that haven't been sold in many years benefit from the cap on annual appraisal increases, which I think is maxed at 10%.
If you're looking at listings, make sure you scroll down to where they list property tax and shop accordingly (www.escapesomewhere.com). If you're over 65, you'd get a senior citizen exemption in addition to homestead.
Housing is tight here at the moment, and it's back to a seller's market. The pricing is going up quickly, and I'm sorely tempted to sell and get my money out of this place because I lost my *** selling in Georgia in 2010.
For a retired couple, San Antonio might be pretty good, too. You have typical hill country scenery with big city conveniences, but the housing is cheaper.
And San Marcos is an awesome college town. It's always sort of vaguely reminded me of Starkville.
My opinion is that San Antonio is the probably the overall best big city to live in in Texas followed by Fort Worth. Houston would absolutely NEVER be my choice as my retirement home due to the humidity, insane traffic, and crime. However, if you want a low key place to retire that is still close enough to enjoy the amenities of the bustling Houston area, maybe look into the Lake Conroe area. Another nice lake is Hideaway Lake which is just barely west of Tyler, Texas. Beautiful lake and a nice golf course on this private lake development. Tyler is maybe a 15 to 20 minute drive away from Hideaway Lake and is not a bad town at all. It has a few nice restaurants, two very nice hospitals that beat anything in Jackson, MS, and a decent 4 year university that brings in cultural events. In addition, downtown Dallas and all it has to offer is less than a 90 minute drive. I have no family ties to any particular city in Texas, and so I would like to one day retire somewhere in the Texas hill country northwest of San Antonio.
Texas home sales are HOT. Highest prices in years.
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></o | Austin's May 2013 Home Sale Statistics<o> </o |
| <!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="_x0000_s1027" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="Houston Skyline" style='position:absolute; left:0;text-align:left;margin-left:0;margin-top:0;width:49.5pt;height:48pt; z-index:251661312;mso-wrap-distance-left:3.75pt;mso-wrap-distance-top:3.75pt; mso-wrap-distance-right:3.75pt;mso-wrap-distance-bottom:3.75pt; mso-position-horizontal:left;mso-position-horizontal-relative:text; mso-position-vertical-relative:line' o:allowoverlap="f"> <v:imagedata src="http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs020/1103222478293/img/65.jpg"/> <w:wrap type="square"/> </v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->Austin Board of Realtors - "According to the MLS report released today by ABOR, the volume of Austin-are home sales continues to rise as April became the 23rd straight month of year-over-year sales volume increases, and April saw its most home sales since 2004. According to the report, 2,563 single family homes were sold in the Austin are in April 2013,wich is 32 percent more than April 2012. On average, homes spent 50 days on the market, which is a decrease of 19 days from one year prior. In April 2013, the median price for Austin-area homes increased eight percent more than the same month last year to $227,250. Additionally, the market featured 2.7 months of inventory in April 2013, which is 1.3 months less than April 2012."<o></o |
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| Texas Booming Cities! <o ></o> |
| <!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" o:spt="75" oreferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f"> <v:stroke joinstyle="miter"/> <v:formulas> <v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"/> <v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"/> <v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"/> <v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"/> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"/> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"/> <v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"/> <v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"/> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"/> <v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"/> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"/> <v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"/> </v:formulas> <vath o:extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" o:connecttype="rect"/> <o:lock v:ext="edit" aspectratio="t"/> </v:shapetype><v:shape id="_x0000_s1026" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="" style='position:absolute; left:0;text-align:left;margin-left:0;margin-top:0;width:67.5pt;height:48.75pt; z-index:251660288;mso-wrap-distance-left:3.75pt;mso-wrap-distance-top:3.75pt; mso-wrap-distance-right:3.75pt;mso-wrap-distance-bottom:3.75pt; mso-position-horizontal:left;mso-position-horizontal-relative:text; mso-position-vertical-relative:line' o:allowoverlap="f"> <v:imagedata src="http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs125/1103222478293/img/72.jpg"/> <w:wrap type="square"/> </v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->CNNMoney - According to the Census Bureau, 5 Texas cities ranked in the top 10 highest population growth in the nation; between the periods of July 2011 and July 2012. Houston (ranked 2nd), San Antonio (ranked 4th), Austin (ranked 5th), Dallas(ranked 7th), and Fort Worth (ranked 10th), were all the cities on the list!<o></o> <o></o> <o></o> http://money.cnn.com/gallery/real_estate/2013/05/24/fastest-growing-cities/index.html<o></o> <o></o> |
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Dripping Springs is awesome. Actually most of the area west of I 35 between Round Rock and San Antonio is awesome.
I may be moving to Ft. Worth pretty soon. My two oldest will be off at college, but my younger ones will be in Middle school. Any suggestions for where to live in Ft. Worth?
As newlyweds, we lived on Devonshire St. in Alamo Hts in the mid-80's. Worked downtown. It was our first house and we loved it...back then it was a great street/neighborhood. We recently visited SA and rode by our old house and I was disappointed in the 'hood...looked sketchy. Anyway, we loved San Antonio and enjoyed living there as a young couple w no kids. Many happy memories and still stay in contact w friends there.
I live in Katy (west of Houston), Brother lives in Keller, near Ft. Worth both..
are nice areas with good schools.
are nice areas with good schools.