Relocating to TX

Looking for advice about relocating to TX. I’m cross posting this on different forums to get a variety of answers. My wife and myself are looking to relocate to TX in the next few years. The economic slowdown and the lack of value in our townhome (we’ve lost $30-40k in value the past couple years) are slowing us down.

Coming from the Chicago area we dislike the weather, politics, taxes, and cost of living. Our local sales tax is 9.5%, Chicago is over 11%. IL is about to raise our state income tax. Property taxes are $4500 for our 2k sq ft town house (and $3100 for the 900 sq ft TH we rent out). We are targeting Dallas/Ft. Worth for the best perceived weather, job market, and proximity to a large metro environment. We also have some relatives North of Ft. Worth. We like the suburbs for its mix of city life vs. independence. We like museums, festivals, and professional sports. We also like good Mexican, Italian, Chinese, and Sushi restaurants.

I’m a big sports car and sport bike guy. I want to continue to autocross, do track days, and road race with my cars. I want to live near some curvy roads. I love hang out and go riding with other sport bike guys. Cruise nights and local gear head scene are important too. We also volunteer for a Doberman rescue and our church’s pantry. Someday I’d also like to get more evolved in politics, so I’d want to live in a socially and fiscally conservative area.

Likes & needs:

A local bible believing church. We come from a LARGE church so we may not be used to small ones.

Curvy roads

I like hills, trees, rivers, and lakes

Places to volunteer

Short commutes to work

Close the highway to make it easy to get to the city

Reasonable taxes and rules for small business. I want to turn my hobby of buying/selling cars into something more someday.

Longview

loudes13 wrote: Someday I’d also like to get more evolved in politics, so I’d want to live in a socially and fiscally conservative area.

I wonder if Freud would think this a slip of the toung or is it telling of the state of politics in Il?

I was going to say stay away from north Texas. Curvy roads, hills and trees you can forget. Rivers and lakes, eah . East Texas is not bad (Longview) and hill country around San Antonio is nice and there are hills and curvy roads.

Great roads west of San Antonio, however the city is a hole and there is no sports car scene.

I've been in Dallas my whole life. Winters last about 3 months and we'll have one icy day a year. Extreme lows are upper twenties. Summers are hot I'd say 60 or so days at 100 degrees. Highs of 112 or so aren't uncommon. We pay around $7000 in property taxes on a $550,000 house. State sales tax is 8.25% no income tax. Dallas seems to have a slightly higher class citizenship, but Ft Worth tries harder. They're better about museums and arts type stuff but don't seem as good with zoning. Dallas breaks politically about 52% Democratic. As much as I don't want to see anymore church going conservatives here, you'll find plenty of like minded people in town. You may find a better fit in the northeastern suburbs, but I wouldn't live outside of 635 for anything. Dallas city council is a mess. Google John Wiley Price. Lots of really good food in Dallas not as much in Ft. Worth. Suburbs are full of chains. Google brinker. No hills, no curves, several local lakes. Lots of drag racing, lots of dirt track stuff, a few road courses within 2 hours. Good car scene for muscle car stuff, I don't know about sportscar stuff as much. Texas motor vehicle dealer laws are tricky, but do-able. I have yet to travel to someplace I'd rather be.

Thanks, that's some solid tech there!

Still want to find some curvy roads

I've lived in both Dallas and FW. I lived in Dallas for 30 years and moved to FW just over a year ago.

There are bumper stickers floating around that read "Life is too short to live it in Dallas".

I didn't get it until I moved to FW - I can't understand why I didn't make the move years ago!!

Dallas postures and talks about all the good they are going to do plus all the changes they will make and then they analyze it to death and nothing gets done. FW on the other hand says "Cool, I like that idea" and then just quietly does it.

Dallas has been talking about developing the Trinity River basin but FW has had a strip park for their branch of the Trinity River for probably 20 years.

FW has a thriving downtown area where you can work, shop and play. Just try to find a grocery store near downtown Dallas. Dallas does have the best Farmer's Market.

FW has a thriving downtown with plenty of fun nightlife. You can get mugged in downtown Dallas.

FW has a great museum district, Bass Hall, the Stockyards, and, and, and. Dallas has sprawl and congestion with an occasional cultural icon.

FW is more laid back. You'll see fewer suits and many more jeans.

If you are gay Dallas is the place to be.

House prices are better in FW. FW home values are growing faster than Dallas'. And YES both areas have property values that are increasing, not decreasing. They're not going up as much as they have in years past, only 2-4% in the present climate, but they are going up.

Jobs are plentiful in both markets.

FW has curvy roads, lots of trees and pretty scenery and hills (sort of). This part of Texas is flat, but it starts to undulate on the Western side of FW.

I live within 5 minutes of boat launches on 2 nice lakes.

One negative about FW is that in the outskirts of town you'll find some pretty redneck little towns. There are areas that the tattoo parlors out number the 7-11s. I have an Azle mailing address, but I am clear to point out to everyone when I have to give my address that I definitely don't live in Azle. The Azle Walmart is a treat. Since Walmart always attracts the highest quality clientele (and me) I can sit and watch the various tattoos. "Property of XXXX" is not an totally uncommon sight on the necks of some of the women. Women........hmmmm, well OK people of a sex that isn't clearly male might be a better description. They start em young there and by the time they are 22-23 they may have 3-4 kids. But luckily they are quickly being displaced by Homo Sapiens.

So the moral to that little story is to simply stay away from those areas. It"s easy to do and won't inconvenience you in the least.

You'll find any number of car clubs in both Dallas and FW. Autocrosses abound with most of them held in the FW area no matter where the club originates.

As far as food goes Dallas abounds with chains, FW abounds with local places and while the density of food joints isn't as good in FW the overall quality is better.

If there's a Democrat in FW he's still in the closet and afraid to come out.

Ohh, and I'd love to do the financing on your new home. Best service around! I've still got USDA 102% financing with 580 credit scores and no mortgage insurance.

Car guy is mostly correct. We have different opinions on a few issues, but I won't disagree with most of it. Keep in mind we're only about 30 minutes apart. We bought a dog outside of Weatherford. The specific area was pretty in a very southwestern rugged hilly sense. Oak Cliff is a geographically pretty part of Dallas, but it's old and was nearly lost to white flight. Kessler Park just sw of downtown is nice, but expensive, and surrounded by the hood. I'm on White Rock Lake. The lake is literally 5 doors down the street. I'm also 15 minutes from downtown. I love it here, but the lake area is generally pretty liberal. Great for me, maybe not so much for you. My wife is from Ft. Worth and wouldn't move back for anything.

I just re-read my post and I find I may not have been clear on one point. I didn't mean there were some PRETTY redneck towns I meant there were some PRETTY REDNECK towns. The difference seems to be slight, but is anything but.

btp76 wrote: but I wouldn't live outside of 635 for anything.

You couldn't pay me enough to live INSIDE 635.

There are some curvy roads outside of the messoplex, especially to the east and away from the interstates. Use Google Earth to scout.

I'd scout the job first, then the suburb to live in. Commutes can be tough.

Consider Wichita Falls. It's only a couple of hours from Dallas, Fort Worth, and Oklahoma City, so big weekend events are doable as day trips. There are some short twisties if you look for them. I haven't checked on SCCA events there, but again, Dallas isn't far away.

I live in Lubbock, at the base of the Panhandle. I like it, but it's not for everyone. Not much sports car stuff out here. West Texas Region SCCA runs autocrosses, usually in Canyon (south of Amarillo), and there is the Big Bend Open Road Race in Fort Stockton. Yes, we have dirt ovals and a drag strip.
Roads here are mostly straight and long. Trees are for parks.

Lots of curvy roads south of Dallas in the Texas Hill Country around Austin. There are more road courses here than you think there would be. Texas Motorsports Ranch and Eagle Canyon Raceway are in the Metroplex. Hallet Motorsports Park is about six hours away near Tulsa and when they aren't racing NASCAR, Texas Motor Speedway has a road course too. We used it for the Porsche Parade in Fort Worth a few years ago. There's an autocross somewhere in the Metroplex just about every weekend from spring till fall.

If you want to volunteer for a dog rescue group, I can hook you up. We have a bunch of them here. Just about every city in the Metroplex has it's own dog park and Dallas has two, including one right on White Rock Lake with dog access to the lake. There is also a private indoor dog park going up in East Dallas right now that looks pretty upscale for a dog park. Your dogs will like it here.

I forgot to mention if traffic's your thing then Dallas is right for you. Traffic's nowhere near the issue of Houston or LA, but still it's a lot heavier than FW.

FW only has 2 areas that have heavy traffic and they are easy to avoid. In Dallas it took me 10 minutes to get from my house to the Freeway. It also takes me about 10 minutes to get to the freeway from my house outside FW. The difference is that in Dallas I was 1 mile from the freeway, here I am 8 miles from the freeway. Once I reach the freeway I am 15 minutes from the downtown even in rush hour.

FW is a lot smaller than Dallas. I am on the NW side of FW out in the country. If you draw a straight line from my house over to Dallas you find my house sits roughly where Love Field is in Dallas. Love Field is almost considered downtown area or uptown in Dallas. That's the big difference between the 2 cities, their atmospheres and their traffic patterns.

Texas has a lot of places other than the Metroplex that are good options. I really, really like the Austin area even tho they have gotten bigger and have lost some of that smaller town atmosphere. Austin is in the Hill Country so lots of hills and curvy roads near there.

parker wrote: Great roads west of San Antonio, however the city is a hole and there is no sports car scene.

Bah.

Are you in San Antonio?

I used to go to Tyler every 4th of july for work. Nice town. good food, good people. Even hitched a ride to a dirt track one time with a family from the dwarf car board had a ball.

You nkow its hot when you start the car after working a 14 hour day and the digital water temp reads 101! No not kinding.

44

Nope, Smithville. You couldn't pay me to live in San Antonio.

slantvaliant wrote:

btp76 wrote: but I wouldn't live outside of 635 for anything.

You couldn't pay me enough to live INSIDE 635.

Billionaire H. Ross Perot, Former President George W. Bush, Rock Star Don Henley and Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones all live INSIDE 635 and they all get paid plenty. Dick Cheney used to hang his hat down here too and entertained many South American Dictators at his residence. Chuck Norris also hung out here and filmed his TV show in the area. We are a rough crowd down here, especially when the Secret Service clears Northwest Highway with their black Chevy Suburbans. And the waiters at the Turtle Creek Mansion are a little bit more snooty than the ones at the Olive Garden in Plano or the Denny's out in Southlake.

Better stick to the suburbs.

Snowdoggie, you've confirmed my opinion.

slantvaliant wrote: Snowdoggie, you've confirmed my opinion.

So you don't want to hear about the snobs down in the Village who brag about going to DFW Airport more often than they go north of 635, or who refuse to dial the prefix 972 on their expensive cell phones for any reason? Or the fact that the Highland Park Police will pull over and tow away Challenge Cars on Preston Road, 'just because'.

You guys are making me homesick! I was born in Dallas and lived there for over 30 years before moving away to a good job in the California desert two years ago.

Despite some of the problems with Dallas (I cringed when I read "John Wiley Price") I am dying to move back. If this job were not so good (financially promising, too) then I'd be spending all of my free time looking for a way back home.

I spent a lot of time with the Lone Star chapter BMW club racers. Those guys are the best bunch of car guys I've ever known. VERY unpretentious and very into track days, autocross, racing, and so on. D/FW is getting covered up, it seems, with excellent racetracks (Motorsport Ranch, Eagle's Canyon, TMS) and it's not too far to drive to several more (Hallett in Oklahoma, also Texas World and MSR Houston).

Yes, it's hot and humid in the summer, and I admit that the dry desert air out here really is easier to tolerate, but whoop-dee-do. Texas is my Mecca.

carguy123 wrote: I just re-read my post and I find I may not have been clear on one point. I didn't mean there were some PRETTY redneck towns I meant there were some PRETTY REDNECK towns. The difference seems to be slight, but is anything but.

Some of those pickup trucks sitting up on blocks in front of those houses out in Azle are kind of pretty. But then again, I'm the kind of guy who drives his Challenge Car down Preston Road just to bait the Highland Park Police.

Another Fort Worth resident chiming in here...............

Actually my wife and I moved down from Chicago almost 15 years ago, so I hear you loud and clear on the reasons to move out of the area and to somewhere else that is more financially agreeable.

For less money than it would cost to live in a small tract home in the suburbs (thinking Schaumburg and points westward since that is where I lived), we have a 2700 SF home on 2.5 acres, 1000 SF in the garage and another 1200 SF in the detached shop.

I can echo some of the sentiments that others have offered regarding living in the DFW metromess -- there are no hills, no twisty roads. There are some good facilities for autocross and time trial events. The car clubs are very good.

One disappointing note -- the mexican food is actually better where you are now!!! What passes for mexican here is actually Tex-Mex.

There is definitely a cultural difference between the two cities -- Dallas is a little more "high-tone"/white collar, FW is more blue collar.

Even though I never lived there, I have spent time in Austin and San Antonio. If I could, I'd actually move to Austin (wanna buy my car-friendly house in Fort Worth?? :-). Austin and San Antonio are actually very nice places!! Spent time in both for business and pleasure -- with both you'll find more elevation/twisty roads. The cuisine is actually different/better in both cities -- actually more Mexican style food.

I see no one recommending Houston. An acquaintance of mine once said, "Houston is a terrible thing to do to a swamp". 'Nuff said...........

-jeff d

orphancars wrote: Another Fort Worth resident chiming in here............... One disappointing note -- the mexican food is actually better where you are now!!! What passes for mexican here is actually Tex-Mex.

Them's fighting words partner!

Tex-mex is the REAL Mexican!

If you don't believe it just look at how many Mexicans we got here cooking the food - & eating it too. :)

orphancars said: we have a 2700 SF home on 2.5 acres, 1000 SF in the garage and another 1200 SF in the detached shop.

Yum!

The only thing we don't have in the DFW area is access to good skiing, but it looks like somebody is going to build a ski resort in Fort Worth soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVTDA6r7NnA