Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

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bogleviewer
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Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by bogleviewer »

A long time friend of mine is looking to move from Utah to Texas. He is self employed (consulting) so he can basically work wherever he wants. I realize that many of you are veteran travelers as well as many Texans on here so maybe you can make some recommendations of places for him to look into Texas.

Below is a little background information about him:
  • Family of Four with two small children (not yet elementary school age)
  • Age low 30's
  • Income roughly $150k to $250k a year
  • Self employed
What he is looking for are:
  • Good Public Schools (Elementary, Jr. High, High School)
  • Very Low Crime (near non-existent)
  • Extremely family friendly
  • High education levels (both my friend and his wife have graduate degrees)
  • Very "traditional/conservative" living (husband and wife, small children, wholesome family activities)
  • Very Mild Weather (no snow in the winter and no long streak of over 100 in the Summer)
  • Low Humidity unless coastal (no sweating in 90 degree weather because it is so humid)
  • Low unemployment
  • Relatively new with growing population
  • Many dining options and places to go/see/do for the kids as they grow up
  • Golf Courses (this is his number one hobby, would like to golf year-round)
  • Within 45 minutes of a major airport
  • 2500 to 3000 sq ft homes between $300,000 and $500,000. (He is willing to pay a big premium for location and schools if there is a particular niche neighborhood in an already very nice, safe, clean, city)
I realize that Texas is a big state; I'm just trying to give him a bunch of recommendations so that he can research out each individually and spend a month, go down there, travel the state and visit each of the recommended cities.

I also realize that many cities are large geographically and a particular part of a city is more in-tune with what he wants rather than the other side that is 20 miles away. Please specify if this is the case.

His driving motives for moving are:
  • Sick of the Utah winters (wants more mild weather without snow)
  • Sick of the Utah inversions during the winters (major pollution)
  • Texas doesn't have state income tax (it does have high property taxes, yes, but being a consultant his income can fluctuate significantly in any given year but his home won't)
Please let me know your recommendations. Please be specific as to why you are recommending a particular city or part of a city. Also maybe comment on what MAY not appeal in the city you are recommending as there are always compromises in where to live. If you have lived in a particular city that you are (or are not recommending specifically) then please share some intimate details about what you love/hate about it that isn't really knowledge you can quickly look up on the internet. Thank you all!
lhl12
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by lhl12 »

I'd focus on the Dallas Ft. worth area, particularly the northern suburbs of Dallas and the "mid-cities"' (the area between Dallas and Ft. worth). This would include cities like: Frisco, Plano, Allen, McKinney, Grapevine, Southlake, Colleyville and their surrounding towns. All of these places check most of the boxes on your friend's list.
livesoft
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by livesoft »

Except for the humidity part, live where Cosmo lives: The Woodlands, TX.

As for specific, look at the list you gave. It matches all of them except humidity. There are also LDS churches in the area.
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Frobie
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by Frobie »

This will be a fun thread.

ETA: This comment refers to the fact that people love to endlessly argue about what city in Texas is "the best", not anything to do with the OP's request or criteria.
Last edited by Frobie on Sun Sep 07, 2014 12:11 pm, edited 2 times in total.
redriver
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by redriver »

Being from Texas and having lived in several different areas of the state, The Woodlands is by far the best (IMHO). It's a planned community and very family oriented, it hits almost every one of your friend's "wants" list except, as livesoft stated the humidity.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Woodlands,_Texas
http://www.thewoodlands.com/index.php
High Income Parent
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by High Income Parent »

I live in the central Texas area and I think west Austin, Westlake area would match almost all of the criteria except for the very conservative values. The west part of Austin and Travis county or northern part in Williamson county will be much more conservative than central and south Austin. As for everything else it should line up pretty well. I don't think you can find a place in Texas that doesn't have the potential for thirty 100+ degree days on July and August that doesn't have snow in the winter but the more you get in the Texas hillcountry the more likely you are to have milder temperatures year round in central Texas. Northwest San Antonio or Boerne could also fit the bill.
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Tycoon
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by Tycoon »

Has your friend considered California? :twisted:
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Raymond
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by Raymond »

lhl12 wrote:I'd focus on the Dallas Ft. worth area, particularly the northern suburbs of Dallas and the "mid-cities"' (the area between Dallas and Ft. worth). This would include cities like: Frisco, Plano, Allen, McKinney, Grapevine, Southlake, Colleyville and their surrounding towns. All of these places check most of the boxes on your friend's list.
Same recommendation.

It's HOT here (DFW area) in the summer, with many days from May through September reaching 100 degrees F or more, and can be very humid.

But The Woodlands and the Hill Country (including parts of Austin) also fits most of his requirements.
Last edited by Raymond on Sun Sep 07, 2014 11:24 am, edited 2 times in total.
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potatoman
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by potatoman »

bogleviewer wrote: [*]High education levels (both my friend and his wife have graduate degrees) rules out west texas and smaller cities
[*]Very Mild Weather (no snow in the winter and no long streak of over 100 in the Summer)this rules out almost all of texas if you can't handle 100+
[*]Low Humidity unless coastal (no sweating in 90 degree weather because it is so humid)remove austin and san antonio from list - houston is sort of coastal so ok
[*]Within 45 minutes of a major airportmajor airports limit you to houston, dallas, austin, or san antonio
Based on this list, these are the requirements that are most limiting. I've lived in El Paso, Lubbock, and a few parts of Dallas and have spent a fair amount of time in Austin. All of Texas is pretty darn hot so 100+ days are common. Of the major cities where you'll find major airports, San Antonio, Austin, and Houston will be more humid than Dallas. I suspect your friend should mainly focus on the Dallas area and choose a city based on how far he gets from activities/attractions.
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by letsgobobby »

Tycoon wrote:Has your friend considered California? :twisted:
Or staying in Utah. St George perhaps.
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by JMacDonald »

letsgobobby wrote:
Tycoon wrote:Has your friend considered California? :twisted:
Or staying in Utah. St George perhaps.
I was thinking of St. George because I had a friend that moved there for golf. That was his only passion in life. However, the summers are hot. I think the OP wants a place that doesn't exist.
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livesoft
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by livesoft »

I would not consider Austin and San Antonio to have major airports as many of their flights simply go through DFW and IAH.
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AlbertaHipster
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by AlbertaHipster »

He's looking for a suburb, 30 minutes to an hour from the downtown of a major city. All of the major cities have suburbs that could fit what he's looking for. The advantage of Houston and Dallas is that the conservative suburbs happen to be near the major airport. In Austin there are conservative suburbs in Williamson county, but they're at the opposite side of the city from the airport and with traffic it could easily take over an hour to get there.
Austintatious
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by Austintatious »

Fort Worth is the sleeper, here. It meets all of OP's criteria with the possible exception of "relatively new with a growing population" - not sure what that means. It has all the big city amenities but retains something of a "small town flair". Local politics are conservative and continue to be remarkably low key compared to the other cities in the state. It has a genuinely first class cultural district, ongoing and dynamic downtown revitalization, was recently determined the best place in nation for jobs, lots of good restaurants and shopping venues, multiple universities and colleges, decent to good schools, excellent access to interstates, access to Amtrack, excellent airport, big time sports facilities, friendly people. For a town its size, probably the best traffic situation in the state - far better than Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin. If your friends are serious about those criteria, they'd do well to spend a weekend or more there, experiencing for themselves.

edit: Gotta take part of my post. Lot's of summertime heat, with humidity sometimes high, and cold weather often enough to count. Someone has posted that such a place does not exist in Texas. That's the truth. That said, if coming here, FW is a pretty good place to live.
Last edited by Austintatious on Sun Sep 07, 2014 2:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
hoeboe
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by hoeboe »

Another place to check in the Dallas suburbs is in Fairview/Lucas/McKinney. There is a small school district (Lovejoy) that is very tight knit, strong family values, and huge parent involvement in the schools. This may be important if there is a stay at home spouse who wants to get involved with the schools.

The drive to DFW airport is about 45min; there is a tollroad that has pretty reasonable traffic. Drive into downtown Dallas is about 35min without traffic.

The area also has many homes with 1-2 acres if the feeling of open space is important. Cost around $125/sq ft. There are also a lot of LDS families and several churches in the area.

The North Texas heat is not so bad; a pool makes it much more tolerable!

Wish them luck!
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potatoman
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by potatoman »

livesoft wrote:I would not consider Austin and San Antonio to have major airports as many of their flights simply go through DFW and IAH.
You're absolutely right. It really depends how far your ultimate destination is from where you start. I'm in El Paso and have most of my family in Pennsylvania or Florida, so I'll have to make 2 connections and sometiems even fly backwards to connect in Phoenix before flying East to Dallas or Houston to connect again. The flights that could mean total travel time of 4 hours or less door to door had I started at DFW have become all day trips.

In my mind, Dallas area is the best option for the OP.
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by tigermilk »

lhl12 wrote:I'd focus on the Dallas Ft. worth area, particularly the northern suburbs of Dallas and the "mid-cities"' (the area between Dallas and Ft. worth). This would include cities like: Frisco, Plano, Allen, McKinney, Grapevine, Southlake, Colleyville and their surrounding towns. All of these places check most of the boxes on your friend's list.
I grew up north of Dallas. If you want decent weather year round, DFW is not it. Always good for an ice storm every few years, colder winters, brutal summers. I'm in Houston now, and as long as you can handle the season of hell from mid June to mid September, it's a great place. I cycle year round and see golfers out the same. You can count on one hand the number of nights it gets below freezing each year.

If DFW is in the cards, I'd look towards the FW. Parents live there now and it just seems more appealing than Dallas.

Everyone seems to love Austin, and there are nice areas around there. But it doesn't seem to be as family oriented as DFW or Houston unless outdoors stuff is the draw.
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by Crimsontide »

What your friend is seeking does not exist... I live in the DFW area, in 2011 we had 71 days above 100 degrees. In 1980 we had 42 in a row above 100 degrees. It can be fairly humid as well (not Alabama style humid) but still fairly sticky at times. I do not recall ever being outside with the temp above 90 and not breaking a sweat. It can get pretty darn cold as well. We have the occasional ice storm that completely shuts down the entire Metromess for a few days (but we just work from home on those days - nice little break from the commute).
letsgobobby
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by letsgobobby »

JMacDonald wrote:
letsgobobby wrote:
Tycoon wrote:Has your friend considered California? :twisted:
Or staying in Utah. St George perhaps.
I was thinking of St. George because I had a friend that moved there for golf. That was his only passion in life. However, the summers are hot. I think the OP wants a place that doesn't exist.
exactly. "Mild weather" and "Texas" don't belong in the same book, much less the same sentence.

Priorities:
- clean air
- mild weather
- low income taxes
- great public schools (is there a disconnect between this and low taxes? Not going there...)
- modest prices

states with no income tax:
- WA, TX, NV, NH, TN, FL, AK, WY
- number of those with mild (not hot and/or humid) summers - AK, WY, WA. Maybe northern NV.
- number of those where winter golfing is theoretically possible - maybe WA if you bring an umbrella. Northern NV.
- does WA have clean air? yes. Does Northern NV - maybe.
- Are there good public schools in WA - yes, in the right district. Are they cheap places to live? no. I don't know about Northern NV.

If WA, come prepared for the rain. Most Utahans can't handle it.

TX is nowhere on this list if weather is important. And if you want clean air that rules out Houston, which often rivals LA for the worst air (and the worst traffic) in the country.
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by burgrat »

letsgobobby wrote: TX is nowhere on this list if weather is important. And if you want clean air that rules out Houston, which often rivals LA for the worst air (and the worst traffic) in the country.
If you are in Texas, you are going to sweat. They better be flexible on the weather or rule out Texas.
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by livesoft »

letsgobobby wrote:TX is nowhere on this list if weather is important. And if you want clean air that rules out Houston, which often rivals LA for the worst air (and the worst traffic) in the country.
Right, if non-hot weather is important, then Texas is not the place to go. On the plus side, the thunderstorms can be spectacular. I always missed them in NY.

Since The Woodlands has been mentioned a few times, it has very clean air since it is further north of Houston than one of the major airports and well away from the petrochemical plants to the south and east of Houston.

Here is a youtube video with more than 8 million views on The Woodlands. Featured are a dad jogging and kid riding his bike next to him. What shows family values better than that? Very wholesome. There is also another bike rider in the video.
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letsgobobby
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by letsgobobby »

I assume no one was seriously hurt and also that you were not anywhere in that video and therefore I can laugh hysterically without guilt?
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by livesoft »

Go ahead, laugh without guilt.
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by The Wizard »

I think the OPs friend would be happier weather-wise in metro San Diego, if he can deal with higher house prices and taxes...
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by Tycoon »

tigermilk wrote: If DFW is in the cards, I'd look towards the FW. Parents live there now and it just seems more appealing than Dallas.
Fort Worth is not pretentious like Dallas. It is the better option of the two for families in my humble opinion. (Disclaimer: I've live in or around Fort Worth for 25 years)
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by letsgobobby »

Agree that FW is more like an overgrown cow town. I suppose that's what it is. It has some decent restaurants, definitely less traffic and less uppity than Dallas. My wife is from Ft. Worth. But it's still dang hot there. My wife and kids go every July and my son always gets a heat rash. I boycott Texas from April-September which means I go in December to see the in-laws. Sometimes, it is still too hot for me.
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by lhl12 »

livesoft wrote:I would not consider Austin and San Antonio to have major airports as many of their flights simply go through DFW and IAH.
Agreed - I think only DFW and Houston pass the airport test.
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by ourbrooks »

Definitely not Austin. Anything within walking distance of any of the better high schools is more than $200 sq/ft so the size of house he's looking for would run $500,000 on up.
Westlake Hills, the suburb with the best high school, is more like $300.

Definitely not traditional family. Go and watch Richard Linklater's latest film, Boyhood; not only is it filmed partially in Austin but many of the actors grew up around Austin. The biographies of many of the actors resemble the film.

Austin has finally added one flight to Europe a day but the majority of flights still go through Dallas or Houston. I've experienced far more flight delays from thunderstorms over Dallas than from snow anywhere else.

Here's a link to average temperatures in Austin: http://www.wunderground.com/history/air ... l#calendar True, no average streaks of over 100, but would you settle for 97?

Surprisingly little for kids as they grow up. Most of the population growth has been from young professionals moving into high tech industries and many of them don't have kids, yet.

Have him carefully look into the strange Texas business taxes. If he consults inside of Texas, he may end up paying a business tax. This may be higher than the income taxes in other states.
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by dgdevil »

The Wizard wrote:I think the OPs friend would be happier weather-wise in metro San Diego, if he can deal with higher house prices and taxes...
Probably the best response, quite frankly. A lot of the other criteria would be fulfilled in greater San Diego. And the kids would love Legoland. Doesn't get more wholesome than that.
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by denovo »

Your friend has a lot of contradictory wishes, and you're going to melt in Texas heat; especially if you're not used to humidity.

That being said I think Florida could work better than Texas
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by livesoft »

denovo wrote:Your friend has a lot of contradictory wishes, and you're going to melt in Texas heat; especially if you're not used to humidity.
The only contradiction in the specs when it comes to Texas is
Low Humidity unless coastal (no sweating in 90 degree weather because it is so humid)
all the other wishes seem to be fulfilled simultaneously in a few locations in Texas.
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by denovo »

It sounds like he wants a city with nice fine dining options, good schools, and a lot of opportunities for kids the only part of Texas that would seem to work out there is Austin, which is definitely not conservative.
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by livesoft »

denovo wrote:It sounds like he wants a city with nice fine dining options, good schools, and a lot of opportunities for kids the only part of Texas that would seem to work out there is Austin, which is definitely not conservative.
Re: schools, here is a link to a story from ESPN about the number one high school in the USA in 2009 (hint: it is not near Austin): http://espn.go.com/high-school/story/_/ ... rts-crown/
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by Tycoon »

The folks in Dallas my have something to say about Austin and The Woodlands having great schools.

http://educationblog.dallasnews.com/201 ... rica.html/

I'm positive there are many great high schools throughout Texas.
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dgdevil
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by dgdevil »

Some LDS folks discussing the virtues of living in Austin, albeit six years ago:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/austin/7 ... ustin.html

and five years ago:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/austin/5 ... any-2.html
Last edited by dgdevil on Sun Sep 07, 2014 5:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
denovo
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by denovo »

livesoft wrote:
denovo wrote:It sounds like he wants a city with nice fine dining options, good schools, and a lot of opportunities for kids the only part of Texas that would seem to work out there is Austin, which is definitely not conservative.
Re: schools, here is a link to a story from ESPN about the number one high school in the USA in 2009 (hint: it is not near Austin): http://espn.go.com/high-school/story/_/ ... rts-crown/
Well, if we are talking about athletics or education, it depends...
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by ourbrooks »

The Woodlands was developed by George P. Mitchell. Some people believe that he did this because he was so disgusted at the laissez faire attitude towards zoning or any kind of urban planning that prevailed in Houston at the time and whose traces are still highly visible.

He could fund the development because of the returns from his oil company, Mitchell Energy. In the 1980s and 1990s, against the wisdom of everyone else in the oil business, Mitchell Energy used a combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing to produce from wells in the Barnett Shale. The company drilled 36 wells before finally producing a profitable well. It took about two decades for everyone else to figure out the trick.

If you really like the idea of living in a development built following a long term master plan, The Woodlands might be an excellent choice.
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by livesoft »

On the "conservative" ranking, how about this idea: Look for the congressional districts with the highest percentage of votes for Mitt Romney in 2012. :twisted:

BTW, it's a given that wealthy suburban school districts have great academics. Doesn't matter if they are located near Austin, DFW, Houston, San Diego, …, anywhere.
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by dgdevil »

livesoft wrote:On the "conservative" ranking, how about this idea: Look for the congressional districts with the highest percentage of votes for Mitt Romney in 2012. :twisted:
In the Austin area, that would appear to be Precinct 314, i.e. Barton Creek ...

http://journalism.utexas.edu/coursework ... 314?page=1
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by livesoft »

That's an interesting piece of journalism. Here are two quotes from it:
… nearly two-thirds of Precinct 314 in West Austin voted Republican, with 65 percent voting for Mitt Romney and just 33 percent
Nearly three-fourths of Precinct 314 voted straight party Republican in 2012; with 69 percent of voters voting Republican ….
I think I figured out how 65% equals "Nearly three-fourths" equals 69%, but I cannot be sure. :) :)
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by tigermilk »

denovo wrote:It sounds like he wants a city with nice fine dining options, good schools, and a lot of opportunities for kids the only part of Texas that would seem to work out there is Austin, which is definitely not conservative.
Probably the best food in the state is Houston, bar none. The cultural diversity here has done wonders for the food scene. Austin has a few good choices, but can't compete with either Dallas or Houston. For kids, there's endless activity in both Houston and Dallas. My MIL lives in Austin, and whenever her grandson is there (he's 7 or 8), it's a struggle to find things to do. To me, kids activities=cultural offerings. DFW and Houston are both blessed with incredible museums, zoos, etc. Austin? Great parks.
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by texasdiver »

I'm probably in as good of a position to answer this question as anyone. My wife is a physician and I'm a public HS teacher in TX. So we have a comparable income. We moved here from the west coast for her residency so aren't really *from* Texas and don't have roots in any specific place but have been here long enough (over 10 years) to get a feel for the place.

First, airports. DFW is by far the best airport in Texas for the frequent long distance flyer (i.e. not short Southwest flights) because it is decentralized meaning you can pretty much drive right up to your gate and there are mini security screening locations all over. So it is great for the business traveler departing to and from DFW. I've flown infrequently through IAH and always seems to take longer due to the terminal design funneling everyone through the same security screening location which gets jammed up. But that was a few years ago. Austin and San Antonio are really regional airports but they may work just fine depending on what your normal flights are. For example, Austin has a daily Southwest non-stop to Portland which we have used and a daily Jet Blue and Southwest non-stop to NYC. Hint...google is great for finding flights. Just google "nonstop flight austin to NYC" or whatever and they all pop up. And then Dallas and Houston both have secondary airports with lots of regional Southwest flights.

Regarding suburbs. All the major cities in TX (and even the minor cities) are going to have exactly the kind of conservative suburbs you are looking for dominated by tidy master-planned and gated communities full of $300-$500 grand houses built by the same regional or national builders. Houston suburbs will be more green with bigger trees and more water features. Dallas will be more prairie. Austin and San Antonio will be more hilly with limestone bluffs and more dramatic scenery. But the houses and schools will be pretty indistinguishable for the most part.

As far as schools go, with few exceptions, the average income of the community will determine the school quality (AT LEAST AS MEASURED BY STANDARDIZED TESTING) and that is mostly because the wealthy communities lop off the bottom tier of students by exclusive housing policies, not because the top levels of the schools are necessarily better. In other words, School A and School B might have exactly the same top-25% of the school taking the same AP classes and going to the same colleges at the same rate but school B's district covers a more diverse area drawing some students from lower socio-economic levels and from more diverse ethnicities. School B will almost certainly have lower ratings because the state ranks schools based on the performance of every ethnic and socio-economic subpopulation and if, for example, a small number of one group don't pass the standardized tests at the same rates as the wealthy white kids the schools rating is downgraded. However the schools from exclusively wealthy suburbs never face this because they basically have no poor or minority kids at all and end up with higher rankings that they don't necessarily deserve.

So where to look? Most people in your friend's position will look at:

First, the northern suburbs of the DFW area. The highest end suburb would be Southlake which has schools that always seem to win everything from academic to athletic competitions at the state level. The main high school ranking in Texas is called the Lone Star Cup which is the compilation of all the athletic and academic competitions. Here are the 2013-14 final rankings: http://www.uiltexas.org/press-releases/ ... -announced Eight of the 11 schools on the list are from the northern DFW suburbs, one is from San Antonio and two are from the Houston area. In addition to Southlake there is Coppell next door which is slightly more affordable but still very upscale and the somewhat older city of Grapevine which I like a lot because it isn't so brand new and master-planned. They all have great schools and nice neighborhoods. The Keller area over closer to Fort Worth is also popular. And there are lots of suburbs further north including Allen and McKinney that are very popular. Most people with small kids will not move into Fort Worth or Dallas proper due to the schools unless they were planning to send their kids to private schools but that is a whole different level of wealth. Except for Highland Park or University Park in north Dallas which are separate cities around the SMU campus that are very very upscale and have their own small and exclusive school district. That is likely to be way out of your price range.

In the Houston area there is the Woodlands which has been mentioned here numerous times. It is a MASSIVE unincorporated master-planned community north of Houston and close to IAH. I think something like close to 100,000 people live in the Woodlands so it is overwhelmingly large compared to typical suburbs in other cities. How close you are to the airport would depend on which side of the Woodlands you live on. My wife and I have visited several times and looked at houses. It has a lot to offer. The Katy area west of Houston is equally popular and has similar subdivisions. We have friends who live in the Cinco Ranch master planned community which is massive and similar to the Woodlands but with less pines as it was once a prairie. You are much further from the airport though which would be the one drawback. Sugar land is also popular to the southwest of Houston as is Pearland and Friendswood to the south. But you are definitely in the Gulf Coast humid climate down there.

In the Austin area the choice suburbs are all in the hills west and northwest of Austin. The Lake Travis area and the Westlake area will be the two top choices out there. The terrain is much hillier and really quite pretty with lots of views that you won't get elsewhere in TX except perhaps El Paso. Both the Lake Travis and Westlake area have highly rated schools and lots of upscale housing developments. The one drawback is that the Austin airport is on the far eastern edge of the city so it will be a bit of a hassle to get to from the far western suburbs. Google maps can give you pretty good drive time estimates and distances.

In the San Antonio area most people will look at the northwest suburbs along I-10 and 281. There are lots of options including Boerne which is out I-10 and places further in such as Shavano Park which is a wealthy enclave within the city of San Antonio and might be out of your price range. I go jogging there every time we visit relatives in San Antonio and it is gorgeous.

As for the heat? Well, one does adjust. We moved here from Alaska and the Pacific Northwest and it took a while. Everything in TX is air conditioned and you basically have your 3-4 months of the year when you spend most of your time in a climate controlled environment just like most other places in the US except that here it is the summer not the winter. The Houston area would definitely be the biggest adjustment due to the Gulf Coast humidity but everywhere in TX is going to be something of an adjustment.

EDIT: After this long post I realized I didn't give any specific recommendations. If I had to recommend one single place based on the OP's criteria I think I would recommend Lakeway/Lake Travis area west of Austin. Very pretty, great schools, lots of good housing and neighborhood options and there is the lake although the past couple of years the water level has been WAY WAY down due to the drought. I was just down there last weekend for a HS football game and both the schools and surrounding community is really attractive

http://www.realtyaustin.com/schools/lake-travis-isd.php
http://www.laketravisisdhomes.com/neighborhoods.php
Last edited by texasdiver on Sun Sep 07, 2014 8:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
livesoft
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by livesoft »

texasdiver's post gave me an idea:

Live in Texas during the school year and live in Utah in the summer.

My neighbors live in Montreal in the summers and in Texas in the winters.
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texasdiver
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by texasdiver »

livesoft wrote:texasdiver's post gave me an idea:

Live in Texas during the school year and live in Utah in the summer.

My neighbors live in Montreal in the summers and in Texas in the winters.
Lots of people do it. My next door neighbors have a cabin in Cloudcroft NM where they spend much of the summer. The New Mexico Rockies are hugely popular with Texans as they are within a day's driving distance.
ourbrooks
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by ourbrooks »

livesoft wrote:That's an interesting piece of journalism. Here are two quotes from it:
… nearly two-thirds of Precinct 314 in West Austin voted Republican, with 65 percent voting for Mitt Romney and just 33 percent
Nearly three-fourths of Precinct 314 voted straight party Republican in 2012; with 69 percent of voters voting Republican ….
I think I figured out how 65% equals "Nearly three-fourths" equals 69%, but I cannot be sure. :) :)
Oh, the perversity of it all. It turns out that Precinct 314 is within the City of Austin, not in a wealthy suburb. More amazing still, Precinct 314 is in the Austin Independent School District. It's a pretty good urban school district as urban school districts go, but your kids will have to learn to get along with classmates who aren't from the same socioeconomic, ethnic, and linguistic background as yours probably are.

Contrary to other opinions expressed in this thread, Austin doesn't have many well to do suburbs. Austin developed much later than Houston and Dallas and, observing what was going on there, in the 1980s and 1990s, the city annexed huge amounts of undeveloped land. They annexed the area which is now Precinct 314 in the 1980's. Most of the new development in the past 15 years has taken place inside the city, which now almost surrounds West Lake Hills and Rollingwood, the two suburbs which are at all close to the center of town. Those choice suburbs to the west and the northwest aren't suburbs at all; they're within the city limits and city school system and pay city real estate taxes. Meanwhile, the neighborhoods which were close to the center of town, like Hyde Park and Tarrytown, now command prices like Silicon Valley. Please, texasdiver, post the location of these planned and gated communities in the $300-500 grand range in the hills west and northwest of Austin. In those areas nowadays, a $300,000 house is considered a tear down and empty lots go for $400,000.

The suburbs which are further out, like Georgetown, Cedar Park, and Round Rock are now the places where people go to find affordable housing. The problem with living in those places is that you're a 40-60 minute drive from downtown Austin, which is where all of the better restaurants are. Even though they're on the east side of Austin, getting to the airport requires traveling along I-35, one of the most congested roads in the state.

Austin has been growing at a 5% rate for the past decade and the Austin of today is not the Austin of a decade ago. Anyone considering moving to Austin should take the time to learn what it's really like now.
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by technovelist »

Crimsontide wrote:What your friend is seeking does not exist... I live in the DFW area, in 2011 we had 71 days above 100 degrees. In 1980 we had 42 in a row above 100 degrees. It can be fairly humid as well (not Alabama style humid) but still fairly sticky at times. I do not recall ever being outside with the temp above 90 and not breaking a sweat. It can get pretty darn cold as well. We have the occasional ice storm that completely shuts down the entire Metromess for a few days (but we just work from home on those days - nice little break from the commute).
+1. But if there were such a place in Texas, given its other advantages, it would be as expensive as coastal California!
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ourbrooks
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by ourbrooks »

I'd specifically recommend against the Lakeway area on Lake Travis near Austin. Just select the traffic view on Google Maps and look at the Oak HIll "Y" where 71 joins 290.
You might be able to make it to the airport in the middle of the night in 45 minutes but not any other time. Getting to downtown, where the restaurants are, is even worse, since the only freeway there is I-35.

If the lake ever fills back up again, it'll be a great place to visit, though.
texasdiver
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by texasdiver »

ourbrooks wrote:I'd specifically recommend against the Lakeway area on Lake Travis near Austin. Just select the traffic view on Google Maps and look at the Oak HIll "Y" where 71 joins 290.
You might be able to make it to the airport in the middle of the night in 45 minutes but not any other time. Getting to downtown, where the restaurants are, is even worse, since the only freeway there is I-35.

If the lake ever fills back up again, it'll be a great place to visit, though.
You're probably right regarding the traffic. I've never visited that area during peak rush hour and when we drive down from the Waco area we come around from the north on 620 and the new toll roads and it is pretty reasonable from that direction. Austin probably has the worst traffic in Texas due to the geography. The other big cities are much flatter and and aren't traversed by rivers so they basically all have a big freeway grid that replicates a city block grid on a larger scale. So there is always an alternative freeway route available by just driving around the "block' in the other direction. Austin is more like say...Seattle in that there are big geographic bottlenecks that make what is bad traffic even so much worse.

On the other hand, it sounds like the OP is self employed and contemplating working out of the house so daily commuting really isn't an issue...finding a nice place to live is the issue. It really depends on how often one has to fly and what kind of flight schedule one uses. If one is doing same-day flying to business meetings on the west coast (which I've done a lot) then one is at the airport in the early a.m. long before the traffic starts and back long after it ends. It is really hard to give air travel/airport advice without knowing one's particular travel habits. Timing and destination make all the difference.
texasdiver
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by texasdiver »

ourbrooks wrote:
livesoft wrote:That's an interesting piece of journalism. Here are two quotes from it:
… nearly two-thirds of Precinct 314 in West Austin voted Republican, with 65 percent voting for Mitt Romney and just 33 percent
Nearly three-fourths of Precinct 314 voted straight party Republican in 2012; with 69 percent of voters voting Republican ….
I think I figured out how 65% equals "Nearly three-fourths" equals 69%, but I cannot be sure. :) :)
Oh, the perversity of it all. It turns out that Precinct 314 is within the City of Austin, not in a wealthy suburb. More amazing still, Precinct 314 is in the Austin Independent School District. It's a pretty good urban school district as urban school districts go, but your kids will have to learn to get along with classmates who aren't from the same socioeconomic, ethnic, and linguistic background as yours probably are.

Contrary to other opinions expressed in this thread, Austin doesn't have many well to do suburbs. Austin developed much later than Houston and Dallas and, observing what was going on there, in the 1980s and 1990s, the city annexed huge amounts of undeveloped land. They annexed the area which is now Precinct 314 in the 1980's. Most of the new development in the past 15 years has taken place inside the city, which now almost surrounds West Lake Hills and Rollingwood, the two suburbs which are at all close to the center of town. Those choice suburbs to the west and the northwest aren't suburbs at all; they're within the city limits and city school system and pay city real estate taxes. Meanwhile, the neighborhoods which were close to the center of town, like Hyde Park and Tarrytown, now command prices like Silicon Valley. Please, texasdiver, post the location of these planned and gated communities in the $300-500 grand range in the hills west and northwest of Austin. In those areas nowadays, a $300,000 house is considered a tear down and empty lots go for $400,000.

The suburbs which are further out, like Georgetown, Cedar Park, and Round Rock are now the places where people go to find affordable housing. The problem with living in those places is that you're a 40-60 minute drive from downtown Austin, which is where all of the better restaurants are. Even though they're on the east side of Austin, getting to the airport requires traveling along I-35, one of the most congested roads in the state.

Austin has been growing at a 5% rate for the past decade and the Austin of today is not the Austin of a decade ago. Anyone considering moving to Austin should take the time to learn what it's really like now.
Well, I did post a link to Lake Travis area real estate listings. The OP is a huge golfer. Here's one example in that price range in Lakeway on a golf course that doesn't look like a tear down to me.

http://www.realtyaustin.com/idx/homes/t ... 48980.html

That said, one will get more for their money in the suburbs around the other major cities (DFW, Houston, and San Antonio) simply because those cities are not as geographically constrained as Austin so there is just a lot more empty land on which to build endless subdivisions.

However, what you write about growth rates, traffic, and so forth applies equally well to all the other major metro areas in Texas. All those upscale suburban areas are growing exponentially...in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio as well as Austin. Last month I drove into Dallas from Oklahoma on US-75 on a Friday afternoon at the end of a college visit road trip with my daughter and the amount of construction and growth up there dwarfs what is happening in Austin. The Dallas suburbs and sprawl basically goes all the way to the Oklahoma border. The i-45 corridor north of Houston past the Woodlands is also madness in terms of the traffic and development and practically sprawls all the way to Huntsville same as the I-10 corridor out to Katy.

I don't think Austin suburbs are really growing faster than other areas in Texas. Austinites just whine about it more because a lot more of them are in denial about the fact that they live in a big city.

If you want no-growth in Texas you have to move to Beaumont or Abilene or Longview or some such place in the middle of nowhere.
Last edited by texasdiver on Sun Sep 07, 2014 10:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
livesoft
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Re: Texas - Recommendation Where To Live

Post by livesoft »

The Wizard wrote:I think the OPs friend would be happier weather-wise in metro San Diego, if he can deal with higher house prices and taxes...
Just wanted to point out that El Paso, Texas is closer to San Diego than it is to Houston.
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