Where is the best place to live in TX

[doba_s]

Hey was wondering where would be the best place to live in Texas ... I know that some cites/areas are good and some are not ... We are planing to visit TX sometime soon and maybe to move there in near future ...

Thanks

[PLAYON]

Austin was a blast when I visited, Houston was decent, El Paso was decent. . . South Padre Island was

[consolidated]

my top 10

1. Austin
2. Austin
3. Austin
4. Fort Worth
5. Houston or San Antonio
6. Hell
7. cave in Afganistan
8. Mexican jail
9. Lubbock
10. Dallas

[doba_s]

Originally Posted by consolidated

my top 10

1. Austin
2. Austin
3. Austin
4. Fort Worth
5. Houston or San Antonio
6. Hell
7. cave in Afganistan
8. Mexican jail
9. Lubbock
10. Dallas

wow ... i didn't know that Dallas is that bad ... it is not too far from Fort Worth and it is that bad ?

What is good about Austin ?

[phattbam]

really you're planning on leaving the bay area?

[doba_s]

Originally Posted by phattbam

really you're planning on leaving the bay area?

haha ... no andrew ....i am just checking ...

[phattbam]

Originally Posted by doba_s

haha ... no andrew ....i am just checking ...

I can't wait to get the bulbs in. Also clean my car up to get our photoshoot rolling too.

[Blake]

Originally Posted by doba_s

wow ... i didn't know that Dallas is that bad ... it is not too far from Fort Worth and it is that bad ?

What is good about Austin ?

dallas isn't bad at all. don't listen to the haters

austin is cool, but kinda weird. it's a very interesting mix of people in austin. traffic in austin is arguably the worst in the state. the only reason that i think i would live in austin is the topography.

i live in dallas and love it. dallas is sorta like the LA of the southwest. it's a huge, sprawling city with a lot of nice upscale restaurants, shopping, and "be seen" kind of places. also, the cost of living in dallas is lower than anywhere in the state, as far as big cities are concerned.

san antonio is tolerable for a few days at a time. that's about all there is to that.

i lived in houston for 2 years, it was alright, but the climate and seemingly endless traffic sent me back to dallas. only go if you like 100 degree summer days mixed with 60%+ gulf humidity for 6 months straight.

[consolidated]

Originally Posted by doba_s

wow ... i didn't know that Dallas is that bad ... it is not too far from Fort Worth and it is that bad ?

What is good about Austin ?

It was half a joke, but based on reality. I lived in Dallas for 10 month, grew up in Houston and have lived in Austin for most of my life. Dallas just wasn't for me, but some people love it, it's a big place.

[consolidated]

Originally Posted by Blake

i lived in houston for 2 years, it was alright, but the climate and seemingly endless traffic sent me back to dallas. only go if you like 100 degree summer days mixed with 60%+ gulf humidity for 6 months straight.

Agree, the weather in Houston is just about intolerable...hot, sticky, sweaty, overcast. 60% RH is a dry day, 90% isn't unusual.

[Blake]

Originally Posted by consolidated

Agree, the weather in Houston is something is just about intolerable...hot, sticky, sweaty, overcast. 60% RH is a dry day, 90% isn't unusual.

and you have to love when rain showers blow in off the gulf in the mid-afternoon and leave even more humidity radiating off the pavement.

speaking of rain in houston, whenever it rains more than a brief shower, the entire city is flooded. happened countless times over the 2 years that i lived there.

[doba_s]

Originally Posted by Blake

dallas isn't bad at all. don't listen to the haters

austin is cool, but kinda weird. it's a very interesting mix of people in austin. traffic in austin is arguably the worst in the state. the only reason that i think i would live in austin is the topography.

i live in dallas and love it. dallas is sorta like the LA of the southwest. it's a huge, sprawling city with a lot of nice upscale restaurants, shopping, and "be seen" kind of places. also, the cost of living in dallas is lower than anywhere in the state, as far as big cities are concerned.

san antonio is tolerable for a few days at a time. that's about all there is to that.

i lived in houston for 2 years, it was alright, but the climate and seemingly endless traffic sent me back to dallas. only go if you like 100 degree summer days mixed with 60%+ gulf humidity for 6 months straight.

I am not a big fan of the big cites ... and i hate traffic big time ... seems like Dallas is not for me ... I think we are going to check out Austin and Huston ... How is the real estate in those cites right now ? Is it pretty stable or falling down ?

[!Xoible]

i'd live somewhere as far away from texans as possible

[Blake]

Originally Posted by doba_s

I am not a big fan of the big cites ... and i hate traffic big time ... seems like Dallas is not for me ... I think we are going to check out Austin and Huston ... How is the real estate in those cites right now ? Is it pretty stable or falling down ?

honestly, texas is just about the farthest away from recession of any state. (number 1 state to do business in, too!) the real estate market is much better here than i've seen elsewhere. a lot of this is due to the lower cost of living...you can get a gigantic new house in texas for the price of a 2 bedroom condo in any california city. this is not to say that everything is perfect in the real estate market, but you won't find whole entire subdivisions of foreclosures like i've seen elsewhere. property values are on the decline because of the sheer lack of qualified buyers, but that is advantageous to the buyer naturally. it's why i'm buying my first home right now

one thing about austin traffic...too many people, not enough highways. horrendous traffic. austin used to be a smaller city that has experienced a population boom in the past decade. the people kept coming and the infrastructure was never upgraded to handle the influx of people. (although they are doing a lot of road construction now to upgrade these roads. they just opened a new tollway that will help alleviate i-35 congestion.) nevertheless, it's your decision. austin is a beautiful city.

and why houston? there are millions of reasons not to move to houston, but only maybe a couple reasons why you should. no offense to houstonians or anything...i did my time in houston.

i'd be happy to answer any other texas related questions, i've lived all over this state my entire life! i love texas and couldn't imagine living anywhere else, besides maybe on a sandy beach somewhere! there really is everything in texas...we've got beaches, lakes, beautiful hill country, recreation galore, large booming cities, strong economy and job market, cheap gas, top notch shopping and entertainment, and oil

Originally Posted by ///Mantis

i'd live somewhere as far away from texans as possible

[doba_s]

Originally Posted by Blake

honestly, texas is just about the farthest away from recession of any state. (number 1 state to do business in, too!) the real estate market is much better here than i've seen elsewhere. a lot of this is due to the lower cost of living...you can get a gigantic new house in texas for the price of a 2 bedroom condo in any california city. this is not to say that everything is perfect in the real estate market, but you won't find whole entire subdivisions of foreclosures like i've seen elsewhere. property values are on the decline because of the sheer lack of qualified buyers, but that is advantageous to the buyer naturally. it's why i'm buying my first home right now

one thing about austin traffic...too many people, not enough highways. horrendous traffic. austin used to be a smaller city that has experienced a population boom in the past decade. the people kept coming and the infrastructure was never upgraded to handle the influx of people. (although they are doing a lot of road construction now to upgrade these roads. they just opened a new tollway that will help alleviate i-35 congestion.) nevertheless, it's your decision. austin is a beautiful city.

and why houston? there are millions of reasons not to move to houston, but only maybe a couple reasons why you should. no offense to houstonians or anything...i did my time in houston.

i'd be happy to answer any other texas related questions, i've lived all over this state my entire life! i love texas and couldn't imagine living anywhere else, besides maybe on a sandy beach somewhere! there really is everything in texas...we've got beaches, lakes, beautiful hill country, recreation galore, large booming cities, strong economy and job market, cheap gas, top notch shopping and entertainment, and oil

Thank you Blake ... I guess I read it wrong somewhere about Huston ...

It seems like traffic is something that you will always run into everywhere you go ...

What about hospitals ? I heard Texas has many nice hospitals and I think one of them was on the list of 100 best places to work for ...

I'll do some more research about Austin ...

If we decide to visit TX you will be our tour guide haha ...

Thanks.

[doba_s]

also what’s the weather like ?

[consolidated]

Originally Posted by doba_s

also what’s the weather like ?

Hot, really hot. However it's an enormous state, you get more seasonal weather away from the coast towards the North and West, but it's hot everywhere in the Summer. The coast is very humid if you didn't already get that. You can pick from sandy beaches, hill country, desert to pine forests across the state, not unlike California.

The medical center in Houston is world class, not an exaggeration.

[Blake]

there are exceptional hospitals in all the major dallas cities, but the well known top hospitals are mostly in dallas and houston. stay away from public hospitals if you can, they are often slam packed busy 24/7 365 days a year.

we have a saying around here about texas weather...if you don't like it, wait 5 minutes and it'll be different. that's not too far from the truth.

spring means severe storm season, and we get some pretty nasty thunderstorms. the farther north you are, the higher the tornado probability. this is not to say that we're always dodging tornadoes, because that's not the case at all. i, personally, love the strong storms...i sit out on my balcony and watch them as they blow through. but overall, the climate in spring is awesome. many upper 70's and low 80-degree days with not a cloud in the sky.

summer is just hot. it can be as bad as 2006, where most of texas had 100+ days of 100 degree weather with no rain. that was one of the worst droughts i've ever seen. there were a few area lakes that damn near dried up. it was wild. we had all these "stage 3 water restrictions" where you couldn't water your yard or run any sort of irrigation. but that's just about the worst. an average summer has many 100 degree days, but usually just in the 90's. 90's are a guarantee for many months, august being the hottest month.

fall and winter are also very beautiful. 70's and 80's in the fall, 50's and 60's in winter...warmer closer to the coast. the coldest it ever really gets is freezing, but that rarely happens on the gulf coast. snow maybe once or twice a year in north texas...it's nice to have occasionally, but it melts within a day usually. even now, it was cold as shit earlier this week, it was 80 today.

oh yea, gulf coastal areas are hurricane prone. i rode out a couple in houston, although they really weren't bad like ike was. poor galveston got wiped off the map pretty much.

[Blake]

oh and if you ever decide to visit, you should road trip it and plan to spend a week or so traveling through the state to visit places...especially with the M in the hill country! there are some great driving roads all throughout the hill country, wide open twisty roads for miles. a trip down I-35 from dallas to san antonio will give you a really good flavor for the best and worst (waco, tx) that texas has to offer, as well as general topography of the cities. if you drive, be sure you have a good radar detector...plenty of troopers around.

texas is also one of the friendlier states that you'll find in the US.

[doba_s]

ok ... so the weather is not that bad ... coming from -30C in the winter and +40C in the summer it should not be that bad ... This is the reason I like CA because the weather is very nice.

It's good to know that hospitals are in the good shape there ... I work in the hospital and seems like it wouldn't be a problem to get a job there...

[Zed]

Originally Posted by doba_s

ok ... so the weather is not that bad ... coming from -30C in the winter and +40C in the summer it should not be that bad ... This is the reason I like CA because the weather is very nice.

It's good to know that hospitals are in the good shape there ... I work in the hospital and seems like it wouldn't be a problem to get a job there...

Quite a few hospitals in Houston. There is a whole 'texas medical center' which is the largest medical complex in the world. Includes at least 13 renowned hospitals and two specialty institutions, two medical schools, four nursing schools and schools of dentistry, public health, pharmacy, etc.

Regarding weather... I came from the west to Houston about 6 years ago. It can get humid and hot and aug/sep for sure. But also... it is Dec 27th and 73 degrees outside today. Lots of burbs around Houston proper, and housing is plentiful and cheap right now.

For character Austin is nice, Houston really doesn't have much character... just big and flat, and with typical big city traffic.

[Mack211]

1. Anywhere north side of Dallas or Ft. Worth
2. Ft. Worth
3. Dallas
4. Houston
5. Austin