Dallas

[Hotchef181818]

Just about completely fed up with my current job and considering a move for a very good opportunity. Who's lived there? Pros/cons?

What I know already...

Housing market is way softer
Humidity is outrageous compare to denver
Cost of living is 9% lower in Dallas
Much better gun laws in Dallas
Weather is better in denver for me
More open water in Texas
mountains outside Denver

[Irving]

Just about completely fed up with my current job and considering a move for a very good opportunity. Who's lived there? Pros/cons?

What I know already...

Much better gun laws in Dallas


I've never been under that impression. Maybe now after the recent laws.

[Ronin13]

Never lived there, but had family living in Plano and McKinney (McKinney is just North of Dallas) for a lot of my younger life and there is only one thing I can say about N. Texas:
46331

[Hotchef181818]

The heat and humidity will be my biggest struggles. Having a second kid on the way is pushing me to make a transition to a job with better earning potential sooner than I had planned.

[Bailey Guns]

I was born and raised in Houston (I know...that's not Dallas but they're similar). That's why I live in Colorado now. I don't think the gun laws in TX as a whole are that much better than in Colorado. But if the opportunity is good it may not come around again.

[Rooskibar03]

What I've heard.

TONS of people moving in daily. Massive amounts of construction. Property taxes through the roof (offset by no income tax but still)
no open carry. And they heat would just plain suck. Democrats have their eyes set on that state, good possibility of becoming a Colorado like purple.

And then there is the heat.

[ruthabagah]

Dude: don't do it

I used to commute there once a month for 2 weeks at a time...longest 6 month of my life.

if you think traffic is bad here, it's worst there.

Hot, humide, flat, and honestly I wasn't really fond of the people I met there...Like: all of them. They have a major ego, just like californians, they think they invented EVERYTHING, even hot water....

I probably met more liberals in Dallas than anywhere else.... Some of the burbs are the opposite, but you'll spend your life in your car with nowhere to go.....Wait, did I mention it's flat?

The few lakes (water holes) are nasty during the week-end and over crowded.

School districts are not the best in the nation, except if you can afford to live in Plano / Frisco. I was offered relocation, I declined, all of my co-worker who took it (back in 2006) have now either moved back, or moved somewhere else.

On the plus side: real estate is cheap-er, no state income tax.

[ruthabagah]

One more thing: My best friend is a real estate agent here in Littleton. In the last 12 month she sold more houses, condo, cabins to people getting out of TX than coming from anywhere else.

[Hotchef181818]

I guess I left out an important detail. I'm looking at Plano, not Dallas.

[ruthabagah]

I guess I left out an important detail. I'm looking at Plano, not Dallas.
Lotta traffic there....

[ray1970]

They get ice storms too. Not too hot during one of those.

[XC700116]

I moved here from Fort Worth, which is basically a twin city of Dallas, in 2008. I did not like living there, having grown up in rural MN, the change was just too much, but I think I could handle it now. There's a few things you need to know though.

Gun Laws are essentially the same as pre- 2013 CO, but that's not much of anything on the big picture.

There's no state income tax, but property taxes can be insane in some counties in the metroplex,(They seem to think each high-school needs a football stadium that rivals most colleges among other things) research it extensively before buying a home and if your realtor isn't taking that into account, fire them and find one that does. As an example, the house I owned there was valued at $130K, and my yearly property taxes were over $4300. Also there's sales tax on pretty much everything so when looking at taxes as a consideration in the overall financial plan, you need to look a little deeper than first sight in TX, some counties suck up a LOT of tax dollars. Vehicle licenses are about the same as CO was in about 2008 ish, just before the screwing we got from the .gov on that aspect. Vehicle insurance is roughly the same give or take a bit.

HOA's are pretty much a given in any of the burbs, but if you get out of town a ways you can avoid them, they are expensive and strict in most places. ( I hate HOA's )

Real estate is in general MUCH cheaper than the Denver area, but if you want a little land under your house, you're going to pay big bucks for it.

There's very little public land in TX, and therefore, if you're into hunting, you're going to have to pay for a lease to make it happen. It's a HUGE business there and a good lease is both hard to find and very expensive.

Climate, well, frankly it's hot as hell, and has a good bit of humidity thrown in, Winter is bitter cold when it drops below about 40 degrees due to the same humidity, it's odd, and surprisingly nasty. 30 degrees there feels like 0 here. Monthly AC bills are high and Water bills to keep your lawn green will bowl the average person from around here right over, and the HOA will fine the shit out of you if you don't keep it green. You also need to water the lawn to keep the clay/rock mixture below the foundation of your house moist, or it will heave and crack your foundation. DON'T EVEN CONSIDER buying a house with a basement there, or you'll be constantly fighting cracks and the mold/mildew issues that come after the cracks.

Traffic SUCKS and pretty much every major highway at any given daylight hour is damn near as bad as going through the tech center on I-25 at peak rush hour(s).

Don't get me wrong, there's good things there too, the job market is good if you need to find a decent paying job, and it's an extremely pro-business state/city. There's a massive gun show somewhere about every weekend, and there's some first class ranges in the area. Gas taxes are fairly low, similar to WY is, and you don't have to leave the house when it snows (and probably don't want to because none of them can drive for shit) because they shut everything down hahaha. If you've got specific questions or concerns, fire away.

[cableguy11]

Grew up in San Antonio, spent 38years in Tx., the only other city I would consider living in besides San Antonio would be Dallas. That being said been back home for the last 3 weeks, and the heat is killing me! Humid as hell. Oil business is booming down here. No problems with finding work. Land is cheap depending on where you look, for hunting a lease would be the best way to go. You will find a lot of people have farms to hunt so be friendly to your co-workers.

[SSChameleon]

I spent a few years living inDallas, my sister was living in Frisco at the time.

Pros: the food, there is a reason Texans are so fat. The food is cheap and good. People down there love their beer. If your wife likes to shop there are a ton of good shopping venues. There are great gun shows. Everytime my father in law came to visit he left with a new gun.

there are two good airports and with southwest at love field you can get to every major us city for about $100. If you like live music ther is a big music scene. While the people have egos the size of...well...Texas, they are friendly.

There is a fun place to go every weekend: Austin, the hill country, schlitterbahn, sixflags, and more.

Con: the heat. You only get one day of spring, and everyone is outside trying to enjoy it so it's crowded and sucks. It will be humid, then it will get even more humid for a week, then it will raind for a week, then it will go back to Oh My God Why is it so Hot?

Traffic, learn to like sitting in your car and dodging other cars, there were also an abundance of people trying to sprint across the highway. They mostly made it, mostly.

Flat. So flat I took all the gears off my bikes. So flat the highway overpass looks like a mountain. And there are trees so you can never see more than a couple hundred yards. Unless you are in traffic, then you can see the miles of cars ahead of you.

if you like being outdoors, this is not the place for you. I raced road bikes while I lived there, I learned your body will start to shut down if you excersise when it's 112 degrees out. They have this thing called heat index. It's like the opposite of wind chill.

I couldn't wait to get out of there, but I could be convinced to go back for the right career.

[Hotchef181818]

I lived in north Carolina for 5+ years so I'm somewhat used to heat and humidity, just not that extreme and I'm not sure I can tolerate it anymore. I've made about 10 trips to Texas (3 to Dallas) in the past couple of years and I don't remember the traffic being so horrible, maybe I want paying attention though. The housing looks ridiculously cheap compared to highlands ranch. I hadn't thought about water bills for the lawn but in highlands ranch(not sure if others have this) we have water budgets and I get killed on my water bill in the summer to the tune of about $250 anyways.

[PSS]

I lived in N. Texas for a year. About a hour from Dallas. Humidity is the worse of it. Lot's of good people who like to shoot and have a good time. The Texas attitude is real and can get old but I never had a problem with it. Just gave as much as I got and everything was fine. Traffic can be incredibly terrible. You have to learn when to take certain routes. All in all I liked living there.

[Ah Pook]

Grew up in Ft. Worth. Never liked Dallas. Lots of the cons have been posted. There is no FS/BLM/Open space that I can think of. Shooting at ranges only unless you have friends with land. All the lakes I grew up going to are now gated communities.

Not someplace I want to go back to.

[Great-Kazoo]

my opinion of tejas, Big D and the state.
Lots of things to do, if and when you get dialed in with the locals (more than 15 yr transplants) Big D Urbania, someone mentioned HOA's, the homeless have HOA's, that's how serious they are about them.

Traffic, honk, honk, honk. I've seen miles and miles of texas. That song hit's it on the head. What you save on one item, they make up for the next one over.
Easiest way to shut a texan up.... Tell them you're from Alaska

Our not moving there was determined by the push to give illegal's voting rights. As the gang of 4 did here, in CO, with dem take overs. The big money push is turning tx blue. The money is in place, the votes, close (Austin, Huston, Dig D, FW) can tip the scales.
The D's get their entitlement hands on TX, might as well move to CA, MA or NY, cause it's going to be the same shit.

Personally, if you can afford to rent vs sell your house, do it. Get someone from the board to be property manager, or very trusting acquaintance. This way if things take a shit in TX, you have an out.

[DenverGP]

texas has enforceable "no gun" signs, and no open carry. I think colorado is ahead on the gun laws.

[T-Giv]

My parents live in North Dallas and my wife and I were very close to moving there. It's a great state and I wouldn't mind living there. We also lived in San Antonio when I was younger. You want to talk about hot? Good Lord San Antonio is insanely hot compared to Dallas. The traffic there makes Denver traffic look like a cake walk. My brother commutes 30 miles to downtown Dallas area and he routinely takes an hour and a half to two hours to get there. Insane!

[Hotchef181818]

My parents live in North Dallas and my wife and I were very close to moving there. It's a great state and I wouldn't mind living there. We also lived in San Antonio when I was younger. You want to talk about hot? Good Lord San Antonio is insanely hot compared to Dallas. The traffic there makes Denver traffic look like a cake walk. My brother commutes 30 miles to downtown Dallas area and he routinely takes an hour and a half to two hours to get there. Insane!

It sounds like traffic is a bigger issue than I thought. I'm flying down on Friday so I'll have to pay attention a bit more.

[Gman]

I think colorado is ahead on the gun laws.
You can still legally buy >15 capacity magazines in TX.

I used to live in Garland and would commute to Dallas. If you want to sit in traffic on the highways with everyone else, you can. The highway might take 20 minutes to get to work...or an hour and a half. I used to take surface streets and had a consistent 30 minute commute with lots of alternate routes if there was a traffic accident. Think outside the box.

I had to go to McKinney a couple of years ago. The highways between there and DFW were a mess. I can understand the need to work on the highways, but it seems like they decided to work on all of them at the same time.

If it's a good career opportunity, you never know where those might ultimately lead.

Texas State Rifle Association (https://www.tsra.com/)

[Whistler]

Native Texan, just moved back here. I live southeast of Dallas in Henderson County. There is no traffic here but any major Metroplex has bad traffic and a "blue" cast to it, The Dems are working hard to take this state. Except for the recent mag bans and BGCs Colorado has better guns laws. There is a legal "no guns" sign called a 30.06 after the statute, OC of handguns is not legal, CHL is about the same except a shooting competency test at the end. There are restricted places such as churches and bars, the bars post a "51%" sign indicating more than 50% of their sales are alcohol and carry is not allowed. It is hot is the summer and much cooler in the winter than you'd think. No state taxes though property taxes can be quite high in metro areas. Texans are quite proud of being Texans, even if they just moved here and that can wear thin but it really is mostly the transplants.

Texas has no mountains but it's not flat, parts of it are flat but it also has huge forests, very hilly country, lots of lakes. There are enormous plains, desert, mesa views, etc. It's a big place travel a bit and short of mountains there's something to suit. I lived in Plano back when it was still developing, it's sort of like living in the Tech center. I don't like traffic, crowds, people in general so I live in East Texas a couple hours south of Dallas/Fort Worth.

I just got back here after about 10 years in NC and CO, it has changed quite a bit in my opinion in terms of regulations and such, it's not the "anything goes" state I grew up in. The major cities like Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas (and more so) Fort Worth are being taken over by Libs (Austin is a lost cause) and it's a critical time for us politically.

Places to shoot/hunt are tough, not much public land in Texas (can't shoot in State Parks) so you have to either buy some land or find a range/hunting lease. There are plenty of them but it's big business and they aren't cheap. The thing most of us do is either buy a few acres or make friends with guys that have some land, you can work around it but nothing like Pawnee or South Site, etc.

I think it's a great place to live, I liked Colorado but being from here originally, could never get used to that damn snow! Let me know if you have any specific questions, my daughters all live in McKinney, Rockwall, Plano (Dallas area), my sisters and parents live on the Gulf Coast (Houston, Galveston area) and I can get local info if you're set on "big city" living.

[RonMexico]

I have a few friends who live in Kelly, TX and love it.

[TheWeeze]

I know that a lot of Texas is in a pretty severe drought right now. Meaning water is at a premium, recreational lakes are low, and the whole place is brown. Not saying that's a reason to not move there, but it's worse there than it has been here for the past 5 years.

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Home/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?TX

[Robb]

Just keep looking for a better job here. Or in Idaho, Montana, Utah, or Alaska.

[hatidua]

Texas is much like Tahiti: they both look a lot better from a distance then they do up close.

[def90]

Been to the Dallas FtWorth area many times for training seminars and other business related trips. It's at the bottom of my bucket for places to live.

I have a friend in New Braunfels.. I like that area a lot..

sent from a soup can and some string..

[Jer]

We considered (although it wouldn't be Dallas) and arrived at this conclusion... in all of our travels we've never heard anyone bad mouth Colorado. Ever. It's always 'Man, I've been there and I can't wait to get back' 'We lived there and leaving was the biggest mistake we ever made.... someday we'll get back' or 'Colorado is our retirement plan' and on and on and on. No matter what place we consider moving to there is always people have lived there that hated it. Some more than others and always for various reasons. In the end, we keep coming back to the fact that no matter what tropical paradise we visit we can't wait to get to Colorado. I think it's easy to take for granted how good we have it hear. Really.

[Hotchef181818]

We considered (although it wouldn't be Dallas) and arrived at this conclusion... in all of our travels we've never heard anyone bad mouth Colorado. Ever. It's always 'Man, I've been there and I can't wait to get back' 'We lived there and leaving was the biggest mistake we ever made.... someday we'll get back' or 'Colorado is our retirement plan' and on and on and on. No matter what place we consider moving to there is always people have lived there that hated it. Some more than others and always for various reasons. In the end, we keep coming back to the fact that no matter what tropical paradise we visit we can't wait to get to Colorado. I think it's easy to take for granted how good we have it hear. Really.


I can agree with this. I've traveled a good bit and have always asked myself where other than the Caribbean I would be happy living. There isn't a state I can come up with. The problem is I can't find a job here that can support my family with only my income(planning 8 months down the road), but I have that potential in Dallas. My dad moved us quite a bit when I was younger for better job opportunities and I think I'm gonna be in the same situation. I really wish I could find a sales job here that could meet the criteria.