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Texas Freepers - Information Please!
Me ^ | 4/18/02 | CyberCowboy77

Posted on 04/18/2002 10:10:10 AM PDT by CyberCowboy777

Texas Freepers! I am considering re-locating to Texas from Washington. I want a change in weather, people and politics.

I have lived all across the U.S. but never Texas. Can you give me some ideas as to where to live, Pro's and Cons of Texas?

I am really thinking Houston - I want to be near the Coast. (or at least 2 hours away).

I will want to own at least 5 acres. And my brother and Parents are thinking of moving there as well and will need land as well.

I have three boys and a Wife. I am a Computer Consultant by trade (my father is a programmer and we have our own company here).

I do not care about schools as I will be Home Schooling when my boys are older.

Any info will be greatly appreciated!


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; US: Texas; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: houston; texas
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To: CyberCowboy777
Actual Hills? Any Rural areas outside these cities?

Rolling hills covered with bluebonnets now. Lots of Germans settled in this area in the mid 1800's because the countryside reminded them of Germany. Lots of small towns with plenty of atmosphere. Check out New Braunfels, Boerne, Marble Falls, maybe even as far north as Lampasas. Even though I live in Plano now, actually I prefer West Texas, Abilene, Lubbock, Amarillo etc. but I think you almost have to be raised there to like it, as I was.

21 posted on 04/18/2002 10:37:18 AM PDT by ladtx
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To: BillaryBeGone
How Far from Houston?
22 posted on 04/18/2002 10:37:50 AM PDT by CyberCowboy777
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To: CyberCowboy777
Takes about 4 - 4.5 hours to drive it from Houston, depending on traffic. The "Farm-to-Market" roads are like state highways in other states, so the "scenic route" takes closer to 4 hours. Houston's great - if you like huge northern cities in which you can't breath. Galveston's not bad, though - especially south of town.
23 posted on 04/18/2002 10:41:45 AM PDT by BillaryBeGone
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To: CPT Clay;cybercowboy777
Lot of folks are moving to Austin, and I just lost two people (network admin, configuration management) to a small company in the San Angelo area.

FYI earlier question, Rockwall is just a couple of miles east of Dallas, if I remember right...

24 posted on 04/18/2002 10:41:56 AM PDT by HiJinx
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To: CyberCowboy777
Conroe is about 25 miles north of the city limit of Houston.
North Houston is where Compaq Computers has it's headquarters.
25 posted on 04/18/2002 10:42:44 AM PDT by Slyfox
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To: Slyfox
What about The WoodLands
26 posted on 04/18/2002 10:46:54 AM PDT by CyberCowboy777
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To: CyberCowboy777
Victoria is a very nice town. Close to the coast, far away from the major cities and their influence. Housing and land should be reasonably priced.

Victoria is now big enough to have their own airport and is serviced Southwest Air.

Corpus Christi is also a great place to live and raise a family. It is a coastal city and is a major stopping point for people needing the Ocean.

Your smaller towns are best if you are looking for acreage and are wanting to build your own home. You will be suprised how far your home budget will reach in these areas.

Fort Worth is still 400 miles from Corpus Christi and 220 from Houston. A large Texas map will put the scale in better perspective. It means nothing to us to drive 300+ miles to see someone or to do something special.

The towns just south of Houston are known for their flooding problems due to being only 15-50 feet above sea level. For some, this is their way of life that they would not trade for.

27 posted on 04/18/2002 10:47:36 AM PDT by Deguello
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To: CyberCowboy777
Conroe is how far from Houston?

About 30 miles north of downtown.

I always love people dumping on Houston -- it's crowded, it's hot, it's humid, it's polluted, it's full of stupid Democrats, with Lee (period) P (period) Brown as Mayor.

Well, all that's true. I guess that's why Houston is one of the fastest growing metro area in the nation, currently number 4, and moving up on Chicago (#3) daily.

Housing is a bargain here -- well-made, 4-br, 2500 sq. ft. can be had for between $ 120 and 160 K, in a very nice neighborhood. Lots to do and see; Galveston (Gulf of Mexico) is only 50 miles south of downtown, although the beaches there suck. Space Center, Six Flags-Astroworld, new football (Texans) and baseball (Astros) stadiums, great museums and art galleries. Great Bar-B-Que, gulf seafood, and the best microbrew in America (St. Arnold's Brown Ale -- made here; go take the brewery tour every Saturday at 1 pm).

Yeah, it really bites here. Better go somewhere else. Like Cleveland.

28 posted on 04/18/2002 10:47:49 AM PDT by Cincinatus
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To: Slyfox
Sounds nice..... I have to be near a large (min. 200,000)city for work, but I can't stand living in them.
29 posted on 04/18/2002 10:48:56 AM PDT by CyberCowboy777
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To: CyberCowboy777
Rockwall is just north east of Dallas on I-30.
30 posted on 04/18/2002 10:48:58 AM PDT by Brownie74
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To: CyberCowboy777
Unless you like traffic, polution, strip malls(with the actual strip clubs), strip malls, strip malls, strip malls, strip malls, and ah ..... strip malls you would be well advised to not live in the Houston city limits. I've lived in Texas only a couple of years, but I'd say that if the beach is any requirement, you might want to look at being within reasonible driving distance of Houston but closer to Corpus.
31 posted on 04/18/2002 10:49:54 AM PDT by SengirV
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To: CyberCowboy777
My family is from Austin, and my sister was born in El Paso, where we lived for awhile. I have liked everywhere I have been in Texas. I currently live 15 miles to the right of the Texas border and visit often.

Texas is a very diverse state. Northeast Texas is grassy with a lot of trees and vegetation--a Louisiana-like tropical climate. That holds true for everything East of Dallas, really. North of Dallas in the Lubbock/Amarillo areas it is very much like Kansas and Oklahoma--flat plains that go on forever. West of Ft Worth is desolate and beautiful. Midland and Odessa are like two settlements on Mars, just off the Interstate. They are the very definition of something in the middle of nowhere.

West of the Midland/Odessa area is empty and gorgeous until you get to El Paso. I haven't been to El Paso in many years but still have fond memories of the place. I loved living there.

You can't go wrong anywhere in Texas but if the heat/humidity combo bother you, stay away from everything east of Dallas. If heat bothers you, stay where you are!

One of the nicest places I have been in Texas is a little place outside of Austin called Round Rock.

32 posted on 04/18/2002 10:51:09 AM PDT by Skooz
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To: CyberCowboy777
Conroe is almost a suburb of Houston. It's about 45 miles north of downtown.

The North side and the West side of Houston are the conservative strongholds. Conroe has lakes and pine forests. West is the Katy Prarie with fewer trees.

It's doubtful you want to live in Houston unless your job requires it. Geographically, it is a monstrous city. Literally, you could fit about eight or ten major US cities within its geographical boundaries. That doesn't even count Houston's unincorporated suburbs, which are large and numerous.

There is no mass transit, except for a rather lousy bus system, and the freeways are choked with traffic.

In Conroe, you can get the "country" experience, while still being near enough to Houston to enjoy its benefits when you want them. The biggest airport is on the north side, not too far from Conroe. The west side is really growing and you can get land cheap and enjoy the same benefits. I own a few acres about 50 miles southwest of Houston in a heavily-wooded area. I'll probably retire there in a few years.

The Houston area is very hot and humid in the summer. The rest of the year it's quite nice. There is a variety of climates to choose from in the state, from the Gulf to the high desert, from deep pine forests to oak-covered hills. There aren't any ski slopes, but there's just about everything else.

33 posted on 04/18/2002 10:51:25 AM PDT by Dog Gone
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To: CyberCowboy777
"I NEED land! How far out are we talking to get into Land?"

If you worked in Houston, it would be about an hour's drive - to GET you within an hour's drive of LAND. Houston would probably be off your list. But there are plenty of places you'd like.

Dallas is still my fave because of its cosmopolitain attitude and anything's-possible spirit. Lots of great communities in the Dallas suburbs, plus a lot of beltway areas are pretty much self-contained, business-wise, and within an easy hour of LAND.

The Texas Hill Country is quite beautiful with real hills and numerous lovely large lakes. This area of the state starts at Austin and goes north and west. In fact, if you drew a north-south line thru Austin, you'd have the perfect demarcation between the Black Plains (very flat, but lush) to the east and the Hill Country to the west/northwest/north. Lots of tech jobs in Austin if you want to draw a paycheck, OR a decent place to hang out yer own shingle. San Antonio is 90 miles to the southwest. It's a big city to be sure, but you'd have to be sure you'd feel comfortable with such a heavy Tex-Spanic influence. Just to the northeast side of San Antone on your drive in from Austin is the German-originated community of New Braunfels, pronounced by the locals as New Brawns-fulls. Still a lot of fine German folks there.

Corpus is a nice slice of heaven, but humid - hey, you won't get away from that until you get out in West Texas, where it's so dry that houses sprout evaporative coolers on their roofs instead of air-conditioners - and they actually work.

El Paso is a really cool place as border towns go, and there are some really fine amenities. And if you want land? LOTS of it available close to the city. OK, you can grow cactus on it, but it's LAND.

All in all, I'd guess that you'd have a fair shot at the kind of lifestyle you'd like in the fringes of Dallas-Ft. Worth. You can get land w/in an hour east of Dallas, west of Ft. Worth, or north or south of both these cities. And they're both very vibrant places. I'd make a couple of trips if I were you and scout out the situation.

And we haven't even touched upon the dozens of small communities scattered around the state where everyone WILL know your name and what brand of milk you buy and how much you bet on high school football games. There is a LOT of very real wealth concentrated in many parts of rural Texas where, if ya got it, you fer sure do NOT show it.

Michael

34 posted on 04/18/2002 10:51:45 AM PDT by Wright is right!
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To: CyberCowboy777
If you want to live in the country, small town environment and want to be near some water (ie: water park), try New Braunfels.
35 posted on 04/18/2002 10:53:02 AM PDT by CWRWinger
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To: CyberCowboy777
I was born and raised north of Houston but came to San Antonio via the Air Force and never looked back. I've been here since '89 and it's a great place. In fact I lived here and commuted to Austin and Marble Falls (west of Austin) for a couple of years.

If you want land you'll need to get out of San Antonio though I'm sure it's the same as any other larger city. If you don't mind a commute there's Spring Branch, Bulverde, Blanco, Marble Falls (which is gorgeous though the falls were flooded by the Lower Colorado River Authority years ago for flood control downstream and for use by a power plant that's on the lake. The lake is beautiful and you're right at the edge of the Hill Country, some of the most picturesque land in Texas. Can you tell I loved it up there).

Austin is kind of strange. There's a great music / art / hippie scene there as well as a good technology base, but the combo of all of them togeather is kind of goofy.

I HATE EVERY SECOND I'M IN DALLAS AND HOUSTON.

Land north of Houston is acceptable (Conroe, Cleveland, etc.) Humble, pronounced Umble, where I'm from used to be great although they're making the Highway going (I-59) through it into a Mega Highway and the town has lost alot of it's charm. Main Street is still the same, but it deadends into the freeway. Once you get off of the freeway it's still very nice and if you ever visit the area, Atascasita is not another city but a chain of neighborhoods that actually is larger than Humble itself. If you go through Humble (via FM 1960) and across the bridge over Lake Houston into the Huffman area the land prices should come down though I haven't been there in years.

In the end I would recommend north of Houston or North of San Antonio (though land prices can be outrageous)

Hope this helps...

Æ

36 posted on 04/18/2002 10:54:33 AM PDT by AgentEcho
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To: CyberCowboy777
Texas has great homeschooling laws. Very hands-off. Moved to Maryland last year (military) after five years in Lubbock, but my favorite places in the state are:
1) Hill Country (Fredericksburg, Kerrville, Comfort, etc.) We lived in Kerrville and m-i-l was in Fred. Great places, both. We thought about buying a little farm near Comfort, which is certainly commuting distance to San Antonio and just a couple of hours from Austin, prime customer-territory for your computer business.
2) Austin -big city, Texas style, very cosmopolitan and tech friendly
3) San Antonio - fun place to visit with all of the family-oriented things to do

Also have family, multi-multi-multi millionaires who could live anywhere in the world who chose to settle waaaaaay down south in McAllen, and love it. (To each his own.) My beef with west Texas is that it is far too hot and far too dry. If you'll be gardening or wanting to do lots of outdoorsy stuff, I'd shoot for more temperate parts of the state, like those suggested above.

37 posted on 04/18/2002 10:56:47 AM PDT by shezza
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To: CyberCowboy777
Yeah, that whole area is less congested than the city of Houston. You might consider taking your next vacation and coming to those areas you have found interesting. You can also do virtual trips on the internet. I'm originally from Michigan and moved to the Dallas area just after I married. I didn't have the internet in 1975, but I did ask everyone I knew what they thought of Dallas. I talked to 50 people and only one person discouraged me from moving. Like most people, we came to Dallas because of Texas Instruments and stayed. I live in a smaller town just outside Dallas and I also homeschool. You will be pleasantly surprised by the politics in Texas.
38 posted on 04/18/2002 10:57:35 AM PDT by Slyfox
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To: Happygal; CyberCowboy777; MeeknMing; RikaStrom
Well I don't live in God's Country YET-- I mosey down there every couple months to see the ol' ball-n-chain-to-be though-- but when I strap on them spurs for good, it'll probably be either in Ft Worth-Dallas or Houston areas, since those are the most likely places a Ph.D. physicist could find a job, I speculate...

I don't intend to live in the city though. I'll commute an hour if I have to. I'm gonna get me a few dozen acres and a lil' ol' shack out in the middle of bumf*ck nowhere, out where I can go take a whiz off my front porch and there ain't nobody to call the cops for my indecent exposure and whatnot... ;)

M&M, you got any thoughts, bro? Talk to The Man, Cowboy. He knows what the deal with Dallas area is. Hook up with the lovely Miss Rika for some Houston info.

39 posted on 04/18/2002 10:57:54 AM PDT by maxwell
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To: CyberCowboy777
Definately move to the hill country around Boerne, TX. (pronunced burn-ey or bern-ie) There are a lot of beautiful horse ranches in the area and lots of land. You are only about 30 miles north of San Antonio on I-10 and are close to both Kerrville and New Braunsfels. You have the best of both worlds there.

Sorry I couldn't get you closer to the coast but.....!! I was raised in the Houston area and I am not impressed with Galveston or their beaches. They are not like Miami Beach or Malibu, which is north of Santa Monica. Good luck.

40 posted on 04/18/2002 10:59:16 AM PDT by Brownie74
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