LS1Adam84

iTrader: (21)

So since I am in the IT field and well the wife and I are trying to decide if we are up for the move. Yes we are from California, but we are not Californians lol. We are looking at Austin and my wife's biggest concern is Tornados, I have seen that they typically hit outside of Austin, and also what are good neighborhoods for people with kid(s)?

03Sssnake

iTrader: (20)

My wife and I lived there for 9 years (NW Austin/RR area)...I think I saw one tornado near the Dell Campus where I worked at the time. There can be some nasty hill country weather, we had hail one year that destroyed our roof (05 or 06).

Where are you going to work? If you want real neighborhoods/suburbia without spending a small fortune...then you are probably going to have to consider living in round rock, georgetown, cedar park, pville etc...

LS1Adam84

iTrader: (21)

I am just doing some initial looking, by the time we are able to make the move it might be a couple years, I have a friend here at work who has a contact at a company out there and he has said whenever I want to come out just let him know. I will ask what company, I have heard that you would want to live on the side of the river where you work otherwise it's about 30 extra minutes on your commute.


Well what's a small fortune we would be looking in the $300 to possibly $400k range since the house we own here already has over $100k in equity. I would like to wait and save to get as close to having 50% down but we will see.

Hail and weather we can deal with I know it gets hot, and I know I would be running AC like crazy haha.

DSIM

iTrader: (1)

This will be the biggest factor for you. Ive lived in Austin for almost 3 years now and a friend of mine for 15+ years. I live in SW Austin (Mopac and Davis Lane) and I love the area. However, if you are looking at working at Dell... I wouldnt recommend living down south.

Weather? Well it hasnt rained enough here in the last couple years to bring in some tornadoes, even still they are a rarity down here. If you were moving up to Dallas then that might be something to worry about... not so much here.

Damn, thats quite the in.... what company? Feel free to PM me if you dont want it out there.

LS1Adam84

iTrader: (21)

Yeah I need to find out she jus said she put the feeler out and since she put in a good word I guess that worked lol.

We really do want to move, I am ok with moving since I was in the military and am quite ok with being 2000 miles away from family, but the better half is really attached to her family and it would be difficult for her. We see it as Cali sucks politically and we are tired of the BS, I have to pay almost $300 every two years to get my car to pass smog, I worry when I pull the camaro out that Highway patrol will pull me over for non stock parts.


I know the biggest part is finding a job, I will be looking for a network engineer/ network admin position and from what I saw on the internet (lord knows the internet is not the most accurate) but I would be within $5k of what I am making here.

03Sssnake

iTrader: (20)

Don't forget the cost of living should be lower, even in the ATX/Centex area... There are plenty of tech jobs there and elsewhere in Texas (Dallas/Houston area are very good at the moment) You can buy a lot of home for the money, especially what you have planned/budgeted.

Best of luck in leaving Cali

LS1Adam84

iTrader: (21)

Yeah I heard that if you are a Veteran after you live in Texas for a year there is no property tax or state tax, not sure if that's true. I have yet to really look into that.

What do they do for emissions testing there? Is it just a simple plug in ob2 and that's it?

You guys also have almost $1 less per gallon fuel cost lol.

I know I will miss more mild ish weather although I am out near the desert, I just won't miss the hippy politics and letting idiots run our cities/counties/state...

03Sssnake

iTrader: (20)

There is no state income tax, every homeowner pays property tax, unless you are veteran rated for 100% disability. You can and should claim homstead exemption, example you are exempt from paying taxes on the 1st 50K of assessed value, remaining amount is taxed at the normal rate. (just an example)

The car basically has to be able to pass visual and obdII scan, some inspectors may do more of a visual than others...However its pretty easy to find a 'friendly' shop...Any car over 25 years only has to have safety inspection.

Stroked96Bowtie

iTrader: (22)

Why Austin? From an IT perspective, the DFW area is booming right now. I work in the same field.

Moving to Texas and worrying about tornados is like someone from Texas moving to CA worried about earth quakes. Potential for disaster in both. One place I would NOT move to is FL, hurricanes get retarded over there.

LS1Adam84

iTrader: (21)

I have not looked into DFW I have only heard from other IT people who have moved, went to Austin, I still need to schedule some "vacations" out there to see all possible areas.

Thank you for the insight, right now all we know is we have heard Austin is really nice and IT friendly.

Yeah I know either way you can have a disaster, my wife is more concerned than I am about it. I agree with not moving to Florida, my Mom is from New York so my grandma and all her pals moved to Florida when they retired, I love visiting my grandmother but I hate the weather, plus the bug bites, I know there are plenty of really awesome bugs in Texas, but I have never been bitten so much my whole life.




Ah and can you get pulled over and get an almost $1,000 ticket for having headers on your car? Good to know I can find a friendly place, as long as the car is tuned correctly it should pass obd2 just fine.

KissMyTushZ28

iTrader: (4)

Tornados... Here? Never seen one. Seriously. It barely even rains here.

KissMyTushZ28

iTrader: (4)

I have many friends with LTs loud exhaust and big cams and they don't get pulled over in my area(North Austin). And I know a couple shops that will inspect your car and not care if you are even running straight headers or have headlights hanging off. As long as it passes on the state computer for having no SES codes you are good to go!

LS1Adam84

iTrader: (21)

I learned to drive in Colorado in some nice snow, and we had some awesome storms too, hell there was a few good storms when I was in Basic down in San Antonio, Thank you guys for the info, the more I can sell her on it, the better off we are lol.

Stroked96Bowtie

iTrader: (22)

I think he was talking about FL here...never heard of that for Texas nor have I been pulled over and asked to see what exhaust manifolds I was running...lol.

LS1Adam84

iTrader: (21)

Sweet, that's part of many pluses to moving out of cali, my I have a tsp 228 cam with no egr, AIR, or cats, I recently pulled the ypipe and cut it up and welded it to tuck up to the body for more clearance, and with my magnaflow cat back I get the highway patrol looking at me, I have had cops follow me and I throw it in 5th gear at 35 mph so it quiets down a little.

If I were to get pulled over and get a state referee ticket it starts at $800 and you have to get it inspected by a state certified referee for emissions equipment, you can pay the fee without getting it checked but then you are labeled a gross polluter and have to smog the car every year, which is about $250 to pass it, normal smog fee is $50, but to get a "friendly" guy it'll cost ya.

JetBlack98Z

iTrader: (9)

Austin is an extremely techie city, especially with UT and the liberal style of living. Hell Google picked Austin for their Google Fiber install, that's saying something.

ysb02

All the tornadoes pretty much happen north of Austin (north of Georgetown where it gets country and real cheap). The biggest thing is traffic. It's the worst in Texas. Forget about anything east of i35 also.

xxtremes33

DFW is definitely booming. Austin IT is no the down hill. Ive been in austin for 15 years and absolutely love it. i cant remember of any tornadoes that have actually touched down in the austin area in quite some time.

LS1Adam84

iTrader: (21)

Liberal style of living?

Mr. Hyde

iTrader: (10)

Stay in California, traffic is bad enough here already.