True housing does seem abit better here, but then again it depends on the house you are getting and the location, as we all know. Some houses here are only few years old compared to some small towns up north the houses can be 70 years old. Different construction and design, it varies greatly.

I just figured if you move here, you'd want to spend a year or 2 renting apartments just to get a feel for the area before commiting to buying a house.

 

I'll agree with that bigtime, definitely dont wanna commit to house in a place you've never lived before.

 

I do plan on visiting, hopefully on quite a few interviews, but there's a decent picture being painted, i know more now than I did 2 days ago :] haha what makes austin so much better for outdoors stuff? I mean i figured you've got the generic hiking everywhere and what not and humidity isn't too bad there?

 

The reason being is because Austin is located in the hill country part of Texas, lots of lakes for fishing, skiing, hanging out on a boat (if you have one), etc. There are also lots of rivers for tubing, camping, parks, hiking, running, etc. These things may not be located right in the middle of austin (except for barton springs, 60 degrees in the summer, NICE) but are just a quick drive away just like everything else (Schlitterbaun, outlet malls). I'm sure there are a few things I left out but that's the overall picture. So for outdoors, Austin is king hands down.

 

that sounds awesome, i didn't know austin even got snow, or could produce it

 

I am from Chicago moved to Dallas when I was young but I been back and forth from chicago to dallas and I must say people are much nicer, and laid back in the DFW area, traffic is bad unless rush hour and still isnt that bad to chicago. I am from the Allen/Plano (North Dallas) area and I will never leave. Car scene is big here, tons of food/malls/sports/outdoor activities to do not to mention everything seems nicer, good job markets, gas isn't too bad. Summers really are not that bad until august then 2-3 months of great weather to mild winter to 2-4 months of great weather again. I have been to houston and austin a lot and I like DFW better although Austin is really nice. Houston no offense but was humid as **** and traffic blew but that is bias from what I experienced while I was there. Now I love Chicago but doesnt compare to here, I will never go back. If you like doing things you will love Texas.

p.s. beware you will start saying y'all and ain't

 

the humidity really differs that much from dallas to austin?? Also, how's the tornado situation down there, any you guys experiene it a lot?

 

Moved from boston 4 yrs ago. Love it in dallas

 

Halthom city is just outside of ft worth so close enough. Just goes to show he doesn't get out with so much so close and him hating it. Of course you're going to hate a place if you do nothing but work and stare at the walls of your apartment.

There is a BIG difference in humidity between Houston and Dallas. Austin is somewhere in the middle. During the summer when the wind is coming from the southeast it gets pretty damn humid but like I soar before its really not that bad. I'm a construction inspector so I spend a ton of time outdoors and I make it through just fine. For those who have an inside job you're not out in it enough to bother you. If you are chances are you're out in it doing outdoors stuff anyway.

DFW gets some tornadoes but nothing crazy and not every year even. North Texas definitely has more severe cold weather type stuff(tornadoes, hail, sleet, snow, ice, etc) but still its nothing even close to what's up north.

Houston gets all the big storms off the gulf but if you're prepared only the worst of storms can really cause problems.

Austin is in the middle again. See a running theme here? Hurricanes are just a lot of wind and rain by the times they make it here. We don't get nearly as much of the winter storm stuff as DFW does but we do occasionally get an ice storm.

In addition to what hiram said, Austin is just more focused on outdoor stuff. Tons of bars and restaurants with huge patios, large parks(zilker), hike and bike trail with a river right through the middle of downtown. Tons of live music, its called the live music capital of the world. Pretty much every genre plays here, if you like country music its especially strong here.

If you like *******, beer and good music you'll love the rivers

If you make your way down to Austin, I'd show you around some. I'm a big outdoors person so that's why I love it here. If you can deal with the traffic its a great place to live. If you're not too big on outdoors stuff, DFW is probably a better fit.

 

Dont forget San Antonio!

 

Its nice pretty close to year round here so you always see people out walking/running/biking with family... kind of makes you want to get out of the house.

 

He means water skiing. Only snow skiing your going to do down here is if it gets bad enough to close freeway interchanges. Only seen that done once in 34 years in Houston. Austin is a party town with all the out doors stuff to go along. My brother lives there and the only thing that annoys him are apartment prices, his single bed room was 1,300 a month. I enjoy going up there but i like being in Houston because I'm an hour away from the beach.

The rivers are must when you come down here, we head down there for a week every Memorial weekend. lots of booze and women.

 

Unfortunately, the OP is only interested in Austin, Dallas, or Houston

 

It's hard to understand how different all these places are without seeing them. Dallas is more white collar, houston is blue collar and Austin is full of hippies. You kind of need to spend a few days in each to figure which fits you. They are all great I their own way.

 

Not sure what side of SA you are on, but the few times I been thru and in that town, it looks like a crap hole. Surrounding areas just didnt look appealing at all. No offense. I love the river walk thing. That is the best part I've found. But outside that, not really nice looking IMO. Actual downtown seems to be a ghost town or atleast thats the impression I got.

 

Is that right? So I guess the fact that the last time I made any reference to my life on here was around summer time, that leads you to believe I'm a hermit? Not at all, I have met a lot of cool people here, I didn't say the people sucked did I? If you really want, I will literally go back and search through my posts to see when the last time I even came close to bitching about my situation. I've met quite a few LS1Techers IRL since I've moved here and that has been pretty cool, kingd_202 is a pretty cool guy, jgarza54 I have met multiple times and will see him again this week and he's also a pretty damn cool dude as well. I could keep going. I've also gone and hung out with people my age quite a lot, though that ended for the most part when I switched to a job last fall that I have since left because it had me working 18 hour days 6-7 days a week.

OP wanted opinions, I gave him my opinion/experience. Not everyone is going to agree with you.

Werd, 820 is undescribable. I never thought it was possible. Being fair, 820 is not an all encompassing highway so I too would not base my opinion off of that unless you plan to move to the Fort Worth area.

I *think* so lol. I know I-35 and I-30 are also pretty bad going into Fort Worth, I used to work around the TCU area last year for about 6 months, traffic was hell.

What do you want from me? Am I supposed to go out alone to a night club and hope to find a group to hang out with or something? I moved here because I was barely 18 living on my own in California after my parents left, they convinced me over a period of months time it would be a great idea to move out here. This has not been so. You grew up in Texas so I wouldn't expect you to understand the difficulties of leaving everything you love and grew up with behind at the drop of a hat and not being able to return to it even though you want to more than anything. By the way, I believe I DID mention I have the best job I've ever had here, and I know nothing in California could compare.

You might be right. When I told people in California that I was moving to Texas, everyone asked me if I was moving to Austin. When I told them DFW every single person who asked just said "Aww that's too bad." I don't know HOW they know, but it sounds list Austin is THE place to be in Texas *shrug*

 

I don't want anything from you, merely saying your disdain for the DFW is a direct result of your personality, not the area you live in. I'm quite familiar with what its like to drop everything and haul ***. When I was 19 I broke up with my gf and moved to Alabama for an internship and still managed to make friends and have a good time. Granted I didn't like it there but that was a direct result of everything being so spread out and living in the boonies. I'm lazy about driving.

I moved to Austin only knowing one person who has since moved back to Houston. The first two years I worked for my company I didn't go below 70 hours a week and still managed to make friends. I'm still averaging 60 hours a week and somehow managed to find a wife, go to school at night and have friends.

I met a lot of good people at the pool at my old apt complex, and playing in coed leagues. It just annoys me when people say they hate a place especially one as nice(in general) as the DFW area when you haven't given it a fair shot.

If you haven't been able to make friends don't blame it on DFW.

 

My personality isn't really the issue, my preference is if anything. I'm a very social person, won funniest of my class in high school, make friends very easily and as I have said, I have managed to make friends here. It's not the same, I didn't grow up with any of them, I don't have half the bond and memories with them as I do people back home. If I had known even one person coming here, I would have felt much better about it.

The whole flow of everything is just different here, the people, the places, it's just not my style. If I lived in a complex filled with more people then I'd imagine it would be easier but all I have around me are old people (and 2 of them have died now) and some stupid 16 year old next door with a v6 Charger that drives like an idiot. I honestly do not get how you were able to squeeze in time for coed leagues with 70+ hours a week, that does blow my mind.

It's simply just too different for me man, I can't get used to the discussions of polar opposite political views than what I'm used to hearing, nor the layout of the freeways or the cities, or the fact that 95% of the girls here want a country boy with a big lifted truck with mud all over it wearing a plaid shirt and cowboy boots. The food selection is different (thank god there is now have an In N Out Burger here, and Texas DOES have Chik Fil A), people's choice of music is different, weather is VERY different, I managed to form a personal relationship of hate with TCU's head football coach because of my old job, the few dates I have been on ended up insane and literally almost killed me with the last one, anytime someone brings up politics I am chastised for having a Moderate view and not a Conservative view, even though I have never really studied politics enough to make an informed decision, people constantly give me **** for some reason for being from California, I've had a giant black dude try to kick my *** because I accidentally (I stress that) busted him cheating on his wife, and I've had my car hit in two hit and runs (when I was not around) in the 14 months that I've been here.

People in California told me I never gave Texas a shot when my family first moved here in June 2010 and I left 2 weeks later to move back to CA on my own. I decided to take that on and for the last year I have given Texas a shot, several shots really. It has not worked out so far. To top it all off, for the members here who have been in or know Haltom City, I think you might agree with me when I say my area is kind of ghetto. I've seen people say it on here before, recently. I live in a nicer area, but generally it seems kinda run down and old.

I will be fair though, Texas overall does have great food, people here are noticeably more friendly up front, the warmer winters are nice for me because I hate the cold, I scored the best job I've ever had here doing something I love, the car scene here is better than any other state in the country, period, I do enjoy the thunderstorms that are pretty frequent in the Spring and Fall, and Texas does have In N Out now

 

H

ENOUGH. OP, Texas is a great place to live. Born and raised here, been to several other states on business and for pleasure. I love it in Texas, it has its ups and downs, but I would tell anybody to move here. Anything you could possibly need is here, or close whether it be in DFW, Houston, Austin or even San Antonio. Texas IMO is the place to be, hell Rick Perry told me personally he plans on branching off and making Texas its own country....

 

Can you move to a different area? Sounds like you need a change of scenery.

I worked 6-12s and went in to work at 6am so I got to play a little at night and of course on Sundays. Coed sports leagues are a damn good time. We have Austin Sports and Social Club down here, which basically amounts to a coed sports league(softball, flag football, kickball, wiffleball, soccer, volleyball, etc) and theyve got a deal with some local bars for cheap drinks after the game where both teams go and hang out. Pretty damn good time, then if youre in a younger people apt complex the pool is always fun during the winter. Thats how I met a good chunk of my friends here.

Personally I dont really talk about politics with people, it usually just pisses me off with how un-informed they are so its best ot leave it alone. Sounds like youd fit in better down here, Austin is pretty damn liberal, almost ot the point I cant believe Im still in Texas sometimes.

Dont know what to telly ou about the women, I wear cowboy boots and drive a 4wd truck(not covered in mud though ) so I didnt find it hard to get along with the ladies. There are a lot of skater, rockabilly, goth, artsy-fartsy people down here so maybe youd have better luck.

Sounds like you need to take a step back and regroup. Dont give up yet.