If you spent a month in Texas ....

... where would it be?

http://www.bigthought.org/Portals/BT/Las%20Cuatro%20regiones%20principales%20de%20Tejas.pdf

I grow weary of upstate New York winters, eligible to retire and want to get out of NY. Taxes, gun laws, now casinos abound and still they can't find enough ways to get their hands into your pocket. Oh yeah, cars rust a lot too.

Mrs. 914 wants to take a winter to check out Texas. I agreed. She wants to spend winters there and still live in NY. I want to move there (or anywhere) and visit New York in the summer.

Yes I would give up the GarageMahal, thin the herd and ride the bikes more.

North & South Carolina are becoming the new Florida, snow birds abound. Don't think so.

I lean toward the rolling hills and grass lands of western Texas. Any thoughts, suggestions, advice?

Dan

I would like to visit Tejas sometime. As for NC, I haven't noticed the snowbird issue here. Mebbe dey all at da shore.

Plenty of snowbirds in NC around Tryon, Burnsville, Wayneville, and Asheville. All of wesern NC. These species of birds love high elevations and talk down to you if they are higher (elevation) than you.

Dan

SC is working on becoming the antithesis of NY on gun laws.

A former coworker sold his home here (SC), bought a fifth wheel camper and now "resides" in Texas. I think they have no state income taxes or something like that.

I could probably do Texas. It a really big state with a very diverse environment.

Austin if you're a hippie. That's all I got.

Austin, I've been told it's an outpost of civilization

All I will add is NOT El Paso.

I've lived here for 21 years. Majority of that was in Austin. It's a great town, full of just about anything you could possibly want. Traffic is a NIGHTMARE because the town is booming and is at 97% capacity and simply can not grow fast enough to handle all the people. That being said, I love it.

Climate is not humid at all, gets damn hot in summer, see some snow and ice in the winter every other year or so. Land is expensive, although not compared to some places people on here mention. A $250k house will be a very nice place to call home. Very nice. Austin is on the outskirts of what's called the Hill Country. Why? Cuz it's hilly, duh. Lots of fun roads to play on, but cops are no joke. They don't play when it comes to speeding tickets.

About 6 years ago I moved 2.5 hrs north (125 miles exactly from where I lived in Austin) to Brownwood, TX. Oh, when you get to Texas, you quit measuring by miles and convert to time. Anyway, very laid back conservative population here. Very rural. Land is super cheap ($3500-6500 per acre). We built our house for $177k and it's a damn nice place to call home. Here, a $250k house will be a mansion almost. Well, depending on the land associated with it. More acreage = less house. Anyway, it's very dry here, we're in a drought. Not many hills at all. We get a bit more snow and ice here over Austin, but not much more. Still gets damn hot. We saw multiple 110+ days here last year.

Dallas is kind of the middle ground. Dallas ALWAYS gets the rain we want. Dallas has crappy traffic too, but it's to be expected in a large city. I never lived there and don't have much experience to share other than housing is expensive apparently.

Houston... Well, it's hot, it's humid, and it's Houston. Being on the coast makes it cool I guess... Never been a fan of Houston. That's all I got. LOL

Anything more west than me becomes Oil and Wind country. Everyone is into wind power or oil field work. It stinks because of the oil. BALLS ASS HOT!! Dusty, nasty, gross.

Pan handle, flat, dry, oil & wind country. Amarillo... Been there, nothing to see really. Extremely flat and baren landscape.

The further east you go, the taller the trees get and more humid it gets. The further west you go, the more arid and dry it gets and the trees shrink. If you like trees, stay east/northeast Texas. If you like to see ALL the stars in the sky, come out west.

Hope this helps. If and when you get here, PM me and I'll give you my number. We will have to meet up, I'll buy you a beer.

I have no input on texas, but I agree word for word on NY. I want out.

Oh yeah, we do NOT have a state income tax.

Need more info. What do you like? Hills? Big sky? Water? Urban? Rural? You can find all of it somewhere in Texas, some places better than others.

Most folks here will tell you Austin, but it is turning into an eastern colony of California.

Personally, I'd go for the Hill Country, but I'm no beach person.

I have to work in Houston, but live as far outside it as I can (The Woodlands) because it generally sucks.

San Antonio:

River walk for the urban side of ya.

Spread out so it doesn't "feel" like a big city

Head out Bandera Boulevard through the hill country and enjoy the twisty roads, drive back in on Highway 10.

If you're gonna play in Texas, you better have a fiddle in the band.

Oh, and I just moved back to Texas after spending two years in NC in the Raleigh area. I really liked that part of the country-- moderate climate, easy access to mountains and the beach. Very pretty. The cost of living is higher than Texas, though, and the income taxes are horrible.

Texas makes up the income tax with absurdly high property taxes, but you can control that by what and where you buy.

Hungary Bill wrote: San Antonio: River walk for the urban side of ya. Spread out so it doesn't "feel" like a big city Head out Bandera Boulevard through the hill country and enjoy the twisty roads, drive back in on Highway 10.

Agree, probably the nicest part of Texas.

Above all, don't go to Witchita Falls.

For the winter month, Central Texas, South Texas. Not North Texas. All around, the Hill Country is very nice. Want beaches? Galveston. Houston isn't bad in the winter, but you really don't want to be there in the Summer.

(Ex Texan x 18 years. Speaking of which, you might check out Arkansas. Half the people here are from Texas.)

If I was going to come to Texas for just a winter visit I would pick some place in the Austin and San Antonio area. Fredrickburg is kind of touristy but nice. New Braunfels, San Marcos, and Seguin might be good places to look at in the Hill Country. I will say that there are a ton of other nice small towns in the area. If you are thinking desert I would stay away from Midland-Odessa and look farther south towards Marfa in the Big Bend.

I loved Arkansas when I was there. Wife has NO interest. She likes Arizona.

Midland/Odessa is a gigantic cluster f*#$% right now. The oil boom has absolutely blown those towns out of the water. Housing is unobtainable. Hotels are unobtainable as the oil companies are leasing out every room in hotels, while they're being constructed, for years in advance. Stay away. Stay far away!!

High property taxes can be easily avoided if you own land. We have 47 acres and pay about $2k a year in property taxes. It's all in how you do it.

I agree with everything Basil said.

Also as Dr. Hess said, you don't want to be in Houston in the summer. You said you would be in NY anyways.

Property taxes are ridiculous in Texas but real estate seems to be cheaper as well.

iceracer wrote: Above all, don't go to Witchita Falls.

That recommendation would carry more weight if you could spell Wichita Falls correctly.

Let me guess - you had something to do with Sheppard AFB?

Wichita Falls is not a bad place to be. North Central Texas not as humid as Southeast Texas, nor as flat and dry as it is out West. Wichita Falls is close enough to the Dallas-Fort Worth messoplex to hit the fun stuff without living with the rest of it. Oklahoma is just across the river where it belongs.

It's not the most exciting or beautiful city, but it also doesn't have all the issues that come with that excitement.

Zomby Woof wrote: I loved Arkansas when I was there. Wife has NO interest. She likes Arizona.

We looked at Prescott, AZ. We both liked it, but I hear that if you like Arizona, look at New Mexico. Same purple mountains, same huge blue sky; poorer/cheaper State.

New Mexico is a craphole, every place I've been in that state sucked. Just my opinion though. No offense to New Mexicans. LOL My in-laws live in Carlsbad. YUCK!

In reply to 914Driver:

That's also on her list.

I started a thread a while ago about park models in AZ. I recall that they were cheap.

In reply to Conquest351:

Ha! My tio abuelo lives in Ruidoso. I love getting him all riled up asking him when he is going to move out of Texas's western suburb.

Ruidoso is a nice place , though it has turned into a small time resort town. Still, it's not as big of a tourist trap as Santa Fe has turned into.