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Old 05-31-2013, 08:06 PM   #61
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So I'm here because I married a native Texan and something just keeps pullin' them back. We've been in Austin since '99 and it's hard to believe how much it has grown - the city population is more than 2x and the metro region probably more. Property taxes are huge and the schools are still not properly funded - the latest court case on this has still not been resolved. I would not choose to move here now, but we have enough roots that we'll probably stick around.
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Old 05-31-2013, 08:43 PM   #62
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So I'm here because I married a native Texan and something just keeps pullin' them back. We've been in Austin since '99 and it's hard to believe how much it has grown - the city population is more than 2x and the metro region probably more. Property taxes are huge and the schools are still not properly funded - the latest court case on this has still not been resolved. I would not choose to move here now, but we have enough roots that we'll probably stick around.

While reading about the growth of the cites etc., I saw where Texas was the 'stickiest' state.... IOW, people born there stay there more than any other state... no surprise, but Alaska was the least sticky....


One thing that I have noticed.... is that when someone goes overseas and are asked "where are you from?".... people from Texas will say 'Texas'.... people from the other states will usually say "USA" or something similar...
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Old 06-01-2013, 09:25 AM   #63
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How sad that being a cheap place to live is why people move there. We all know that it is cheap for a reason!
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Old 06-01-2013, 09:30 AM   #64
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How sad that being a cheap place to live is why people move there. We all know that it is cheap for a reason!
Do tell......

(Could be a thread killer.)
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Old 06-01-2013, 09:30 AM   #65
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How sad that being a cheap place to live is why people move there. We all know that it is cheap for a reason!
Which is what?
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Old 06-01-2013, 10:28 AM   #66
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Been living here 10 years and the wife and I plan to get out as soon as we push the last kid out of the house and into college.

Texas is in completely environmentally unsustainable. Aquifers are being trashed to grow cotton in the desert and rivers are going increasingly dry as long-term drought settles on the area. With climate change the Chihuahuan Desert will creep northward until it eventually covers most of the state. Yet around here people still think they have a God-given right to grow giant lawns of St. Augustine grass with cheap subsidized municipal water. In fact many HOAs still require it.

When this state finally runs out of water it will not be pleasant or pretty. And I, for one, don't want to be around to live through it.

PS, the reason no one leaves is because we are bordered on all sides by states that are even worse basket cases in one way or the other. Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. You have to go a LONG way from Texas to find more opportunity...pretty much all the way to one of the coasts. A quick trip to Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Little Rock, Oklahoma City, or Eastern NM will cure pretty much anyone of the notion that the grass is greener across the fence. So kids who grow up here pretty much stay here. No where else to go.
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Old 06-01-2013, 10:43 AM   #67
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Wasn't there a song that went sorta like: Happiness is love of Texas in the rear view mirror.

In the 80's driving through Texas after leaving Louisiana, heard it on the radio many times. Exited at Juares on the way to Needles Ca.
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Old 06-01-2013, 10:50 AM   #68
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I poke a lot of fun at Texas but that was where DW and I lived for the first year of our marriage, and we still have many fond memories of Austin. In fact, the biggest problem we had while living there had nothing to do with any of the things REW often posts about, it was with the Venezuelan Consul, a world class a$$hat.
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Old 06-01-2013, 11:12 AM   #69
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I was in Lubbock one day I think on a hot day in late fall when it was snowing. Snowing the fine detritus off cotton being hauled from the fields in big crates on metal trailers. Weird sight.

Ha
If you haven't been to serious cotton country in a couple of years, you will be amazed at the improvements in handling cotton in the field. You will see very little wasted cotton by the roadside these days. Of course, I'm sure the improvements displaced many field hands.
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Old 06-01-2013, 11:33 AM   #70
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Been living here 10 years and the wife and I plan to get out as soon as we push the last kid out of the house and into college.

Texas is in completely environmentally unsustainable. Aquifers are being trashed to grow cotton in the desert and rivers are going increasingly dry as long-term drought settles on the area. With climate change the Chihuahuan Desert will creep northward until it eventually covers most of the state. Yet around here people still think they have a God-given right to grow giant lawns of St. Augustine grass with cheap subsidized municipal water. In fact many HOAs still require it.

When this state finally runs out of water it will not be pleasant or pretty. And I, for one, don't want to be around to live through it.

PS, the reason no one leaves is because we are bordered on all sides by states that are even worse basket cases in one way or the other. Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. You have to go a LONG way from Texas to find more opportunity...pretty much all the way to one of the coasts. A quick trip to Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Little Rock, Oklahoma City, or Eastern NM will cure pretty much anyone of the notion that the grass is greener across the fence. So kids who grow up here pretty much stay here. No where else to go.
Agree that water is/will continue to be a problem in TX, NM, AZ, CA, CO, etc. as populations grow.
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Old 06-01-2013, 11:33 AM   #71
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I poke a lot of fun at Texas but that was where DW and I lived for the first year of our marriage, and we still have many fond memories of Austin. In fact, the biggest problem we had while living there had nothing to do with any of the things REW often posts about, it was with the Venezuelan Consul, a world class a$$hat.
You don't have to take this kind of abuse! We have other kinds, too...
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Old 06-01-2013, 11:48 AM   #72
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Agree that water is/will continue to be a problem in TX, NM, AZ, CA, CO, etc. as populations grow.
Good point - - I found water to be even more of a problem when living in southern California than it was for us in Texas. It tasted even worse, and was rationed for a while when we lived there.

We have plenty of water in New Orleans... as you can see from this photo taken earlier this week after a 2-3 hour deluge. Unfortunately crime can be a huge problem for retirees here.
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Old 06-01-2013, 12:08 PM   #73
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Been living here 10 years and the wife and I plan to get out as soon as we push the last kid out of the house and into college.
I tried to tell you!

Sure hope you can find a way to speed up your departure...
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Old 06-01-2013, 12:27 PM   #74
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Let's face it, it's nice to live in a cheap (oh, OK, inexpensive) place. But then it's much harder financially to relocate to a more desirable location. Oh well, we all have to make choices.
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Old 06-01-2013, 12:42 PM   #75
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Let's face it, it's nice to live in a cheap (oh, OK, inexpensive) place. But then it's much harder financially to relocate to a more desirable location. Oh well, we all have to make choices.
"Desirable" is very personal.
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Old 06-01-2013, 12:51 PM   #76
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"Desirable" is very personal.

Very true. But then again, as I pointed out earlier, some things (cars, homes, places to live, etc.) are more expensive for a reason.
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Old 06-01-2013, 01:14 PM   #77
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Very true. But then again, as I pointed out earlier, some things (cars, homes, places to live, etc.) are more expensive for a reason.
Still not sure what you think we all know is the reason Texas is cheap--we amateur economists are dying to know how it bucks the laws of supply and demand in that five cities there are in high demand, per the OP.

I have never lived in Texas myself.
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Old 06-01-2013, 01:28 PM   #78
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Still not sure what you think we all know is the reason Texas is cheap--we amateur economists are dying to know how it bucks the laws of supply and demand in that five cities there are in high demand, per the OP.
Oh OK, I'll bite (though I think you really DO know the answer) - it's cheap because that's what it's worth to live there! And I've never lived there either, though I DID look a couple decades ago at a job in my field that my company (P&G) had in a plant they used to have in Dallas. I was shocked at how little homes cost in some pretty nice appearing towns - like Plano. I found out later (after turning down the job offer) that's because that was all they were worth.
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Old 06-01-2013, 01:34 PM   #79
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I think if you lived out in the sticks away from the crazy cities the life would be great! Especially if you didn't have to work.
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Old 06-01-2013, 01:34 PM   #80
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Oh OK, I'll bite (though I think you really DO know the answer) - it's cheap because that's what it's worth to live there! And I've never lived there either, though I DID look a couple decades ago at a job in my field that my company (P&G) had in a plant they used to have in Dallas. I was shocked at how little homes cost in some pretty nice appearing towns - like Plano. I found out later (after turning down the job offer) that's because that was all they were worth.
Not any clearer, at least to me.
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