Need Advice: Career move to Dallas

[polarmystery]

OP,

I lived in Dallas for close to 15 years. The people are very nice and very accommodating. The weather does get really hot, and you'll see trucks everywhere. It's fairly cheap to live out there, but you will drive far distances to go anywhere.

I ended up moving to Maryland thinking I'd like it better here (due to me being more liberal than conservative) but it turned out I was wrong. I'm not sure if I'd move back, but if you can stand the heat and the long drives...there are plenty of things to do there. Also, no state income taxes but higher sales tax.

 

[ViviTheMage]

IF I moved to Texas, it would be Corpus Christi, or San Antonio ... if it's not near water, wth is the point of the heat in Texas?!

 

[BurnItDwn]

Dude, it was in the 80s during the last week of December last year...

In Dallas, there are places where instead of parking lots we have stables for our horsies. You get subsidies from the state if you build your house in the shape of a cowboy hat or boot. Everyone drives at least a 4x4, and you get tax credits for driving a vehicle that gets less than 12mpg. Make sure you replicate that stereotypical drawl that Texans have, it's not actually a stereotype.

You're going to be crying if you hanker for Chinese all the time. As an Asian who grew up around good Chinese (Vancouver), Dallas' sucks. You'll find better Chinese in Plano (where I live), and some of the restaurants are really not that bad. But it probably won't come anywhere near LA's.

Plant your ass in Plano and call it a day. As for the heat, it's bad (105+ in the summer anyone?), but at least it's not humid like Houston. You get used to it quickly. If you have kids, they'll go through a pretty badass school system.

Hah, awesome!
Though 100+ would be unbearable!!!
Lack of Chinese food would suck.
Is there at least a good variety of Thai, Indian, Pho, Korean BBQ, and Japanese Steak or Tempura places?

 

[gotsmack]

Great, this pretty much sums a lot for me. I am a outdoor person and I actually live next to the beach (Manhattan Beach). I don't believe in instant gratitude, so some sacrifice is understandable.

I had the same Initial thought when I had the offer to move to nowhere MD. Then I realized that these are actually the prime years of my life. So it came down to: would I rather have money or time. I chose time.

Give it some more thought, 2 years is a long time to spend somewhere you hate and you don't have a guarantee for return.

 

[Svnla]

OP, DFW cost of living is lower, especially housing cost. I do like DFW area. It can be pretty hot in the summer, make sure your car AC unit is working propertly before you move here. Check this link out = http://listings.guidelive.com/

Burn - there are some decent Asian restaurants in Garland, Richardson (burbs of DFW). They are not in the same level as the ones in Orange County but pretty good.

Vivi - San Antonio is far away from the ocean, Houston is much closer.

Nebor - I visit DFW many times and have Asian friends that live there for years but not a lot of racial hate to them (prejudice yes but outright violent hate no).

 

[HardcoreRobot]

15% + move from commiefornia to low-cost of living texas will be a very substantial jump in your purchasing power.

dallas has some great schools and would be a good place to raise an eventual family. its a major metropolis with all the things you would expect from one. will not be as diverse as CA, but few places are.

you would be giving up CA weather and land features (beach, mountains, outdoor living etc.) if those are absolutely critical to you, you will not like texas. if you are more interested in your career and salary, Dallas could be a good choice.

if you have drank the CA liberal koolaid about how the government should hold your dick while you pee (and other people should pay them to do that), you may not get along with most people in dallas. if the cali granola-for-brains attitude is important to you, you will not like dallas.

best thing to do is go check it out!

 

[dmcowen674]

Lulz. Grew up in Highland Park & University Park, own a home in Colleyville, TX. Sitting in Colleyville, TX at this very moment.

Ah just realized my location was not on the Avatar like yours so updated that.

Why do you hate Asians so much?

 

[Nebor]

Ah just realized my location was not on the Avatar like yours so updated that.

Why do you hate Asians so much?

As pointed out in the "Is the US Slowly Dying" thread, Asians represent the best and brightest in America now, taking most of the valedictorian spots, math and engineering jobs, etc. They're buoying America, and I hate America, so...

 

[dmcowen674]

As pointed out in the "Is the US Slowly Dying" thread, Asians represent the best and brightest in America now, taking most of the valedictorian spots, math and engineering jobs, etc. They're buoying America, and I hate America, so...

OK then

Someone has to have the $150,000 + College debt.

 

[dougp]

IF I moved to Texas, it would be Corpus Christi, or San Antonio ... if it's not near water, wth is the point of the heat in Texas?!

Corpus is a shit hole. San Antonio isn't near the coast, but people on the west coast don't seem to comprehend the inherent danger of living off the coast here in TX - there are odds you'll be hit by a hurricane at least once every 10 years. Also, the Gulf is highly overrated in terms of how it looks - very muddy due to the shipping channels. Good surfing from what I've heard, though.

you would be giving up CA weather and land features (beach, mountains, outdoor living etc.) if those are absolutely critical to you, you will not like texas. if you are more interested in your career and salary, Dallas could be a good choice.

There's plenty to do outdoors in TX - you just have to drive there. And that can take quite awhile. There's no skiing, but you can mountain bike, road ride, hike (quite a few large parks), camp, fish, boat, kayak, etc. etc. all within the state rather easily.

 

[ViviTheMage]

OP, DFW cost of living is lower, especially housing cost. I do like DFW area. It can be pretty hot in the summer, make sure your car AC unit is working propertly before you move here. Check this link out = http://listings.guidelive.com/

Burn - there are some decent Asian restaurants in Garland, Richardson (burbs of DFW). They are not in the same level as the ones in Orange County but pretty good.

Vivi - San Antonio is far away from the ocean, Houston is much closer.

Nebor - I visit DFW many times and have Asian friends that live there for years but not a lot of racial hate to them (prejudice yes but outright violent hate no).

I hear houston kind of sucks though? pretty ghetto

 

[Nebor]

OK then

Someone has to have the $150,000 + College debt.

If your employer\corporation pays for your school you have no debt. Corporations should decide who does and doesn't get an education anyway.

 

[Nebor]

I hear houston kind of sucks though? pretty ghetto

Houston is pretty ghetto. It took in the worst of New Orleans residents after Hurricane Katrina and most of them never left. I'd still rate it as the 3rd best major city in Texas (Dallas, Austin, Houston.)

 

[HardcoreRobot]

Corpus is a shit hole. San Antonio isn't near the coast, but people on the west coast don't seem to comprehend the inherent danger of living off the coast here in TX - there are odds you'll be hit by a hurricane at least once every 10 years. Also, the Gulf is highly overrated in terms of how it looks - very muddy due to the shipping channels. Good surfing from what I've heard, though.




There's plenty to do outdoors in TX - you just have to drive there. And that can take quite awhile. There's no skiing, but you can mountain bike, road ride, hike (quite a few large parks), camp, fish, boat, kayak, etc. etc. all within the state rather easily.

i lived in texas for 13 years, i know all about it 🙂. you can find outdoor activities everywhere, im just saying dallas cant compare to LA in that regard. and something you cant change (no beach in dallas etc.). just straight up temperature wise, its not comfortable to be outside in texas for a large part of the year.

 

[dmcowen674]

I hear houston kind of sucks though? pretty ghetto

Houston was getting rough before Katrina, can imagine after.

 

[dmcowen674]

If your employer\corporation pays for your school you have no debt. Corporations should decide who does and doesn't get an education anyway.

Not everyone gets a Corporation to pay for school anymore.

If you did back in the day good for you but that is the exception rather than the rule now.

 

[Svnla]

I hear houston kind of sucks though? pretty ghetto

In some areas of Houston, yes (especially now with the undesirables from NO Katrina). I do not care about the industry park area (port of Houston/oi refineries) either.

If you live in the burbs (Sugarland is one), it is not so bad. As a matter of fact, I would not live inside a large city but a burb nearby.

 

[crab]

I spent a weekend in Dallas simply because I wanted to take a free buddy ticket non-revenue kinda thing out of LGA (guess the airline lol) so I could fly a flight he was piloting and thats just where he was going that weekend lol. I stayed right in downtown next to the huge building with the green lights going up the edges..a few blocks from Dealey Plaza. Spent some time in the school book depository and grassy knoll lol. Couldn't believe how small the plaza actually was!

A weekend isn't enough to form an adequate perspective, but I fell in love with the area. I did take a drive up to Addison Airport to see their air museum, and that area seemed nice. I liked Dallas.

 

[Bazake]

If you're single, DFW definitely has some beautiful women, generally trading places with LA and Miami on many of the Top 10 Cities with the Hottest Women type lists. Right now I think California is in the #1 spot for Miss America winners while Texas is #1 for Miss USA.

 

[chubbyfatazn]

Hah, awesome!
Though 100+ would be unbearable!!!
Lack of Chinese food would suck.
Is there at least a good variety of Thai, Indian, Pho, Korean BBQ, and Japanese Steak or Tempura places?

Eh, it's not that bad. You really do get used to it after awhile. Now whenever I go back to Canadia and the high is in the 60s I'm wearing a jacket. lol

I'm from Plano, so my knowledge is limited to that area.

Thai - I've only ever been to one restaurant chain that has decent Thai food
Indian - dunno, never really tried. i do know of a couple places that were decent a few years ago
Pho - yes. of course it probably doesn't compare to California's but it's still very good pho imo.
Korean BBQ - just go to Carrollton/H-Mart area. There's like a whole plaza where you can just walk around and not understand anything being said lol
Japanese steak/tempura - outside one of those Japanese sushi buffet thingies, nah

Honestly, my family frequents five or six great Chinese restaurants in the area. The more hole-in-the-wall types that seem shitty from the outside, but probably do that to keep white people out from all the good Chinese food 😛

And Corpus Christi, ewww. If you're not on the beach it's like walking through a wall of water particles. The humidity was disgusting. Houston was a lot more tolerable for me in that regard.

 

[PricklyPete]

I personally wouldn't do it. I'm not a huge fan of LA either though...but I'd happily live there over Dallas. I've been to Dallas a few times for work and I used to date a girl in college who was from Texas. Just never enjoyed it.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

There a quite a few good Thai restaurants in the Addison / Farmers Branch area and some pretty decent Indian restaurants as well. The only Pho place I've tried is Pho Que Huong, which is pretty decent.

 

[zoiks]

My former company gave me the choice of being laid off or move to Plano, TX. Having been to Plano before, I decided that there was no way I was going to live there. Looked around, interviewed and landed a job with 40% more pay in the bay area where I lived.

 

[CountZero]

San Antonio is pretty nice... Dallas seems to be the heart and soul of the Texas stereotype, which is about as opposite to LA as it could be.

I disagree with this completely. I'd say Dallas is essentially the LA of Texas. A giant sprawl of land chock full of plastic people in luxury cars and mcmansions. There are enclaves of real money but a lot of it is decent money and a low CoL. The plastic people here are different from those in LA but superficially it is pretty close.

Dallas proper isn't great for asian stuff, mostly fusion cuisine with a few bright spots. If you've never been it might surprise you to find out that outside of uptown/downtown and in the suburbs there is a large asian population. Lots of grocery stores and restaurants that are quite good. Mostly Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese and Korean. In general foodie culture is pretty big here with a lot of upper end grocery stores as well as good restaurants. On the flip side Dallas is fatty central so nearly every chain is represented here if that's your thing.

Traffic sucks so where you work will determine where you'd like to live and that will determine alot of pros/cons. Oh and unless you are extremely lucky and your office is on a DART line public transit is mediocre at best. There are also very very few walkable neighborhoods so a car is basically a necessity.

It isn't a complete cultural dead zone but it is pretty close.

In general I'm not a huge fan of Dallas, weather sucks, traffic sucks, it is completely full of mall culture trappings and feels like it has very little personality. That terrible show (GCB maybe?) is based on the typical moneyed Dallasite, haven't seen it but from what I've heard it is spot on. I doubt highly Dallas would be as interesting to live in as LA but it also likely isn't quite as bad as you'd imagine. It isn't great but it isn't as bad as I imagined. 95k will go pretty far outside of uptown/park cities and even then you could swing uptown without too much effort.

There are pros on the whole family side of things, or so I've been told by coworkers but I have no experience there.

 

[Wudemaya]

Thanks for the info guys. By the way, I'm looking to reside in Plano due to the 99 ranch market proximity.