Moving to Texas! All people knowledgeable of Texas, please enter.

[GSXMatt]

Well as the title says, I am returning stateside and am moving down South to Texas. Abilene area specifically. I know a few members here moved south, what can you tell me about? Gun laws seem to be about nonexistent, so that is a plus. How are the women? Things to do, the whole 9 yards.

[Kracka]

My wife and I moved down in Oct '09 and so far we're really loving it. Feel free to ask any specific questions you want, but I'll throw out a few general observations we've noticed so far.

The infrastructure here is in much better repair than it is up north. The roads are mostly smooth and there doesn't seem to be constant road construction that accomplishes nothing. The biggest thing you'll notice are the tollways and turnpikes; they cost money to drive on ($3 round-trip for me to/from work each day) but they're generally wider and faster moving. Drivers are also much more aggressive down here so expect everyone around you to be driving fast and offensively. I'm not sure how much this will relate to Abilene though since I'm in the DFW area.

Another thing big is their taxes. There is no Texas state income tax which equates to quite a bit of $$$ each paycheck. Sales tax is slightly higher (8.25%) and property taxes are a little higher, but even combined they come no where near close to what MN state income tax equals.

The housing market is also much better down here. It didn't crash as much as the rest of the country, but the prices are far more reasonable. To get a similar house in an equivalent neighborhood in the Minneapolis area my wife and I would have seriously been looking at double the price compared to what we paid here. The apartment we first lived in when we moved down was also about 1/2 the price as we were paying in MN; much nicer development but it was smaller and only 1 bedroom instead of 2.

As far as the job market is concerned my wife was able to transfer down with her company from MN at the same salary, then got a raise a few months after. I moved down before securing employment, but I did find a job within the same industry at a higher salary with equivalent benefits.

The nightlife and restaurants are both very strong here. There are more places to eat than you could ever imagine and a lot of them are BYOB. The Uptown area is also very similar to Minneapolis' but on a larger scale (I found this out the hard way and ended up walking a long ways). I haven't hit the downtown club scene at all though so I really can't comment on that, but from what I hear its pretty strong. Hot women are very plentiful; plenty of eye-candy at the bars, malls, etc. MN had its fair share too though.

If you want to do it, its available here. There are some very large lakes around for boating and I think they all have jet-ski rentals. I know they hold some large fishing tournaments in the area too. Dallas and Fort Worth both have large zoos. There is a very large Six Flags in Arlington with some great coasters and a huge waterpark across the street from it.

The gun laws here are pretty loose. I don't own one, but plenty of the Evo guys do. There don't seem to be any laws regarding the carrying of visible firearms (just the typical banned in government buildings and some malls don't allow them). To get a conceal & carry permit its $99 and a couple hour course; some of the Evo guys did this together last month.

Car registration and tabs are also much cheaper here. I haven't switched my Evo or my license over yet, but Janelle did and it was $220 total for her driver's license, license plate, registration, tabs, and inspection; in comparison her annual tabs in MN alone were $289/year. They also don't enforce front plate or window tint laws here, and speed only seems to be strictly enforced in school zones. Car do need to get annual visual and OBDII scan inspections each year though. They mainly check for CEL codes and the functionality of lights, wipers, brakes, tire tread depth, etc. Janelle's car (tuned catless WRX) passed with no problem and same with all the local Evo's. Worst case scenario is easy to get to know someone doing the inspections that'll pass you for a 6-pack of beer since pretty much every corner shop and gas service station performs them.

Another big thing we noticed immediately is how much friendlier people are here. Doesn't matter if you're at a store, restaurant, etc. people just seem to be friendlier (except while driving).

Anything I missed?

[scheides]

LOL epic texas puke by hughes!

TX is cool, buy a belt buckle though, or you might get shot.

Oh, and taco bueno = yum.

[Kracka]

Oh, another huge thing I forgot to mention, everyone has incredible Texas pride! You see more Texas flags than you do US flags. Everything down here, commercials, sales, stores, restaurants, you name it is Texas centered. The political stance down here is almost like Texas is a separate country and wants the US government to stay out of its business. I know quite a few federal dollars have been turned down in favor of keeping more control at home. I personally am in favor of giving more power to the states and less to the federal government so that works out well for me.

[mlomker]

Why Abilene?

I've only been to Amarillo and Houston/Galveston so far. DFW was pukingly hot & humid the one time that I changed planes there...nearly killed me.

I wouldn't mind spending some more time in Houston.

[Matt D.]

Kracka, are there any things you don't like about Texas? Like the typical Texas fan *cough*Shawn*cough* all we hear about are the positive things.

[Kracka]

Dallas actually has some of the lowest humidity in all of TX; 10% lower than Minneapolis (on average) during the summer. Houston gets much hotter and much more humid. I obviously haven't been through a summer down here yet but when we came for a long weekend last July it was definitely hot. I can't say I'm thrilled about that, but the warmer/nicer winters are a great trade-off IMO. For comparison, it was 60's and sunny this past weekend.

[Kracka]

Kracka, are there any things you don't like about Texas? Like the typical Texas fan *cough*Shawn*cough* all we hear about are the positive things.
So far, actually no. Things are definitely much more spread out so a lot more driving is involved when going to car meets/events, but I like driving so I'm ok with that. Janelle and I work across the street from each other, 16 miles from home, and it takes an average of 20-25 minutes to commute which really isn't bad since in MN it took me 15-20 mins to do my 4-6 mile commute (depending which way I went). The members of the local Evo club are definitely older than I was used to from MN, but thats not necessarily a bad thing, just different. I've meet quite a few good guys already ranging in age from early 20's into the 60's. I haven't met a tuner I was incredibly impressed by yet though...

The crime rate is higher down here, but I haven't experienced anything yet nor have I heard mention of anything on my neighborhood HOA forum. We had no issues with security at our apt in MN either so I guess in that regard we've been very fortunate. I think like anywhere else a lot of it comes down to what area you live in and frequent. Everything you read also says car insurance is more expensive in TX but combined ours actually became cheaper; Janelle's went up and mine went down.

If Janelle has time I'll have her post some comments in this thread, but to be honest she is out of town for work this week and really busy. Coming down her biggest fears were missing the snow and her family. Obviously she misses her family just like I miss mine, but we do realize they're a short flight away as our our good friends. As for the snow, we had a white Christmas and a few other snow days which Janelle said more than satisfied her desire for snow. For me though, the less snow the better since I am just keeping my summer tires on year-round!

My advice is this: If you want to move; do it! Its better to try something and fail at it than to never try it at all. I've been wanting to leave MN for many years and am so glad I have a wife willing to do it with me. Plenty of people told me I am dumb, making a huge mistake, etc. but in the end it is my life and something I felt I needed to at least experience. We've now been down here for almost 4 months and everything has really come together. We both have good jobs, we bought a beautiful house, and best of all, we're happy.

[Kracka]

For the autocross fans, there has been at least one event every month so far; same with road racing track events. The actual SCCA autocross season is March - November though, the ones in December, January, and February have been ones put on by large car clubs, charities, and the tracks themselves.

[Kracka]

Besides for friends/family, here are the things I miss most about Minnesota:

-Old Chicago; haven't been able to find a restaurant quite like it yet.
-Bruegger's Bagels; I don't like Einstein so Dunkin Donuts has become my replacement for bagels.