I've been starting to feel a bit better, my test results are coming back a lot better and so I have been thinking of moving again. I've been to Dallas a bunch of times and have always had a good time when I go. The question I have though is this: Why is real estate so cheap in Dallas, and everyplace else in Texas for that matter? I know they have a pretty much endless supply of land, but is that all that is behind it?
Our property taxes are horrendous. I pay $6000 a year for a $227000 house. Roll that in to your payment and houses will never appreciate.
That is high. Most property taxes in TX are much lower then that. Usually between 1.5% and 2%, not 3%. Have no idea where you are living or why you pay that much. And the reason why you pay 1.5% to 2% is because you don't pay any state income taxes. Also, the total amount of taxes paid on your home is far less then say FL or CA, or even Chicago for that matter when you compare the same size home in a comparable neighborhood. Also, property values don't drop 50% to 80% like they do in FL and CA. I would rather have stable prices then huge swings in housing values. As for the jobs in TX in general, I have to disagree. The economy right now in TX is probably the strongest in the country.
I'm wanting to basically find a place with decent weather (for me that just means its hot), stable real estate market, low to no state tax etc. I've got a few friends in DFW, Houston, Austin and San Antonio. I really cant stand Houston, and most people I talk to who live there would leave if they could, so that's not on the agenda. Austin is a nice town, but it seems very yuppish to me, and the traffic sucks. That pretty much leaves DFW and San Antonio, both of which I like, but I do know slightly more people in DFW and have been there a lot more vs San Antonio. I'd also thought about Corpus Christi, I was shocked at how cheap you can get Gulf Front places there, but I've never been there and a few of my friends have told me it's not a very nice city, so I'm probably not even going to look.
RE in dallas area is has barely started declining...the barnett shale in this area is helping keep demand up more than it would be... real estate in general commercial-and residential is definately on the decline though. job market is somewhat stable at this point..though I do have a couple of friends that have not been able to find jobs in the last several months (non financial). I work for boutique here in dallas with less than 100 employees now, and the odds my me having my job next summer are very slim imo.
I live in For Worth city limits about 10 miles north of downtown. Southlake, Keller, and Fort Worth all pay high property taxes. Yeah, property values don't drop that much because they can't get too high because of property taxes. Also, everybody fights like hell to keep their property values low.
Look, your argument is a relative one. High compared to what? Let's use some numbers here. I have family that lives north of Houston in a pretty upper class hood that is comparable let's say to a nice area on the north shore of Chicago or a upper class area west of Chicago like Barrington or Hinsdale. Her home in those areas would be three times the cost of what she paid. Sure, the property taxes in Chicago are closer to 1%, but you are paying 1% for a home that's notional value is three times more. In the end, she is paying half the property taxes in TX that she would in Chicago. So again, I ask you high compared to what? It's all relative. Not to mention the state income tax saving. As for jobs, I should have stated there are plenty of HIGH paying jobs in TX as the economy is holding up much better there then in other parts of the country, especially compared to Chicago. Also, a little fyi, housing prices in TX in general due appreciate by about 5% to 7% a year property taxes notwithstanding. Again, to go back to Chicago, during the recent runnup in prices over the last 5 years, homes in the suburbs rose at the same rate to maybe slightly more then TX but have now experienced a 20% to 30% haircut across the board. This has not happened in TX. So again, I am simply trying to point out that all in all, your cost of living in TX is a fraction of what most people pay and your housing prices are one of the most stable in the country. Unless you are flipping properties, most people don't like to see housing prices go vertical only to crash later. It keeps the poor from being able to buy on the way up and destroys the middle class on the way down. Be thankful for what you have down there. It's better then most.
I live in Houston and pay 3.7% property tax... I don't know of anywhere near a major Texas city that you can pay as low as 1.5%. Not paying state income tax though is nice. In the final analysis, if you live in Texas, it pays to live in as modest a house as possible to keep your taxes low, since RE only keeps up with inflation at best. Having just lived through Hurricane Ike I have a newfound appreciation for one of the reasons this area sucks. I spent all day yesterday helping out some of the victims of Ike down on the coast... in one town there were only 10 houses left standing. I would strongly recommend against purchasing property anywhere on the gulf coast.