I'm starting to consider moving to Dallas to attend school. I've had a few of members of the Texas crowd try to get me to move down there in the last few months or so, but now I'm starting to think it's a good idea.

A bunch of you missed all the fun, but in a nutshell, I got divorced not too long ago and am back to trying to see what I want to be when I grow up. I think I want to go back to school for a Mech E degree and I have a "friend of a friend" who's a professor in Dallas (as is his wife). So, I'm starting to give this some thought.

I'm guessing I'd be bringing the Camaro and the truck (need the truck to move and I can't afford to sell it, and the Camaro is paid for).

Anything I need to know about considering a move to Dallas?

#1 reason? No state income tax.

I used to live in Dallas... Loved it.

I've done almost everything I can to get back there... just can't do it right now (Job won't let me). It's an awesome place to live.

I'm moving to San Antonio in about 2-3 weeks. Thats about as good as it gets for me right now

Are you set on Dallas? If you are just looking to get to Texas.. Austin is awesome, San Antonio is awesome... If you can afford the time, go spend a couple days in each.

And.. I'll get beat on this one... I don't like Houston... at least not to live in. You'll find that people are either a Dallas person, or a Houston person... *shrug* Not many are both.

What is called Dallas or the DFW area is a really large area, but there a several people that can help you out once you figure out which area you want to live.

You might want to stay away from Granbury area and that Mitch cat dude.

Are there affordable places to live there (where I'd want to live) that might have a garage? I've spent 5 minutes in Texas in my life and that was running from one end of Houston airport to the other for a plane to out of the country. I know nothing of the area. I know up here I rented a 1,400 sq foot townhouse with a single car garage for $800-ish a month. Is that even possible down there? I need a place to keep my tools and the Camaro.

This is all assuming that I can pull off moving, selling my house, etc. Probably not a great time to do that, but anything is possible (though I may have to have one serious yard sale before I go, I own too much stuff...way too much stuff).



Yea, I figured I didn't want to move near "The Neverland Ranch" and I wanted to stay out of Grandbury. Though I do need to drop by and drop off his cat. I have a cat that's been dying to stop by for a bite to eat.




I'm not sure where I'd want to live. I'm looking at The University of Texas, Dallas campus. That's about as much as I know right now about anything. I've not been there yet.

http://www.utdallas.edu/

UTD is in the northern burbs of Dallas ... Irving, Las Colinas area.

800-ish is probably doable, I would think, for a small home, not an apartment with a garage. The home would be in a middle class neighborhood ... nothing fancy.

DFW has felt the housing slump, but not as severe as other parts of the world. So, value is still there.

UT-Arlington has a very well respected Engineering school as does UNT in Denton.

Hill college in Granbury is High School with an ash tray ...

And Texas has a ban on out of state cats.

WTF?

Texas is taking applications again???

Good to meet you this past weekend Kevin...Hope you enjoyed the 'all-access' passes!!

Costas
cars and such...

I don't have much tech, but I spent the weekend in Dallas. I'd like to say that your highway system is insane, the Mexicans up here near Chicago cook just as well as down there, Texas brisket is top notch, and that CMC #8 and CMC #19 looked good on trailers coming back from Hallett as I was going the opposite way.

http://www.lawmotorsports.net/Hallett2008/Hallett2008.htm

I'm still in the "can I manage to pull this off" phase, but I'm starting to consider it seriously.

There is plenty of work in DFW, and there are definately housing options in every income range.

If you want to go to school for ME in DFW, then the University of Texas at Arlington is the school for you. I don't know if UT Dallas offers comparable ME courses, but UTD does offer excellent EE courses. Those campuses are about a 35-minute drive apart.

I have friends at UT who are faculty and can offer guidance. So, I'd probably go there.

Let's see.....

My place is 1 hour north of Dallas. I rent out a 2200 sf loft for $600. I rented my 2 bay shop with a lift for $600. With that said, commuting into the Metroplex sucks, BAD. The DFW Metroplex has the 5th worst traffic in the country and I believe whomever did that survey cut us some slack.

Man oh man, get into something to do with energy. Oil, gas, wind. Petroleum engineers median $$ is $137k. Google " Barnett Shale" -- huge, huge opportunities. I have been in every state in the CONUS a least 2x, I have lived in TN, GA, FL, VA and TX. Texas is it for me. I just can't imagine being anywhere else.


Come on down

I try not to brag up how much I like it here cause I don't want it to turn into an overpopulated state. Housing costs are very reasonable here, you cannot afford enough tires and brakes to run every event possible withing a half day drive, and there are some mighty nice people here.

My old apartment was just south and west of DFW airport, and was $600 a month for the apartment, and $75 more for a garage (or $150 for 2, which I had for years). It was decently nice while not foo foo, but was kinda small.

I don't really have any garage space to spare, but might consider renting out the guest bedroom for a bit if you need a place while looking. My house is just west of DFW airport (long way from UTD though some of the "quality" traffic Andy is talking about).

Yep, I've lost NOTHING in Dallas I have to go back and get. Houston's nice, as long as you stay out of town. ;-) Housing prices are down a bit, but not as bad as the rest of the country, and they didn't really appreciate as much when everyone else was drunk with home prices. You have to worry about hurricanes, and significant rain, but it rarely freezes in Houston. Dallas usually has a big freeze, with rain, that shuts the place down for a couple of days a year. That's when you stay home, mix up some Margaritas and watch the show on TV. It's more entertaining then football. :-)

But anywhere you settle, WELCOME to Texas!! Everywhere has something to be concerned with, but you really can't go wrong anywhere in the state.

I lived just north of Dallas in Coppell/Irving for a few years and loved it. I've regretted leaving there pretty much everyday since then. You could rent a house for the prices your looking at (or you could a couple years ago) and there are some nice gated apt communities that you can get into for a bit more. House prices are pretty reasonable, you just have to watch out for the property taxes, they're as bad as Long Island in some places.
Weather is great, the roads are beautiful, lots of events going on and if your single (the accident thing never worked out did it?) there's lots of attractive women wearing next to nothing most of the year. It's a good place to be.

FWIW I would trade NYC traffic for DFW traffic any day.

I've lived here my whole life and right now I live and work on the north side of DFW up around the Prosper/Frisco/Plano. Love it up here People talk about how bad traffic is in DFW should move to Houston....Good lord... I lived in Houston for 7 months last yr. and did not like it. DFW is a big place but its so spread out you don't get that congested feeling. Of course, I'm talking about the north side of Dallas. Stay away from anything south of I30.......

I checked into UTD (The University of Texas at Dallas) and they are starting a brand spankin new Mechanical Engineering program in the Fall 2008 semester. BUT!.. They will only be offereing freshmen level classes for '08-'09 school year.. then sophomore classes '09-'10 school year... so on and so forth... SO, if you allready have your core curriculum, then you wouldn't be able to take ME courses at UTD until '10-'11 school year.

Thought that might be a good piece of information to have..

But don't forget... UTA (The University of Texas at Arlington) allready has a very well respected ME program.