Texas people - need info

I have to jump in and give Brennam a +1 as well. We're in the Dripping Springs area here in Austin, and Brennam is a close second as far as appealing locations!
 
There's always my town of Wichita Falls, TX. :stirpot:

True, we might have one or two short-lived snows in the winter, and maybe an ice storm or two that provides some entertainment on the roads but you won't be shoveling snow all winter long. We have plenty of warm sunshine all summer long (100+ consecutive days of 100+ temps in 2011) and if we manage to get some rain this fall and winter maybe we'll be able to stop having to drink recycled effluent water from our sewage plant. Jobs might be a little scarce here but that means real estate prices are fairly low. In spite of all that, we do have a vibrant local aviation community here, and hangar rent is dirt cheap compared to larger cities. My little airport has 3 runways pointing in all different directions, and it needs them since the wind sometimes rivals what they get in Wyoming, but we haven't quite had to use a length of chain for a windsock yet. If you can learn how to land a taildragger here without bending metal, you'll be able to land anywhere.

Oh, and before I forget to mention it, we haven't had a major tornado hit here since 1979 :thumbsup: Just a couple of 100 year floods.
 
cirrusmx said:
i moved from austin to boston. and I WANT BACK!!!!!
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Sorry, once you have lived in Boston your banned from Austin.....:lol:

Whats wrong with Boston, don't they have great beans up there?

Come on back, I think there is room for one more in Austin. :lol:
 
MAKG1 said:
Really?

Even in California, it's barely over 1% assessed value. And the rate of increase of the assessed value is strongly limited in the event of a land boom (which happens regularly).
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Helps that they have a ~9% income tax and plenty of other taxes. Texas has no income tax so it makes all its money off of sales tax and property tax.
 
AustinPilot said:
Helps that they have a ~9% income tax and plenty of other taxes. Texas has no income tax so it makes all its money off of sales tax and property tax.
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Some states take it out of your front pocket. Some take it out of your back pocket. But they all take it.
 
timwinters said:
Some states take it out of your front pocket. Some take it out of your back pocket. But they all take it.
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New Mexico does both. Property tax and sales tax...ooops, I mean gross receipts tax. At least you can carry a pistol without a concealed permit, as long as it isn't concealed. But you do not have the right to protect your self or property.
 
Sugar Land is a nice place with several airports within a few mile radius. SGR hangars go for about $500-$600. Maybe a little bit more for IWS (the community is better at west Houston). TME seems to be growing nicely, they have some new hangars, too. LBX is pretty active and AXH is always busy. Wharton is nice and Bay City isn't too bad, either. Mind you, these are just a few airports on the southwest side of town... Jay is probably the foremost authority on all things Texas Gulf Coast aviation, I'm sure he'll share his insight with you.


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Operations Manager of what sort?

I'm in deep southeast Texas. East of Houston and just on the right side of the Sabine River that separates the cowboys from the cajuns...

Lot's of petrochemical work here. The oil industry is doing very well right now in all parts of the state from oil/gas exploration, pipelines, and refining. A lot of service sector work as well.

Housing is very reasonable compared to a lot of other states. However, it varies from region to region.

Flying is great and there are lots of airports to visit. I love the Brenham airport and area. I have friends there that I visit whenever I can. I also like the College Station/Bryan area. Laid back.

As far as storms, I have lived here my whole life and until recently only recall experiencing two hurricanes. One major and one minor. Then in 2005 all hell broke lose and we got nailed with Rita. Then 2008 a string of Tropical Storms and Hurricanes hit over a very short period that varied in size and strength. Ike had a storm surge you wouldn't believe. So don't get too close to the coast. Since then we haven't seen the wind blow.

One thing that you will want to watch out for is Windstorm insurance. Super expensive if you live in a county that touches the Gulf Coast. Move inland one county and cost go down considerably.

One advantage though is that it tends to be a few degrees cooler along the coast than the interior of the state. I guess it is the southeasterly flow of air (and moisture) that keeps the summers bearable. This summer hasn't been too bad.

I echo the previous comment about Galveston. With an airplane you can fly down to Galveston and get all of the beach you can stand for a day or two. I like to fly down there for dinner and a stroll on the Strand. Really neat in the summer. The ladies like it! Fly into Scholes Field, hail a cab and go where ever you like. Or rent a car.

Or I can fly over to Austin, Dallas, San Antonio or New Orleans for the day and dinner before hopping back in and flying home. Texas BBQ or Cajun Cuisine, your choice anytime.:):):)
 
Mosquito's and bandito's.

That's what I remember about the salt marshes of Houston and Galveston. I lived there for eleven years and said "that's enough." Any cool breeze from the ocean is trumped by mosquito's, rain, humidity, a crappy beach, dirty water, tourists and traffic.

And throw in a hurricane occasionally that takes you 14 hours to drive 100 miles from Houston if it evacuates.
 
Arrow115 said:
I used to fly in just about every Saturday evening. Its a shame the restaurant changed their hours. I still fly in to Brenham about once a month for cheap gas.
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What are their hours now? I might go next weekend.
 
PAustin said:
I'll need to find employment too. How's the job market for Operation Managers in the area?


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Brenham is a small town, I'm sure you could find a job, but it would probably take you a while. Houston is booming for the most part. There is work here. But companies can be specific about what they want too. What industry are you in? What experience do you have?

Austin is also booming, but doesn't meet your criteria it is a little farther from the coast than you said you'd prefer.

I'd also consider San Antonio and the surrounding area from the job search perspective, but that's way inland from what you specified.

There are little private airparks all over the place here in Houston, but most are fairly spendy by Midwestern standards. You didn't specify a range, but I have a friend that paid 300k for a lot, and another that paid about the same for a lot with a 40X100 hangar (roughly). He's a fair drive out in the country though.
 
Sorry for the delayed reponse. I don't know how I missed this thread until now!

Here's my short list of "Top 5 Places I would live in Texas":

1. Port Aransas
2. Rockport
3. Fredericksburg
4. New Braunfels
5. Austin

Here's our story: We, too, lived in Iowa, and simply couldn't stand another winter there -- so we decided to start looking for a sunbelt location to build another aviation themed hotel. In the meantime, however, we flew into Austin (for the South by Southwest Music festival), and had a GREAT time...

...except for our kids. If there's one truism about Austin's night life, it's that it's heaven for adults, and torture for teenagers. They were literally not allowed in over half of the music venues, and after three days of being left outside (or in the hotel room) they were ****ED. They announced that they wanted to go to "a beach", since we were so close to the Gulf.

Fine. I couldn't stand the high-pitched whining any longer, so I decided we could spare a day or two at the beach. But where? Being from "Up North" I had NO idea where to go, so, of course...

...I jumped on the internet aviation forums (perhaps this one?) and asked Texas pilots where THEY went when they wanted to fly to a beach. Almost without exception, they ALL said "Port Aransas" -- to which we responded..."Huh?" NO ONE outside of Texas had ever heard of Port Aransas.

So, I dug out my sectional chart (we still had them, back in '09), found KRAS (Mustang Beach Airport), noted its relative position between Galveston and South Padre (two places we had at least heard of) and drew a flight plan from KAUS to KRAS.

I remember telling Mary and the kids "If this place sucks we will spend one night, and move on". We still laugh about that today.

Well, one night became two nights, became four nights, became "let's buy a hotel and move here". We absolutely fell in love with the island, the people, the slow(er) pace, the weather, and (of course) the 15-mile-long white sand beach.

So that's how we ended up here. In the ensuing five years, we have seen more of Texas than most native Texans, thanks to General Aviation. In our RV-8A, we are literally "One hour from Everything", including Galveston, Houston, New Braunfels, San Marcos, Austin, Victoria, Brenham, McAllen, and all points in between.

We are 90 minutes from all sorts of other cool places (Fredericksburg), and two hours from Dallas. Texas is MADE for GA, and we are blessed with something like 350 VFR days per year, down here on the island.

Downsides of living on the island are few, but stiff. There is NO hangar space on the island, and little hope of any new municipal hangars being built. Real estate here is booming, with prices literally tripling since we moved here in 2010. And, of course, there is always the chance of the island being wiped clean by the hand of God. It's not a matter of if, but when, so you just have to ask yourself: Do you feel lucky? Insure yourself well!

The weather here is incredibly wonderful, and benign. The weather in Iowa is ten times more violent, with all sorts of horrendously destructive tendencies. In our 14 years in Iowa, we saw them all, from straight line winds that knocked down a brick fire station, to ice storms, to biblical floods, tornadoes, and blizzards. Here, I can count on one hand the rain we've seen in five years, and we NEVER see lightning. The rain may be torrential, briefly, but it's just water, and lots of it. And then it's done -- for months.

As for other places to live, beware: Much of Texas is (by our standards) uninhabitable. If you get a few miles inland, the temperatures in the summer are unbearably hot, and there are many, many towns that are two steps above squalor. The fracking oil boom has helped a LOT, but we have flown into lots of little Texas airports, drove into town, looked around, shuddered, and never returned.

That said, there are many wonderful places here, too. If I wasn't interested in a beach, Rockport (just 15 miles away, on the mainland) would be my #1 choice. They have a GREAT airport (KRKP), and the town is trying to set itself up as the "artsy" alternative to Port Aransas. Good food, lots of bars, good people there. I could be very happy there.

Another great airport, not far from Rockport, is T.P. McCampbell (KTFP). It's where we were based for a year, right after moving here (and it's where we are now, temporarily, while our island airport is closed), and it is every pilot's DREAM airport. It is run well, and competently, by people who actually know and understand general aviation, and (as a result) they are building hangars as fast as they can. I'm not a big fan of the city it's located in (Ingleside), but if you could find a nice place out in the country, near that airport, you would be golden. Best of all: Home prices are HALF what they are on the island.

Another great thing about that area: LOTS of employment opportunities. They build floating oil platforms in the channel in Ingleside, and business is booming.

Fredericksburg, located in the Hill Country, would be #3. There is SO much to see and do there, and the land is closer to what you're used to in Iowa. We like to fly in and stay at the B&B above the brewery in downtown, and then walk the old city streets. This group's own Spike Cutler can chime in about it.

New Braunfels is another German settlement that is absolutely gorgeous, with so many terrific things to see and do. They have a great airport, with ample hangar space available. We like to stay at the Faust Hotel (with an excellent brew pub on the first floor), and every November we attend WurstFest -- one of the largest German Octoberfest-type festivals in the country.

Austin is, of course, the music capital of Texas. I love the blues, and there is a Stevie Ray Vaughan clone playing in every bar, usually for free. Walk down Sixth Street on any night, and you will hear more great music than you've heard in a lifetime in Iowa. We stay at the Driscoll Hotel (in the off-season, when it's cheap) or at the La Quinta (when prices skyrocket during special events), and walk everywhere.

The downsides of Austin are many, though. It is a big city, and growing at a tremendous rate. Driving and traffic are simply awful, and the airport there is absurdly overpriced for virtually everything.

The politics in Austin must be seen to be appreciated. Like most government towns, it's referred to as "100 square miles surrounded by reality" -- but what sets Austin apart is the blatant opulence of the political class there. The good news is that all this government money flowing in has allowed private businesses to thrive, and they have built what amounts to a Disneyland for adults, with terrific bars, restaurants, and live music venues EVERYWHERE.

Some people mentioned the Houston area as a possibility. There are many cool things to see and do there, for sure, but you couldn't pay me enough to live in a metropolitan area that large. The traffic alone would drive me insane. This is true of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, too.

One other major thing to keep in mind is that anything North of Rockport and inland is going to have REAL winter. Fredericksburg, Austin, and New Braunfels all get occasional bouts of cold and snow, so if your goal is to avoid winter, you would want to stay from Port Aransas and South.

We have friends who winter in McAllen each year, and love it. It's about 6 degrees warmer than here (which makes it awful in the summer), which feels pretty good in January. (We've been below freezing three times since moving here, all in the first winter of 2010.) The only downside to McAllen is that it is very close to Mexico. We have visited the big shopping mall there (Macy's is LITERALLY at the end of McAllen's North/South runway!) and been the only English-speaker there. That's a strange feeling.

Any questions? Fling them my way!
 
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We have a place in Brenham, so I would throw my vote in that direction. Very friendly people. Do you know about controls systems? For looking for Real Estate, look at Texas Listing service. https://txls.com/listing/search We bought a couple years ago so have a bit of the handle on the real estate market. Depending on where you look we can make some recommendations on agents.
 
It seems we have so many options it just may make my head swim.

Background: I spent 10 years as a network administrator and database programmer for a company followed by 5 years as VP, Director of Operations and network administrator for another. Now I'm into my 11th year as Operations Manager for a specialty hardwood lumber and plywood distributor overseeing all aspects of a 50,000 squat foot warehouse.

With a forecasted winter here in Iowa of ABOVE average snowfall this year, my wife and I are about ready to call it quits even though we were both born and raised here.



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PAustin said:
It seems we have so many options it just may make my head swim.
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One thing you must keep in mind: Texas is a country-sized state.

Example: Two weeks ago I flew two hours, at 200 mph, to get from here to Ft. Worth. I was still in Texas!

If you leave Dubuque, Iowa's airport, and fly 400 miles north, where are you? In Canada! :)
 
PAustin said:
It seems we have so many options it just may make my head swim.

Background: I spent 10 years as a network administrator and database programmer for a company followed by 5 years as VP, Director of Operations and network administrator for another. Now I'm into my 11th year as Operations Manager for a specialty hardwood lumber and plywood distributor overseeing all aspects of a 50,000 squat foot warehouse.

With a forecasted winter here in Iowa of ABOVE average snowfall this year, my wife and I are about ready to call it quits even though we were both born and raised here.



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Any kind of distribution background will be useful for jobs. We have a lot of wherehouse and freight forwarding along the gulf and even inland. There's the BN rail depot in N Fort Worth, and also up at Alliance is millions of square feet of distribution space.

Of course, we have the oil and gas boom, and that's bringing people which is bringing construction, cars, furniture, and foodstuffs(perishables).

Now, a couple of downsides to TX from someone who moved here first at a teen in the Army but decided to come back permanently after the mess of living in SoCal for many years.

1. We have an intractable problem with fire ants. The only section of the state without fire ants everywhere is far west near El Paso. They are the scourge of lawns, and any kind of open space. You can't ever get rid of them, and if you live in a community, plan on fighting them for evar. Javalinas(feral hogs) are also a problem in much of central TX. Rifles solve that pretty easy. If you get off the road > 15 feet and are shooting at a Javalina, it's all good(no firing from inside the truck please).

2. Religious conservatism. Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist welcome one and all. Catholics and da jooz are tolerated, but not spoken with in polite company. Agnostics and atheists are shunned, which from one perspective is a rather useful thing. If you make it to one of the large cities of course, this is more liberal. If you live in one of the bergs listed above, you better be part of the right flock.

3. Music. Outside of Austin, and Dallas there are 20 CW stations for every 1 other style of music. You can't escape CW music except in the big cities. Small town living in TX means you get used to Waylon, Willie, and the modern crop of twangers and even a few crooners. Be prepared.

4. Distances. It's 880 driving miles on I-10 from El Paso to Orange TX. It's 862 driving miles from Brownsville on the Mexico border to Dalhart up north of Amarillo. Nothing in the state is 'close' to anything else. Roads are good, but plan to spend a significant amount of time either driving or flying. Lucky, the flying weather is generally good, and we rarely have those months of 3 mi vis, and 1200' ceilings. Bad weather is mostly localized.

5. Politics. Recently, this has become more of an issue with the influx of the 'wrong element' from places like CA, IL, and points further north and east. Austin is already beyond redemption, and Houston also has some really blue parts. Our guv is indicted on a witch-hunt, and it's going to get worse before it gets better. (hope that isn't too controversial)
 
Down here, everybody and their uncle is a network administrator, however if you grok things like BGP4, IGRP with VLSN, VRFs, Q-in-Q tunneling, MPLS and metro Ethernet, you could stand a chance in the networking field in the larger cities.

Likewise, in the database world there are jobs available if you are thoroughly fluent in plsql and t-sql and can fine-tune a database engine.
 
If you are hell-on-wheels in hardwood flooring, drop a liberal via pm. Ya never know...
 
If you want to stay lumber, lots of timber in east texas. Huntsville, Livingston, Tyler and north of those towns up to South East of Dallas. North of Baytown up the state line. There is even a town called Lumberton. I rode my bike across Iowa once. Best pork I have ever tasted. Texas is big. El Paso is closer to California than it is to Houston.
 
Look at Smithville, TX. A nice little country town 50 miles from Austin by car and 100nm from Port Aransas by plane. Houses are cheap! And hangers at 84R are available at $225/month. You can see the town by watching a couple of terrible movies as well. Hope Floats and Tree of Life were filmed in town.
 
I won't sugar coat Brenham. I don't think you're going to find a high dollar management job right off the bat but I could be wrong.

11R is a town (15,785). I say town because it's not a small town as TX standards go. We have three of the big box stores which you don't normally see even in a town of this size. Brenham has a Houston feel to it, and is a bedroom or retirement community for Houston. In other words, bring dollars when you come here.

If it's bright lights, the latest bands, and non-ending entertainment and action you are looking for, don't come here. :nono:
 
Yes, but you have an ice cream factory that gives out free samples.

Free blueberry cheesecake ice cream can make me overlook lots of things. :)
 
it's only free when you pay for the tour. Otherwise 1 dollah a cup. Now the HEB out on 290 does have the best price on BB and they also have all the regional flavors that you won't find in Texas. There are also 3 wineries and 1 brewery.
 
Blueberry cheescake I think is a spring flavor.
 
There are tons of jobs here in Houston and you'll have plenty of buying power.

So, work in Houston and live in the suburbs. Beware that Exxon is moving their HQ (and 10K jobs) to North Houston/The Woodlands. If you plan on buying up there then you'd better start looking now. There are a couple of Master Planned communities in the works too.
 
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