Thoughts on San Antonio Texas?

OPINION: My only question is. What are you waiting for ?

Just dont tell them your from Jersey!

Not trying to be rude, but wouldn't they know as soon as he spoke? Jersey has a distinct accent as far as I'm aware, and they don't say "y'all" too much either, I reckon.

The last part of the post was obviously meant to be light harted.

Here is another one: "don't take life too seriously, it's only temporary."

Here is one for Hobo : if your penchant is Daisy Duke go, if it is Kim K stay in Christie country. There is a difference between naughty and nasty

try it out sounds like an adventure.
don't like it it's only a plane/bus ticket to go... anywhere else.

I thought as much ecosafe, I was trying to be too. You can always tell a Canadian too, they always say "eh" eh? NJSouth, you said it was a dream to leave, so follow it. Worst case you find out you would rather be in New Jersey (it feels weird just typing that, even though I've never been there, LET'S GO DEVILS!)

Not certain if it was last year or the year before but Tx reportedly had more job growth that the entire rest of the country. Go and don't tell the neighbors they may want to come with.

One hint to being from the north and living in the south. Try not to say "We didn't do it that way in N.J." unless its quickly followed up with "and am I GLAD I live here now".

Good luck and I think you will love it if you give it a chance, Mike

I've never lived in the SA area but have been through there for work and studied its demographics/ecomomics. The hill country of the metro is very pleasant looking but its also the desirable side for suburban/exurban/rural living and the houses are generally much higher than the countryside east of SA. But, overall Texas house prices are (at least have been) considerable less than NJ prices.

The area east, southeast of SA until you hit the outer periphery of growth coming out of Houston is very rural, mostly cattle country with maintained tame grass pastures and hayland. Some forest patches but generally along water course drainages. If you get more south of SA than east, then you start running into "brush" country of 10-20 tall shrubs and shorter trees. I find the country you asked about pleasant looking. The only kicker is I don't know how open armed smaller town folks there are to outsiders.

Much of the growth is along the I-35 corridor so north from SA to Austin. San Marcos is a nice smaller college town about half way between SA and Austin on the interstate. Probably more people from outside the region there because its has a state university. San Marcos might be a place to check out. It all depends on what side of the SA metro your job would be located. SA has grown into a big place and last I knew the city itself was actually still annexing land. I have a field pix at work that has one of those small green signs you see entering smaller places at the city limits. This was in 2006 and it read, (San Antonio, Population 1,065,..." Typically you don't see those little green signs proclaiming a city over a million people...

Having lived in many other places including New Mexico, California, and Brazil... I would definitely say it is NOT beautiful here to me. It's HOT and HUMID with loads of mosquitoes in the summer. Everything dies off in the summer and to me, 100 degrees with 98% humidity is no fun for getting ANYTHING done. San Antonio has the most aggressive drivers I have ever seen, and traffic from 4:45pm-6:30pm is the pits. Scrap prices are significantly lower than most other posters I see up north, but there are several yards to choose from. Currently no good ewaste buyer down here.

That being said, San Antonio does have the most stable job market and housing market of any area I know. The city has lots to do, is culturally diverse, has a LOT of good food, and you can get to the ocean in under 3 hours. If you don't like the cold, we really have like 2 weeks of winter here and usually no snow. Mild winters puts it ... well mildly. I personally miss areas with mountains and cooler weather, but San Antonio has been good to me and my family.

Commuting in from that far south could take quite a while depending on where you work. For example, I live in the NE side and my mother lives on the NW side. On a good day with no traffic it takes 45 minutes to get to her house, and we are both well within the city limits. If you've got a stable job waiting and don't mind it being hotter than he!l in the summer then come on down.

Could be an hour or so commute depending on time of day and area of Boerne. The Stone Oak area of 281 is a parking lot during rush hour. *Although I just realized you would be taking I10 probably and not 281. Still could 45-1hr+ depending on your address. That being said, the hill country around Boerne is actually a really pretty area.

Home is where your heart "lives". most of us live where we can make a living and We call that "Home"!

I was born in South central Los Angeles in the late 50's, we lived on the "family's compound", inside the compound "life was good". My Grandfather moved his family to L.A. from Nebraska. My mom's family, had a very large cattle and wheat farm/ranch in Northern Nebraska. My Grandfather and two of his brothers had built one of the largest cattle ranches in the state. The blizzard of 48-49 changed life for a lot of people in the Midwest. My mom always said, we survived the blizzard of 48-49, but it killed my dad. Almost 1/3 of the cattle didn't make it, most that lived wouldn't make market weight. The blizzard affected my Grandfather, his brothers and still divides part of our family. My Grandfather and one brother decided to sell all of the surviving livestock, sell or lease out most of the land. They moved their families to the big city (L.A.), ranchers to business. They started a construction and building maintenance company. The family compound in LA was were they now worked and lived, my mom remembers it as the best place she ever lived. I remember it as a tough place to live, outside those compound walls. In 1965 we moved, if you know history after 1967, it was not there and never would be again.

I personally don't like living in any big city and have not since 1965. My preference would be to have my nearest neighbor about a mile away or greater. As of yet, that dream is not there, yet. I have a family and that is my priority, always will be, just as the fathers before me.

The Texas "hill country" is a beautiful place, it is very humid at times. Home is where your heart is, in the meantime provide for your family somewhere else. I make the best of every place I have been, remember the good and learn from the bad times! Reality, we get very few choices in life, if you think you have a better opportunity for yourself and family, take it every time. Make the best of what life grants you, go to Texas!

[QUOTE=hobo finds;253472]

That isn't exactly what I had in mind or expected.