San Antonio hasn’t got much in the way of tech jobs. Austin and North Dallas are both pretty good. I’m a native San Diegan who sold a 1920’s POS 1300 Sq ft home there, pocketed $60k, bought a 2700 sq ft stucco box in French Valley, kept it for 18 months (while prices went up about 40%)and sold it. Pocketed another $80k and bought a 3300 sq ft brick house with a view of the Hill Country in Austin.

Only bad news is that it turns out 3300 sq ft is too big. So I think we’ll downsize to 2200 sq ft or so. Thinking of moving to North Dallas while we’re at it and getting a pool too. Austin is very pretty and people are extremely nice, but there’s not much to do unless you are into live music or university activities.

I would still consider California if it’s cheap enough. Problem is that if $700k San Diego houses go down to $400k, then what prices will $250k Dallas houses go down to? I can’t imagine that San Diego won’t still command a premium over Texas. If so, Texas prices only have one way to go. In Austin we’ve had 7-10% appreciation since I arrived. A nice bonus, but I don’t see it continuing.