New construction Lyon Homes in Kearny Mesa/Spectrum area

[mixxalot]

Thanks all,

I will make some trips out to Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio in the future to visit places and look at new construction homes in the area. Dallas has the most businesses and Austin based on what I hear is the most hip town. Now my question: which city has best blend of single nightlife, low crime rate and good quality of life. I know that traffic sucks in Dallas due to the “Mixmaster” traffic jams but since I would either work out of home or be at the airport to catch a flight to a client it would not be that bad of an issue to me. I like Colorado but snow is not much fun in winter and Denver/Boulder are more expensive than Texas.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Drew]

Theres at least one reason why Texas homes are cheap(er).

I almost transfered to Austin a few years back, and in comparison to SD, you get a LOT more home for the money. However, the property taxes are a killer. The area we were looking to purchase had something like 2.8-3% annual property taxes, making the $321k steal of a deal not so great.

Paying close to $1k per month in property taxes must be depressing.

[Drew]

Theres at least one reason why Texas homes are cheap(er).

I almost transfered to Austin a few years back, and in comparison to SD, you get a LOT more home for the money. However, the property taxes are a killer. The area we were looking to purchase had something like 2.8-3% annual property taxes, making the $321k steal of a deal not so great.

Paying close to $1k per month in property taxes must be depressing.

[Drew]

Theres at least one reason why Texas homes are cheap(er).

I almost transfered to Austin a few years back, and in comparison to SD, you get a LOT more home for the money. However, the property taxes are a killer. The area we were looking to purchase had something like 2.8-3% annual property taxes, making the $321k steal of a deal not so great.

Paying close to $1k per month in property taxes must be depressing.

[GoUSC]

Let’s not forget that Spectrum is an island of a few residential units surrounded by computer stores, government offices, warehouse, and other crap. Why in the world ANYONE would live there is beyond me.

[GoUSC]

Let’s not forget that Spectrum is an island of a few residential units surrounded by computer stores, government offices, warehouse, and other crap. Why in the world ANYONE would live there is beyond me.

[GoUSC]

Let’s not forget that Spectrum is an island of a few residential units surrounded by computer stores, government offices, warehouse, and other crap. Why in the world ANYONE would live there is beyond me.

[Anonymous]

Not really.

In French Valley we paid $5k in property taxes (1.8%).
If we had bought our house at the price we ended up selling it, (2005 prices), our property taxes would have been $8k.
(We were moving somewhere one way or another for employment so would have had to pay the new property tax price)

When we left California, we were paying about 2K in state income taxes.

We thought about the Bay Area. Comparable home to what we have here? $1.25 million plus. Even a $750k condo x 1.25% = more than $9k.

So Southern California taxes were/would have been $7k – $10k.
Northern California in a condo listening to our neighbors fight $11k.
In Austin, it’s been $7.5k – $8K.

Plus the salaries are going up from where they were then – and faster than inflation, so we would have had more income tax by now out there. Plus our house is still gaining in value – for now. If we’d have stayed in Temecula, we’d be stuck or sad, one or the other.

Austin, not so bad. Dallas in a cheaper house = $4k taxes per year. Even better.

[Anonymous]

Not really.

In French Valley we paid $5k in property taxes (1.8%).
If we had bought our house at the price we ended up selling it, (2005 prices), our property taxes would have been $8k.
(We were moving somewhere one way or another for employment so would have had to pay the new property tax price)

When we left California, we were paying about 2K in state income taxes.

We thought about the Bay Area. Comparable home to what we have here? $1.25 million plus. Even a $750k condo x 1.25% = more than $9k.

So Southern California taxes were/would have been $7k – $10k.
Northern California in a condo listening to our neighbors fight $11k.
In Austin, it’s been $7.5k – $8K.

Plus the salaries are going up from where they were then – and faster than inflation, so we would have had more income tax by now out there. Plus our house is still gaining in value – for now. If we’d have stayed in Temecula, we’d be stuck or sad, one or the other.

Austin, not so bad. Dallas in a cheaper house = $4k taxes per year. Even better.

[Anonymous]

Not really.

In French Valley we paid $5k in property taxes (1.8%).
If we had bought our house at the price we ended up selling it, (2005 prices), our property taxes would have been $8k.
(We were moving somewhere one way or another for employment so would have had to pay the new property tax price)

When we left California, we were paying about 2K in state income taxes.

We thought about the Bay Area. Comparable home to what we have here? $1.25 million plus. Even a $750k condo x 1.25% = more than $9k.

So Southern California taxes were/would have been $7k – $10k.
Northern California in a condo listening to our neighbors fight $11k.
In Austin, it’s been $7.5k – $8K.

Plus the salaries are going up from where they were then – and faster than inflation, so we would have had more income tax by now out there. Plus our house is still gaining in value – for now. If we’d have stayed in Temecula, we’d be stuck or sad, one or the other.

Austin, not so bad. Dallas in a cheaper house = $4k taxes per year. Even better.

[CardiffBaseball]

Texas is of course a no-income tax state, so for me I think that’s about a 9.5% raise? Actually I am not sure what the top tax rate is.

I think in the end property taxes will be the same, just a higher % in Texas, and if you salary stays virtually the same, then you are way ahead of the game.

Dallas used to have the “West End” and “Deep Ellum” areas. Deep Ellum was a bit more shady, and edgy. West End is probably pretty hopping right now because they built that Mavericks arena and with their success, a lot of folks are trickling into the west end. I could swear reading somewhere about a year ago that Deep Ellum was having trouble attracting businesses and dealing with crime issues, but I can’t say for sure.

The reason I’d pick Dallas first, Austin second is because when you tire of the road, you can land on your feet in the DFW area. Austin is also not too bad in this regard, as there are many software jobs there. San Antonio, not so hot for tech. Cool place, the riverwalk is fun. Austin had great BBQ. Actually that’s one thing I miss about Texas was BBQ, however luckily I found Tri-Tip from Seaside market in Cardiff that made me forget all about Texas BBQ.

[CardiffBaseball]

Texas is of course a no-income tax state, so for me I think that’s about a 9.5% raise? Actually I am not sure what the top tax rate is.

I think in the end property taxes will be the same, just a higher % in Texas, and if you salary stays virtually the same, then you are way ahead of the game.

Dallas used to have the “West End” and “Deep Ellum” areas. Deep Ellum was a bit more shady, and edgy. West End is probably pretty hopping right now because they built that Mavericks arena and with their success, a lot of folks are trickling into the west end. I could swear reading somewhere about a year ago that Deep Ellum was having trouble attracting businesses and dealing with crime issues, but I can’t say for sure.

The reason I’d pick Dallas first, Austin second is because when you tire of the road, you can land on your feet in the DFW area. Austin is also not too bad in this regard, as there are many software jobs there. San Antonio, not so hot for tech. Cool place, the riverwalk is fun. Austin had great BBQ. Actually that’s one thing I miss about Texas was BBQ, however luckily I found Tri-Tip from Seaside market in Cardiff that made me forget all about Texas BBQ.

[Author]

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