OP
Moving
- Thread starter GaryS
- Start date
brendonjames65
US Veteran
Congratulations and safe travels with your move.
mdf9183
US Veteran
I moved to Texas from New Hampshire in 1969 and have not regretted it for a second. You won't miss those New England winters a bit.
OP
Our last several trips down have included scouting potential relocation sites. We looked in Pflugerville (Travis), Cedar Park, Round Rock and a few others in Williamson County. Our realtor suggested a couple of houses in a city that wasn't even on our radar. It's good to have a smart realtor that knows the area because we found a house we both liked in that city.
We'll qualify for both homestead and over 65 property tax exemptions. It looks like taxes will be pretty close to what we pay now.
We've been going to Austin since the 1980s as my sister in law lived down there with her family. I fell in love with that Austin, but it wasn't feasible to leave behind our jobs and future pensions.
Even into the early 2000s I expected Austin to be the place, but the growth explosion starting around 2009 made the impossible. Given the politics there and in other parts of Travis County we wouldn't be happy there anyway. Williamson wasn't initially in the mix, but it's growing in population and parts are transitioning from rural to suburban.
I'm still amazed on my trips how quickly you can drive from a city out to farm and ranch land.
We'll qualify for both homestead and over 65 property tax exemptions. It looks like taxes will be pretty close to what we pay now.
We've been going to Austin since the 1980s as my sister in law lived down there with her family. I fell in love with that Austin, but it wasn't feasible to leave behind our jobs and future pensions.
Even into the early 2000s I expected Austin to be the place, but the growth explosion starting around 2009 made the impossible. Given the politics there and in other parts of Travis County we wouldn't be happy there anyway. Williamson wasn't initially in the mix, but it's growing in population and parts are transitioning from rural to suburban.
I'm still amazed on my trips how quickly you can drive from a city out to farm and ranch land.
OP
I won't get into politics, however I frequently point out to people who say things like this that the transplants aren't the source of the problems. The source of the problems is what the public schools and libraries are teaching your kids and grand kids. It's a rot from within that many people simplistically blame on those danged yankees moving south.
The Last Standing Knight
Member
Welcome to Texas! When it comes to guns 'n ammo, we buy 'em cheap and stack 'em deep. Be sure to get your License to Carry. It's easy to do, because Texas wants its citizens to be armed. Currently, about 2 million licenses have been issued. While Texas is a Permitless Carry state, the LTC allows you to carry in all the surrounding states, as well as many other mid-western and southern states, so it's worth doing.
Nearby Austin is an interesting place, with lots to see and do. The city's politics are similar to Berkeley or Boulder, but as bad as it may get, the traffic is worse. If you go there, do so during traffic off hours, (like 3am).
And yea, it was written that thou doest not know what traffic is until thou hast travelled the MoPac at rush hour!
OP
Everything they do to improve the MoPac seems to make it move more slowly.
It usually takes me about three days to figure out the way traffic flows on Texas roads. Just as I figure it out, it's time to leave.
Only not this time.
One nice thing about where we are settling is that I don't need to go through the city to get to ABX. 130 will do very nicely, thank you.
I do need to get a couple of toll tags when we get there. I just have to figure out if any one is better than the others.
It usually takes me about three days to figure out the way traffic flows on Texas roads. Just as I figure it out, it's time to leave.
Only not this time.
One nice thing about where we are settling is that I don't need to go through the city to get to ABX. 130 will do very nicely, thank you.
I do need to get a couple of toll tags when we get there. I just have to figure out if any one is better than the others.
Being as I live in the land of Northern expatriates, I can confirm that if they are "fleeing" what they hate, they sure seem to wish they had brought it with them. Nothing is as good, nothing tast3es as good, everything is done wrong, etc. I often wonder if it stopped snowing up north, would any of them be here.
Good Luck & Safe Travels
SGT, as a Naples Fl homeowner I can tell you there are things I'll miss when I leave Western NY for good. But when I walk out to my brand new 30' dock while open carrying in cargo shorts in January I'll quickly forget what those things were.
I lived in Maryland for 20 years. One night I was watching "Desperate Housewives" and the Taco Bell commercial came on and said "Make a run for the Border," so I did and didn't stop until I got to PA.
When I moved from Maryland to PA 18 years ago the first two things I did was apply for a carry permit and buy a 30 round magazine for my AR-15.
When I moved from Maryland to PA 18 years ago the first two things I did was apply for a carry permit and buy a 30 round magazine for my AR-15.
I lived in NJ (10 miles west of the Lincoln Tunnel) for 26 years. Had never been to Florida so when the "Old Italians" came here I came to help set up 3 separate households. It was January, dug my car out of a snowbank, got out in 80* weather, never left. Best move in my life even though everyone else is long gone. My wife is from Fort Worth originally, about the only place I'd even consider moving to, except her family there is all gone too. We're staying. Joe
People are going to say, you can't move. Ignore them or don't mention it. That's all I heard, the naysayers. I did things I had never done before, including buying a house eek and here I am. 2200 miles distant from NYC. Even here, people ask when I am returning to NYC to visit... visit whom? The doorman in my former building? The nearby pizza shop? I no longer have any family.
I enjoy the gasps I get from tourists in the casinos after telling them I live here. Also, when people ask where I went for the (whichever) holiday, I honestly say I went to Vegas. Make your decision and move. Deal with the plusses and minuses. Wish you well.
Kaaskop49
Shield #5103
eek and here I am. 2200 miles distant from NYC. Even here, people ask when I am returning to NYC to visit... visit whom? The doorman in my former building? The nearby pizza shop? I no longer have any family.I enjoy the gasps I get from tourists in the casinos after telling them I live here. Also, when people ask where I went for the (whichever) holiday, I honestly say I went to Vegas. Make your decision and move. Deal with the plusses and minuses. Wish you well.
Kaaskop49
Shield #5103
GypsmJim
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We have snowbird friends that (used to) live 1/2 a year in Naples. Ian completely wiped them out.
The one time I went boating in Tampa bay it was red tide. Never go there again.
The coldest I have ever been in my life was one February just south of Tampa when they were smoking the orange groves. That humid cold just goes right thru you.
There is no panacea. Every place has some good things and some drawbacks.
Puller
Member
Did not intend to rub you wrong or offend, but in my experience I have seen it a bit differently. It has nothing to do with being here first. Sure, I surmise most of them are moving south to get away from something, but I see it over and over when they get here they complain about the way things are and are done here.
For starters, some don't like it that there are no county zoning codes outside of city limits. What this means is no one can make me mow my yard, put the wheels back on the car on blocks in my front yard, or tell me to move my washer & dryer off the front porch.
Some have been offended enough to call the sheriff's office and complain about the Confederate battle flag waving in my neighbor's front yard. They got offended again when they got laughed at.
We had a brew-ha-ha recently when a retired couple from Massachusetts called the law on a couple who whooped their youngun' in Walmart for misbehaving. They didn't seem to understand the concept of corporal punishment.
Had a fellow and his family move down here from Michigan a few years ago. Decided he'd run for school board to get acclimated in the community. Seemed a nice enough guy and got elected, then the first thing he proposed was to remove those dad-gum offensive Ten Commandments from the school house.
Yet another family from Illinois moved to the area and were aghast to discover they had moved to a dry county. Wanted to push a ballot initiative to change it. When he complained to me about it I reminded him we'd been dry since prohibition so it was already dry when they got here.
Now, I'm sure there are some that move south and settle right in and try to adjust to the local culture, but there sure are a lot of whinny ones that bring with them what they're running from. THAT rubs me the wrong way.
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OP
Without getting all teary eyed, I realized this year that my wife and I only have so many years left and we weren't really happy there.
The only family up there are my sister and her family, and some cousins of my wife's. Our kids live in the south and aren't coming back. My wife's former sister lives in Williamson County but she is nuttier than a fruit cake and we have no intention of seeing her.
My best friend of 40 years died in January after suffering for three years with Dementia. His wife is like a second sister to me and she has an open invitation to come down and visit any time.
Another friend of about 15 years died in June. Both were in the mid 70s.
We left behind some good friends, but one I know is planning to move to Florida in the spring. The other is my oldest friend, 65 plus years old. As it happens we spent most of our lives living about five minutes from each other. We'll miss him and his wife, but he'll never leave because, well because.
A lot of people have open invitations and some will come. Some won't, but we'll still be friends. Unlike when I was young, if someone moves away it takes little effort to keep in touch with them. FB, FT, texts, email, phone calls, it's all easy and inexpensive. I'm sure many here remember when long distance calls were expensive and so were rare. The only other way to keep in touch was by writing letters.
The only family up there are my sister and her family, and some cousins of my wife's. Our kids live in the south and aren't coming back. My wife's former sister lives in Williamson County but she is nuttier than a fruit cake and we have no intention of seeing her.
My best friend of 40 years died in January after suffering for three years with Dementia. His wife is like a second sister to me and she has an open invitation to come down and visit any time.
Another friend of about 15 years died in June. Both were in the mid 70s.
We left behind some good friends, but one I know is planning to move to Florida in the spring. The other is my oldest friend, 65 plus years old. As it happens we spent most of our lives living about five minutes from each other. We'll miss him and his wife, but he'll never leave because, well because.
A lot of people have open invitations and some will come. Some won't, but we'll still be friends. Unlike when I was young, if someone moves away it takes little effort to keep in touch with them. FB, FT, texts, email, phone calls, it's all easy and inexpensive. I'm sure many here remember when long distance calls were expensive and so were rare. The only other way to keep in touch was by writing letters.
People are going to say, you can't move. Ignore them or don't mention it. That's all I heard, the naysayers. I did things I had never done before, including buying a house
I enjoy the gasps I get from tourists in the casinos after telling them I live here. Also, when people ask where I went for the (whichever) holiday, I honestly say I went to Vegas. Make your decision and move. Deal with the plusses and minuses. Wish you well.
Kaaskop49
Shield #5103
You should like Williamson County just fine. For now. But it's dangerously close to the future San Francisco of Texas - austin. Austin isn't really Texas anymore. It was a great city until a few years ago until the high-tech businesses moved in, along with a huge supply of california transplants, and it has been downhill ever since. Beautiful countryside, and lots of activities. Everything west of there is God's country, and well worth the time visiting. Welcome.
OP
I've watched the sad transformation of Austin over the past decade and a half. We started visiting there in the early 1980s when my sister in law and her family moved from MA.
It was a nice little city with lots of open space nearby
Now, it's just another big city with all of the big city problems.
From what I've seen a lot of the people moving into Williamson are from the midwest, not CA or NY. NY people seem to prefer to try to ruin FL.
It was a nice little city with lots of open space nearby
Now, it's just another big city with all of the big city problems.
From what I've seen a lot of the people moving into Williamson are from the midwest, not CA or NY. NY people seem to prefer to try to ruin FL.
Most people don't understand Florida cold. When it's in the mid 40's here it feels like the low 20's up north.
When I lived in Ohio if it was 40 or above I was out riding my motorcycle. I never dreamed of owning a heated riding jacket till I moved here. I have one now.
Unfortunately they're winning. Playing "the long game," the have usurped political power in Dade, Broward and Hillsborough counties where 75% of voters live. Joe
