Dallas

[doren50]

People on this board love to criticize Dallas but it looks pretty good to me. Thumbed through a copy of "Dallas magazine the other day. In the first 10 pages I saw:

1. A tear down in University Park for only $899,000

2. A two bedroom condo in Crescent Sq for only $1,300,000

3 The fact that Dallas is headquarters to over 40 large corporations.

My guess is that property owners and job holders like it there -- no wonder so many OK college grads head that way.

[YoungTulsan]

Let me have the butler fetch the Rolls, I need to see this condo for myself!

[DM]

I don't see anything wrong with Dallas other then its in Texas. lol! But seriously, it probably the only Texas city that I would consider living in. I go down there quite a bit because the company I work for has a regional office there. There is a lot of building going on there. From new highways to office and residential buildings.

One thing that is even worse then Oklahoma is the dry county thing. All the cities are connected together so it's hard to tell when you get into a dry county. Not a huge deal but it is even more screwed up the Oklahoma IMO.

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by YoungTulsan

Let me have the butler fetch the Rolls, I need to see this condo for myself!

two bedroom for only $1.3M? I should move now. At only 5-10 times local housing costs, that's a steal!

[cannon_fodder]

I'l willing to be I can find an 5 bedroom in Tulsa for $1.3 Million - probably with a guest house (I assume you chose those housing units as a joke, as you can get a comparable apartment in San Francisco or Honolulu for $1+ mil).

I dont like Dallas-Fort Wroth because in my opinion it is just a sprawling mid western city.  The only thing neat or interesting about Dallas is how big it is.  If I wanted to move to a big city why not one that has something unique about it: Chicago, San Fran, Seattle, NYC, Miami... at least they have character.  Even Minneapolis and certainly Austin has more character than Dallas.

If I wanted to spend 1+ Million USD to live in the center of a big city Dallas would be near the bottom of my list.  Along with Houston for that matter.

Other than its size, I dont see what it offers.  Maybe I'm missing something.

[TheArtist]

quote:Originally posted by cannon_fodder

I'l willing to be I can find an 5 bedroom in Tulsa for $1.3 Million - probably with a guest house (I assume you chose those housing units as a joke, as you can get a comparable apartment in San Francisco or Honolulu for $1+ mil).

I dont like Dallas-Fort Wroth because in my opinion it is just a sprawling mid western city.  The only thing neat or interesting about Dallas is how big it is.  If I wanted to move to a big city why not one that has something unique about it: Chicago, San Fran, Seattle, NYC, Miami... at least they have character.  Even Minneapolis and certainly Austin has more character than Dallas.

If I wanted to spend 1+ Million USD to live in the center of a big city Dallas would be near the bottom of my list.  Along with Houston for that matter.

Other than its size, I dont see what it offers.  Maybe I'm missing something.

It offers money and a lot of things to do and spend it on when you get it...  If thats your thing.

[grahambino]

as with anywhere, you take the good with the bad.

Things I didnt like about living in Dallas.
1.  The traffic...rush hour, people drive like they have a death wish and one for you too.
2.  The local streets, once you get off the highways its like Tulsa out there.
3.  All the people.  Its too big.  With that comes crime, though Tulsa seems to be keeping up well.
4.  The parks are a joke for a city that size, have you been to the Dallas Zoo?  Talk about depressing.
5. It is truly the epitome of urban sprawl.  

Things I liked.
1.  umm...I like the Texas Rangers.
2.  The shopping is nice.  
3.There were some good Mexican restaruants I found.  
4.  The freeways are in great shape.
5.  The beer is better.

as to the dry county...in Dallas County it varies city by city.  For example two adjacent cities, Mesquite and Garland.  Garland passed beer and wine sales in 04 or 05, Mesquite has tried and cant get the votes to pass it.  Its so strange to go to restaraunts and they are BYOB.

[bigdtottown]

Dallas has changed DRAMATCALLY in the last 10-12 years or so.  It can't be accurately defined by urban sprawl, although it admittedly has had lots of it in it's history.  DART was accepted very well in spite of the naysayers.  
The Uptown area has succeeded beyond anyone's wildest predictions and the Victory is going to take it to the next level.  These are all intown development that would have been unheard of in Dallas back the the 80's and before.  It's important to note that, with the exception of DART, both Uptown and Victory were the result of a very small group of individuals in the private sector taking a very bad situation and making something postive out of it. (Brownfields and crack houses)
With regard to home prices you must keep things in perspective.  We live in University Park and it's not quite as bad as the article implies but it is getting a bit crazy.  Outside of the Park Cities Dallas has a LOT of very affordable housing, which is one of the reason's cited when companies relocate here. No state income tax but real estate taxes can be killer.

[Hoss]

quote:Originally posted by DM

I don't see anything wrong with Dallas other then its in Texas. lol! But seriously, it probably the only Texas city that I would consider living in. I go down there quite a bit because the company I work for has a regional office there. There is a lot of building going on there. From new highways to office and residential buildings.

One thing that is even worse then Oklahoma is the dry county thing. All the cities are connected together so it's hard to tell when you get into a dry county. Not a huge deal but it is even more screwed up the Oklahoma IMO.

Dallas = HellHole...

I lived in Houston for three years in my twenties, but I was in Dallas enough to know the following:

Their drivers suck
They all act stuck up (as if they have the right)

Living in Houston made me appreciate it even more.  I like Tulsa better, but there are only two cities I'd even consider relocating to:  back to Houston, or Kansas City.

[TheArtist]

Teeeechnically speaking, Dallas has a lot less sprawl and is far more dense than Tulsa.  Its the suburbs around Dallas that sprawl.[]

[Steve]

quote:Originally posted by sgrizzle

quote:Originally posted by YoungTulsan

Let me have the butler fetch the Rolls, I need to see this condo for myself!

two bedroom for only $1.3M? I should move now. At only 5-10 times local housing costs, that's a steal!

Literally.  And not to mention annual real estate taxes.  From what I can gather, on average property taxes are about twice as much per taxable $ value in Texas vs. Oklahoma.  For me, Dallas and all of Texas is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

[bigdtottown]

Keep in mind Texas has no state income tax, but yes, real estate taxes are MUCH higher here.  We pay more per month in property taxes alone than my whole house payment on the home I owned in Tulsa.  What I have not done is try to figure out what's better/cheaper...no state income tax and sky high property taxes or relatively low real estate taxes AND state income tax.

[Cubs]

Dallas people are among the most arrogant in the country .... I couldn't live there.

[sauerkraut]

I lived in the D/FW area in the 1980's and I loved it. The weather is better than Olkahoma, it's milder and warmer. Texas has no state income tax and they also do not tax food I beleive. The drawbacks are prop. tax is higher in Texas and they do have some violent gangs there. Texas has motor vehicle safety inspections and smog/emmission inspections for cars. Fort Worth has a great jog/bike trail system The Trinity Trail, miles of open car free jogging. Oklahoma's income tax rate is a bit on the high side, and Oklahoma taxes food, Oklahoma has alot of toll roads too.

[TulsaFan-inTexas]

I live in Hurst, a suburb of Fort Worth, and property taxes are getting out of control down here.

The lack of a state income tax defrays that cost somewhat, but still, it's expensive. I have an 1800 square foot home that is valued at around 140K in Hurst and my property taxes run about 3600 dollars a year. That's 300 dollars a month added to my monthly mortgage payment in property taxes alone.

Most of those property taxes are for the school district in which we live. But, the really lousy thing is that (as of 3 years ago) our school district was designated one of the wealthy districts. So, now our money is distributed across the state to poorer districts (Robin Hood  plan).

I understand the taxes on a similar home in Oklahoma are less than 1000 dollars a year. I guess it matters which school district one lives in though.