Dallas - Your Top 5 Pro's and Cons
Sep 27th 2007, 4:41 am
#16
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Joined: Nov 2004
Location: Austin, Texas in my own little world
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Re: Dallas - Your Top 5 Pro's and Cons
As far as Texas is concerned, I have heard that Austin is the better city, I've heard it described as a liberal oasis in a republican sea - it's also prettier, or I thought so at least, but I think they get more humidity and mosquitoes, and there is an awful lot to be said for avoiding that 
Cons: traffic (everyone moved here), fierce competition for jobs, pay that is disproportionate to the cost of housing, having to fly or otherwise get to Dallas or Houston to fly trans-Atlantic.
Sep 27th 2007, 2:14 pm
#17
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Sep 27th 2007, 3:15 pm
#18
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Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 169
Re: Dallas - Your Top 5 Pro's and Cons
I lived in Dallas - well, Plano - for a year. I can't say I particularly enjoyed my time there, but I wasn't unhappy either. Lots and lots of concrete, cheaply built mansions and condos, but some nicer neighborhoods in the middle of all that. You will need a car from day one. Chain restaurants galore - contrary to the experiences of a previous poster I didn't find much in the way of good food, especially if you are of the pub grub / curry house ilk. I spent most of my weekends commuting to Austin, and now live there.
The wife is from Houston, and we visit there often. I prefer it: it's a lot more international, a lot more non-chain restaurants, a lot greener, and - in my opinion - considerably more liberal than Dallas. A potential downside: it gets seriously humid for much of the year.
Hope this helps - PM me if you need more info. A fellow on this board - G1Ant - moved here from Leeds ... he might have some useful info for you.
The wife is from Houston, and we visit there often. I prefer it: it's a lot more international, a lot more non-chain restaurants, a lot greener, and - in my opinion - considerably more liberal than Dallas. A potential downside: it gets seriously humid for much of the year.
Hope this helps - PM me if you need more info. A fellow on this board - G1Ant - moved here from Leeds ... he might have some useful info for you.
Hi,
I have been offered A Job in Dallas which I am seriously considering in accepting. I have read much about Dallas and Texas, some things I like others not, either way I'm still a bit torn
. I thought therefore it might be a good idea for anybody who has lived there to list their top 5 Likes and Dislikes. This will really help me make my decision so thanks in advance.
I have been offered A Job in Dallas which I am seriously considering in accepting. I have read much about Dallas and Texas, some things I like others not, either way I'm still a bit torn
. I thought therefore it might be a good idea for anybody who has lived there to list their top 5 Likes and Dislikes. This will really help me make my decision so thanks in advance.
Sep 28th 2007, 5:15 pm
#19
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Re: Dallas - Your Top 5 Pro's and Cons
I've just recently left Dallas, and lived there for four and a half years. I can tell you my likes and dislikes but of course, they are just based on my experiences, and will likely differ to everyone else as we all look at things differently, so, with that in mind here are mine 
Likes:
1. Weather : Yes, it gets incredibly hot, but in the spring, there are the most amazing storms, I am glad I lived there just to witness some of the crazy weather, lightning that would go on for hours, giant hail that actually destroyed the roof and the left the satellite dish looking like the surface of the moon. It always felt pretty amazing to come out of the cinema at ten or eleven or night and it still be baking hot.
The weather reports are amazing, when a big storm was heading in, they could tell me when the storm would hit my area and I was prepared, I could look up the weather maps before I set out for the kids, and know if I would get caught in a storm or not which is fairly important in Dallas
If you're lucky enough to own a pool, or join a gym with one etc it is really easy to imagine yourself on holiday at the weekend because it's the weather you generally only get when you are leaving the UK for a break
2. Huge sky and sunsets: Just the most gorgeous sunsets I have ever seen in my life, regularly, and sometimes there are the most amazing cloud patterns, it's really beautiful.
3. Food: Seriously, having moved away from the area I am realising how much good food that was on offer in Dallas and the surrounding areas. There are so many restaurants, and their standards are pretty high, even the fast food is amazing and it's cheap, cheap, cheap.
4. Shopping: There are so many malls, indoor, outdoor, strip malls, you name it, and again, lots of stuff is cheap, cheap, cheap.
5. Big Houses: For very little money, it is amazing what you can get for your money, particularly if you are bringing cash from a house sale in the UK.
Dislikes:
1. Rednecks, politics and religion: I often found myself saying, I love Texas, it's the people I can't stand. I actually made some really great friends, but, they had mainly either come from somewhere else, or they had lived all over and had experience of life outside of Texas. I met more ignorant, selfish, and sometimes downright nasty people than I've ever met in my whole life up to this point. You have to learn to bite your lip, if you have a different opinion, in my experience at least, it will almost always come down to the fact you are British and not Texan. You can't just have a different opinion because you've considered something, or thought it over, it's because you are anti-American, anti- Texan, whatever, depending on what you are talking about.
If you are the type who has strong viewpoints politically, that are not republican, and you work in an environment which is largely made up of Texas natives, it will do your head in If you are not religious, and prefer not to hear about religion a lot, Dallas is not for you. There are churches everywhere and a lot of your social invites will be to church events, socials etc.
2. The Weather: There are not really any seasons, one day the leaves are green on the trees, the next day everything is brown and the leaves are gone. It gets so hot in the summer, the kids can't be outside for long or they will scorch, even with protection, and the outdoor toys will burn them. It doesn't cool down at night, and depending on the area you live in, you won't get a lot of use for your patio set in the evenings because the mosquito's will be chewing off your limbs
3. Air Conditioning bills: Prepare yourself, and if you do come to Dallas, particularly if you have a partner who will not be working, make sure you are getting paid well, because while most things are cheap, A/C bills are most certainly not. Texas is known for paying a lot for utilities - I'd have to google the actual figures but it's regularly on the news that Texans are paying a lot more than people in other states, and I don't know why. In peak summer time, I was paying $600 per month for electricity and water. The lowest electricity/water bills we got were in the winter, and they were still $200 per month, and of course the gas would increase to around $170 or so, I can look up specifics for the last year if needs be.
4. Cheap fast food: It's bloody amazing, but it's so hot in the summer that you get more and more tempted not to cook, especially as the fast food is so cheap and so quick and so tasty. You will see people around with the weirdest shaped bottoms and wonder how they got that way. After a few years you will realise it's from fast food, and not having to really get out of your car, the bank is drive through, the fast food drive through, the pharmacy drive through, even the rubbish bins at the side of the road are angled so you don't have to get out of the car and it's too bloody hot to walk anywhere
5. Big Cheap Houses: They build em very quickly, and around the ten year mark they really start to fall apart, because of the type of soil, the earth moves a lot, and the foundation slabs crack. Lots of people find themselves unable to sell their houses, as who wants a ten year old house with a repaired foundation when they can buy a brand new house. The builders throw in all kinds of new appliances, granite counter tops etc to entice new buyers and it's hard for the homeowner to compete.
There is an awful lot to love in Dallas, certainly in terms of what you can get for your money, bigger houses, cheaper cars, it's great. Some areas have fantastic internet connections now with Verizon FIOS (fibre optic) and the cities are great at keeping areas looking immaculate, everything looks clean and with the sun almost always shining, it looks shiny and new.
On the other hand, shiny and new often feels like Stepford, there are as many negatives for your positives but it's all about what you like.
I did enjoy living there, but I knew early on I wouldn't be able to stick it there long term, I felt my quality of life was good in terms of material things, but the quality of life for my brain was not so good as I'm not religious and couldn't cope with people trying to force it upon me. I hated that the nasty people I would meet would very often be wearing a "what would Jesus do" wristband.
It was that stuff that wore me down.
I was volunteering at a cat rescue though, and found that the regard for animals amongst the redneck types was low, so I think I came across more ignorant and nasty people because of that. This was my experience, yours will be almost certainly different and we all value different things so your decision has to be made on what is important to you.
I did live right on the edge of Garland, I have heard quite a few times that it's far better in places like Plano, even Rowlett, places with less rednecks. I liked where we lived, it was a lovely neighbourhood but I can't help thinking if I'd moved to somewhere with more foreigners I'd have liked Dallas a whole lot more.
I found the friendliness that Big D talks of was very often superficial, (not all the time of course) and not really genuine at all, and a lot of the women I met would smile very sweetly at you, when they were actually hard faced cows
Likes:
1. Weather : Yes, it gets incredibly hot, but in the spring, there are the most amazing storms, I am glad I lived there just to witness some of the crazy weather, lightning that would go on for hours, giant hail that actually destroyed the roof and the left the satellite dish looking like the surface of the moon. It always felt pretty amazing to come out of the cinema at ten or eleven or night and it still be baking hot.
The weather reports are amazing, when a big storm was heading in, they could tell me when the storm would hit my area and I was prepared, I could look up the weather maps before I set out for the kids, and know if I would get caught in a storm or not which is fairly important in Dallas
If you're lucky enough to own a pool, or join a gym with one etc it is really easy to imagine yourself on holiday at the weekend because it's the weather you generally only get when you are leaving the UK for a break
2. Huge sky and sunsets: Just the most gorgeous sunsets I have ever seen in my life, regularly, and sometimes there are the most amazing cloud patterns, it's really beautiful.
3. Food: Seriously, having moved away from the area I am realising how much good food that was on offer in Dallas and the surrounding areas. There are so many restaurants, and their standards are pretty high, even the fast food is amazing and it's cheap, cheap, cheap.
4. Shopping: There are so many malls, indoor, outdoor, strip malls, you name it, and again, lots of stuff is cheap, cheap, cheap.
5. Big Houses: For very little money, it is amazing what you can get for your money, particularly if you are bringing cash from a house sale in the UK.
Dislikes:
1. Rednecks, politics and religion: I often found myself saying, I love Texas, it's the people I can't stand. I actually made some really great friends, but, they had mainly either come from somewhere else, or they had lived all over and had experience of life outside of Texas. I met more ignorant, selfish, and sometimes downright nasty people than I've ever met in my whole life up to this point. You have to learn to bite your lip, if you have a different opinion, in my experience at least, it will almost always come down to the fact you are British and not Texan. You can't just have a different opinion because you've considered something, or thought it over, it's because you are anti-American, anti- Texan, whatever, depending on what you are talking about.
If you are the type who has strong viewpoints politically, that are not republican, and you work in an environment which is largely made up of Texas natives, it will do your head in
If you are not religious, and prefer not to hear about religion a lot, Dallas is not for you. There are churches everywhere and a lot of your social invites will be to church events, socials etc. 2. The Weather: There are not really any seasons, one day the leaves are green on the trees, the next day everything is brown and the leaves are gone. It gets so hot in the summer, the kids can't be outside for long or they will scorch, even with protection, and the outdoor toys will burn them. It doesn't cool down at night, and depending on the area you live in, you won't get a lot of use for your patio set in the evenings because the mosquito's will be chewing off your limbs
3. Air Conditioning bills: Prepare yourself, and if you do come to Dallas, particularly if you have a partner who will not be working, make sure you are getting paid well, because while most things are cheap, A/C bills are most certainly not. Texas is known for paying a lot for utilities - I'd have to google the actual figures but it's regularly on the news that Texans are paying a lot more than people in other states, and I don't know why. In peak summer time, I was paying $600 per month for electricity and water. The lowest electricity/water bills we got were in the winter, and they were still $200 per month, and of course the gas would increase to around $170 or so, I can look up specifics for the last year if needs be.
4. Cheap fast food: It's bloody amazing, but it's so hot in the summer that you get more and more tempted not to cook, especially as the fast food is so cheap and so quick and so tasty. You will see people around with the weirdest shaped bottoms and wonder how they got that way. After a few years you will realise it's from fast food, and not having to really get out of your car, the bank is drive through, the fast food drive through, the pharmacy drive through, even the rubbish bins at the side of the road are angled so you don't have to get out of the car and it's too bloody hot to walk anywhere
5. Big Cheap Houses: They build em very quickly, and around the ten year mark they really start to fall apart, because of the type of soil, the earth moves a lot, and the foundation slabs crack. Lots of people find themselves unable to sell their houses, as who wants a ten year old house with a repaired foundation when they can buy a brand new house. The builders throw in all kinds of new appliances, granite counter tops etc to entice new buyers and it's hard for the homeowner to compete.
There is an awful lot to love in Dallas, certainly in terms of what you can get for your money, bigger houses, cheaper cars, it's great. Some areas have fantastic internet connections now with Verizon FIOS (fibre optic) and the cities are great at keeping areas looking immaculate, everything looks clean and with the sun almost always shining, it looks shiny and new.
On the other hand, shiny and new often feels like Stepford, there are as many negatives for your positives but it's all about what you like.
I did enjoy living there, but I knew early on I wouldn't be able to stick it there long term, I felt my quality of life was good in terms of material things, but the quality of life for my brain was not so good as I'm not religious and couldn't cope with people trying to force it upon me. I hated that the nasty people I would meet would very often be wearing a "what would Jesus do" wristband.
It was that stuff that wore me down.
I was volunteering at a cat rescue though, and found that the regard for animals amongst the redneck types was low, so I think I came across more ignorant and nasty people because of that. This was my experience, yours will be almost certainly different and we all value different things so your decision has to be made on what is important to you.
I did live right on the edge of Garland, I have heard quite a few times that it's far better in places like Plano, even Rowlett, places with less rednecks. I liked where we lived, it was a lovely neighbourhood but I can't help thinking if I'd moved to somewhere with more foreigners I'd have liked Dallas a whole lot more.
I found the friendliness that Big D talks of was very often superficial, (not all the time of course) and not really genuine at all, and a lot of the women I met would smile very sweetly at you, when they were actually hard faced cows
Sep 28th 2007, 5:42 pm
#20
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Joined: Aug 2004
Location: Tampa, FL
Posts: 3,338
Re: Dallas - Your Top 5 Pro's and Cons
Not lived in Dallas, but last year I spent a couple of months back to back working there, flying back to Tampa on the weekends.
My general impressions are that your experience would differ greatly on which part of town you end up living. However, as a whole, a couple of things stuck out to me.
The first was that you can get a McMansion for very little money - housing looks to be fantastic value but I hear the tax is high.
Second, from my outsider point of view, I found the suburbs to be incredibly characterless, the "town centres" generally consisting of a random collection of chain restaurants and big box retailers clustered around the off ramp of the passing interstate/freeway. Compared with the UK, I thought my suburb of Tampa was fairly characterless - everytime I got home from Dallas on the weekend, everything felt so close together and community like!
My general impressions are that your experience would differ greatly on which part of town you end up living. However, as a whole, a couple of things stuck out to me.
The first was that you can get a McMansion for very little money - housing looks to be fantastic value but I hear the tax is high.
Second, from my outsider point of view, I found the suburbs to be incredibly characterless, the "town centres" generally consisting of a random collection of chain restaurants and big box retailers clustered around the off ramp of the passing interstate/freeway. Compared with the UK, I thought my suburb of Tampa was fairly characterless - everytime I got home from Dallas on the weekend, everything felt so close together and community like!
Sep 28th 2007, 5:54 pm
#21
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Sep 28th 2007, 6:44 pm
#22
WTF?
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Re: Dallas - Your Top 5 Pro's and Cons
I'm American and I totally agree with all that you said about Dallas and texas in general.Have spent time in Dallas,have relatives who call texas home,and I personally found the place to have several plus' and reasons to live there. Frankly, the negatives far out weigh any upside to living there and with out question the biggest negatives are the redneck people.Sadly Texans fight any and all effort to climb the evolutionary scale and behave like thinking human beings.Texas and Louisiania are the two MOST racist states in America!
)
Sep 28th 2007, 7:34 pm
#26
WTF?
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Re: Dallas - Your Top 5 Pro's and Cons
Sep 28th 2007, 7:37 pm
#27
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Posts: 23,181
Re: Dallas - Your Top 5 Pro's and Cons
Nah - I have a meeting in Dallas in the morning. Wondering whether to just fly home asap or make a day of it. (Tried PMing you but it won't let me - weird...)
Sep 28th 2007, 7:56 pm
#28
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Sep 28th 2007, 8:24 pm
#29
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Re: Dallas - Your Top 5 Pro's and Cons
I thought my post was quite reasonable and depicted my personal experience in texas.What about my posting troubled you? Was it the part that said there "were plus' to living in Dallas"? Could it be the fact that Texas ranks second only to Louisiania in hate crimes in America? Or could you just feel lt important to attack anyone who dares to be so frank and honest?As an American who has spent time in Texas and have close family living there, I think my opinion about this country are validated.
Sep 29th 2007, 2:27 am
#30
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Re: Dallas - Your Top 5 Pro's and Cons
Texas sucks!!!