Cali vs Texas vs Delaware (2 Viewers)

BarrieJ3

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We’re most likely moving back to the states by years end and need to start working on the process now. This was quite a failed and occasionally successful attempt over here, but our careers are dictating a mandatory move back.

That being said, at this time it looks like three options. We wouldn’t have to live in the exact spot, but be within driving distance. 30 and 36, two young kids 4 and 2. Make good money but not great, low 6 figures

Santa Clara, CA (bay areaish)
Austin, TX
Wilmington (by Philly), Delaware

Let me know your thoughts, whether you’re from one the areas or which you would choose!
 
I’ve never been a TX guy, but of the options you listed, Austin outranks the others by a mile. I love me some CA as I grew up there, but I’m happy to just visit now. (And I prefer Southern CA to Northern.). Never been to Wilmington, but have heard some good things.

Your dollar will stretch a bit farther in Austin, lots to do outdoors, relatively good people, and a bit more personal freedom all-around.

Whatever your final destination, best of luck in your move.
 
Why Austin? You can live in the outskirts for much less money than being in Austin.

The economy on Texas has historically been very good and I believe much better than the other two cities you are looking at. If you are looking at the future and the future of you money I would say Texas. Case in pint was during the 2008 bust of the economy many of us in Texas never skipped a beat.

If I did not mention it before. Do Not live in Austin Proper. Go a little further out and commute.

David
 
If you go South of Austin the re are many places. One who could tell you more about those areas is @DrStrange who lived in Wimberly and now live close to San Marcos. I live in San Antonio which is great but about 90 minutes South.

The great part is great cost of living and you have my game in San Antonio and @DrStrange's game to come play at!
 
I live in Wilmington, DE and it is the best place I have ever lived. (Compared to NYC, St Louis, PA, upstate NY). Great for kids. Tax free shopping is awesome. Cheap cost of living compared to the rest of the northeast and your in a day's drive of a ton of awesome cities to explore. Give this place some serious consideration.
 
"Austin" is a really wide area. North to south it is almost an hour. East to west maybe forty minutes.

I'll speak about the south side, knowing almost nothing about the North.

Austin sits athwart a very old fault line running North / South. Not an earthquake issue, but a huge economic line. On the west side is the Texas hill country, on the east is a black land (dirt color, not racial) prairie. The cost of living is markedly lower on the east side vs the west side. I live almost literally on the last hill of the hill country. Home prices in our 55+ community are roughly in the half million dollar range, low of $300K high of $1,000K. A few miles east into the prairie you might find prices in the $250K - $450K range. This is just two 55+ communities - there are a vast assortment of choices. Why are the prices different? Because the views and beauty of the hills is "worth" the price. You would have to decide for yourself. In general the cost of housing and the cost of living is much lower than California and a bit lower than Delaware.

There is a lot of rural acreage. If you want a home on 100+ acres, you can have that. If you would prefer to have a postage stamp yard or an even denser urban lifestyle, you can have that. We started on 160 acres with our own cow(s) 20+ years ago and now have a "large" quarter acre lot in a traditional city residential neighborhood.

This is one of the fastest growing parts of the USA. Everything is changing, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. Texas is attractive to businesses. Lower cost of living, lower cost of operation. While the Austin area is on the liberal side, the state isn't that way. My county, Hays, is almost evenly divided liberal vs conservative.

One of the benefits of this area is you are "close" to both Austin and San Antonio. It is less than an hour from my driveway to downtown or ether airport. We see shows / entertainment / sports in both cities while enjoying the relatively quiet smaller town. There are a number of colleges and universities within an hours drive. Traffic isn't a disaster (yet) but it is much more than when we first moved into the area.

Shouldn't leave out poker. Both San Antonio and Austin have semi-legal public poker rooms. Likely against the letter of the law, but the current attitude of the state is to leave it as a local matter. You'll pay an hourly seat fee and a cover charge, but no rake. Or . . . you might note there are a lot of PCF members in this area. I host 60+ games a year, (but not in the time of the plague). David O hosts some games. No doubt other folks also have games, but I do not know the details.

It does get HOT here. Expect 100 degree days in the summer, not every day but often. We run from drought to flood-time, sometimes the same week. It doesn't get that cold. Most years will freeze, but not always. I left my tropical plants outside all winter this year. Snow? Yea, I have heard about such things but rarely have I actually seen it stick to the ground. Ice storms are more common, but not every year. We are just outside the edge of tornado alley, the areas North of us get a lot more damaging storms. We do get some awesome thunderstorms. Nothing "milk-toast" about Texas weather.

DrStrange
 
NorCal has some great people there, but man is it pricey.

I know nothing of Delaware/Philly.

I Love me some San Antonio/Austin. IMO, the two metro areas aren't too far off from merging. I'd also echo the recommendations for the south side of Austin. North is great, but still pretty pricey. You'll get more land/home value for your dollar on the south.
 
"Austin" is a really wide area. North to south it is almost an hour. East to west maybe forty minutes.

I'll speak about the south side, knowing almost nothing about the North.

Austin sits athwart a very old fault line running North / South. Not an earthquake issue, but a huge economic line. On the west side is the Texas hill country, on the east is a black land (dirt color, not racial) prairie. The cost of living is markedly lower on the east side vs the west side. I live almost literally on the last hill of the hill country. Home prices in our 55+ community are roughly in the half million dollar range, low of $300K high of $1,000K. A few miles east into the prairie you might find prices in the $250K - $450K range. This is just two 55+ communities - there are a vast assortment of choices. Why are the prices different? Because the views and beauty of the hills is "worth" the price. You would have to decide for yourself. In general the cost of housing and the cost of living is much lower than California and a bit lower than Delaware.

There is a lot of rural acreage. If you want a home on 100+ acres, you can have that. If you would prefer to have a postage stamp yard or an even denser urban lifestyle, you can have that. We started on 160 acres with our own cow(s) 20+ years ago and now have a "large" quarter acre lot in a traditional city residential neighborhood.

This is one of the fastest growing parts of the USA. Everything is changing, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. Texas is attractive to businesses. Lower cost of living, lower cost of operation. While the Austin area is on the liberal side, the state isn't that way. My county, Hays, is almost evenly divided liberal vs conservative.

One of the benefits of this area is you are "close" to both Austin and San Antonio. It is less than an hour from my driveway to downtown or ether airport. We see shows / entertainment / sports in both cities while enjoying the relatively quiet smaller town. There are a number of colleges and universities within an hours drive. Traffic isn't a disaster (yet) but it is much more than when we first moved into the area.

Shouldn't leave out poker. Both San Antonio and Austin have semi-legal public poker rooms. Likely against the letter of the law, but the current attitude of the state is to leave it as a local matter. You'll pay an hourly seat fee and a cover charge, but no rake. Or . . . you might note there are a lot of PCF members in this area. I host 60+ games a year, (but not in the time of the plague). David O hosts some games. No doubt other folks also have games, but I do not know the details.

It does get HOT here. Expect 100 degree days in the summer, not every day but often. We run from drought to flood-time, sometimes the same week. It doesn't get that cold. Most years will freeze, but not always. I left my tropical plants outside all winter this year. Snow? Yea, I have heard about such things but rarely have I actually seen it stick to the ground. Ice storms are more common, but not every year. We are just outside the edge of tornado alley, the areas North of us get a lot more damaging storms. We do get some awesome thunderstorms. Nothing "milk-toast" about Texas weather.

DrStrange
Just as I thought, Scott never lets us down. Great write up on the area that you live in. Hope you are well and looking forward to playing some cards once we get through this!!
 
Born and raised in Philly, and I would say go with Austin. The last few tech companies I've been a part of all looked to expand in Austin.

@Tommy is from Philly and lives in Delaware. Perhaps he can give you some good perspective.
 
Do you like hipsters and rednecks, smugsters and taxes or wonderful moderates surrounded by history, culture, beaches, mountains, no sales tax and all four seasons?
 
Do you like hipsters and rednecks, smugsters and taxes or wonderful moderates surrounded by history, culture, beaches, mountains, no sales tax and all four seasons?
You had me until four season. I said good day sir!
 
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Haha j/k. Delaware is nice for all the reasons listed above, especially the no taxes. Just don't go too far south unless you like chicken farms and lots of nothing, lower slower Delaware is a much different story than the Wilmington/Dover area.

Big plus - you're in driving distance from some outstanding home games.
 
About 90 minutes south of Wilmington is Sussex County Delaware (aka “lower slower Delaware” aka “LSD”). It has the third lowest real estate taxes in the county. And no Sales taxes. And you are two hours away fro DC, Philly, and Baltimore. You are protected from New Jersey by the Delaware Bay. Beaches are great and the towns are very nice year round. About 8 weeks each summer it turns into a shit show.

the other places you listed are cool but I do t know them as well.
 
Big move, I’ve been to none of those places. After reading all the posts I do suggest that you book three one week to 10-day Airbnbs to get a feel for each area. Plus research the heck out of it online.

Moving family with young kids. Your move will have the biggest effect on the kids. Research schools. Quality and content of education vary widely even from school to school in same jurisdiction. After school activities and summer camps will vary as well. Good luck!
 
We’re most likely moving back to the states by years end and need to start working on the process now. This was quite a failed and occasionally successful attempt over here, but our careers are dictating a mandatory move back.

That being said, at this time it looks like three options. We wouldn’t have to live in the exact spot, but be within driving distance. 30 and 36, two young kids 4 and 2. Make good money but not great, low 6 figures

Santa Clara, CA (bay areaish)
Austin, TX
Wilmington (by Philly), Delaware

Let me know your thoughts, whether you’re from one the areas or which you would choose!
Detroit area. Our cash games need you. We have Chick-fil-A now...

Im not sure how/why you came up with those three areas, but if it were me, of those three, probably Austin... It's supposed to be a cool and eclectic town with a great music scene. And I would fit in best in Texas (politically and pro 2A). The appressive heat would be a concern, and I'd miss the seasons, however.

I wouldn't move to Wilmington/Philly or Santa Clara mostly because of cost of living, politics, and because I don't want to live too close to either coast. But both have positives too.
 
Wow, thank you all. I appreciate the feedback and insights, truly. The locations are all areas where wife’s work has headquarters.

This is obviously a ways off with it not being for 6-8 months, but it’s also gonna be a bit difficult logistically, so just looking to get ahead of the curve. Texas has been the front runner, so we’ll have to see how that checks out once travel restrictions are up.

Good thing housing is cheap (my wife’s been looking), cause I don’t know if I can afford being so close to all these PCFers!
 
Wow, thank you all. I appreciate the feedback and insights, truly. The locations are all areas where wife’s work has headquarters.

This is obviously a ways off with it not being for 6-8 months, but it’s also gonna be a bit difficult logistically, so just looking to get ahead of the curve. Texas has been the front runner, so we’ll have to see how that checks out once travel restrictions are up.

Good thing housing is cheap (my wife’s been looking), cause I don’t know if I can afford being so close to all these PCFers!
If you make it down here minus the COVID look me up.
 
I’ve always lived in Texas so a little partial, but Austin is my top choice out of those. The property and land you can get in this state is unbelievable compared to west coast
 
Austin and it’s not even close.
No state taxes.
cost of living is lower.
weather is better.
 
I did 7 years of time in Dallas and was glad to get the hell out. But of all the places to live in that state, Austin would be near the top of the list of most tolerable.

We interviewed a guy for work here in Denver a couple years ago, and our office manager was chatting with him and mentioned that we had just had a summer intern who was from Austin. He scoffed and said, "Austin! I could never live in Austin! Too many liberals." Which was a funny thing to volunteer during a job interview. (he was not hired)
 

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