Re: How is Living in Dallas?
Dallas is another large city with its obvious pros and cons. I'm not going to get into them, but one of the biggest pros is the quality of the women--dangerously good looking. I used to travel in and out of Longview, Tyler and Dallas. You Tyler people should know plenty about the Big D.
My company closed down our 40 person office in Dallas, thinking 80% of the people would move to Wisconsin--only to get one person to transfer for 3 months (before he retired.) Texans never want to live other places--turning in promotions, etc. to stay there. They love the place.
Like #6 said, you've got to figure out where your job is going to be--and move in that direction. Dallas homes should be very affordable, especially with foreclosures available to people that are handymen. Out of all the large cities, I see only Houston and Atlanta to have a lower cost housing market.
Rochester, NY is a great place, but it's in New York. The farther north you go, and the older society you live in, they figure out more ways to get their greedy tax collector's hands in your pocket. At one point, life is not worth it. Corruption's had more years to be a big part of day to day life up nawth.
My state is broke, but they're not trying to stick it to us on property tax. Taxes on my 3500 square foot house on 4 acres would cost me $650 per year, however our property taxes have been waived since my wife is on social security disability. There again, our public schools' facilities are pretty disappointing.
Good luck on your move. Getting within 2 hours of home should be great.