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Fellow Dakkites-

My wife and I are moving from California to Dallas, Texas. We're looking at houses to rent, and I'm wondering if anyone who lives there can tell me what areas to avoid. I've been to websites like Crimemappers.com, but they never tell you the whole story.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Are you moving to Dallas Proper, or one of the Suburbs, like Richardson?

Ok before we let you in you need to ditch that anti gun, lefty spendy it takes a village crap, or we'll have to stop you at the border.

Most of the suburbs are quite nice actually. They are flat though. Dallas is flat, not Oklahoma flat, but still flat. Stay away from the areas around Love Field, thats all I can say. I'd rent a car and drive around yourself to geta feel of the vibe.


And remember, Houston superior, Dallas inferior. Learn this early. It will help later.


Internet search, might be helpful:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110830111722AApv8DN
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120323155458AA20pne

LOL, Frazzled, that's why we're moving!

Sasori- We're still not sure. Her new job is in Bonham, so we're looking at the northern area of Dallas. Basically, I want to be near the DART system.

I've heard northern areas are better. My apologies. I could help you with Austin, El Paso (stay away), East Texas (see ElPaso), and Houston, but I've always been in a cab around Dallas.

Well, I appreciate knowing that, at least.

Bonham is way north of Dallas, so you probably won't be living anywhere near actual Dallas. I actually had to look it up where Bonham was, it's a very tiny town.

I've heard northern areas are better.

They are. Richardson and Plano is much better than living in Dallas proper.

And remember, Houston superior, Dallas inferior

Houston sucks, full stop.

 Sasori wrote:
Bonham is way north of Dallas, so you probably won't be living anywhere near actual Dallas. I actually had to look it up where Bonham was, it's a very tiny town.

I've heard northern areas are better.

They are. Richardson and Plano is much better than living in Dallas proper.

And remember, Houston superior, Dallas inferior

Houston sucks, full stop.

Richardson is really nice... I have family there. I think it's one of the fastest growing cities in the country.

 Sasori wrote:
Bonham is way north of Dallas, so you probably won't be living anywhere near actual Dallas. I actually had to look it up where Bonham was, it's a very tiny town.

I've heard northern areas are better.

They are. Richardson and Plano is much better than living in Dallas proper.

I have heard Garland is nice as well.

And remember, Houston superior, Dallas inferior

Houston sucks, full stop.

Dems fightin' words almost yankee. Everyone knows Dallas is just jealous of our superiority because we have something called rain, and better seafood / cajun food. Duh! Frankly your jealousy about our occasional hurricanes is almost embarrassing.

 Sasori wrote:
Bonham is way north of Dallas, so you probably won't be living anywhere near actual Dallas. I actually had to look it up where Bonham was, it's a very tiny town.

I've heard northern areas are better.

They are. Richardson and Plano is much better than living in Dallas proper.

And remember, Houston superior, Dallas inferior

Houston sucks, full stop.

She'll be commuting about an hour. We live in a similar town to Bonham currently, and its worth the gas money to her to live in a bigger city.

 Cortez667 wrote:

 Sasori wrote:
Bonham is way north of Dallas, so you probably won't be living anywhere near actual Dallas. I actually had to look it up where Bonham was, it's a very tiny town.

I've heard northern areas are better.

They are. Richardson and Plano is much better than living in Dallas proper.

And remember, Houston superior, Dallas inferior

Houston sucks, full stop.

She'll be commuting about an hour. We live in a similar town to Bonham currently, and its worth the gas money to her to live in a bigger city.

The commute will be much longer than that, depending on what time she travels, as well with dealing with all the construction going on to 635 and what not.

I would suggest looking someplace like Richardson, Garland, or Plano. the DART runs right through Richardson, I've used it on occasion to go to the Zoo and what not, when I didn't feel like driving or dealing with the Parking Madness.

You get the benefit of being in a suburb, and can cut your wife's commute in half. You also have the benefit of being close to Dallas, for when you need to go there.

Yeah, I'm looking at Richardson. It looks like the ideal place. Map says its 1 hour from Bonham, and my wife drives like shes in NASCAR (I blame her upbringing in Arizona), so I doubt her commute will be that bad.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Now for the important question: Hows 40k gaming out there? I realize I'll probably have to go into Dallas proper, but from the GW website, there appears to be quite a few stores in the area that carry GW product; usually that means lots of players.

 Cortez667 wrote:
Yeah, I'm looking at Richardson. It looks like the ideal place. Map says its 1 hour from Bonham, and my wife drives like shes in NASCAR (I blame her upbringing in Arizona), so I doubt her commute will be that bad.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Now for the important question: Hows 40k gaming out there? I realize I'll probably have to go into Dallas proper, but from the GW website, there appears to be quite a few stores in the area that carry GW product; usually that means lots of players.

There are actually several stores in the area, where you can play. Madness Comics, and Comic Asylum both have 40k, among other things, and there are several communities that play as well. if you decide to move to Richardson, let me know and I'll put you in touch with my current group.

You most definitely do not need to go to Dallas to play!

Excellent, and thanks for your help!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Do any of the stores run local tournaments? Like 3-round Saturday tournys, stuff like that?

 Frazzled wrote:
I've heard northern areas are better. My apologies. I could help you with Austin, El Paso (stay away), East Texas (see ElPaso), and Houston, but I've always been in a cab around Dallas.

My parents lived in El Paso in the late 70s/early 80s... They loved it... granted they loved Las Cruces, New Mexico more. Apparently the felt Ohio was a better state to raise a child

I can't blame me though, because I'm fething awesome. Though I need to visit their old stomping grounds (got a sister resting there)

 Cortez667 wrote:
Excellent, and thanks for your help!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Do any of the stores run local tournaments? Like 3-round Saturday tournys, stuff like that?

I know Comic Asylum hosts Monthly tournaments, usually 3 rounds.

 Sasori wrote:

 Cortez667 wrote:
Excellent, and thanks for your help!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Do any of the stores run local tournaments? Like 3-round Saturday tournys, stuff like that?

I know Comic Asylum hosts Monthly tournaments, usually 3 rounds.

Excellent! Friendly games are alright, but I really enjoy the competitive aspect of 40k.

Here is what I know from my two weeks of time spent in Dallas

The night life is awesome, something for everyone.

Parts of the city are dry, meaning no booze in the stores, some of the neighborhoods are wet to the point you can get a drink at a drive thru window.

Get Air Conditioning in whatever you decide to live in. Do not walk anywhere more than a block in August unless you want to lose some water weight.

People are generally very nice.

Cockroaches are plentiful and pretty big, they also like air conditioning. Check your shoes every morning before you put them on.

LOL, thanks for the warning.

Since a few cities other than Dallas have been mentioned, what do you guys think of San Antonio? Would it be a nice place to live, work, or visit?

 Hordini wrote:
Since a few cities other than Dallas have been mentioned, what do you guys think of San Antonio? Would it be a nice place to live, work, or visit?

I thought SA is a cool place... just a sprawling town... fething hot too.

 Hordini wrote:
Since a few cities other than Dallas have been mentioned, what do you guys think of San Antonio? Would it be a nice place to live, work, or visit?

Yes
Yes
Yes

Unless you don't like heat, in which case WHY THE HELL ARE YOU IN TEXAS?

San Antonio is actually reasonably large with strong industry. It also has some excellent touristy stuff, two theme parks + the largest waterpark in the world within 30 minutes. Very strong hispanic flavors in the city portion and SA is kind of the demarkation zone between English and Spanish Texas. In contrast to Houston and Dallas it has actual cultural flavor.

Frazzled's guide to Texas cities
*Dallas – mixture of tv Texas and some East Coast snooty city. Its flat. But Da Wimminz yee ha! Inferiority complex to Houston.
*Austin – Used to be hippy weird. Now its California Berkeley weird. Full of Californians. Likes to make fun of Houston. Has hills. This greatly freaks out native Texans as we’re not used to slopes and angles. But University of Texas has Da Wimminz yee ha! Beware of crazy men in Hawaiian shirts walking wiener dogs. Just saying…
*San Antonio – old meets the new. Mexican piñatas and big business. Good food. No one says anything bad about San Antonio or the cartels will make them pay. But Da Wimminz yee ha!
*El Paso. Gateway to New Mexico
*Midland/Odessa. Derp de derp. Bar fight time. Roughneck workzone. You die if your car breaks down. No really.
*East Texas. Not a town but the region. Lots of trees. Here there be dragons (who wear white robes)…
*McAllen/Brownsville Hola!! Get to see ICE up close, now with machine guns!
*Galveston. Imagine Santa Monica beach if it were on a bar island. Now imagine it with brown water and occasional tar balls. Now imagine it if they had annual shootings during various festivals. Really awesome seafood though.
*Houston. All oil all the time. Houston started as a fraud town on swamp land. Some say its gone downhill since. Visualize Pittsburgh, but with much much better food, pickup trucks, and the third highest amount of live theater seating in the US (seriously). Occasional hurricanes to make things interesting. Even the squirrels have guns. Has water moccasins, brown recluse spiders, and alligators. We used to make fun of Dallas, but now make fun of Austin hippies. But Da Wimminz yee ha!

First, have to disagree some about San Antonio. Nice place to visit, wouldn’t want to work/live there.

Live in the Houston metro area, but Sister, Sister in-law, In-laws, and other assorted relatives have lived or do live in DFW, so have spent quite a bit going back and forth and driving (and driving, and driving) around DFW.

I hope you like the heat. Houston is hot and humid, but DFW and North Texas can get multiple triple digit days in the summer (but it’s a dry heat )

First, get a car, don't count on mass transit. Mass transit in Texas is more like an accessory than a critical component of the urban infrastructure like Chicago or New York. Either the mass transit doesn’t run frequently enough and/or don’t run at all to where you want to go, or where there is lots of mass transit , its where you probably don’t want to live.

Second, DFW is very spread out. But Bonham is definately not a part of the DFW metroplex. Bonham is very much your classic small Texas town/county seat with the stereotypical county seat court house in the town center. TX 121 is the primary road connecting Bonham with DFW (specifically the US 75 corridor) and is a typical Texas 2 lane country highway. Sometimes it goes fast, sometimes it goes slow depending on the Sunday drivers/big trucks.

The closest town to Bonham that is considered part of the DFW metroplex is McKinney. McKinney is nice for a suburban town (i.e. its got all the essential retail vital to classic surbanites, but no night life), but housing can be very, very expensive there.

Down the road (US 75) is Allen which to me is a carbon copy of Plano which is just down the road (US 75) from Allen. Though Plano is much more urban with a major business district along US 75. My sister lived in Richardson, when she was single and just out of college. More urban than Plano, Allen, & Mckinney. My sister in law lived in McKinney, again, very suburban.

Now US 75 is a major traffic corridor for the NE side of DFW. So it suffers from classic rush hour traffic congestion. If you will be using this road a lot, prepare your commuting plans accordingly.

 Hordini wrote:
Since a few cities other than Dallas have been mentioned, what do you guys think of San Antonio? Would it be a nice place to live, work, or visit?

I loved it when I lived in San Antonio, and would be happy to move back there at any time.

 Sasori wrote:

 Hordini wrote:
Since a few cities other than Dallas have been mentioned, what do you guys think of San Antonio? Would it be a nice place to live, work, or visit?

I loved it when I lived in San Antonio, and would be happy to move back there at any time.

Yeah... me too... especially all those mom-and-pops mexican establishment.

Yum... you can get bags full of tomales and barbacoa for cheap.

 Cortez667 wrote:
Yeah, I'm looking at Richardson. It looks like the ideal place. Map says its 1 hour from Bonham, and my wife drives like shes in NASCAR (I blame her upbringing in Arizona), so I doubt her commute will be that bad.

To be fair everyone in Texas drives like that*

*Except in school zones, they follow the strict speed limit there.

I've always liked what little time I have spend in Frisco, but just driving through it seems like an expensive place to live.

There are a lot of really nice, small towns north of Dallas. Melissa and Fairview are two of them. McKinney and Frisco are more established cities so there is way more there, but more expensive. This am sound odd, try looking at websites for home builders like DR Horton. They tend to start building in small town before they get big. Mostly they build north of DFW. I lived in Dallas for 10 years. Downtown in a condo for 4, apartments in central and northern Dallas the rest. The thing about the town is you are never more than a few blocks from shady places. Good luck and welcome to Texas!

Have you scheduled your mandatory horse riding lessons and oil rig installation in the back yard yet? Its important to get this scheduled early as there's a bit of a backlog, and its the law.


And watch out for jackalopes. They kill Japanese cars on sight. I know. I KNOW!