Is it worth moving from Sunnyvale, bay area to Dallas/Austin?

revaselva · May 2, 2013

Hello Ladies,

I am fulltime working mother of 2 adorable kids (13month and 4 yr old) from Sunnyvale, ca (bay area) hub. I live in a townhome. but since the public schools are not so great here. so we are planning to move to either cupertino/fremont/san ramon which are great school districts. but looking at the housing prices, I am not sure if i can afford one or not. I mean will have to pay a hefty amount as mortgage every month. Since i have burned my hands doing that with my current home, I do not want to repeat the same mistake esplly with kids and their expenses for activities etc. So looking at higher level. I just feel why should I live in bay area and pay a lot for good school district and be under the pressure to work, always to meet ends of living in own home in bay area, with 2 kids and their daycare expenses etc.
I have never been to TX so far. but comparitively since the house pricing is much lower in places such as Austin etc and also have nice Indian community and very good schools. I really would like to know opinion of you ladies, if it is worth to move from bay area to TX? I have heard from everyone that bay area is like heaven for indians but not sure since I donno abt tx to compare.
Please pour in your opinions and help me decide so that i can quit working after move and spend quality time with my kids.
Thanks,
Revathi

NirmalaGoofy · May 2, 2013

Pros: Texas is a good place to live. Cost of living is not too high. Lot of Indians.

Cons: Climate is too hot duing summer. Utility costs will be high both summer and winter. Home prices are not cheap. It might seem cheaper when compared to Bay area, but not really. Your might be able to afford bigger houses. Not lot of entertainment options like bay area. There are not lot of things to do as everything is minimum 5 to 6 hours drive away.

Conclusion: Texas cities are good place to live but cannot be compared to Bay Area, North East or NorthWest.

revaselva · May 2, 2013

I have been living in bay area for about 7 years now. My DH and me both go for IT jobs with big commute, so weekends we stay home and now with 2 lil kids we dont even go out much. My DH helps me a lot in household work but doesnt initiate to go out for any trips much unless his frnds group organize any, then we go.
what places do you miss being in texas, if I may know so that I could understand the difference.
Sorry want to get an idea, so that based on my family lifestyle. I would like to decide if the move is worth it or not.
Thanks for helping.

rajsand · May 13, 2013

This is the exact situation we are in too. We live in Virginia with 2 small kids but would like to move to a warmer place & more importantly to a more densely indian populated place. Without thinking Bay Area comes to every Indian mind & yes we would like to move there but the housing & tax issues is holding us back as we are a single income family with modest living. If we live here we can buy a nice town home & have good space for our kids but I would not like to compromise on my kids having indian friends & competitive environment in schools.
Would like to know if Dallas has somewhat same environment as Bay Area wrt to large indian communities and also very good schools with high competitiveness.
Someone who has lived in Bay Area , Virginia and Dallas might we in a good position to ans this but really any inputs would help us a lot lot lot .. Why is there no international INDIAN schools here in US? Really!!!!

lakr · Dec 24, 2013

Did anyone of you move from your cities to Dallas ? How was the experience, if you did infact move ?

Cindrellaa · Mar 24, 2016

Hi, anyone here from Dallas ?

Lavanya30 · Mar 24, 2016

ok here is my personal experience. I donot know about Bay Area, but I have lived both in Virgina(Fairfax) and Texas(Houston). I like Fairfax in many ways, I could find a lot of Indian friends, also the place is wonderful but for the hard winters. Texas is again very warm and you are confined to home during summers, cannot take kids out. Houston is so huge and majority of the Indian population is in other part of the city. When the place is too big the population is scattered and it gets difficult to find Indian population.

Like mentioned you really need to drive a long distance to go to places, and of course the houses are not very cheap, the difference what I have seen is you get bigger houses. I would any day want to live in Virginia or Bay area if I had the option.