patrick.net

What a candy ass.

I read it, thank you for sharing.

Been to that part of Texas a few times for work. Made friends there. And no, ignore the stereotypes: they're not all straight whites. Also have cousins there.

If you read his whole story, what comes through is the smug Coastal California arrogance that we're the measure of all things. It is arrogant to parachute into a new region , set your expectations based on where you came from, throw money around to "buy" your expectation. That's arrogant. Then to bitch about it is obnoxious.

It says he's in SJ now. Yep. Bay Area attracts people with these sorts of values from everywhere.

Read it, it’s funny almost to read. He comes there and expects California, and other people are an inconvenience to him... what a typical leftist hoe.

Moron buys a house 2X the size of his old one, then complains about the utility bills.

Expected CA weather someplace else, then complains about it.

Guy doesn't know how to get contractors, then blames the location??? Should blame Yelp and his own incompetence.

Moves to a state capitol, and then wonders why it's expensive.

I'm sure that Austin is glad to get rid of him!

Booger says

Moron buys a house 2X the size of his old one, then complains about the utility bills.

Expected CA weather someplace else, them complains about it.

Guy doesn't know how to get contractors, then blames the location??? Should blame Yelp and his own incompetence.

Moves to a state capitol, and then wonders why it's expensive.

I'm sure that Austin is glad to get rid of him!

Best part he complains about the culture being different and someone not disclosing some shit about the house... yeah that never happens in CA.... what a tool.

Sponsored by California realtors no doubt.

I appreciated the article and the guy's honesty. My wife and I have the debate often about leaving San Diego; she wants to stay and I think about going primarily for financial reasons. But, I do need to be realistic about what we'd be getting by leaving San Diego to only trade one set of problems for another. We're very fortunate that I have a high-paying job as an IT executive, so supporting our family of 4 as the sole breadwinner is not a problem at all.

Having said that, the financial frugality in me makes CA drive me nuts...but would it really be "better" elsewhere? I do really enjoy the weather and landscape here, especially now with COVID. I go on walks every day and bike rides every few days. I can play golf year round. I enjoy looking at the beauty. Coming from being a Trump supporter and caring about our financial health, it definitely takes a mental toll living here. However, we rent a basic home in a great school district, have two 8-year-old cars that we paid for with cash, and I save a shit-ton of money in retirement and elsewhere, just waiting to pounce on buying a home if the market crashes. If that crash happens and I could swoop in, I'd definitely be more inclined to want to stay even given the shitty politics and taxes. I am sick of renting but it's SO much cheaper than owning.

Anyway, that's my rant and do often have internal struggles about living here, but there are definite advantages if you can make the financial aspects of it work for you.

Thanks for sharing! So much good info there! Will bookmark this link :)

The hype around "move away from CA" seems so trendy nowadays. I appreciate the insight and to a degree it matches what relatives told me (who moved from CA to TX).

I had no idea about some points. For instance:

"2. No public land
Think about public land much? Yeah, me neither. On the West Coast, we take public land for granted. Soaring Sierra Nevadas, sandy beaches, public space canyons, and even trails along creeks are standard fare in the West — not to mention Yosemite. Not so in Texas.
Because of Texas' history and lack of natural barriers (mountains, oceans) to settlement, most all of the land around is private and flat or rolling hills. Yes, there is a lot of land in Texas, but it all has barbed wire fences and no trespassing signs on it. Even creeks are parceled up as private property."

But what kills it right off the bat is "Austin, like California, is not affordable."
How many times do you hear....oh, you could afford sooo much more house in TX. Sure, but what about all the other added costs and drawbacks. And you dont get that much usage out of your backyard. You can have pool parties here almost all year long.

I love it here in SoCal.

porkchopexpress says

My wife and I have the debate often about leaving San Dieg

Sounds like you would not be the obnoxious Left-Coaster type who would be so arrogant to parachute into an unfamiliar place and "buy" your expectations without renting for a while to make connections, learn the community, etc.

What an obnoxious prick. Welcome to the SF Bay Area.

B.A.C.A.H. says

Sounds like you would not be the obnoxious Left-Coaster type who would be so arrogant to parachute into an unfamiliar place and "buy" your expectations without renting for a while to make connections, learn the community, etc.

Ha, thanks for the compliment. I try to look at things analytically vs with bias or with emotion. For example, a lot of other places are NOT that much cheaper if you want to live in sought-after locations. What's deceiving for many is the "median cost of a home" in a state or city, but watch the cost of living skyrocket if you want to live in an area with the best schools.

People say Austin stopped being a 'destination' many years ago for your typically LibbyFuck, self satisfied Californian escaping the expanding shithole-verse. Dump trucking a bunch of people in any urban/suburban area isn't going to be pretty anywhere because con artists/boosters etc.

Austin traffic is supposed to be as bad as Bay Area or close, demand has driven up prices for houses, they say downtown is homeless/liberal mess. Austin is more like a boom town with too rapid growth and all of the crooked stuff that goes with it. They say the infrastructure is only created for an area half to a third the present population.

That being said, this is a minority report because there are many other very favorable reports about moving to Austin still. If you move to the South, you are going to get extreme weather and crazy bugs. Welcome to the rest of the world. Also, other reports say there is outdoor recreation, parks etc. there and not everybody complains about their homes like this guy.

Sometimes I think it is a choice between what place will deteriorate more slowly. You could have a nice situation in California, with obvious pending deterioration as things get worse, the Commies get more aggressive, the tax monsters grow larger, the bizarre population types proliferate, the homeless expand endlessly, and the encroachments wash up to your previous enclave's doorstep. We have watched that happen in our gated neighborhood.

I think this article is an attempt to keep Californians down on the farm with their personal smugness because California is feeling the pain of the bail outs and needs retro-propaganda to keep them here. Generally, Austin is still not comparable to coastal California in costs, even with taxes, utilities and repairs etc., check it out, that part is just wrong.

Ceffer says

Sometimes I think it is a choice between what place will deteriorate more slowly. You could have a nice situation in California, with obvious pending deterioration as things get worse, the Commies get more aggressive, the tax monsters grow larger, and the encroachments wash up to your previous enclaves doorstep. We have watched that happen in our gated neighborhood.

I think this article is an attempt to keep Californians down on the farm with their personal smugness because California is feeling the pain of the bail outs and needs retro-propaganda to keep them here.

Great points. No doubt that CA is likely to continue getting worse unless something drastic changes, and I've also thought about CA evangelizing articles such as this to stop the outflow of productive taxpaying schmucks like us.

They moved to a Liberal controlled City and blame the whole state of Texas. What a bunch of Commie Assbags.
All of those expensive things is due to the Commie town's they live in, electing Despots that want to punish people under their dominion with oppressive taxes.
It's the Liberal playbook. Then they blame Republicans and Capitalism for high prices.