Wednesday, August 3, 2011

About Relocating to Dallas/Fort Worth Texas

Relocating to Dallas/Fort Worth Texas?
My fiance and I are planning to relocate to the Dallas area of Texas after we are married. We get married in June 2011. We would like to move early 2012 once he finish his degree which would be in Dec 2011. I currently have a master's degree in Political Science and hope to find a job in Texas. We are from NYC and we have lived in NYC all our life and never lived outside of the state. We traveled to several places but never lived anywhere else. The cost of living is just too high in NY and we really want to start a family in a new city (preferably in the south) with a lower cost of living. We also would like to buy a house one day and that is just not possible in NYC. My only concern is finding work. I plan to send my resume and cover letter out to a few places but will my resume be appealing if I'm applying from NY. I feel like locals will have the advantage over me. I'm not in a level of my career where companies would be willing to relocate me on their expense or hop over local to hire a chick way from NY. We have know problem relocating ourselves. I'm just concerned that we are going to have a hard time trying to find work there. I know it would be much easier to secure a job if we were already living out there but as much as I want to move to Texas, I don't want to leave my secure NYC job to move to another state way across country without a job hoping that I am successful. I would feel a lot more comfortable if I knew I had a job already lined up before we moved. I just would like some advice. How do you move out of state? Note: We do not have any family in Texas. We would be a young married couple moving out there on our own. Mostly all of our family are from NY. It just cost way too much to live out here. For people who are not from NY, a couple can make well over $100,000 a year together and still can only afford an apartment. Homes are expensive, taxes are so high, cost of living is high, transportation is high, and jobs are so competitive. There is 6,000 applicants to one position in NYC. There are 8 million people living in NYC alone, that's not even the entire state of NY, that's just the city. So you can imagine how hard it is to find work unless you have great connections. Any advice and sorry for rambling.
Dallas - 3 Answers
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1 :
I live in a suburb north of Dallas. You would love the cost of living, lower crime (no offense), slower pace and it would be a great place for a young couple to start a new life. There is plenty to do. Sports, entertainment, etc. You can buy a nice 2200 sq ft house for around $150K. There is no state income tax. However, everything is spread out, so owning two vehicles is a must. There is light rail, but it only covers limited areas. Mass transportation is not an option for most residents. I moved to another state over a decade ago, but I had a job lined up and the company paid the relocation costs. However, I returned a few years ago and did not have a job lined up. My advice from that experience is to have at least six months living expenses saved up before the move. It took me that long to find another job. Also, I rented when I moved back and getting approved for an apartment without a job was difficult. They wanted copies of my bank, savings and 401K accounts to prove I had assets to pay the rent. You might take a weeks vacation and visit here, check with some employment agencies and maybe have a couple of interviews already set up. Otherwise, unless you have a lot of savings to live off of, it would be quite a challenge to just move here without a job lined up, and not one I would personally take. Good luck.
2 :
The economy is doing much better down here, the living costs are ridiculously lower than they are on the east coast. However, I have visited NYC and i must tell you. It really is another country. You'll need drivers licenses and two cars, which i doubt you have living in the big apple. Things are more spread out and much slower paced. The jobs are not nearly as competitive, a great job might have 50 people applying for it, but jobs for hire is a little lower than normal. I dont think anyone will descriminate against you because your from the North, as long as you have a degree you should be more than fine, just be humble, respectful, and polite. Get into the habit of saying "Ma'am & Sir", "Please and Thank you" to EVERYONE, regardless of "rank." Even children, and losers, etc. I would also advise you to pick up a little spanish. Everyone down here is a little bilingual. Dont worry about becoming fluent, just learn main words, or word roots. Enough to get ya home if you get lost in little mexico. I would advise to move to Fort Worth, its a little smaller than dallas, and there aren't any gangs.. Crime is gettin a little high in Dallas, but if you can make at least 60,000 a year down here, you can own your own home, in the silence of having a city that sleeps. The people are just wonderful, and have a culture of bein texan :) and there's plenty of beautiful Texas sunshine. I would tell you that you should save up everything you can, after the wedding, so you can start over down here. There are alot of foreclosed homes for rent or buy at next to nothing. I live in North Fort Worth. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask me anything. I will be more than happy to answer you to the best of my ability :) Have a great day, and God bless you in your upcoming marriage :)
3 :
Hi. I was born and raised here in the DFW area. I came back here after 20 years in the Navy because of family and lower cost of living. I would like to help you find a home when you are ready and can recommend moving companies. When you send out resumes, follow up with any points of contact that you can find. The more personal the communication the better.
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