Top 10 Reasons NOT To Move To Dallas Texas!

 So, what are some of those things that you may want to consider when you, are kind of thinking about maybe avoiding moving here to the Dallas, Texas area? Because like I said, Texas isn't for everybody. The Dallas area isn't for everybody. And so, there are these 10 things that we want to kind of talk about so that you can have a better understanding before you make that move here.  

Church is Big Here

Number one on our list that we want to talk about is the fact that people here go to church on Sundays because frankly, you've now come to the south and it's not as south as some of these other places around the country, but for the most part, moving to Texas is considered the South and people here like to go to church.  We have churches, on almost every corner. There are big churches and little churches, and there really are churches here for everybody. And so going to church on Sunday is a big deal, and maybe you haven't really considered going to church before and maybe that's not something you do, but when you move here to Texas, it just kind of starts to become a way of life and part of the community. And there are so many options to choose from where you're, you might want to go to church with your neighbors or your kids, make friends at school, or just hear about a great church that fits with your beliefs and your lifestyle and your vibes. So, you may want to consider, picking up and going to church again. But other than that, maybe you still don't, maybe you're still not sold on the whole church thing, they just kind of recognized that when you move here because so many people do go to church on Sunday. There are a lot of things that get worked around the fact that so many people do in fact go to church. There are a lot of sporting events for your kids. They might not have a soccer game on a Sunday morning, or maybe your kids play club sports, or maybe they're in dance or any of these other activities around here. Maybe there are some of these community events that go on. Well, a lot of times things won’t start until noon or later because they know that most people are going to be going to church, and so there's really no point in starting a lot of these things any earlier. In fact, if you kind of go drives around on a Sunday morning, you might see some cars going into church and that kind of thing. But the real Sunday traffic doesn't start to heat up until after everybody gets out. So come at 12 o'clock when everybody wants to go to lunch with their friends, or finally, go to all their kids' activities, Sunday traffic is super crazy, but in the morning a lot of people are either sleeping in or spending their time at church. So, it is a way of life out here. So many people do go, and as I said, so many things are worked around the fact that a lot of people do go to church. And on top of that, because the church is such a big deal, they do have things where some of these, groups and activities put on Bible study in some of these schools. They still believe in the church around here. So, a lot of people do participate. And I remember when we first moved here and our daughter was in middle school, and she told us that her friends wanted her to go with them to pray to the flagpole, and we were like, you mean pray at the flagpole? She's like, no, mom. Everybody prays to the flagpole. Well, we've always gone to church even from when, before she was born. And we were like, well, it doesn't matter what they're doing, but I, I highly doubt they. Praying to the flagpole. So yes, in fact, all the kids met in the morning once a week to pray around the flagpole. It was just a great central meeting point and kids from all different faces and all different backgrounds would meet and just kind of have like a quick little, devotional in the morning and a quick prayer to start the day off right, and it was great. We had no problem with her going, she was just being involved with a lot of her other friends from different faiths and it was just like a good, start to the day. It was a great positive experience and we used, we are still laughing about it today, where she thought that they used to pray to the flagpole here in Texas, when in fact that is not how it was, and there are a lot of youth groups and they put them on Wednesday nights. So even then, if your kids are playing sports, they do try a lot of times to work around practices and different things.  Even some of the games in some of these schools try not to do them on Wednesday nights just because so many of these kids do in fact go to, the youth groups at a lot of these churches. Granted it's not 100%, it doesn't. All the time, but a lot of time they do, incorporate church activities into a lot of the school activities as well as extracurricular activities for the kids. So, we go to church on Sundays.  

Construction in Dallas Metro

The number two reason to avoid moving here to the Dallas, Texas area is the amount of construction that is going on all throughout the metroplex because Dallas is growing so much, it seems so many of these freeways are under construction, and not even the freeways. A lot of these roadways as well, especially up north around the Frisco Prosper area.  For example, there’s a lot of growth going on up there. And the 380, Highway, I guess you could call it, that stretches from east to west all the way over into Denton, down towards, into McKinney. And this highway is, it does have stoplights, but they're building it up four lanes on each side so that it's easier for people commuting, all around, the Dallas area up into Oklahoma. And the construction out there is just crazy. We are. Clients and friends talk about it all the time. How, you can get stuck on that road for an hour just trying to get to work or trying to, go pick up your kids or even just trying to, get anywhere around for any of the things that you want to go do here in the Dallas area. But when we first moved here, for example, the 635 freeway, which is, one of the big major beltways that go around the Dallas area was under major construction. They were building a big two-decker freeway system with the HOV lanes down below and the regular, highway up above. And it was just completely crazy.  I would drive out to volleyball tournaments on a Saturday morning at 5:00 AM sometimes, and it was like rush hour traffic on a Friday afternoon and until they got that freeway done, it was just completely crazy. I didn't know where everybody was going. There were tons of construction. And of course, years later that was finally done and the next thing they did was another huge section of that freeway.  Down the way and, backing that up, traffic all the time, accidents, and it's just a big major freeway here in the Dallas area for people, traveling all around the metroplex for work and for various other things. So that’s not the only thing here in Dallas, but lots of freeways, lots of construction, and it seems some roads are always under construction and it doesn't just take months. It takes years and years. And on top of that, Dallas is such a popular city, and there is so much traffic here. Some of these roadways need some extra attention and they have been known to shut down the freeways completely over the weekend so that they can just kind of bust out a lot more of this construction to get a better head start on some of it here in Dallas. So, construction, depending on where you're going and you always, if you know those roads are under construction, definitely check those on the weekends just because you may have to completely divert yourself all around and take an alternate route if those are the ways you go on the weekend, as well as during the weekday. So, construction is a huge negative in our book here, all throughout the Dallas area.  

Toll Roads Can Get Expensive

Number three on our list is the fact that there are several toll roads here in the Dallas area, and if you're not used to paying some of these toll roads and depending on where you might be needing to commute for work, I mean multiple toll roads. And it can get kind of expensive if you're having to spend money on tolls driving to and from work every single day. So that's another reason why we are always telling people, to give us your top areas that you're thinking of. Give us, and let us know what it is you're looking for when relocating here to the Dallas area. Because if you really want to avoid these toll roads, you want to avoid a lot of them.  Some of the crazy traffic around here, that's why you reach out so that we can help you navigate some of these spots. Because we had friends who were like, is it normal that I'm spending over $300 a month on tolls? Depending on how often and where exactly it is you're going here in Dallas and how much those toll fees can end up costing you. So, another reason to think of, those toll roads, also something that we hadn't thought about when we moved here is the fact that just getting into the DFW airport, you must pay a toll fee just to go drop off your family. If you're dropping them off at the airport, or maybe you're traveling for work all the time, it's $2 just to drive in and drop somebody off at the airport. Yes, you get a toll tag and hopefully it just automatically does. But when you're thinking of how often you might need to go in that direction, just to go to the airport is a toll fee.  Dallas love field, which is more down towards downtown and it’s, the hub of Southwest Airlines, they do not have a toll fee down there. It's just the DFW airport. But like I said, toll fees all around Dallas and even going into the airport.  

Dallas is HUGE, Don’t Move to the Wrong Area

Number four on our list is the fact that Texas is huge. And before we moved here, we did not realize quite how big the Dallas area was. We moved from Phoenix, and we thought, you know what? Phoenix is big, Dallas is big and then we pulled up some of the stats on the DFW area and realized, nope, Dallas is in fact quite a bit bigger than the Phoenix area right now Dallas is at about 6.5 million people within the entire metroplex of the Dallas area. And because Dallas is so spread out right now, it encompasses well over 9,000 square miles. So, Dallas is huge. And if you're kind of thinking that you’re moving here for a. It makes a huge difference if you're going to be working more on the east side of Dallas or the north side of Dallas or anywhere around the metroplex to finding that place where if you're really needing to commute, you might not be stuck in traffic for an hour and a half just to get into work. So, with the amount of growth that is still happening here in the Dallas area, and the fact that Dallas is still growing in every direction. There are a lot of communities being built up on the west side and the north side, on the south side, and even on the east side. So the fact that there really aren't a lot of obstructions here in Dallas, not tons of mountains and things that are blocking where the growth can happen. Dallas is continuing to grow because people are still relocating here. But again, as we said, reach out to us and let us help you kind of navigate some of these areas that you may not have thought of before making that move here. 

Weather can be Extreme at Times

Number five on our list. Is the weather here in Dallas? Yes, it's hot, In the summertime, it gets very humid as well. And if you're not used to it and you think, you know what? I'm tired of the heat. Maybe you move from Florida or from Arizona and you're like, Hot is hot and I'm tired of the heat. Maybe Dallas isn't right for you, but we've had so many people relocate here, we even had some Canadian clients. Some Chicago clients, maybe you're tired of the rain in Seattle, and people moving here actually do tend to want to move here because of the heat. And in the summertime, you just need to find multiple ways to cool off and hope that your air conditioning works well. Aside from the heat, Dallas also is known to get a little bit of snow and ice storms and even the occasional tornado. Granted, there aren't tons of tornadoes that happen here in Dallas. Sometimes they touch down, or a lot of times they say that they're there, but they never, but they don't touch down. So not tons of destruction happens with the tornadoes out here, but probably the biggest thing that people need to be concerned with is the ice that we do get because we'll get that occasional freeze that pops in and you don't know that that black ice is there. Over the last few years, there have been some crazy storms, and for the most part, Dallas doesn't know how to deal with the ice and the snow that comes into the area so when the ice comes and the freeze comes and it’s wet outside, there have been some very tragic accidents that have happened here. So, we always suggest, I tell my kids, we, my husband, nobody wants to leave the house. If we have one of those bad storms, just because it can be truly dangerous out there because we don't know how to take care of our roadways because it doesn't happen often enough to warrant taking care of them the way a lot of these other northern areas do that get really bad weather on a, on a more regular basis. So yes, we do get that here in Dallas. It doesn't happen every single. And for the most part, if it does snow or something like that, it might last a day or two and it'll certainly melt off because next thing it’s going to jump back up to 60 degrees and you won't know that there was any indication that you had snow. It's not something that sticks around. We do occasionally get it and you might have a few flues at least once a year, but for the most part, our winters are mild, but it might be a great escape if you're tired of spending your winters, shoveling your driveway and being totally bundled up in the snow for months on end throughout the wintertime.  

Allergies can be Bad

Number six on our list of maybe why you should think about avoiding moving here to Dallas is the number of allergies that people have. It seems that when you move here, everybody's allergies are completely heightened, and as I said, we have mild winters, so it doesn't completely freeze everything, Dallas is highest as one of the areas for ragweed, pollen, and they are also known for cedar and grass. So, if you get these allergies, and especially when you first move here, I remember when we first moved here, my allergies flirted up so bad. I didn't even know what hit me. Granted, I've always had bad allergies, but they lasted for weeks. I just know that a couple of times a year my allergies are going to hit hard and I'm going to be completely miserable, but I'm not the only one. It's my entire family. And it seems everybody you talk to, something is flaring up, their allergies are completely out of control and they're completely miserable. So here in Dallas, especially in the spring, Spring is the worst time for allergy season. But again, because our winters are a lot milder than some of these other areas, we have a lot more allergies here in the Dallas area.  But something to think about if you know that you just can't handle that. 

Lot’s of Bugs

The number seven reason for avoiding moving here to the Dallas area is the bugs. I mean, I am not a bug person. I hate bugs. And I tell my husband all the time, that's why I married him because he's in charge of killing the bugs. But we have everything from mosquitoes, and I am eaten alive by those. I hate going out, especially if you might be out at the lake or be, near somebody's pond or outside and it's been wet in the grass. I will be swarmed by Mosquitoes. We get sprayed and when it gets bad, the city will come out and spray for the mosquitoes. We have these things that we hang out at the end of our, of our yard. That helps kind of combat some of the mosquitoes that we get, especially during some rainy season because you are, if you have the wrong blood type, if you are a little sweeter than the next person, you'll be eaten alive by the mosquitoes. Also in the summertime, we get June bugs, and if you've ever been out there and you have these bugs flying around, they will dive-bomb your head. They will hit you. It's kind of like they have no clue about where they're going and they run into everything and they have no problem running into you if you're trying to escape if you're trying to run in the house and they're swarming around those lights outside. So, June bugs are a big deal here in the month of June, and on top of that, we get cicadas. So sometimes in the summertime, once those cicadas start to come out, it’s like you go outside and you can't even hear yourself think because they're buzzing around so much. So everywhere you go, we have bugs, lots and lots of bugs, and it's just something that you do kind of get used to. I don't think I'm ever going to get used to the mosquitoes, but you know what? It's here and it is what it is, especially because of our warm climate here in the Dallas area. So, if you hate bugs, stay away. 

Property Taxes are High

Number eight on the list of why to avoid moving to Texas, especially if you're buying a home is our high property taxes. Property taxes are certainly one of those things that we talk about quite often when purchasing a home, especially when you know that it's going to take a big chunk of that mortgage payment every month. But that's also why we put you in touch with a good lender who can help you kind of navigate what those payments are and what you can expect based on where it is that you're looking to move. Because they do assess those property taxes on the value of your home. You can contest those every. And on your primary residence, you can also have a homestead exemption, but our property taxes are crazy high here in Texas. Granted, they aren't the highest in the country, but certainly are something to think about when you. Moving out here and you think you can afford say $500,000 because of where you came from, but you do need to check out those property taxes to find out how it's going to affect those monthly payments to see if that really is the budget that you can still afford. The property taxes are assessed based on the cities and the counties, and they can range anywhere from around 2% to 3%. Some of these cities are certainly higher than others, so definitely something to think about. But for instance, I do have a couple of lenders that say, gimme that address. I can pull the taxes for you and kind of give you a better gauge of what it is you're going to be looking for in that mortgage payment. So high property taxes, and yes, we know that they're counteracted just a little bit by. The fact that we don't have any state income tax, which is obviously another reason why people are moving here but keep in mind that when you're shopping for a home, you need to be, considered those high property taxes. 

Almost Too Much to Do

The number nine reason for avoiding moving to Dallas is the fact that you're probably going to be a lot busier than you planned. But moving here to the Dallas area, we didn't realize how many things could keep us busy, especially when you have kids, and not only do you have activities in school, but there are so many great community activities, and when you get your kids involved in, let's say sports, or you get involved in a church, or you do get involved.  Even for work or with friends, there are endless amounts of things that you can do to keep yourself busy. And because Dallas is so big and the opportunities that are here are just so great, whether you're into sporting events or cultural events, or you just like to get out and enjoy community events as well. There's always something going on and you can have an endless supply of activities to keep you very, very busy here in the Dallas area. Granted, sometimes that's a lot of fun for a lot of people because they know that they always have an assortment of things that they get involved in, be involved in. But if you are moving here and you have kids, you'll have lots of things that you can get them out all around the metroplex to enjoy. But something to think about on how busy you may be here in Dallas. 

And finally, something that we, kind of want to touch on just a little bit. Always brings up some, crazy negative ideas are the fact that Texas loves its guns. And we’re speaking at it from a hunting aspect, from a recreational aspect. But when you move here to the state of Texas, we are very conservative. We do love our guns. Hunting is a big thing, and everybody has a truck, but here in Texas is one of the top areas where you can go deer hunting. There are a lot of people who have ranches in land or friends that do, and they do like to go out and do their hunting here in Texas. So, if that's something that is not for you, Texas or Dallas may not be the right fit, but they do love their guns. People are going to talk about them. And it is just definitely going to be a way of life for a lot of people out here.  

And you know what? Speaking of it, there's one last thing that we want to throw in, which is number 11 that we didn't talk about, but the fact that here in Texas, people love their sweet tea, and we were just talking about this with a friend of mine and my daughter. In high school, all her friends drank sweet tea, and she did not. And she's like, what is this mom? It is so gross. I don't know why anybody drinks it. But here in Texas, and especially in the Dallas area, it doesn't matter what store you go to, or what restaurant, you go to, Sweet Tea is a big deal. I remember for every sporting function, when she had to go cheered for football games, they were always busting out the sweet tea. So, if it's not to your liking, just realize it doesn't matter where you go, they're going to be offering you your sweet tea, and it might be something that you might take a liking to. 

So moving here to Texas can be a big bonus for a lot of people, but there might be a lot of reasons why it might want to make you think. Moving somewhere else, but whether you have questions about what it's like moving here, however, we can help you make that decision. If Dallas is the right place for you, don't hesitate to reach out and like this video down below, because that way we know that we need to make more content like this so that we can help give you that information when making that move here to the Dallas, Texas area. So, any other questions, don't hesitate to reach out. 

Give us a call, shoot us a text, or send us an email and let us know what we can do to help you make that smooth move here to the Dallas, Texas area.