MONTANA TO TEXAS - a possible move

[_MountainBum]

Hey, folks!

My wife and I are heavily considering the possibility of moving our young family of five from Montana down to east Texas. I know, polar opposites, and yuck, BUT there is reason.

A large reason is that due to medical reasons I am not able to do much in the winter here anymore, we don’t own snowmobiles, we don’t ski, and our three kids are all under four years of age - we get outside a ton but winter is pretty bleak for us. Usually 5-6 months of weathering it out inside. (Northwest Montana). I am versed with the humidity and heat in east texas

We also recently just purchased a house for nearly a half a million dollars but that in the market where we are is a barely livable house in the middle of town that we are having to spend money on just to like it. Our mortgage WITH good credit is 3400 a month! We are finding it is almost pointless to pay for a house we barely like, and the market isn’t any better anywhere else here. I could buy a new house on acreage in Texas for 250-300k.

Another large draw is that the entirety of my family lives there, the only exception being my parents who moved us to Montana when I was a baby.

It is a very hard decision given my love for chasing critters here and mountains, but we are 27 years old and feel the urge to at least try.

This may be an inappropriate place to even ask for guidance, but know there is a lot of wise folks in these forums! Thank you!

 

[jmez]

Texas is a nice place to visit. I'm a Midwest guy and I hated Tejas. Lived there for three years, College Station, going to school. Bass fishing was good, chasing hogs with dogs was fun. Other than those two activities I didn't like it. I haven't been back and have no desire to ever go back.

The weather is horrible. People used to ask how I lived up north when you can't do anything for 6 mos out of the year. Same as Texas when you can't do anything for 6 mos because it is too hot. Bass fishing in the summer you can't even get in the lake to cool off. Surface water temps100+ degrees.

I didn't like the culture. A friend gave me some advice right before I left and it was spot on. Be prepared to meet the nicest assholes in the country. A lot of misplaced pride. Everything is bigger and better, yada yada yada. Not from here, not a Texan never will be.

Hunting is mostly pay to play. I had permission on some places but rarely went. Not much desire to sit in a stand fighting 80+ degree temps and bugs. Like I said hog hunting was fun. I got in with a couple guys with dogs. Went just about every weekend. 6 mos of the year we had to hunt at night because it was too hot. Even at night it was stupid hot and miserable.

Cheap real estate, cheap cost of living. The economy of the country runs through Texas. Different strokes for different folks.

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[Yooper]

I think that's a question that only you and your family can answer. Sounds pretty miserable for you where you're at. Is Texas going to be just another version of that or is it an upgrade in your quality of life? For me Texas is on my list of places I'd never live....mostly for the reasons jmez already stated. However, for others, there's no place better. YMMV. My last advice is try to explore other areas of the country the best you can first. How about Tennessee, Kentucky, one of the Virginia's or Carolina's?

 

[WesternDawg]

From GA originally and live in CO now, so not totally the same but semi-close to your situation. What do you mean by versed in heat and humidity? Have you lived in the south for an extended period of time, or just visit family?

Cons:
- These will be very different lifestyles, including access or lack thereof of available public land to recreate and hunt on.
- Wildlife and insects will be a lot different (mosquitos, cockroaches, fire ants, etc), so you’ll need to adjust how you operate in your house and on your land.
- as mentioned above, summer is long and brutal down south. You will spend a lot of time at a pool or indoors.

Pros:
- If you have money, easier and more available hunting opportunities.
- Shorter winter, more sun
- potentially more private space for your family to recreate on

I don’t know anything about your proposed area to move to, but in GA with cheaper areas you can also run into other issues like needing to send your kids to private school as opposed to public which can add a decent amount of expense to your budget.

 

[Spence1875]

I am in Houston. 8th house I have owned, moved all over. I hate it, worst of all my duty stations, but my wife has terminal cancer and md Anderson has been great. Almost no public hunting land in Texas all private and big bucks for a shitty lease.

I plan to move to SD when I can.

Ps. The real estate taxes are very high and insurance, both home and car are as well.

 

[TxxAgg]

East TX is nice. I prefer farther west, but a lot of folks really like East TX. Just gota deal with humidity and mosquitos.

 

[stonewall]

I don't live in East Texas. On the surface, I tend to think I'd prefer Montana over Texas, but I've never lived in Montana - so what do i know.

The plus to moving to East Texas is that there actually is public land over there. I have no idea how crowded it is but you would have something you can access.

maybe rent a house over the summer and see what you think?

 

[Jimmy]

Gotta do what you gotta do....

Some people couldn't imagine living in CA with all the bs and the high cost of living and taxes. But for us, right now, we're happy. It's nice having family close by.

 

[Braaap]

Texas is a nice place to visit. I'm a Midwest guy and I hated Tejas. Lived there for three years, College Station, going to school. Bass fishing was good, chasing hogs with dogs was fun. Other than those two activities I didn't like it. I haven't been back and have no desire to ever go back.

The weather is horrible. People used to ask how I lived up north when you can't do anything for 6 mos out of the year. Same as Texas when you can't do anything for 6 mos because it is too hot. Bass fishing in the summer you can't even get in the lake to cool off. Surface water temps100+ degrees.

I didn't like the culture. A friend gave me some advice right before I left and it was spot on. Be prepared to meet the nicest assholes in the country. A lot of misplaced pride. Everything is bigger and better, yada yada yada. Not from here, not a Texan never will be.

Hunting is mostly pay to play. I had permission on some places but rarely went. Not much desire to sit in a stand fighting 80+ degree temps and bugs. Like I said hog hunting was fun. I got in with a couple guys with dogs. Went just about every weekend. 6 mos of the year we had to hunt at night because it was too hot. Even at night it was stupid hot and miserable.

Cheap real estate, cheap cost of living. The economy of the country runs through Texas. Different strokes for different folks.

Sent from my moto g power 5G - 2023 using Tapatalk

This is spot on. I spent 5 years in Austin and it sucked! If you want more mild winters then I think there are many others places that would offer that but be significantly better than anywhere in Texas. If someone offered me 5 million bucks but I had to live in TX I would turn it down.

I have a buddy that’s from Northern CA like me, then moved to NV. A few years later I moved near him in NV and he shortly thereafter moved his family to TX despite my warnings. I think they lasted less than a year in TX and then moved to Montana.

I think TX is unlivable if you’re an outdoors person coming from a western state. I can’t even describe how shitty summer is. The bugs, lack of public land, flat topography, property taxes, listening to native Texans go on and on how great it is etc it’s just too much.

 

[Mojave]

Texas is a nice place to visit. I'm a Midwest guy and I hated Tejas. Lived there for three years, College Station, going to school. Bass fishing was good, chasing hogs with dogs was fun. Other than those two activities I didn't like it. I haven't been back and have no desire to ever go back.

The weather is horrible. People used to ask how I lived up north when you can't do anything for 6 mos out of the year. Same as Texas when you can't do anything for 6 mos because it is too hot. Bass fishing in the summer you can't even get in the lake to cool off. Surface water temps100+ degrees.

I didn't like the culture. A friend gave me some advice right before I left and it was spot on. Be prepared to meet the nicest assholes in the country. A lot of misplaced pride. Everything is bigger and better, yada yada yada. Not from here, not a Texan never will be.

Hunting is mostly pay to play. I had permission on some places but rarely went. Not much desire to sit in a stand fighting 80+ degree temps and bugs. Like I said hog hunting was fun. I got in with a couple guys with dogs. Went just about every weekend. 6 mos of the year we had to hunt at night because it was too hot. Even at night it was stupid hot and miserable.

Cheap real estate, cheap cost of living. The economy of the country runs through Texas. Different strokes for different folks.

Sent from my moto g power 5G - 2023 using Tapatalk

This is a really good write up.

Southern New Mexico is cheaper and has better weather (probably the best weather in the USA), and public land.

No water though other than Elephant Butte (sucks). But you can escape to the Gila and Lincoln.

Arizona is expensive.

I do not like the culture in Texas or anywhere else in the South, no matter how cheap it is.

Eastern Montana would be way cheaper if you could find jobs to support yourself.

 

[HornPorn]

Everyone I know who lived out West at one time and then moved South/East regrets it.....every single one.

 

[CorbLand]

Like you I am a life long North boy. Idaho and Utah, grew up with sleds and snowboards. I am getting tired of the cold and would like to leave it behind sooner rather than later but Texas would be the last place I would go to get away from it.

Housing is cheap but property taxes suck.
Little to no public ground so your paying to do anything outdoors.
Hot and humid during the spring and summer. Its about as bad as the cold fall and winter in my opinion.
Culture is very different.

Arizona, New Mexico or Nevada would be ones I would look at personally. Like you said though, your young and have very little to lose. Go try it and go from there.

 

[roadrunner]

Only you can decide while weighing the pros and cons of each. Don't let family be the reason, they're already doing what works for them, so keep that in mind.

I would pass over NM, though, as a place to move to.

 

[Jason Snyder]

Only you can decide while weighing the pros and cons of each. Don't let family be the reason, they're already doing what works for them, so keep that in mind.

This.

No move is permanent either.

 

[traildust]

Stay away from the big blue cities!

Public hunting in Texas sucks! We've got tons of game to hunt, but you'll most likely have to pay to access it on private land. You can hunt just about any animal you dream of in Texas. Great lakes for fishing.

Best BBQ & Mexican food on the planet.

Our weather sucks also. Hot as hell, humidity, rains for days or zero rain for months on end. Hurricanes, tornados, heat waves, wildfires!
Mosquitos are terrible at times. You'll get all 4 seasons in a 12hr period at times

Property taxes are high, sales tax is 8.25%, but we don't have a state tax

Most beautiful women in the world!

Edit: Almost forgot, plenty of venomous snakes, spiders and scorpions.....Oh and fire ants!

You'll prolly learn a little spanish too!

 

[NRA4LIFE]

My dad has a wintering home near Big Sandy/North of Tyler and he loves it. I also have a cousin who lives near Dallas. It gets really, really hot there in the summer. I mean Africa hot. I was forced to go there for work quite a bit.

 

[butcherboy]

I like northwest NM. Born and raised here. Yes, the politics are terrible but the people are great. I live in a red county. The east side is all red as well. State is governed by the lunatics in the Rio Grande corridor. Things can change though but they haven’t in a long time. Everyone from TX floods to NM in the summer and early fall. Lol we have a few days in the summer where the temp hits 102-103 but usually in the mid to high 90’s. A small bit of humidity in July and August but
Nothing even close to TX and it doesn’t last long. Maybe 20% for a few weeks only. Winters are fantastic. Close to CO, UT, and AZ. I would pick a few spots that interest you and go visit at different times of the year to get a better feel for it. While there , get involved with any local activities and talk to lots of residents of the area. Good luck.

 

[Kurts86]

Selling a house and moving states is really expensive with a young family. Realistically you are going to lose 6% to realtor fees and another $10-20k getting a house ready for market, like $40k-50k on a 500k house.

If you are a busy young family you have to outsource house improvements and really need to hire a moving company. There just isn’t time in the day to do everything yourself with a bunch of young kids to watch at the same time. It’s not like moving before kids where it’s a weekend and a U-Haul. Paying for an interstate move with a 3 bedroom house is around $15k. Buying in another state contingent on sale in another state can be mess and will be stressful. On top of that real estate sales have really slowed down in lots of markets recently with 8% money and nearly record high prices. You need to have enough equity in your house and really you need a company to pay your relocation if at all possible. The cost to sell a house and move a family across states is probably $50k-$80k all in. You need quite a bit of equity and liquidity to pull it off.

It was mentioned before but cheap houses and good schools rarely go together. You need to understand the trade off between real estate costs and private school. I know that was a big factor when we moved our family. We hit the point where we could either move to a more expensive area or stay where we were and commit to paying for 13 years of private school per kid.

 

[LongWayAround]

I can't recommend moving to eastern Colorado but maybe the west side?

Having moved here from Iowa, I sometimes consider going back. But only if I can't convince my lady to the appeal of Wyoming or South Dakota.


Texas is way down my list. Not the bottom but lower middle for sure.

 

[TxLite]

Born and raised here.

I remember summers being hot as a kid in the 90’s, but we’d still play outside and go camping etc. but the last few summers though have been absolutely brutal. Like May-September have just been unbearable. The last two years in particular we experienced months on end of no rain and 100+ degree days. I’d go to take my dog on a walk or check on my chickens at 10pm and it’s still 100 degrees. Keeping the chickens alive was a chore in itself. My yard? You mean the dirt pit? According to the talking heads it’s only expected to get worse in the coming years.

Also, as others have stated, the hunting situation sucks. Anything public is either a hard to draw weekend-only hunt, where you might end up assigned to a blind that TPWD installed and hope something walks by. If you end up going to one of the areas that don’t require a draw it’s likely overrun with the orange army due to proximity to local cities, though since people do have good luck. Deer leases can be fun but they’re generally expensive, and on some leases you don’t know who you’re sharing the land with, if they’re safety conscious, etc.

Land around me (NW Houston) has gotten so expensive that in order to get something within driving distance to work you end up paying 15-30k an acre for land that floods or is land locked.

The culture has also seen a big shift in recent years where we’re seeing a lot more “blue state” politics taking over.

My family has been here since some of Stephen F Austin’s first colonies showed up and it’s gotten to the point where I’m considering leaving to find more public land opportunity, cheaper land, and better weather. About the only thing keeping me here at this point is the fact that all of my family and wife’s family are with 20 minutes of us, and it’s nice to be nearby with the kids.