[mashimarho]

Going for the big change.. I'm wondering if there was anyone here that would be able to guide me in the right direction and maybe even help me out.

I'm planning ahead, so bear with me. I am looking to move this summer (2013) from Michigan to the south west side. My concerns are: 1. Finding the correct career. 2. Living expenses and finding the right location. 3. Finding a job for the lady.

I'm coming from the health field with a major in health communications. I've had my fair share of experience over here, but need a change in scenery. I know that HMOs and hospitals are large over in this area.

Is anyone on here working in the health/medical field or know of anyone that would be able to assist me? I am looking for some advice on what kinds of things to look into and maybe if you could help me find a job.

My second concern is the cost of living in these areas and finding a home to live in. I know the costs are up the rear, but if we can find a job, that won't be too much of an issue. We just need an apartment with garages in the suburb.

Third, the lady will need a job too. She has a degree in advertising and PR. So, that may be easy to find, but difficult to get into.

Let me know if anyone can help express some knowledge in our direction. It would mean a lot to us.

Thanks,

Sean.

[RoundelM3]

Lots of hospital systems in Texas...the Texas Medical Center in Houston is world-reknowned, and there are similar medical centers in the Dallas/Ft. Worth and San Antonio areas. The Austin area has several hospitals, but nothing like the ones in the larger cities.

Cost of living is fairly low in Texas compared to the rest of the country, especially where you're coming from.

[mashimarho]

Originally Posted by roundel335

Lots of hospital systems in Texas...the Texas Medical Center in Houston is world-reknowned, and there are similar medical centers in the Dallas/Ft. Worth and San Antonio areas. The Austin area has several hospitals, but nothing like the ones in the larger cities.

Cost of living is fairly low in Texas compared to the rest of the country, especially where you're coming from.

How are the costs of housing in the city of Houston or Dallas?
Kind of a long shot, but before I do the research, could I find a townhouse or condo with garage for $1500?
That's how much they are here..

[RoundelM3]

Originally Posted by mashimarho

How are the costs of housing in the city of Houston or Dallas?
Kind of a long shot, but before I do the research, could I find a townhouse or condo with garage for $1500?
That's how much they are here..

Can't really say, as I don't live in that area presently, but you could certainly do some online research via a real-estate site. I think you can find something in that range, depending on where you want to live - Houston and Dallas are pretty large cities, so it'll depend on how far you want to commute. If you're talking about the downtown or medical center areas, then that might change things somewhat, but I'd think you could find something. You can buy a house for that kind of payment!

[mashimarho]

Originally Posted by roundel335

Can't really say, as I don't live in that area presently, but you could certainly do some online research via a real-estate site. I think you can find something in that range, depending on where you want to live - Houston and Dallas are pretty large cities, so it'll depend on how far you want to commute. If you're talking about the downtown or medical center areas, then that might change things somewhat, but I'd think you could find something. You can buy a house for that kind of payment!

Yeah, we know about the whole house thing.
I am just kind of into nice Condos. Not sure why...

Hopefully something will turn up or someone will know a guy who knows a guy, etc. I am crossing my fingers!

[Rookie83]

Ya, you could find a nice townhouse for that much in the dallas/ftworth area.

one of the first couple things i saw on CL when i typed in townhomes. pretty nice places, just shows you about what you could get for that price range in the metroplex

http://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/apa/3620026261.html

http://dallas.craigslist.org/mdf/apa/3536281782.html

[michael1284]

obviously depends where you live in dallas, but in the burbs, $1500 is a mortgage payment. you can easily get an apt w/ garage for $1500 and even less, or even buy a nice townhome/condo for that price.

[mashimarho]

Fantastic. Looking for a place to live won't e difficult then.

[Vigorous]

mashimarho:

If you decide on Houston, definitely check out www.har.com for an idea on what rent is going for.
Let me know if you need any help. I deal with alot of real estate around Houston.

[mashimarho]

Originally Posted by Vigorous

mashimarho:

If you decide on Houston, definitely check out www.har.com for an idea on what rent is going for.
Let me know if you need any help. I deal with alot of real estate around Houston.

Fantastic. I will check it out. Thanks for the help guys! I'm open to all advice and opinions!

If anyone knows of an opening position for either of us. Let me know!

[EJ_3]

There's a new VA hospital in Vegas. How far South West are you looking to go? Vegas housing market (get hit the worst a few years ago) and slowly starting to pick back up. Just got my house for almost half from what the first buyer paid. Since it's picking back up, you'll easily can make over a $100k (depending on area) if you decide to sale in a few years for sure.

[mashimarho]

Originally Posted by Manny_World

There's a new VA hospital in Vegas. How far South West are you looking to go? Vegas housing market (get hit the worst a few years ago) and slowly starting to pick back up. Just got my house for almost half from what the first buyer paid. Since it's picking back up, you'll easily can make over a $100k (depending on area) if you decide to sale in a few years for sure.

Vegas is one of the places I am looking to move to! My friend and I had a long conversation about me moving there. He told me someone is building a TON of new buildings right now.

[EJ_3]

Yes sir, if you consider... there's a lot of developments/newer homes in North Las Vegas.

[mashimarho]

Originally Posted by Manny_World

Yes sir, if you consider... there's a lot of developments/newer homes in North Las Vegas.

It'll be tough finding a place to work. Do you know of a few big hospitals or organizations I should look into?

[EJ_3]

Originally Posted by mashimarho

It'll be tough finding a place to work. Do you know of a few big hospitals or organizations I should look into?

http://www.lasvegas.va.gov/new_hospi...rsing_home.asp

View under the 'Careers' tab to view their open position. We a Dr. in EuroSquad, I'll talk to him tomorrow at the meet for more details if you like.

[mashimarho]

Originally Posted by Manny_World

http://www.lasvegas.va.gov/new_hospi...rsing_home.asp

View under the 'Careers' tab to view their open position. We a Dr. in EuroSquad, I'll talk to him tomorrow at the meet for more details if you like.

That would be amazing! I think you were the one that bought my friend's HRE, right? He lives down the city from me. Jeff.
I believe you were Manuel from EuroSquad?

Thanks man I really appreciate you taking your time to do this for me. Vegas would be amazing!

[EJ_3]

Originally Posted by mashimarho

That would be amazing! I think you were the one that bought my friend's HRE, right? He lives down the city from me. Jeff.
I believe you were Manuel from EuroSquad?

Thanks man I really appreciate you taking your time to do this for me. Vegas would be amazing!

Emanuel. Yep, that's me. No problem man. Even though this forum full of people bashing the crap out of each other, I like to help members when I can. I'll keep you posted.

[mashimarho]

Originally Posted by Manny_World

Emanuel. Yep, that's me. No problem man. Even though this forum full of people bashing the crap out of each other, I like to help members when I can. I'll keep you posted.

Thank you so much........ it means a lot to me.

Sean.

[Advan]

Housing isn't bad here compare to Great Lake states... well I was about to relocate to either Minnesota or Michigan and living cost is pretty high.

There are some large hospitals around here - Baylor, UT Southwestern, Texas Health, etc but as for Advertising and PR shouldn't be a big problem. If you are moving to Dallas there are a lot of major corporations that are there... Frito Lay, AT&T, DR. Pepper, AMR, Ericsson, etc... way too many to list

[mashimarho]

Originally Posted by Advan

Housing isn't bad here compare to Great Lake states... well I was about to relocate to either Minnesota or Michigan and living cost is pretty high.

There are some large hospitals around here - Baylor, UT Southwestern, Texas Health, etc but as for Advertising and PR shouldn't be a big problem. If you are moving to Dallas there are a lot of major corporations that are there... Frito Lay, AT&T, DR. Pepper, AMR, Ericsson, etc... way too many to list

That sounds very promising. Should be good for us!

On another note, how safe is it? We never have anything destructive. No earthquakes, floods, tornados, fires, hurricanes, poisonous creatures, etc.

[jphughan]

Originally Posted by mashimarho

That sounds very promising. Should be good for us!

On another note, how safe is it? We never have anything destructive. No earthquakes, floods, tornados, fires, hurricanes, poisonous creatures, etc.

You won't get earthquakes in Texas (I came from San Francisco where we know all about them ), but high winds and hail are definitely occasional hazards at least in Austin. Dallas gets snow. Hurricanes and floods at least in Austin and Dallas won't really happen since they're both landlocked (and on the contrary, there's been a draught for quite some time, so a flood would be quite a surprise), but Houston being closer to water might make it prone to hurricanes, not sure. I'm sure Houston natives here will chime in.

Poisonous creatures? Not in the major metropolitan areas you're talking about. One thing to watch out for is crime. Especially with Houston and Dallas, they're so large that there are radically different neighborhoods all technically in the same city (uber-rich areas and uber-poor ones), so make sure you pick a good area. That goes for Austin too, but the two extremes aren't quite as far apart.

As for living in Vegas, I dunno man, the times I've been there Vegas has been amazing if you're on Las Vegas Blvd, but if you stray even one or two blocks off that, it becomes kind of a wasteland. That's not to say there aren't job opportunities available, but personally I think every other place you've listed thus far will be a much more pleasant and enjoyable place to live overall.

And then of course there's the general "vibe" of the place you want to live. Austin's unofficial motto is "Keep Austin Weird" because it's pretty different from the rest of Texas. Given that I came from the SF Bay Area, that was just fine by me, and in fact people actually joke that Austin is a California city in Texas, and having lived here for 4 years now I can see why. I've never been to Houston, but having been to Dallas a few times (yes, I'm about to over-generalize here) it's much more of the stereotypical Texas, i.e. everything's bigger (and a HUGE streak of "I've got to make sure mine is bigger than yours" syndrome), Type A/cowboy personalities, even more guns, etc. Austin is much more laid back, probably because it's a city built around a college so the average population is younger, LOTS of people in Austin are from somewhere else (another product of having a great college, and probably helps keep the Texas stereotype manifestations down), and much more of an healthy/organic/sustainable/hippie subculture if you're into that. Whole Foods is headquartered in Austin, for example.

[mashimarho]

Originally Posted by jphughan

You won't get earthquakes in Texas (I came from San Francisco where we know all about them ), but high winds and hail are definitely occasional hazards at least in Austin. Dallas gets snow. Hurricanes and floods at least in Austin and Dallas won't really happen since they're both landlocked (and on the contrary, there's been a draught for quite some time, so a flood would be quite a surprise), but Houston being closer to water might make it prone to hurricanes, not sure. I'm sure Houston natives here will chime in.

Poisonous creatures? Not in the major metropolitan areas you're talking about. One thing to watch out for is crime. Especially with Houston and Dallas, they're so large that there are radically different neighborhoods all technically in the same city (uber-rich areas and uber-poor ones), so make sure you pick a good area. That goes for Austin too, but the two extremes aren't quite as far apart.

As for living in Vegas, I dunno man, the times I've been there Vegas has been amazing if you're on Las Vegas Blvd, but if you stray even one or two blocks off that, it becomes kind of a wasteland. That's not to say there aren't job opportunities available, but personally I think every other place you've listed thus far will be a much more pleasant and enjoyable place to live overall.

Thank you very much. You've been more than a great deal of help. I hope to find a job soon!