Blue State Refugee moving to TX - Advice?

[mentalarson]

We live 50 miles North of Seattle, WA.
On 11/7/2012 we finalized our long-brewing decision to relocate to Texas.
We are coming from the land of trees, hills and lakes (and no extreme weather events) so a good water source, some trees and maybe some hills would make us right at home. Our family move will include 9 to 14 productive, freedom-loving Blue-State refugees.

Since several family members woke up on Wednesday morning 11/7 and were thinking the same thing, I figured we may not be alone in the country so I got a domain name and FB page to start tracking the process in case it's of value to anyone else. http://bluestaterefugees.com

I'm a web developer so I can live and work anywhere I can get reliable broad band Internet access. Bro drives truck and runs heavy equipment so he needs to be around more population to get a decent job driving or in industry, and he wants to be home with his family every night. Their kids are big into sports so they'd like to be in a strong baseball/softball community.

We want to buy 5-10 acres with a livable stick-framed house on the very edge of wired broad band access. We want to know our neighbors, but have a comfortable buffer, some privacy, good water source, etc. I'd really like a little elevation drop and a bit of a view because we're moving from a view-rich situation. Dead-flat kinda freaks me out a bit, but I could learn to love it.

I figure it's unrealistic to expect to buy immediately...
1. I'm loosing $100K on my house so I won't have much of a down payment and may end up with ruined credit...GRRR.
2. We want to live in our next house for the rest of our productive lives and set up all sorts of cool permaculture, aquaculture, sustainable food, etc. so we'll rent for 6-12 months while we get to know the area.

The hill country between Canyon Lake and Kerrville really appealed to us, but it's very dry and rocky and not friendly to food production.
My wife, her brother, sis-in-law and mom put 1250 miles on a rental car the week of 12/1/2012 and drove all over the hill country.
I've also heard that the Hill Country will be a VERY popular "bug-out" destination if/when folks form San Antonio and Austin "head for the hills" to take refuge with friends and family.

We're big on being able to grow our own food and minimizing our reliance on external systems of support.
I also want to be able hunt on our own land, raise fish in a pond, etc.

We're leaning toward the pine woods north of Tyler.
My wife has insisted on being no more than 1hr from Costco and the civilization that represents...I will push that a bit.

ALL advice and probing questions are WELCOME!

[K.Mooneyham]

C'mon down to Texas and welcome. I'm sure someone on here will have some good info about East Texas for you. But once you are here, just remember why you left where you are now...and why you wanted to move to Texas in the first place. I worry about so many folks coming to Texas who might bring their "baggage" with them.

[mentalarson]

C'mon down to Texas and welcome. I'm sure someone on here will have some good info about East Texas for you. But once you are here, just remember why you left where you are now...and why you wanted to move to Texas in the first place. I worry about so many folks coming to Texas who might bring their "baggage" with them.

We are NOT bone heads who move somewhere great then try to "fix" it. We want to be TEXANS.

I can understand your concern. Washington is overrun with Californians and my little town has been overrun with "city folk" who come out here for the quality of life then proceed to screw it up by meddling in people's lives. We're moving to Texas for the freedom, the last thing we want to do is mess it up.

[K.Mooneyham]

C'mon down to Texas and welcome. I'm sure someone on here will have some good info about East Texas for you. But once you are here, just remember why you left where you are now...and why you wanted to move to Texas in the first place. I worry about so many folks coming to Texas who might bring their "baggage" with them.

We are NOT bone heads who move somewhere great then try to "fix" it. We want to be TEXANS.

I can understand your concern. Washington is overrun with Californians and my little town has been overrun with "city folk" who come out here for the quality of life then proceed to screw it up by meddling in people's lives. We're moving to Texas for the freedom, the last thing we want to do is mess it up.

I certainly don't think everyone wanting to move here are "bone heads", not in the least. I spent 10 years of my USAF career in NorCal...and as beautiful as it was, I got home to Texas as soon as I got out of the service.

[J.R.@A&M]

Welcome.

The Texas Hill Country is my favorite part of the world, but it (and everything west of interstate 35) is a dry climate, no two ways about it. One could garden extensively, hunt, and drink well water/harvested water, but you'd have to deal with the constraints of rocky rangeland.

I'm wondering if somewhere in the piney hills of East Texas might satisfy more of your needs/desires.

Wherever you settle, you can get information from the Extension Service (http://agrilifeextension.tamu.edu/) about horticulture, gardening, water harvesting, livestock, wildlife management, and a lot more, some of it specifically geared for "newly rural" folks .

[longtooth]

Angelina County in deep East Texas & love it here.
Pretty tough economy but great folks, good soil to grow, Lake Raburn, National Forest, some pretty good timber still left Lotta rain.

Come & see.
LT

[JALLEN]

What are Texans?

Not everyone is cut out to be a real Texan, even some who are born in Texas.

Sometimes you can't be within an hour of a Costco. Sometimes, even if you are, you can't get there in an hour, until it stops raining.

The weather takes getting used to. The weather pattern is debilitating drought, interspersed by devastating floods. If you are down on the Gulf, you can look forward to new carpet and maybe a roof every 3-5 years or so.

[OldCannon]

I'm a former resident of Sammamish, feel free to PM me if you want to ask questions!

P.S. - Take Seattle away and Washington is definitely a "red state"

[A-R]

You're not going to find much "hills" that is also good growing land in Texas. Most of the hills are rocky.

If you can give up the hills/view, the land EAST of the general Central Texas/Austin area is VERY rich farm land, prices are decidedly lower than west of Austin area etc., and you should still be able to live within an hour of a Costco (especially when new one opens in Cedar Park next year) and be out in the sticks. Plenty of sports opportunities around this area. And I-35 is THE major trucking route in the state.

Really any area you like along I-35 would give you the trucking needs - and plenty of it is good farm land too.

My other suggestion would be the rich farmland in all directions around Bryan/College Station. This is similar to what's east of Austin (and the two sorta merge together at some point), but being an hour away from conservative B-CS (no Costco, but they do have a Sam's Club) is likely more pleasant. You do lose the major trucking route though, unless you go east of B-CS toward I-45.

[fickman]

Tyler would be great for your criteria. Also consider the north Texas hill country west and southwest of Fort Worth (Cleburne, Brownwood, Granbury, Mineral Wells, Wetherford).

Also the Hillsboro through Waco area could be what you're looking for.

Good luck!

[A-R]

Tyler would be great for your criteria. Also consider the north Texas hill country west and southwest of Fort Worth (Cleburne, Brownwood, Granbury, Mineral Wells, Wetherford).

Also the Hillsboro through Waco area could be what you're looking for.

Good luck!

Good suggestions also. We drove up to Glen Rose to let the kids see the dinosaur park a few years ago, and it's beautiful up that way.

[canvasbck]

I was thinking that the area North of Huntsville may fit the bill. Madisonville, Crockett, ect. No Cosco, but your close to a super Buc-ees!

[filmtex]

We lived in central Texas for several years before moving back to San Antonio. The area north of Austin up to Waco might attract you. As some others have indicated- east of I-35, green and flatter, west- a little hillier. Personally I would avoid the area immediately adjacent to Killeen and its related problems, but most of the rest is pretty darn nice. Not as nice as San Antonio and the hill country north towards Bandera, but...still pretty pleasant!
I'm not a native Texan either, but I got here as soon as I could and boy are my kids glad.

[RoyGBiv]

C'mon down to Texas and welcome. I'm sure someone on here will have some good info about East Texas for you. But once you are here, just remember why you left where you are now...and why you wanted to move to Texas in the first place. I worry about so many folks coming to Texas who might bring their "baggage" with them.

We are NOT bone heads who move somewhere great then try to "fix" it. We want to be TEXANS.

I can understand your concern. Washington is overrun with Californians and my little town has been overrun with "city folk" who come out here for the quality of life then proceed to screw it up by meddling in people's lives. We're moving to Texas for the freedom, the last thing we want to do is mess it up.

I just wanted to say that this was my favorite exchange of the day.

... oh.. and WELCOME.! MentalArson.

And... If you look South of Burleson you can find some large lots for fair prices (fair for being relatively close to the city) with good water and fertile soil... But not many hills... The US-67 corridor from Cleburne to Glen Rose to Stephenville is a bit better for rolling topography (still not "hilly"). Add Granbury to that list as well, just north of Glen Rose, on a major US hwy and about an hour South of the Southern edge of Fort Worth.

[MoJo]

East Texas has a lot to offer. I'm down on the South East coast once you get past the second tier of counties you start finding land with rolling hills and beautiful woodlands. Some specific areas you might want to consider are Jasper, Woodville, Lufkin and as you mentioned Tyler. I tell folks the winters in this part of Texas are rarely severe but summer can be brutal. I'm a born and bred Texan and I can't ever envision living somewhere other than Texas.... Texas it's a whole other country.