TexasCHLforum.com

Shoot Straight wrote:I reckon Galveston to The Woodlands is near 75 miles so it depends how you define the metropolitan area.

And you could argue that it even extends up through Conroe.

Then again, I suspect that it really extends up to Centerville at which point the Dallas metro area starts. :-)

Houston's southern expansion is limited by the Gulf and Dallas' northern expansion is limited by Oklahoma. Eventually, we will collide... :-)

Shoot Straight wrote:It sounds like his mother is responsible for the property taxes no matter if he lives there or his grandparents live there.

I was just making a general statement, but for his specific case, you might be right.

Due to the nature of the economy these days, people often work out of their home state (or even their home country) for extended periods of time and if they had to change their residence each time, it would be inconvenient. I've known many people who have not only never left the US, but have not even left their home state in their entire lifetime. And I'm not talking about young people who just have not traveled much. I'm talking about people who have lived full lives and retired. Of course, this is more likely to occur in states like Texas or Alaska than it would in Rhode Island. :)

Come to think of it though, I knew sold elderly people back in Louisiana that had probably never traveled more than 100 miles from their home. Seems kind of funny when you think of it in relation to Houston driving distances. Around here, you can probably drive 100 miles and still be in the Houston metroplex if you started on one side and drove to the opposite side.

One thing to consider when living in a border city like that is what advantages each state might have to your declared state of residence. With Arkansas, you have a state income tax which you do not have in Texas. On the other hand, the Arkansas CHL covers some states that the Texas one doesn't. For example, the AR CHL covers NV, OH, NH, and WA, whereas the TX one does not. AR only issues CHLs to residents. And then there are the property taxes. The median home prices in TX are slightly more than the ones in AR. Whereas TX collects about 1.81% of a property's value each year, AR collects about 0.52%. LA is even lower with 0.18%.

http://www.tax-rates.org/arkansas/property-tax" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.tax-rates.org/texas/property-tax" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.tax-rates.org/louisiana/property-tax" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Depending upon what your income might be, the reduced property taxes + the state income tax in AR might be less than the no income tax + increased property taxes in TX.

As engineers, my wife and I have worked on various out-of-state projects over the years. Some have been for extended periods of time. We consider these places as temporary quarters and keep our official residence as Texas due to the fact that Texas has no state income tax. If you own property in multiple states, it might be advantageous to have one state vs the others as your "official" residence.