But it's so f'in hot! And you're not that far out of Houston in Spring. Me and the wife are kicking around TX as a place to live after the military tho. I can't decide how to research all the options there as they are plentiful indeed.
Bye bye big city!
- Thread starter Texas82GP
- Start date
Texas is good for veterans, especially if you have a service connected disability, No state property tax...
Wha?! That's a game changer! Property tax is pretty steep otherwise. I'll rate over 50% so will be able to double dip.
I think we really will. Where we will be is about 65 miles north of downtown Houston. Where we are is about 25 miles north of it. The demographics really tell the story. Current population in Harris County (where we live, County where Houston is) is around 4.7 million people. There are around 7 million people in the greater Houston metropolitan area. Current population for Walker County (where we're going) is around 73,000. Current population of Huntsville (the "big" town that is about 15 miles, or 25 minutes to drive to) is around 42,000. Current population of New Waverly (about 10 miles or 20 minutes) is around 1,100. It should be a big change in lifestyle. Having our own shop building won't suck either.
It's hot from May through September. The teeth of it is usually June-August. Expect 98° every day in August with high humidity. Normally very mild winters though.
No state income tax either. Financing for veterans is also good here.
Taxes and insurance are high in Harris County. It's one of the most expensive places in the state to live. You don't really want to live here in Harris County except that it's a great place to find work. That's the best thing about Houston. The opportunity. There is also a lot of culture, if you're into that sort of thing. You can find just about anything you want in this town. It's just too crowded and fast paced for us at this point. I've had a knife-fight commute for 20 years. I'm ready to move to the Country.
My buddy lives just north of Dallas, he's a retired vet, purple heart recipient. He doesn't pay any taxes. One of the main reasons he lives there. Now his kids live their.too, one is in Ft worth, the other close by but not sure exactly where.
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My brother and sister-in-law went out to the site the weekend before last. Some good progress has been made. Since I didn't go, they took the Camaro....
Here it is parked near the end of the existing pavement on our street. This is looking west away from where our lot is....
Here's a shot looking east towards our lot. A low water crossing (culvert covered with dirt) has been constructed for construction access into our section....
The low water crossing is the portion of the roadway which is farthest south, or to your right. They've put that jog in the temporary road so it is beside rather than beneath the bridge that will go in.
Here's a shot from east of the low water crossing (not far from it) looking west back towards the end of the existing paving and where the Camaro is parked....
Here's a shot of a new culvert and safety end treatment at the end of our street, where it T intersects with the main street in our section. Our street is the one in background. If you go east or to the right in this picture, our lot will be a little ways down on the right....
They didn't get pictures of all of it but they reported evidence of the water and fiber optic going in as well. Needless to say, we're excited. I'm looking forward to seeing them start on the bridge construction.
Here's a shot towards the back of our lot, I believe on the west line, looking south towards the road....
It's about 420' deep so I don't think that's all the way to the back. Here's a look on the east line looking north or towards the back....
The developer cut those lines out of the brush presumably for their surveyors and I suppose so perspective buyers can walk the approximate lot line and get a better look at the lots. I'm out of pictures so I guess that's it for now friends. We'll probably go back out there in a month or so and see how it's going. The first payment on the lot is due in two weeks, so it's pretty real at this point.
Here it is parked near the end of the existing pavement on our street. This is looking west away from where our lot is....
Here's a shot looking east towards our lot. A low water crossing (culvert covered with dirt) has been constructed for construction access into our section....
The low water crossing is the portion of the roadway which is farthest south, or to your right. They've put that jog in the temporary road so it is beside rather than beneath the bridge that will go in.
Here's a shot from east of the low water crossing (not far from it) looking west back towards the end of the existing paving and where the Camaro is parked....
Here's a shot of a new culvert and safety end treatment at the end of our street, where it T intersects with the main street in our section. Our street is the one in background. If you go east or to the right in this picture, our lot will be a little ways down on the right....
They didn't get pictures of all of it but they reported evidence of the water and fiber optic going in as well. Needless to say, we're excited. I'm looking forward to seeing them start on the bridge construction.
Here's a shot towards the back of our lot, I believe on the west line, looking south towards the road....
It's about 420' deep so I don't think that's all the way to the back. Here's a look on the east line looking north or towards the back....
The developer cut those lines out of the brush presumably for their surveyors and I suppose so perspective buyers can walk the approximate lot line and get a better look at the lots. I'm out of pictures so I guess that's it for now friends. We'll probably go back out there in a month or so and see how it's going. The first payment on the lot is due in two weeks, so it's pretty real at this point.
I took a friend out to the land on Saturday to show him around. He really likes the area so he wanted to see what we bought. There's been some good progress made. The fiber optic is on on our side of the street. The water is on the opposite side. There is either conventional phone or maybe cable in on the opposite side of the street as well. The cross culverts are in at the street intersections and the roadside ditches are final graded. They've installed the erosion control mats in the flowline of the ditches and have hydra-mulched them. That's a liquid seed/fertilizer mixture they spray. They are ready to pave the road down to where the bridge construction will start. This picture was taken looking down our street from our side of the creek. Our lot is up on the left in the curve. You can see the machine on the right, which had a crane like boom on it but had a large circular saw blade on it. They were going along trimming the limbs off the trees along the right-of-way, which tells me they are getting ready to set the power poles on that side of the street....
I had thought the power was going to be on our side of the street but apparently not. Here's a look down the side street to the right of the picture above....
Here, we're up closer to our lot. You can see the limbs that have been trimmed, laying in the ditch. You can also see a utility pedestal over on the right hand (south) side of the road. It doesn't have any identifying marks on it so I'm not sure what it is yet. The fiber optic is definitely on our side. Maybe they're stubbing out the fiber optic to the other side of the street. Here you can see they have the edge of paving marked along the finished roadbed......
And here's a look near the T-intersection where the pictures above were taken, looking towards the creek.....
I'm not sure what they are going to do with those precast concrete inlet boxes but my guess is they and the corrugated plastic pipe are to be installed somewhere going downhill towards the creek. It looks to me like they intend to pave the road pretty soon and then the bulk of the construction will be concentrated going downhill towards the creek and associated with the construction of the bridge to cross the creek.
In the Houston area, we got around 12" of rain in May, which is a bit more than double what is normal. Our survey crews at work were rained out a bunch. I think it rained 20 days out of the month. I don't think it was much different out at the land. We went out there at the beginning of June and the progress was disappointing. They've had two solid weeks now of no rain and you can now really see the progress. I'm guessing the next time we go out the roads will be paved. I'm excited to see that and am eager to see them start on the construction of the bridge.
My sister-in-law and I are planning to go meet with another Architect this Friday. We have a plan from the second Architect that we really like, but we're going to go ahead and look at some more plans. Otherwise, for now it's status quo. Biding our time and saving cash. Every month we stay where we are the mortgage on the house and the loan for the patio get smaller, and our savings grow. Hopefully towards the end of the year we'll be ready to pull the trigger and get the ball rolling on construction. We'll see. It might take longer than that. Either way, we'll have the lot underbrushed and the survey done before the end of the year. We may have the Geotechnical report done as well.
I guess that's it for now friends.
I had thought the power was going to be on our side of the street but apparently not. Here's a look down the side street to the right of the picture above....
Here, we're up closer to our lot. You can see the limbs that have been trimmed, laying in the ditch. You can also see a utility pedestal over on the right hand (south) side of the road. It doesn't have any identifying marks on it so I'm not sure what it is yet. The fiber optic is definitely on our side. Maybe they're stubbing out the fiber optic to the other side of the street. Here you can see they have the edge of paving marked along the finished roadbed......
And here's a look near the T-intersection where the pictures above were taken, looking towards the creek.....
I'm not sure what they are going to do with those precast concrete inlet boxes but my guess is they and the corrugated plastic pipe are to be installed somewhere going downhill towards the creek. It looks to me like they intend to pave the road pretty soon and then the bulk of the construction will be concentrated going downhill towards the creek and associated with the construction of the bridge to cross the creek.
In the Houston area, we got around 12" of rain in May, which is a bit more than double what is normal. Our survey crews at work were rained out a bunch. I think it rained 20 days out of the month. I don't think it was much different out at the land. We went out there at the beginning of June and the progress was disappointing. They've had two solid weeks now of no rain and you can now really see the progress. I'm guessing the next time we go out the roads will be paved. I'm excited to see that and am eager to see them start on the construction of the bridge.
My sister-in-law and I are planning to go meet with another Architect this Friday. We have a plan from the second Architect that we really like, but we're going to go ahead and look at some more plans. Otherwise, for now it's status quo. Biding our time and saving cash. Every month we stay where we are the mortgage on the house and the loan for the patio get smaller, and our savings grow. Hopefully towards the end of the year we'll be ready to pull the trigger and get the ball rolling on construction. We'll see. It might take longer than that. Either way, we'll have the lot underbrushed and the survey done before the end of the year. We may have the Geotechnical report done as well.
I guess that's it for now friends.
Lumber prices are dropping. Hopefully they continue the downward trend so you can benefit. Looks like a nice area!!
Yep, that's the area. The FM road is called Possum Walk Road. My kind of place. When I go out there and get off the Interstate, I feel like I'm on vacation. I feel like my heart slows down. I love it out there.
