They say the market for houses and jobs is really strong in D/FW now...

I get emails and calls all the time from headhunters wanting me to come interview for new positions.

I work in IT doing Database Management and Administration.

+1 on DFW. I'm not a big fan of the summer heat, and the area will be prone to water problems in the future, but my wife and I love the area. Still plenty of rural areas to choose from less than an hour from the metropolitan areas.

The biggest advantage is the size of the area. 2 Big cities, large suburbs with duplicate large cities activities (2 zoos, 2 sets of museums, 2 symphonies/opera companies, etc.)

For sports there are major league football, basketball, baseball (well, it's debatable with the Rangers ) and hockey. Big speedway with 2 Nascar races, 1 Indy car race, and lesser series. Nice new horseracing facility. Three minor league baseball teams, three Division 1 colleges, two major golf tourneys. Incredible high school sports. Fishing, hunting, boating all nearby.

Food: BBQ, Tex-Mex, Southern Home Cooking, Southwest and just about every international style you can imagine.

Downsides: The area sprawls with some lengthy commutes. Commuter rail still in infancy. Bus service is average. Succeptible to droughts, tornados and ice storms and serious thunderstorms. Roads becoming increasingly congested due to rapid population growth. Increasing number of former felons being signed by the Dallas Cowboys

Other upsides: diverse economy no longer concentrated in oil industry. Much growth in technology, health-care, transportation. However, Banking and finance being hit hard due to failures of subprime mortgage lending companies. Biggest airport (in size) on the planet. Largest amount of shopping/retail space per capita in the US. Finally, home to TWO Bass Pro Outdoor Worlds and 1 new Cabela's.

[quote=BrianTexas

For sports there are major league football, basketball, baseball (well, it's debatable with the Rangers ) and hockey. Big speedway with 2 Nascar races , 1 Indy car race, and lesser series.
[/quote]

Hockey is great.

Lesser series - NASCAR: Turn left, turn left, turn left....

Either way, DFW does have alot going for it. FW more so IMHO. However, I'm moving back to Upstate NY so what do I know?

Tips on how to evaluate suggested places?

I have been looking at various websites, read stories / articles on various places, but I don't see how I can get a real sense of each place without visiting there.

Are there some tools you would recommend?

Thanks.

I would do some googling and find out things like sales tax, personal income tax, vehicle registration fees, auto insurance rates, etc. One of the reasons we are about to become residents of South Dakota is that all of those things are very low there...

Wyoming may be a very good choice right now, considering the economic environment. It has what is probably the best coal and largest natural gas fields in the U.S., is doing pretty well relative to other states, and still is not a very expensive place to live, if you are not in the area around Jackson.

Jackson is now a playground for the rich, and housing costs are high. I think some of this has spilled over into the Cody area, but that's based on things I've heard, not on what I've spent. (I've been to Wyoming at least 1/2 dozen times in the past 4 years, mostly to Jackson.) If you really like being outside and have soem skills, there may be decent temporary opportunities in Jackson. The tourists coming in for the summer need people to be guides, etc. Many of those who work in the Jackson area now live in Idaho, but that's a good drive across a pass each day.

Last year we spent almost six months in the Pinedale area, 'bout 60 miles SE of Jackson. When we got there housing prices were thru the roof, thanks to all of the gas fields. But most of the fields are on BLM land, and BLM is not re-newing leases when they expire, so gas workers are leaving in droves, and housing prices are dropping like a rock. Nice friendly state. Prices of everything else seemed normal to us (we had been in WA and CA prior), but another couple from FL thought that prices were outrageous...

OBG, that's surprising about the gas fields. DW drove through there last year, and she was stunned by all the work going on in and around the gas field.

Dweste, If you want to try Wyoming and look for a job before you get there, you could try:

http://www.pinedaleonline.com/jobboard/

http://www.jacksonholenews.com/classified_page.php?art_id=475

https://www.wyomingatwork.com/saintro.asp?session=jobsearch

I'm sure there are other places to look too.

We were there 'til the end of Oct, and had seen a big slowdown in gas workers (many of them lived where we were "working")...

> Ideally, I would like to find two places to live and work: one from which I
> could flee winter, and a second to which I could flee in winter.

Give some consideration to Reno, NV. There's a college in town, right now the housing situation is reported as sales increasing, prices decreasing. Look at a house outside town for your country life-style, maybe a few acres. If you make friends with a real estate agent, you probably can find a nice place to rent till you want to buy.

Weather is not too bad in winter (I lived in North Dakota four years, and I'll tell you winters suck - North Dakota _and_ Minnesota). There is an active arts community that is friendly. Fishing and hunting will fit you right in to the community. It's not too far from Central California. Louise and I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and it's a 5-hour drive for us on the other side of Tahoe (your flee-to site?).

The Reno Gazette-Journal has a good online presence:
http://www.rgj.com/
Check their sections on weather, neighborhoods, real estate, and whatever else interests you.

"No matter where you go, there you are" as they say. So you can't ever really move away. Good luck where ever you land - you'll make it work for yourself. Or not. Who can predict?