Moving from Miami to Houston (Dallas, Katy: apartments, rent, car insurance)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hello! I am looking for some real opinions and advice. I am a young professional lady, who has been asked to relocate to houston for a better position. I will be flying in to check things out late next week. I am currently located in Miami, and absolutely hate it here. I jokingly call it the posion city that's sucking out my soul. Reasons I don't like miami:
1. The people are horrendous - self obsessed, self centered, rude, and to be perfectly honest, to many native spanish speakers where english is frowned upon.
2. This is a party city. My days of going out every evening/clubbing/staying up till 6 in the am are way past me. I am a young professional, I like to do cultural things. and occasionally visit a bar, but would prefer the more lowkey type place.
3. 1/2 the population should not have a license - You wouldn't believe it until you see it, but it's true. Worst drivers ever.
4. Cost of living is through the roof. I have a good salary for my title, but can barely survive.
Based on all of this, what are you opinions? I don't typically like hot weather, but I could deal with 4 months instead of 11 months of disgusting heat and some semblance of seasons. Is houston a good place to relocate to? I am also looking into apartments and decided on the west side of houston by the new office, memorial, galleria, westchase area.
Finally, my boyfriend is black, I am white will i encounter problems? Is inter-racial couples frowned upon? I have to say that is the one place Miami surprised me and I didn't have any problems.
I suspect you will like it here. Your issue #3 will not change, drivers here are pretty horrible as well. However, #1,2 and 4 will be an improvement.
If you are living in Houston (i.e. inside-the-loop - the loop being the 610 loop) I don't think you will have much in the way of problems on the inter-racial front although hard for me to say. I am in a mixed race marriage and have never had a problem, but it is Asian/White which tends to be a bit more accepted.
1. Yes and no. Houston is 45% hispanic with many of those being native speakers of Spanish. There are large sections of town where Spanish is the main language spokenad people will speak to you in spanish only. Inside the loop it is not so common though.
2. Houston is not a "party city", but you can find things to do.
3. there are 400,000 illegal immigrants in Houston also. Many people do not habe DL's or insurance. That is a problem here. There are some pretty bad drivers here too, but it isn't that bad in the loop.
4. It is hot in Houston. It is already hot, and it won't cool off until late November. So we have about 8 hot months compared to 11. Not really seasons though. We have hot and then pretty nice.
You should be fine with your relationship. I am white, but date a black latina. Black people don't like it, but they don't say too much to me, especially when they find out that she is hispanic.
You are right on with the neighborhoods you are looking at.
I'll chime in...
I have been living in Houston for almost three months now. Before that I spent 30 years living in the Miami area.
1. The people here are much nicer than in Miami. However, there are many Hispanics who speak Spanish as well as Asians who speak their own languages as well (i.e. Vietnamese). If this is an issue to you, you might want to reconsider coming here.
2. Houston is much better in this category. If you don't want to go clubbing, Houston has an entire district deicated to museums as well as the NASA space center.
3. I must disagree with other posters here. Houston drivers are far better than the ones in Miami. The drivers here in Houston are aggresive but not nearly as rude or maniacal as the ones in Miami.
4. The cost of living here is less than in Miami. Gasoline, groceries, utilities are cheaper for me here than in Miami. My car insurance costs the same. I would be paying hundreds more in rent for the same apartment in a comparable neighborhood in Miami. My wages are far higher here than in Miami.
As for the heat...I have been living here since late December only so I'm not sure, but Houston has a reputation for having long, hot, humid summers...like Miami. When I initially visited Houston in September of 2011 for two weeks, the temperature on many days hovered around 100 degrees. If you don't like the heat you may not like it here either.
#1 People are nice.. but there is a large hispanic population. Along with Asian, South Asian, Nigerian, Arab, its alot of people from everywhere really...
#2 Dont worry about being too much of a party city, Houston is most definately not a party city. Yeah you can find things to do but compared to Miami this place is dead.. but thats probably what your looking for.
#3 Houston drivers are horrible. And the thing is that they drive around in blissful ignorance, they dont realize how badly they are driving. Be prepared.
#4 Depending on where you decide to live the cost of living in Houston is less, of course the really nice areas will drive up the cost to Miami rates. But for the most part its cheap.
Its Hot, and muggy, and there are alot of bugs and mosquitoes to fight on a nightly basis. But im sure its not all that different from Miami.
You will find that the beach of Houston is about 30-45mins. away and its a crap-hole compared to the one in Miami and you wont find Houston as aesthetically pleasing as Miami.. things tend to be much more grittier and uglier than the cleaned up touristy spots of Miami...
~From a 22y/o been living in Houston for the past 10 years
To everyone who has posted thus far. Thank you very much for all of your input!
My consensus thus far:
1. The people are nicer
2. Houston will be more culturaly adept to my needs.
3. Drivers pretty much everywhere are bad. (bummer about the car insurance, My car insurance is through the roof. after moving from michigan to here it went up over 100$) Most likely though, no driver is worse than miami drivers.
4.Cost of living is less, and I have the area pretty dead on. With an increased salary, it might not be so tough to just survive these days. (I am pretty sure most adults who graduated college the same time as me have pretty simmilar situations though, things aren't how they used to be.)
Houston is going to be hot. Probably as hot or hotter than miami in the summer. Although my eventual end goal is going to be the north west coast of the county, If I am used to Miami weather (which three years here my bloods thinned quite a bit) I should make it.
Houston has a better inter-racial mix. and although still a very hispanic area, I don't think it can compare to the area I am living in. I went from a 98% venzuelan city to a simmilar city to what you are telling me houston is like with migrant workers. Overall, I really wish I would have taken spanish in high school instead of german. Seems you have more races in general, which i think I will like. I greaw up in Ann Arbor, which is very diverse and am looking forward to having more variety in my life.
Thanks again everyone, your information has been so unbelievably helpful. I will be visiting to do an apartment search next weekend!
To everyone who has posted thus far. Thank you very much for all of your input!
My consensus thus far:
1. The people are nicer
2. Houston will be more culturaly adept to my needs.
3. Drivers pretty much everywhere are bad. (bummer about the car insurance, My car insurance is through the roof. after moving from michigan to here it went up over 100$) Most likely though, no driver is worse than miami drivers.
4.Cost of living is less, and I have the area pretty dead on. With an increased salary, it might not be so tough to just survive these days. (I am pretty sure most adults who graduated college the same time as me have pretty simmilar situations though, things aren't how they used to be.)
Houston is going to be hot. Probably as hot or hotter than miami in the summer. Although my eventual end goal is going to be the north west coast of the county, If I am used to Miami weather (which three years here my bloods thinned quite a bit) I should make it.
Houston has a better inter-racial mix. and although still a very hispanic area, I don't think it can compare to the area I am living in. I went from a 98% venzuelan city to a simmilar city to what you are telling me houston is like with migrant workers. Overall, I really wish I would have taken spanish in high school instead of german. Seems you have more races in general, which i think I will like. I greaw up in Ann Arbor, which is very diverse and am looking forward to having more variety in my life.
Thanks again everyone, your information has been so unbelievably helpful. I will be visiting to do an apartment search next weekend!
I dont believe Houston will be as hot as Miami. Houston is more like Pensacola or the Fla Panhandle in climate. Houston is very diverse. Anglos, what ever that means, arent a majority in Houston. While Latinos are the next largest group, AA's and Asians are prevalent in Houston as well.
Enjoy your weekend in Houston and welcome to Texas. I believe you will like living in Tx based upon your comments and hopes. Texas and Miami's will feel and be like two different countries. Very distinctly different. Miami is glitz and south beach and Houston is about manufacturing and making things with less focus on glamour than its Texas neighbor Dallas. Houston is more diverse than Miami is my view... I look forward to your comments about this topic after visting Houston.
I wouldn't worry much about your relationship and your races. Many people will embrace it, others will look the other way. The fact that there is a melting pot of different nationalities/cultures makes it great for a variety of restaurants to visit. Not just museums, Houston has a great symphony, and other cultural shows that come to town. People in general are more business oriented as opposed to "partying" but if needed, there are areas of town where you can find good bars and night life. We have national sports league so you can always enjoy a good basketball, football, baseball or soccer game even.
State parks are great to visit and go camping. There is a good amount of health clubs, running groups, bicycle groups etc that you can do outdoor workouts.
Living close to work is a good idea. As much as I love the highways here, you can get stuck in a "Texas size" traffic jam. Just be sure your "usual things/needs" are met when choosing a place to live. There are several supermarket chains that cater to different cultural groups...from inexpensive to expensive.
I would say overall people here are more relaxed but get their work done and don't have to be too pretentious at showing off what they have to others.
I lived in Houston from 94 to 99, then moved to Miami for 8 years, and came back to Houston 5 years ago...
I understand your concerns, here's a few things I have seen...
Houston is hotter and colder than Miami... Summers are hotter, kind of like Orlando... at least in Miami you get a nice breeze that cools you down... here is just nasty...
You can basically swap the cuban restaurants for the mexican ones... difference in culture... cubans feel like they own the place, mexicans are more to themselves... yes, there's good and bad in both places, but besides hispanics Houston also has a large mix asians, africans, middle easteners... much more varied than Miami...
Your dollar will go a lot further... I moved back to Houston from Miami because I couldn't afford a new house... I basically went from one of the worst neighborhoods in Miami (Homestead) to one of the nicest in Houston (Katy) I got a much bigger house than I had for less than half the price... You will make more money, doing the same job, and your expenses will be lower...
There are a lot of things in common between Houston in Miami, but at the same time it'll be a little bit of a shock at first... As far as the driving goes you don't have as many tourists or older folks here, so even though there are a lot of maniacs driving out there, at least they know where they are going
No matter what anyone says, the beaches don't compare... the first time you look at the water in galveston you will want to throw up, but don't worry, you'll get used to it
98% Venezuelan city...? Humm... are you talking about Weston (Westonzuela) or Doral ?? There are a few Venezuelans here, yours truly, but most of them are in Katy (Katyzuela) however, it is not an overwhelming majority You see the stickers in their cars as you drive by, but it's nothing like Miami...
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
