Amarillo area ??? (Lubbock, Plainview, Borger: for sale, low crime, mobile home)

[DrRay]

My family and I are living in Southern Ohio and thinking of relocating to Amarillo or the Canyon area. I like what I've read about the the conservative views, friendly people, better economy, climate and low crime rate compared to where we are now.
Any tips as far as jobs? (I have experience in maintenance, machining, fabricating, welding,....)
Also tips on where to get a home, we are used to living in the country and would prefer a few acres without being to far from work, schools, shopping, etc.

[cobolt]

Please use the search function on this website. There are lots of threads about Amarillo. As far as the job climate, it isn't as good as it used to be. You may want to do monster searches and type in your keywords. Bell/Textron helicopter is out near the airport and has positions in maching, fab, etc., but I think they may want previous experience in the aviation industry.

[GayleTX]

You might register with the Texas Workforce Commission (free) and focus on the Amarillo market....just see what's happening there right now. Some of the better maintenance jobs are in the medical facilities there...it has a large medical community as well as being a hub of trucking activity.

Welcome to the Texas Workforce Commission

The best employer in the whole Panhandle is Pantex...a large government facility. You might check it out. It's usually a drawn-out process getting thru the employment procedure but it's worth it.

Pantex Plant

As for finding a small acreage in the country...that's not easy to do in the Panhandle. Most of the land outside the towns is made up of large ranches (thousands of acres) and is owned by families, cattle corporations or oil companies. Very few people are willing to carve out a couple of acres for a someone a house unless it's for a family member. There are quite a few one-acre mobile home places in the south edge of Amarillo but they are not like living in the country.

Your other alternative might be to live in one of the small towns near Amarillo....they are almost like living in the country and the commute into Amarillo is easy - long straight roads, very little traffic. We lived in Panhandle (the town of Panhandle) for a few years....very good schools, no crime, good people, better economic situation and housing than most of the other small towns around - it's 20 miles out of Amarillo.....we had always lived in the country til we moved there but living there was not a hard adjustment for us.

A place that is more blue-collar than Amarillo and has good employment right now is Borger/Fritch (about 30 miles from Amarillo) - it's economy is based on oil. It has a housing shortage right now because of the oil boom but it's still not an expensive place to live....it's also not a pretty place and the schools are not great.

Best wishes to you in your move.....

[TCRANK]

Anywhere in the Texas Panhandle seems awesome...with exception of Oldham County. It's full of a**holes and if they don't like you (and they don't like anyone) they will find a way to run you out of their town. Even to the point of allowing their "blue blood" children to bully yours daily in the school system!!!! I've even had female coaches bully my children before school starts and it's such a small town that the principal happens to be married to one of the female coaches. Good luck getting anywhere in Oldham County!! Especially in Vega, Texas!!!!!!!!

[High_Plains_Retired]

DrRay,

You can find small country places on the Texas High Plains. About three years ago I bought a rural home place between Plainview and Lubbock with an 1800 ft2 house (3br, 2bths), 3000 ft2 under two barns and 20 acres of grassland for less than the cost of a new/used Ford 1/2 ton truck. The house needed a lot of work inside but there are rural properties to be had for little money on the Texas High Plains.

My recommendation is to keep you eyes on the bank- and government-owned properties. That's how I found our place. Many times house-flipping investors just don't want to mess with rural properties and these properties can remain for sale for longer periods than urban and suburban properties that get snatched up rather quickly.

I also recommend that you read the recent Texas thread here called Property Taxes. Some rural Texas counties can have rather stiff property taxes.

Good luck and welcome to west Texas if you decide to come. It sounds like your skills would fit right in.