Couple questions for anyone living in or around Carrollton, TX

@ruouttaurmind

I live on the other side of the metromess. I I only go over there rarely: everything that’s there is here, more or less. Except the traffic. Carrollton is not a horribly expensive area, it’s kind of “nice and safe and in-the-middle” for greater DFW.

I’m guessing a nice 2Bdrm apt would come in at less than $1k a month. (Have not actually checked) The same $ would prob get an even nice 1bdrm one.

They might be a bit more. But prob not a lot.

IDK but am guessing that groceries come in at prices similar to southern AZ. Lots and lots and lots of shopping options in that area.

It it helps, a nice, safe neighborhood, middle class, not too old home can be purchased around there likely for around $200K or less.

Mass transit only really works well for people who live and work along convenient routes.

So it kinda depends on where he’s gonna work. A nearby large intersection on a freeway, if he’s working in an office somewhere near a freeway, would help.

Depending on where he works and how expensive apts are in the immediate area, he might be able to get his commute down to far less than 30 min.

If he has a long freeway commute of any kind, it’s likely he will have a longer commute than 30 minutes, unless he works unusual hours, or unless he commutes in the opposite direction from everyone else. If he has only a short freeway hop, or can travel surface, he might have a far shorter commute.

@woodhouse and some others ought to be great and far more specific info sources here.

This is not an expensive place to live, by US standards; but it does have, I dunno, 3+ million people spread out over 4+ counties, so it’s gonna cost more than a small city or small town would.

He might be able to find out a lot of info by creating an account on roommates.com. It’s free just to browse, and he can do so privately. It will give him some feel for what kind of places cost what kind of money, he can gather info there without ever intending to share a living space.

Surely there are sites that give cost of living info for southern AZ vs DFW. I’m guessing the two areas might be somewhat comparable?

@f00l I appreciate your perspective. Some good tips there. I’ll pass along the info.

TBH, I really hope this works out for him. I’ll really miss the extra $600 he pays, but I’ll be thrilled to have my home and privacy back.

@ruouttaurmind
If you can get a nearby freeway intersection to the work location, and approx how far away from the freeway the work location is, the rental and commute info could be much more precise.

Also a zip code for the work location would help.

@f00l Looks like it’s right in the center of a square: GB Turnpike to the north, Dallas North Tollway to the east, 635 to the south and 35 to the west. Zip 75006. Near Brookhaven College if that means anything?

@ruouttaurmind
Tell him to take that info to Roommates.com and create an account and a tweaked profile (for privacy). With a throwaway email addr if he wishes. (a lot of the persons seeking roommates give fairly precise location info in the listings.)

You can browse any listing, whether it meets you r profile or not. There are privacy settings that were decent for someone i know who used this site a few years back.

He can get a pretty good idea of local rental/util total costs that way, based on what the listing party wants for each resident.

The listings parties have no idea if anyone specific has looked at their listings. I don’t remember for sure, but think he can turn off or ignore messages no prob.

As for the commute, if he lives “within” the freeways, yeah, no prob getting it to under 1/2 hour, depending on precise location.

Using Google Maps, he can try out a bunch of possible commutes during rush hour, and see what the timing looks like.

Food shopping: plethora of choices. Discount places and Walmarts all the way up to Whole Foods and tony food emporiums and beyond. Possibly co-ops (IDK).

I don’t know that area well-enough to be more specific. I hope that if the job offer looks likely, he can do a scouting trip.

@Woodhouse lives I think in what is called mid-cities or HEB (Hurst-Bedford-Euless) somewhere, if I remember. He would know a lot about the commuting scene.

@f00l Brilliant suggestion to check Google Maps during rush hours! This will likely prove the most accurate picture of commute time from various neighborhoods.

@djslack Thank you, sir. He actually was looking at bestplaces earlier this evening.

Based on @f00l’s feedback, Phx might be around 20% less costly for housing. i should recommend he checks gas prices as well. Regular unleaded at the stations near my house is around $2.05ish. Since he drives a full-size v8 pickup, fuel costs can add up swiftly if he winds up commuting any amount of miles.

@ruouttaurmind
Regular unleaded at the stations near my house is around $2.05ish.

Same here this week. Week before July 4th was below $2.00

@ruouttaurmind also remember it is using strickly defined boundaries… down in tejas you can get cheap rent if you don’t mind a 20 min commute.

@ruouttaurmind
Don’t take my word on housing. Roommates.com can be a pretty good resource because they give you an idea about total rent and util cost.

Also there can be a pretty big variation in rent over 2-3 blocks, with both places being quite decent. One loc has a bit more prestige than the other or something.

Here is a hot tip for finding out where someone does or doesn’t want to rent an apartment:

Figure out which Dominoes or similar delivers to the areas or apartment complexes around which the person is looking.

Go there when they are not super busy, but not when it’s dead either (you want a reasonable sampling of drivers).

Ask the drivers which places they don’t wanna live in, and which places are really nice, with tenants that are nice also. Dominos drivers know all.

Also, when someone visits the complex, take a sharp look at the grounds, walkways, stairways, landscaping, paint trim. Are all these kept up? They ought to be, if you want to live in a place that’s trustworthy and good. (this isn’t enough info, but a place with a bad score should get a disqualifier based on this if the person doesn’t know the area well).

Also look at parking on an evening when everyone is home. Are there a reasonable # of spaces near each building? If no, then the place is overcrowded and a PITA to live in.

Also, look at the cars. Do too many of the cars look not well-kept or junky?

A few junkers are fine, every place has people who are stretched, or like driving cars into the ground.

Too many cars not in good shape means the neighborhood might not be wonderful.

Look at the people coming and going from the place. Do they look like the sort of people who have their act together, or like the sort who don’t? Complexes right across the street from each other can vary sharply on this.

I have nothing against people who are struggling, who are downtrodden, who don’t have too many prospects. But if you are new in an area, you need not to worry about the place you live, and so you need to use what indicators you can find.

Utilities.
He should make up some reason that he needs a ground floor apt. Or at the least, not 3rd floor, ever.

And not not not not not west-facing windows.

The places all offer discounts for upper floors. But you have to climb all those floors. Every day. You have to move your furniture up and down all those floors.

In addition, the ground floor apts are far better insulated, since they have the built-in insulation of the apt above them. So not only are the ground floor apts far more comfortable both summer and winter, you also save enough money on utils to more than cover the slightly increased ground floor rent.

West facing windows: if the other nearby buildings or trees shade the west facing windows pretty well, then fine. Otherwise, if your windows face west, your apt will be hot every single afternoon in summer. So don’t get one with many or large west facing windows.

@woodhouse Thank you for the comment and your info. Much appreciated!

@woodhouse
That service may only refer to a limited set of choices, based on their contracts (I would think, more expensive places). I would just go drive around. Find places you might like the location and look of. Eyeball the exteriors and parking heavily. Check out the people, and check them out with the pizza drivers. Research them on the web.

And then go find out more about the places that pass those filters.

@f00l @Woodhouse works for Mediocre, he is can afford those places. Didn’t employees get a fancy suite of rooms at the new place?

@woodhouse Have you tried apartments.com? He’s saying there are a couple dozen listings in the immediate Carrollton area.

@speediedelivery

I think @snapster builds a mini-Taj Mahal for all new employees, in the neighborhood of the employee’s choosing.

Sort of like this one:

@speediedelivery @f00l I demand a certain standard of living. Only a full-sized Taj Mahal for this guy.

@woodhouse

Well, that’s between you and the @snapster, isn’t it?

We do demand pix.

@ruouttaurmind also check out the schools. Generally the better ones are in better neighborhoods.

@moondrake
Fort Worth commutes tend to be nicely short. Dallas area ones can get long.

Re shopping, much depends on the neighborhood. Also the landscape. In EP you have mountains, a river, and an international boundary, so the city doesn’t spread out in the normal Texas way.

In many normal (ie ok but not beautiful) Texas cities, shopping is pretty much easy and close, unless one wants a specific store.

Phoenix is 7 hours from here, Dallas is 12.

Re Dallas: Only for slackers

@f00l I should have said 10 for Dallas. We used to stop in Fredericksburg to eat and window shop when heading to Austin, which made it about 11 hours. I haven’t driven to Dallas since I quit medieval re-enacting, it’s so much easier to fly. But trips to Dallas took forever because we were always travelling as a group of five or six vehicles heavily loaded with camping gear, camp beautification and weapons. Numerous gas stops, potty breaks, food breaks and a smoke break at every third mile marker.

@moondrake
And, I hope, Huevos Rancheros at some breakfast place in the middle on nowhere. Some place all the ranching people come into town for after morning chores.

@moondrake Sounds like Amazon Prime could be useful in your situ. Though that requires some advance planning.

@ruouttaurmind What I was needing was some keyrings. Ironically, anticipating the need for them, I ordered a 50 pack from Amazon Prime and put them away somewhere safe. I’ll probably find them sometime in the next 6 months or so.

@f00l Yeah sometimes. The only time in my life I’ve had a hangover was at an amtgard camping event (drank a whole bottle of homemade Kahlua). We stopped for breakfast on the way down the mountain and I ordered huevos rancheros with extra chile. My friend said that if he ate huevos rancheros on top of a hangover it would probably kill him. I said that’s pretty much the plan, it would either kill me or my stomach would just get over it. It worked.

@moondrake

Huevos rancheros are just the thing for hangovers, once you can keep food down.

@moondrake

I ordered a 50 pack from Amazon Prime and put them away somewhere safe. I’ll probably find them sometime in the next 6 months or so.

I feel the pain! I have so many duplicate specialty tools in the garage. Buy one, use it, a year or two later either forgot I had it or can’t find it and buy another. When you’re in the middle of a task it’s frustrating to spend time searching when it’s so much easier and faster just to get another.

@ruouttaurmind And paying the little bit more to own the good tool instead of borrowing or renting one. Yep, that is my life.

@katylava 3$/gallon for milk??? DAAAANG I’m usually around 1.89-2.09/gallon at Costco, and 2.39$/gallon at Target for store brand.

@HugoDahl Don’t move to Mississippi - here it is $3.29+

@HugoDahl I thank you for the response. He got word yesterday the job wasn’t going to materialize for him. Unfortunate for him. Unfortunate for me as well since I was looking forward to having my house to myself again.

Anyway, thank you for your time!

(Insert requisite “uh huh” here)