So the wife has another potential transfer.   We turned down Lubbock, but now they want to make a spot for her in College Station.   College Station appears much more appealing than Lubbock, no offense to those in Lubbock.  

I've browsed some real estate and google earth.  Is it all urban/suburban or is there any place a little more rural within a decent commuting distance?

I see the G Bush Library and the museum, anything else that would be of specific interest to the kids?  (5&9)

The school rating all appear to be 4 and 5 star.   Public schools really that good there?   Is it true that Tx has not adopted common core?    We are dealing with the common core bullshit here in WV.

How big of a pain in the ass is transferring my CCW?   Is it really against the law to print or for your pistol to accidentally show?

How are the local taxes and personal property taxes?

Anyone happen to know the PRN rate for a Certified Emergency/Trauma RN?

Any place to shoot?   Right now I have a range at the house.   From what I've seen with real estate I don't think that's going to be an option.  

How's the traffic?

Bryan / College station is 5 minutes from being in the middle of nowhere, so rural is easily doable, so shooting on your own property is also doable. Trouble is gotta find the land for sale.

no transfer of CHL (ccw) that I know of. Take the TX class, get license, or use yours with reciprocity. Lots of people carry with UT non resident.

"printing" is not illegal. intentionally failing to conceal your handgun is. key being intentional. I dont know of a case where anyone has been cited for printing.

property taxes (house and land) are higher than many states, in part to make up for no state income tax. vehincle tax is much better than many states, judging by the recent threads in GD. ~ $50 a year.  Sadly, it seems you will be paying a "sales tax" or some such shit when you register your vehicles in TX the first time. It's based on the preumptive value of the vehicle. You'll have to go get a safety inspection, and "green sheet" verifying VIN before registering.

B/CS is small, so I cant imagine there's that much traffic, other than people going to and from Houston

Would your wife be only working in College Station? I'd prefer not to be answer calls to Bryan due to the criminal situation there.

B/CS has lots of traffic when the students are going to and from classes. The "lots of traffic" may or may not seem like a lot, depending on what you are used to. Game days, parent visitation, and beginning/end of semester can be particularly bad. It being a primarily college town, I'd avoid driving at times when there might be more drunks than normal out (late on Friday and Saturday for example). If you go near campus or down Texas, you'll want to pay attention to football schedules, to avoid being trapped in that traffic.

How far do you consider a normal drive to work? B/CS isn't that large and you can live "in the country" and have to have your own utilities installed, and still be only 10 miles from the Texas A&M campus. (When I interviewed in VA one time, the hotel considered 2 miles away to not be "local" for their shuttle.)

You want to live in College Station and not Bryan. There is a well-represented criminal class in B/CS. Consider FerFal's advice about totally rural versus closer neighbors who can check up on each other. Also, check the "beaten to death at McDonald's" threads:

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_8_8/565802_.html&page=1

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/1657862_.html

There don't seem to be any blanket rules covering shooting on your own property if you are in the city. Best advice from this thread http://www.reddit.com/r/guns/comments/193huc/texas_gun_owners_shooting_on_my_own_land/ seems to be to check with a lawyer.

Keep in mind Texas doesn't ice over too often, so we don't have a lot of sand trucks or anything. If you live too "rural" getting to work may be problematic, if that is an issue. And remember, it isn't your driving that is necessarily the issue--it is the other 50,000 people with no clue how to drive in icy conditions. Also, we don't get snow, we get stuff that falls, melts a bit, and then refreezes. (My fiancee is working on her PhD, sometimes we have to come in on weekends to feed the cancer cells or lose thousands of dollars of work.)

Texas does not have open carry. The police response to an accidental display or printing is going to vary by department and even individual officer. Laws may read otherwise, but best advice is "concealed means concealed".

Texas does not have income tax and has relatively high real estate (property) taxes. We do not tax personal property here, outside of vehicles. Sales tax runs ~8-9%. We have blue laws about alcohol sales before noon on Sunday, but no weird "state stores" for selling and you have to head towards Dallas to find dry counties.

College Station is a great place to live, especially as you head further South in College Station (away from the University).  In general, the farther South you go the nicer the neighborhoods; they transition from all students, to older students mixed with families, to all families, and then to all upper class families.

There is lots of traffic around campus, and it's roughly constant during the school year. Plan on avoiding the middle of town on game Saturdays, but that's really not so bad.  As someone else mentioned, depending on what you consider a daily commute, there is lots of rural land around College Station.  The whole town is suburban surrounded by rural land; I wouldn't consider any of it to be urban.  There are several nice parks in town, several libraries, a variety of restaurants, and a shooting range about 20 minutes outside of town.  In the summer ~40-50,000 stupid drivers leave town.  

I don't personally know about the school situation, but I've heard good things.  

Someone mentioned snow; we do get snow and ice a few times each winter, but the whole town shuts down because of it and it's usually clear by noon.  The fall, spring, and winter are nice; summer is hot and humid, but as a consolation prize 40,000+ students leave town.

Cost of living is low.  We rent a three bedroom house with a two car garage, driveway parking for four cars, and a fenced backyard for $1200 a month in a pretty nice neighborhood.  That's even a bit high because we are right on one of the bus routes to campus as I'm still a grad student.  

As others said, it is my understanding that accidentally printing is not a problem, but I am not a lawyer.  It looks like Texas and West Virginia have a reciprocity agreement, so you'd be ok as you change over to being a Texas resident; after that, the class was not too onerous (roughly $100 and a whole Saturday, but I believe the requirements have decreased since I took the class).  The wait for the permit was too long, but once it shows up you are good to go.

College Station is nicely centrally located in Texas (unlike Lubbock!).  Austin is a bit less than two hours away, Houston is an hour and a half, and Dallas, Fort Worth, and San Antonio are all a bit less than three hours away.

Hope some of this helps!

All helpful.

Any suggestions on neighborhoods to look at Bullseye?    

I'd be selling this place which is 5 acres, no neighbors, orchard, berry patch, and on a trout stream.   I know I won't find that there and the wife would like to be in a neighborhood.  

We'd be looking in the 200-225k range for a home.    Will that get us in a decent neighborhood.

When you say south, are we talking still in college station or Navosta?

Hopefully Bullseye will chime back in, as his information is more up to date than mine. But, $200-225K should be good. I was looking at houses on land in College Station recently and that seems good to excellent, depending on where you want.

He's talking College Station--probably north of Cedar Creek.

Also, be sure to check flood zones. Flood insurance is going to be going up like crazy in the next few years.

Wow, it'll be tough to beat the property you have now, but 200k can definitely get you a nice house in College Station.  I'm less familiar with the surrounding areas (if you wanted to own acres), but in town I'd look at the end of town around Rock Prairie Road.  I've never looked into buying a house in CS, but I've done plenty of dog-walking and jogging in the neighborhoods I'm recommending here, and I have a few friends that own houses in these neighborhoods.

By South I mean the south-eastern part of College Station.  (For reference, Google pointed me here when I started looking at property in College Station.  If you zoom in on that map a few times, you'll see what I mean.)  I'd start by looking South and East of Deacon Drive or Rock Prairie Road and below Highway 6 (sorry for the awful map, but in general I mean the area inside the route here); those are nice neighborhoods full of families or professionals.  

The area North and East of Highway Six is also very nice, but housing up there is very expensive.

The map I drew is by no means the only nice neighborhood in College Station-that's just the end of town I live in now and walk and drive through regularly.  I can point out pockets of very nice neighborhoods all through Bryan and College Station, but in general that area will give you a great idea of the cost of living in a nice neighborhood.

Much appreciated.  Thank you!

You turned down Lubbock?

You turned down a chance to be a Red Raider?

You're going to be an Aggie?

I just don't know what to say, here.

My map link above seemed to be broken; I think it's fixed now. Feel free to shoot me a PM if you have a further question and I don't seem to see it here; it's hard to keep up with ARFcom threads without a membership (on my to do list).



I've driven through Lubbock and have nothing against the town or the Raiders, but I'd much rather live in College Station for proximity to the rest of the state alone!

I asked a friend about Lubbock.  His exact words were "you can watch your dog run away for 3 days and it rains mud, what's not to like?"

You can get Raider Rash there too.  

Also; In Lubbock the only thing between you and the north pole is a barbed wire fence.

Avoid Navasota itself, but going that direction will allow you to get into an acreage subdivision in that price range.  You didn't say how many kids you have, but you could look for a 3BR/2B on 2-3 acres in that price range.

Almost everything I can find so far has an HOA.  Upwards of $350.   I better get a weekly massage for that kind of an HOA fee.

2 kids.  5&9.   I'll either need 4bdr or 3 Bdr and a den.  I have a lot of gear that needs a home. ;)

HOA fees are the least of the problems with them...  the big issue with them is that the people who tend to get on the HOA boards are the kind of people who like to have their noses in everyone else's business and make life hell for other people.  Those kind of people like to exercise favouritism in the enforcement of the rules, make up the rules as they go along and generally create drama where there doesn't need to be any.  If you want to be threatened with lawsuits because you left your garbage can out an extra day because you were out of town or your grass is 1/2" too tall or you painted the trim on your house an unauthorized shade of white or you left your pickup parked in the driveway...  then you might not mind an HOA.

As a friend told me that graduated from Tech

"Get your grades up or get your guns up."

I read some of the different HOAs rules last night.  3 subdivisions are on the no go list so far.   I hate HOAs.  

Hearn? Just north, might be an option.

What site are you using for searching? We might end up there at some point and a good search site would be useful. We're spoiled here in Houston with the har.com site.

I was googling the subdivision to get the HOA contracts.   meadow creek is a huge no go for me.

Sorry--I mean the real estate search site. I have trouble finding one that doesn't classify "apartment" as a "house" or that even lists the subdivision, and that lets me search for attached garages.

What HOA rules are deal breakers for you?

Only 2 cars
No street parking at anytime
Garage to be used for car parking only.   I want the garage for a smith and squat rack.  
Any "improvements" even if in the back yard (which has a 6ft fence around it that no one can see) have to be approved by the architectural board. (Dog kennel, storage building)
Trash can removal time.  My wife travels, and I work long shifts. If she's gone, and I put them out they may not get brought in til the next day
Large breed restrictions.  I have a GSD

And honestly, I don't want to paint pink flamingos on my mailbox, but if I did, it's no ones business but mine.  I either own the property, or I don't, and if I have to get approval from some grumpy old lady before I do anything to my property, as far as I'm concerned, it's not my property.

Edit.  And the airsoft/pellet restriction.   I have a g19 blowback clone that I train with all the time.

Zillow
http://www.collegestationhomes.com
http://www.zarealestate.com/

This has "no HOA" option in the advanced search options.

I think I gave you my take on each of your questions.  If you are serious about moving there please IM me and I'll let you know what Realtor to use there and who to tell you sent you her way.  This is a small community still, so knowing people is still advisable .

BTW - I haven't lived there in 15y, but my sister still does.  I live in Dallas.  Now that I'm getting close to starting a family, I'm actually thinking about moving back there to raise the kids.

Thanks for the info.   I'll definitely shoot you an IM as we get closer.  We are 6 months to possibly over a year on the transfer.  They are attempting to make or open a position to make it worth the move.

There is one downside to the area, that's the job market.  The market is generally flooded with college educated kids willing to work for beer money (literally).  That and it *IS* central Texas.  Kind of ugly featureless land compared to WV, SC, NC, PA...wait, just about everywhere else.

I'm a trauma/ER/crit care RN.  I've seen a couple of travel jobs posted for the ER there so hopefully wouldn't be too difficult.  If not, I'll just make the wife be my sugar mama.

My neighbors both work in College Station and commute each day. We are about 40 miles south toward Giddings and its about as BFE as you can still get in this part of Texas. Still feels crowded. Property values have quadrupled since I bought my place in 03. One bad thing for property owners without mineral rights is the oil boom has now hit this part of Texas. I was told that they might drill 100 plus wells around the Lexington area. I saw some pretty big ones around Bryan recently. Be very wary about that when looking for property.

Avoid living in or near the small towns around BCS. We live between Hearne and Bryan. We chose this location, due to lower real estate prices, when compared with stuff on the College Station side. We have 7ac in a neighborhood and no HOA. If you are ok with buying an older home, you can probably find a decent place on acreage that fits your budget. PM me if you have any questions about certain neighborhoods and I would be happy to give you my take on it.

College Station is a nice place to live and I would not have any problems moving there. Just watch and try to stay away from student housing areas due to traffic issues during the school year.