Moving to Dallas

[floriflee]

No, no, the hubby and I are not moving to Dallas (that we know of yet, but who knows what job the hubby finds that could take us there. ) I found out this morning that a good friend of mine and her husband is moving to Dallas in pursuit of a job opportunity for her husband. I consider her a close friend, and am saddened by the news. We've had several good laughs, lunches together (when we worked together at my last company), and good gab-fests. We get together every so often with them and another couple friend to play games. Her hubby recently bought an iBook and iPod and has become something of a Mac fan himself so he and the hubby have nice discussions about various Apple products whenever we get together.

Today I've just been mulling over the whole thing. We just had them over for a BBQ on Saturday and they didn't make any mention of it (since they hadn't made any decisions until yesterday) so it's been a complete shock. I know it'll be good for them since it sounds like a good opportunity--not to mention that Dallas is probably a bit more affordable than the D.C. area, I'm guessing.

In any case, I guess to make this post actually somewhat useful, I thought I would try to gather some info for her to help her with the transition.

• What's the job market like out in the Dallas area? My friend will be needing to find new employment as the opportunity her hubby is taking doesn't include employment for herself. Her background is in IT and computers. She's been working in various capacities with business intelligence software (tech support and implementation) for about the last three years.
  
• What are some ways to effectively go about finding out and researching good companies in the area? I suggested to her already to subscribe to the local online Dallas business journal (via bizjournals.com) and to check the local papers to get a feel for what companies are doing out there, but would be interested to get any other input I could pass along to her.
  
• Does anyone have any information on good and affordable areas to live in the Dallas area that info would be appreciated. They're just planning on renting for a while to make sure that things pan out there before committing to home ownership out there. I'm sure they'd be interested in good rental sites out there, and possibly good ways to find trustworthy renters out here (since they're planning on renting out their place here).
  
• Lastly, advice on good moving companies or do-it-yourself moves would be helpful. They're in the process of getting estimates from various companies, but I'm sure they'd appreciate any feedback on the companies themselves(who's good/fair and who's shady).
  
• If there's any other areas with regards to the moving process that I haven't covered please feel free to chip in the advice, too.

Thanks!

 

[Queso]

The only advice I can give is to stay away from large cakes and swimming pools, especially if your surname is Barnes.

Best of luck with the move (for your "friend")

 

[atszyman]

...

Is Dallas as specific as it gets? There are a lot of cities around here where he could be working that could make the choice of living area easier. When I moved down here about 7 years ago there was one of three plants for the company where I could work. I was pretty sure I knew which one I would be at.

I was wrong. I ended up having a half an hour commute each direction. Luckily I was wrong in the way that best suited traffic so I would travel opposite the worst of it (try to head north in the morning, south in the afternoon assuming a predominantly north/south commute, I believe east in the morning west in the afternoon if going east/west but I am not sure on that one). If he is in a similar situation a central location to the cities could be a benefit. Dallas, Richardson, Plano, Allen, and McKinney (from south to north) lie along a path where many tech jobs tend to congregate. Living in the middle cities can offer the flexibility of possible job moves, migration to a different plant, and offer options for her to not be tied down to a specific location when hunting for her job.

I think rent should be fairly reasonable here since it seems everyone around here is buying houses so the apartments are starting to get desperate to find new tenants.

Of course I can't be trusted on the apartments since my wife and I have been in our house for 5+ years now.

 

[floriflee]

I'm not exactly sure where in Dallas the company her hubby will be working for is located, but I'll try to find out (or at least pass on the suggestions you gave so far). I'm sure they're unaware of how the surrounding cities are organized and how close they are, but will make sure to suggest they look into it prior to moving and to keep in mind your flow of traffic recommendations. Being as how they've dealt with D.C. traffic for several years they should be aware that they should look to live against traffic and knowing the patterns will definitely be helpful.

 

[jimmyw]

advice on good moving companies or do-it-yourself moves would be helpful. They're in the process of getting estimates from various companies, but I'm sure they'd appreciate any feedback on the companies themselves(who's good/fair and who's shady).

Thanks!

Hey there! Did you end up moving to Dallas? I wanted to tell you I had a good move with north american movers. The professionalism of the sales representative, driver and crew and delivery process most influenced my positive experience.

 

[DarthTreydor]

dallas? gross. tell her to stay far far away.