Houston Ferrari Owners, How do you keep your car from rusting?

We don't. We just fix it occaisionally. No big deal.

Speedy "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust"308

 

If you drive fast enough, the rust can't catch ya!

Dr "Rust Never Sleeps" Tax

 

Da--, must have been that last stop sign. It all jumped on!

Last time I waxed the car, a tree fell on it! I give up.

Speedy "Hard knocks" 308

 

It's not that bad. I would argue KC is worse since you guys can get snow, etc.
If you stay away from the coast, it's no worse than anywhere else.

It's not like KC is dry (non-humid) in the summer. I felt very little difference while spending summers up there.

Take the job in Houston. KC is nice, but you can't beat the cost of living down here.

I had a '65 Shelby Mustang for years and zero problems with rust.

 

Scott, you're kidding, right? I mean, I'd prefer the Houston weather over KC's, but Houston's cost-of-living is by far higher than Kansas City, no doubt about it. Houston is what, 4th largest city in the US? Can't get around higher costs with that kind of statistic.

 

Matt, I'm not kidding. Houston is one of the lowest cost of living cities in the USA out of the top 50 cities in population. I believe it's near number 50. It does get around the fact that it's #4 in population. So you CAN get around the costs it appears.
Population does not necessarily affect cost of living.

KC is 3.3% higher than Houston. That's not a lot, but at least I wasn't totally wrong. (I was thinking it was more than that after spending 6 months there with a client)
Realistically it's a virtual tie, but remember, there's no state income tax in Texas and property and sales taxes aren't that much higher, which helps the cost of living a lot. I believe you can find that KC is lower cost of living based on consumer items alone, but when you factor in taxes, it is higher. The ACCRA index shows this, but it won't let me link to it since it's a paid service. It has Houston at 92 and KC at 88 w/o taxes included. With Taxes, KC is higher.

Check out this link. I did it with a salary of 100k for ease of math. And as if I was moving from Houston to KC.
http://usatoday.salary.com/costoflivingwizard/layoutscripts/coll_result.asp?presentsalary=100%2C000&presenthomemetrocode=75&presentworkmetrocode=75&newhomemetrocode=81&newworkmetrocode=81&x=28&y=7

 

Strange, according to http://www.homefair.com/homefair/calc/salcalc.html Houston is 13-17% higher than KC, depending on whether you rent or own. Guess it depends on which data you look at.

I do often here Texans talk about how much money they save with no state income tax. But it is my experience, from growing up in OK, that Texas does indeed have higher property taxes. Somethings up, because an $800 Dallas apt costs about $600 in Tulsa easy. Housing costs are quite different too.

 

You're right, it's one time too many! Yuck, A&M! You know, your're much closer to real football in Norman, OK

I'm going to have to take Pepto Bismol just driving into College Station next weekend for the Italian car event. Guess it could be worse--it could be Austin! haha

 

Sources could vary. I wonder where they get their data. ACCRA is the official data that I've always seen quoted in USA Today, Wall Street Journal, etc. Homefair may not be taking taxes into consideration.

Note: Dallas is quite a bit more expensive than Houston. Home owner's insurance for one is a lot more because of all the hail they get.

Here's a link put out by the state gov in MO in order to attrack people. Notice Texas is #3 in cheapest states as a whole. OK is #4. MO and KS are 11 & 14.
There is something to be said for no state income tax for sure.

http://www.ded.mo.gov/business/researchandplanning/indicators/cost_of_living/index.shtml

Since you're not a home owner, you may nove have had much exposure to it, but also be aware that comparing rents does not necessarily comparing housing costs and especially cost of living. I'm sure I could find other apts in Dallas for cheaper, so you're not necessarily doing apples to apples.

 

c'mon sean - i grew up my whole life in kansas and there is no way there is more ferrari driving weather in kansas than houston! we can drive 365 days per year. last i checked, winters in kansas were a LOT longer than 4 weeks. that's like saying you can golf more in kansas than in houston.

now if you want to compare quality of roads in order to reasonably drive your ferrari... whole different story.

ps - our summers are not 4 months, they're at least 6 months

 

I really enjoy your opinions, but I haven't seen stats to back it up. This cost of living thing is something I've done a lot of research on at different times.

Did you read anything that I referenced including data from the state of MO? Come on man. I know you have your bias, but give us some facts please. And as Tim said, the weather there isn't that great. Winters suck, and the summer is not that much better than in Texas.

 

Glad we could help with the rust issue. Try Ziebart.

 

Good luck on the job interview process.

You're right about the area of town. I'm in Sugar Land. And my subdivision is about as good as you can be commute-wise in the city without actually living in the city.

In some areas, for 250k you can get 4000 sq ft. It is a relative bargain.

Some years you're right about that damned 'chance of rain' every freakin' day. I hate that so much it makes me want to toss the TV.

Then other years it doesn't do that. It's very odd.

Our summers are definitely longer, but oh well, we have no snow either which I hate more than anything. (unless I'm skiing)

good luck w/ your decision.