Where to look....

Your first 2 requirements place you in the Hill Country area. You'll hate West Texas, Dallas and Houston. Deep East Texas has cheap land and curvy roads, but there's nothing there if you want big city life.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=texas+hill+country&btnG=Google+Search

 

Definitely the Hill Country region, which is the area around Austin.

 

I think anything between San Antonio and Austin is a good investment. I've heard nothing but good stuff about the New Braunfels area.

 

New Braunfels, Fredricksburg, Boerne....anywhere really around the San Antonio (northwest of) fits most of that description.

 

All those areas are nice. Spicewood is an option that's close to Austin. There are a lot of nice new homes there and it's in the hills, right by the lake.
My ex just bought 16 acres on the lake out there and is building a huge home for the fraction of what it would cost in Austin.

 

For retirement, I'd start at around the Utopia area and then look on Highway 16 all the way north to Comanche. From there, I'd start angling NE to Ft. Worth.

Very pretty country. I have always dreamed about becoming a pecan rancher around San Saba. Sit in the law chair with a 22, glass of scotch and shoot squirrels and crows. Life doesn't git much better.

Things to consider are --

Hospitals: Houston has the best, probably followed by San Antonio.

Airport: If you can't get there from DFW, you can't get there. Austin finally got a real airport, but only SW and American fly there.

Ferraris: FOH is by far the best dealership.

Property Taxes: Are very high unless you get an Ag exemption.

Shopping: Don't let your wife loose in the Big D with a credit card. You have been warned.

Staying weird: No place like Austin.

Apocalypse Now: El Paso is a very interesting town. Life is very cheep. Left coast is 2 hours by air. Third coast is 2 hours by air. Alpine mountains are less than a 2 hour drive. And the border. Si, de border is right der, man. If the man tries to come git ya, you can do what people have been doing ever since the dawn of time, follow the Pass of the North into never-never land.

Dale

 

Based on your criteria, I'd also head for something between Austin and San Antonio. When the regional FCA did an event out of SA a few years ago, the drive through the hill country was great. Lots of nice little towns, lots of great roads. Both SA and Austin have decent airports that can you get you anywhere in the country with a quick stop in Dallas or Houston.

I got whacked by the AMT this year as well. Last year I made a lot more money, and no AMT. This year, less money and BAM! AMT. Friggin' IRS.

 

where'd you get that? Continental, Delta, United, Jet Blue, etc, all service ABIA.

 

My dad's place in New Braunfels is going up in value at a good rate. I'd shoot for something along Highway 46(Between New Braunfels and Bandera), alot of it is pretty much nice area, not far from the twisties, and close to shopping. About a hour to 1 1/2 hours from Leaky, awesome switchbacks for the bike and cars.

 

Austin!!!

 

I'll say Austin/Hill country. Houston weather is miserable, Texas is too hot in general. All the areas that I remember near Dallas with good driving roads are covered with tract subdivisions and shopping centers. It now takes an hour just to begin to get to good driving places. I bought and maintain a Ferrari basically to drive around Whiterock Lake.

I don't really like Texas all that much; born in Dallas and lived here all my life...it is all about taxes and cost of living in general and being too...I won't say old, more like too deeply rooted-in to want to make a big change.

 

In Austin there is a 10% cap.

 

If you are in the right area, whoops meant wrong area, annual property taxes on a $1MM home could range from $35k to $55k.

Dale

 

I guess that I should have said more than one flight a day. Trust me, things are a lot better than they used to be.

Although, I remember one day flying into the old airport. They were playing Stevie Ray everywhere. When I got into a cab, the driver was crying. I later found out why the sky was crying.

Dale

 

I have found that state and local taxes are a poor reason to relocate. If the left one doesn't git ya, the right one will.

California has a rep as a high tax state, and it is. However, their freeways work and ours in Texas don't. Imagine that.

Dale

 

Figure 2-6% annual tax depending on where you are. So yeah, he's right. Moreover, the houses are revalued annually (never down) and so that $ amount keeps going up.

On the positive side, 1MM buys a pretty damn nice house, at least by this boy's definitions.

 

A very nice house!
Plus there is no state income tax and state sales tax is now deductible.

 

Yo! Uro, I sent you a PM.

 

West of Austin in the Wimberly area land prices can be in the $10k-15K per acre. Further north up Hwy 16 prices drop to $1.5K-$3K per acre even for small tracts (<20 acres). Large tracts would be less per acre. If you maintain an ag exemption on the bulk of your property the property taxes will probably less than $500 on 20 acres plus the taxes on the house value. I know people that keep a llama or two just to keep the exemption. Keep in mind that as Austin and San Antonio grow water will become a huge issue. SA has no surface reserviors (IIRC) and draw the drinking water from the same aquifer that everyone north of them uses also.

 

Yeah, I can sell you a goat or two if you need. We have plenty.

 

Also check out the Kerrville area. It is only 60 miles from San Antonio and has some great roads and scenery...................Values have been going up there in the past several years also.......