News
I Found My Dream Home and Financial Success in the Lone Star State
Benedek/Getty Images/iStockphoto
During Thanksgiving week in 2018, CaMesha Reece drove from California to Texas.
Check out: Real estate market 2024: 50 most affordable cities for homebuyers
Read next: 5 Unusual Ways to Make Extra Money (That Actually Work)
A native of the Southern California city of Norwalk, Reece, 40, told GOBankingRates that his journey to Texas began in 2015 through online dating, when he met his partner, who was living in Texas but traveling to California every work at the time.
“He basically worked for a company, and the company was bought by a company in California,” Reece said. “So he was traveling there a lot.”
The couple was in a long-distance relationship for a few years. In 2018, the two decided that Reece would move to Texas.
Rich people know the best financial secrets. Learn to copy them.
Feeling Richer in Texas
When she arrived in Texas, Reece said she “felt richer.” She noticed the contrast in cost of living between the two states, explaining that she took photos of the lower gas prices and sent them to people at home. Two other benefits were cheaper groceries and no state income tax.
“For anyone coming from a state that has a state income tax, this represents a huge difference in weekly and monthly income,” she said.
In June 2019, she purchased a home in McKinney.
“When I decided to leave California, one of the reasons was because I wanted to buy a house and that didn’t seem possible in California at the time,” Reece said. “Even for me five or six years ago, it didn’t seem possible on my single income as a single mother, so moving has always been in my purview; I just wasn’t sure where. But when I got here, it was immediately a huge relief.”
The move also brought with it an eventual career change for Reece. She explained that she worked in human resources for two decades and worked from home for roughly the last five years of her career in that field. When she was laid off from the company in 2023, she left the field.
“I decided to move into real estate,” she said. “This transition has been a rollercoaster. It was a learning curve, but it was super, super rewarding and enjoyable.”
Find out more: Why Many Regret Moving to Texas Post-Pandemic
Adapting to Texas
For Reece, moving to Texas also had its drawbacks. For one, there’s the “lack of familiarity and home.” Then there’s the weather.
“Everyone knows it’s hot here, but we really do have some extreme weather, and I don’t think that’s talked about enough,” Reece said. “And when you’re moving, it’s pretty alarming.”
Another negative aspect of Reece’s move to Texas? Highways and tolls.
The story continues
“Especially here in North Texas, this is different — we don’t have a lot of tolls in California,” Reece said. “So having tolls on a lot of roads and having to drive is a huge cost. You know, some of those savings that I was talking about are offset, right, by some of the other things here in the state of Texas.”
But Reece emphasized that she “really loves most things about Texas.” For her, the change was “worth it”.
“I think I’ve been able to thrive here in a way that I couldn’t in Southern California, like I said, with the income that I had,” Reece said, adding that his income “still isn’t keeping up with inflation, especially right now.”
Advice for people who want to change
Reece noted that she feels lucky to have moved to Texas when she did — “at a good time and right before all the COVID craziness.” She was able to refinance her home in January 2020, before the pandemic, and “got a great rate.”
For anyone looking to move from California or another state to Texas, Reece advised “do it sooner rather than later because everyone else is doing it.”
“Big companies are moving here, so they’re relocating their employees,” Reece said. “And so it’s developing really fast; a lot of houses are going up, but that means prices are going up, too.”
For example, according to the Texas Quarterly Housing Report Q1 2024 published by Texas REALTORS, the average price of a single-family home was 1.6% higher in that quarter than in the same quarter in 2023.
Reece emphasized that people who want to change must take steps to do so now because the future is not guaranteed and a “dollar today is not worth as much as it will be tomorrow.”
More from GOBankingRates
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Why I Moved to Texas: I Found My Dream Home and Financial Success in the Lone Star State