Anyone have any good insight or references? Any help is much appreciated.

I would say the main difference is real estate! Rent is very high and hard to find. If buying, it's higher too, but at least interest rates are still very low. Everything else is pretty much the same.

I agree.

Costs are starting to be the same - i.e. apartment rents. Difference is, in Houston you can actually find one to rent for those dollars....

boyz05, What are you looking for? Are you looking to buy? What price range are you looking for? We might be able to help narrow your search.
There are homes for sell and I don't think they are moving as fast as they were last year.
I have a second home that I will be selling next summer. I currently have it rented, I've told my renter that he has first option to buy the home, but I will be putting it on the market July 1st if he doesn't commit.

when i was in my apt a year ago, i was paying the same amount as some of my buddies that live in Midtown Houston...

my parents house in N. Houston cost 250k. its just under 3k sq. ft.

I have a crappy 2 bed 1 bath apartment in east Odessa (750-800 sq. ft.) that I pay 965/ mo on.

Moving to Montana, so I would be breaking the lease come December-January. If you are interested in sublet or taking over the lease, it is good until March 31. At least it gives you time to find somewhere else if needed.

Sadly, in Montana, the prices are even higher than Midland-Odessa. Its looking more like NYC prices (per a NYC friend). 2000/mo for a 700 sq. ft. apt., 200k for a 2100 sq. ft. town home

[This message has been edited by histag10 (edited 11/9/2012 12:18a).]