My husband and I will be retiring soon. We want to relocate to an area closer to our kids and grandkids who live in Austin and in the Dallas area. We are considering the Waco or Temple areas since they are centrally located to DFW and Austin.

Can anyone offer any pros and/or cons of these areas or any other areas you could recommend? High property taxes and over-inflated property valuations will be a deal breaker (which may leave the Temple area out). If you have any recommendations for a good realtor, that would be appreciated, as well.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Salado is still a nice little town; my folks have been there for over 30 years. Belton has grown a ton but is still nice. Not much between Temple and Waco unless you want rural-rural (which is fine if you do...but it doesn't sound like it).

And maybe I've been in Dallas too long, but the "Temple high property values" made me chuckle a bit.

I'm a little biased, but if you want some land and lower property taxes, look in Hill County....somewhere outside of Hillsboro (toward Waco)....like the Abbott area. You may have to drive to get to groceries and stuff, but it's nice.

Another area to consider is the Lake Whitney area. Some really nice homes on the lake....and again, property taxes in that area aren't bad.

McLennan County has kind of gone crazy with the Chip and JoAnna effect. I really wouldn't recommend anywhere to close to I-35....I'd get off of the interstate a bit. I mean 5-10 miles may be enough.

We love Temple! Incredible healthcare for a city of our size, easy access to the interstate. An hour to Austin, two to Dallas, less than three to Houston. Much more reasonable real estate costs than Georgetown or Waco.

edit: i did not know anything about temple when i moved here 13 years ago.

templeton said:

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We love Temple! Incredible healthcare for a city of our size, easy access to the interstate. An hour to Austin, two to Dallas, less than three to Houston. Much more reasonable real estate costs than Georgetown or Waco.


edit: i did not know anything about temple when i moved here 13 years ago.

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Ditto. I was just looking to get out of a dead end job and didn't even know where Belton was when I applied and had to look it up on a map to make sure it was somewhere I wanted to live.

Very low cost of living, growing community, great health care, good church communities if that's your thing,) lakes, fishing, and hiking, no traffic (now that 35 is done) compared to other options, and 2 hours from SA, DFW, Austin, and the outskirts of Houston.

I will say that despite the area growing, it's not necessarily full of excitement for young business professionals. It's great to raise a family but I'd hate it if I were single or a newlywed. But that doesn't apply to your situation.

We've toyed with moving to Waco, Georgetown, or New Braunfels since my job let's me live anywhere along I-35, but I just don't think that id be any happier living in those places. I'd just be closer to a big city that I don't want to go to anyways.

c-jags said:

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I will say that despite the area growing, it's not necessarily full of excitement for young business professionals.

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yep. if you love eating out in great restaurants, best to move to georgetown. temple has more than we did five years ago, but not a ton.

Temple is probably the most affordable with the most amenities, considering amenities. Healthcare, check, shopping & dining, meh. Real Estate agents will likely push the West Temple area, but it's the highest property tax area around. East of Temple is probably the lowest, but just as close to everything. IMO.

mazzag said:

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Temple is probably the most affordable with the most amenities, considering amenities. Healthcare, check, shopping & dining, meh. Real Estate agents will likely push the West Temple area, but it's the highest property tax area around. East of Temple is probably the lowest, but just as close to everything. IMO.

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East Temple is not close to everything.

I mean it's 20 minutes at most to everything I want to get to but West Temple and Belton have it better. The only thing we have over west Temple is Chic FiL A.

Is that where an SPJST Hall is?

Belton/Temple is the best place I have ever lived. From 2006-2016 I went Houston-Anchorage-Las Vegas-Seattle(temoprariyl)-Dallas-Temple.

Also, I own a Real Estate Company and would love to help you. Probably half of our clients are folks retiring to the area. You can contact me at k p g 4923 @ gmail.com

White Bluff
Little River
West

Lake Belton <eot>
Alternatively, if you can afford it, the houses in Woodway that overlook Lake Waco are nice but, as mentioned, you've got a Magnolia premium.

Hard to believe chip and jo are impacting overall value in Waco

It's not just Waco, it's the entire county that's being impacted.

Leander - Ag said:

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Hard to believe chip and jo are impacting overall value in Waco

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They absolutely ARE impacting the whole area. Baylor not sucking at sports for a couple of years and Chip and Joanna have turned the town around.

I'm not complaining as a neighboring county. It's good for both of us.

I guess we have different opinions as to our definition of "good".

aggiejet said:

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I guess we have different opinions as to our definition of "good".

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Current pandemic not withstanding, McLennan and Bell county are building homes, attracting businesses, getting new non-chain restaurants, and increasing in population.

I'm not saying any of those are "inherently good" but there's a lot of Texas that isn't growing and it's good to be in communities that are enjoying population and culture booms.

There is of course negative results as well like traffic, property taxes, and people from out of state that move here and continue to vote like they did in their previous state.

Yep, your last sentence hit the nail on the head & is the primary issue for lot's of folks.

aggiejet said:

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Yep, your last sentence hit the nail on the head & is the primary issue for lot's of folks.

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90% of the people I meet that move here from out of state are pretty conservative to be honest.

I read that Cruz actually won amongst non native Texans and lost native Texans in 2018.

Then there's a guy in my neighborhood I met a few years back that had just moved here from Austin. We chatted for a bit and he had just moved from Austin because of the homeless problem and skyrocketing cost of living. 5 or so years before that he moved to Austin from Bay Area.... because of CoL.

Then I saw him again and had a Beto sign in front of his house. I just shook my head.

Not trying to inject politics on this board but I understand the frustration.

Hopefully these folks will wise up & realize why they moved here & start voting that way....

However, not crazy at all about the rise in appraisals and thus property taxes over the last several years, and all the increased traffic on the roads and in the stores/restaurants due to the silos people. Just not a good thing IMO for a lot of folks, especially those of us that live in smaller communities in the county outside of Waco.