Interstate Relocation
The Same Salary Buys A Very Different Life Here. The Question Is How Different.
No state income tax changes your take home immediately. Higher property tax takes some of it back. Housing cost per square foot takes a lot less of it. Whether you come out ahead depends on where you are leaving and what you earn, and it is genuinely knowable before you move.
Run The Numbers
Two Tools, Two Different Questions
Salary comparison
Answers what a given salary is actually worth here once state income tax comes out of the equation. Use this one first, before you negotiate an offer.
Open Salary ComparisonRelocation cost
Answers what the whole move costs and what your ongoing monthly picture looks like once housing is in it. Use this one once you have a salary number you trust.
Open Relocation CostWhat those two tools do not capture is the local variation. Property tax rates differ by district, MUD and PID districts add to the base rate in many of the newest neighborhoods, and homeowners insurance in North Texas is a heavier line item than most arrivals expect. Those three things together can move your monthly number materially between two homes at the same price.
Honest Version
The Five Things That Surprise People Moving Here
01
Property tax is high, and it is assessed annually
Your bill can rise even when nothing about your house changed, because the assessed value moves. The homestead exemption and the annual protest process both matter, and most new arrivals do neither in year one. Those two things together are usually the largest controllable line item in your first year here.
Estimate Property Tax02
Texas is a non disclosure state
Sale prices are not public record, so the online estimates you are used to trusting are built on thinner data here. Checking a number yourself is harder than it is where you are leaving.
03
Hail
Roof age and insurance are a real line item in North Texas, not a formality. Get the roof date and an insurance quote before you are emotionally committed to a house.
04
MUD and PID districts
Two similar homes a mile apart can carry very different annual costs, because one of them sits inside a district that funds its own infrastructure. The listing sites do not make this obvious.
Estimate MUD Impact05
New construction dominates the northern suburbs
The tradeoffs between new build and resale are different here than in an older metro, and builder contracts are not the standard state contract. Read that sentence twice if you are planning to walk into a model home without representation.
Directional
How Far Your Money Actually Goes
The same budget, across the cities I work in. Directional only, since the market moves and every street is its own story.
Plano
Smaller footprint for the money
Largely 1980s through early 2000s, with pockets of newer infill
McKinney
More square footage than Plano at the same band
A wide spread, from historic downtown to new build on the west side
The Colony
Smaller footprint, lowest entry price of this set
A mix, with newer development near the lake
Sequence
The Order To Do This In
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01
Run the total burden comparison before you pick a neighborhood
Not the property tax comparison. Income tax plus property tax against property tax alone. Get that number first, because it changes what you can spend.
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02
Get pre approved with a lender licensed in Texas
Your current lender may not be licensed here, and a pre approval that arrives during a negotiation is worth less than one you already hold.
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03
Plan a two or three day tour, not a weekend
The metro is large and traffic is directional. A single Saturday tells you almost nothing about a commute you will make five days a week.
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04
Decide new build versus resale before you tour
They are different processes with different contracts and different timelines. Trying to shop both at once is how people lose weeks.
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05
Understand your homestead timing relative to your closing date
You must own and occupy the home as your primary residence on January 1 of the tax year, and you file between January 1 and April 30 of the following year. Your closing date decides whether you get it in year one.
People Who Made The Same Move
What Relocating Clients Say
Raven was our 'eyes and boots on the ground.' Her attention to detail and financial strategy made our relocation effortless.
Vinoth K.
Relocated from California
We came from California nervous about the market. Raven made us feel like locals within weeks.
The Chen Family
Celina, TX
Building from California was stressful until Raven became our eyes on the ground. Weekly updates, photos, and honest feedback made all the difference.
The Rodriguez Family
Star Trail, Prosper
Who You Are Working With
The first thing I do with an out of state family is put the whole burden side by side, income tax and property tax together, because a Texas tax bill looks alarming until you set it next to what you were already paying. Once that number is honest, choosing a city gets a lot simpler, and I will tell you plainly when the one you had in mind does not fit the life you described.
Raven Mok
Active eXp Realty DFW | CLHMS | Former CPA
Tell me your timeline and I will build the plan backward from it.
Step 1 of 2. Two questions, nothing else.
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