kc135driver

These are obviously very populous areas, but my wife was curious if there were any neighborhoods more pilots lived than others, aka Peachtree City in Atlanta.

Something on an 7th year F/O budget more specifically (I can hear the laughter now).

Just curious-

KC

SoCalGuy

IAH:
"Terminal K"....AKA known as Kingwood. It's about 3 miles to the West/North West of IAH. Pretty much A-Z there as far as pricing of homes.

The other local "Ghetto" would be "The Woodlands". It's located about 10 miles North of IAH off I-45 and has shopping/restaurants ect..... It too has A-Z as far as Real Estate pricing and is popular with many Pilot's as well.

I don't live in Houston, but several of the IAH 'locals' I fly with seem to reside in one of these two areas.

Hope that helps as a 'starting point'....at least for IAH.

bearcat

EWR - Try this out!

YouTube - The Best Empire State of Mind Parody - Newark State of Mind - Jay-Z Alicia Keys

forgot to bid

Blocked Inn.

Coto Pilot

Spoke to a friend of mine recently that just bouigt in Houston. Said his home is 10 minutes from the airport, 2500 square feet with a pool for under $150k.

EWRflyr

All of EWR is a ghetto.

Many pilots live to the west over the state line in PA. Allentown/Easton area (off I-78) or Stroudsburg (off I-80).

XHooker

I can only speak to NJ and PA. Don't let it's image scare you. Once you get 10 miles west of EWR, Jersey is beautiful, but you'll have to go another 30 for something you can afford unless your wife has a really good job. NJ property taxes are generally high, but not everywhere. Some areas compare favorably with PA. The state has serious financial issues, so who knows what's going to happen with that.

It sound like Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton is tailor made for you. Some areas with good schools, and a reasonable commute (less than an hour and a half). Central and Northern Bucks County (Doylestown is the county seat) have almost universally good schools and the same commute as ABE, but are more expensive. PA property taxes are generally (significantly) lower than NJ, and the state doesn't seem to be in quite the same financial straits.

UAL4LOW Stink

I can vouch for The Woodlands, it's a master planned community with a variety of price points, and decent value for the dollar (though less bang for the buck than other Houston area environs). If you have kids the schools are excellent, and the area is referred to as "the bubble" because you're insulated, and have very little reason to go outside for anything. Excellent restaurants, and decent nightlife for a suburban locale.

As the name suggests, it's very woodsy, and it takes a while to get used to finding things, which are usually obscured by trees. While there is a strong pilot presence, the community is close to topping 100,000 residents, so you don't necessarily always end up in a neighborhood filled with pilots, then again, sometimes you do.

A little farther North up I 45, travel time about 40 minutes from the airport, with no traffic, is an area called Lake Conroe. Some beautiful home sights, and lots of canals with lake access for backyard boat docks. A particular area called Bentwater (this is more pusshing 55 minutes in travel time from the airport) has a lot of the very well to do pilots living there.

My commute from The Woodlands to the airport was about 20 minutes to the employee lot, utilizing the Hardy toll road. Some locations can take longer if located farther into the community.

bearcat

Probably close to 6K in property taxes. To me that is high. Compared to jersey, it's a tip jar.

SoCalGuy

You are absolutely correct.....however, property taxes in Texas (albeit depending on where you live - city/county) can be OUTRAGEOUS in certain circumstances/locations.


"Yeah.....BUT Texas is a none state income tax state....." You have NO idea how often you hear that. Albeit true, buyer beware on what you will pay in property taxes within certain desirable locations in the state of Texas.

The property tax in TX is NOT based on purchase price (IE like within the state of CA), it's a percentage of your annual "appraised value". I have heard some horror stories from home owners (most recently in the Woodlands) who have had their property taxes bump by 10% each year (in MOST cases, this is the max annual increase by law)....year after year. YES, some have 'protested' the hike from year to year and have 'won'.....whoa, only a 8.5% instead of the 10% ceiling.....not much of a victory when you could be paying 2.5-3.0% on an 'appraised' home that is $500K ($12K+ in just property taxes annually).

I'll be the first to admit, you 'can' get a lot for your money in Texas. Just beware and do your research on property taxes within the state and know what your going to be paying every January when the bill is due.