Here in the Plano area (and in Dallas generally), we’re seeing a ton of companies and their employees moving here from all over, but especially from the West Coast. Needless to say, this influx of people from Cuidad California has created some mixed emotions here, as it has in many other states but most especially in those bordering the Golden [shower] State. A billboard on TX 121 (which connects DFW Airport to the Plano/Frisco/McKinney area) reads:
Welcome to Texas!
Just don’t vote for all the things you fled.
And I recall seeing this bumper sticker on several cars out in the border states:
We Don’t CARE how you did things in California
This sentiment can be seen in this article, where Californian registration plates earn their owners the bird from locals in Idaho.
Here’s the thing. If you’re a conservative moving out of California — a real conservative and not a “California conservative” like, say, Arnold Schwarzenegger — you’ll be welcomed almost everywhere you go. If, however, you move to conservative north Texas (Trump 65%+ in 2016) and start talking shit about gun control and eco-bullshit, you’re gonna get flattened, and justifiably so, Leave all that nonsense behind. (I illustrate the point by how Californians would feel if a large bunch of South Africans had emigrated to San Francisco and immediately started voting for apartheid laws targeting Asians and Blacks. And for people who think that’s a ridiculous analogy, lemme tell y’all right quick, if you’ll forgive the colloquial expression, that people round here take the Second Amendment just that seriously.)
Of course, politics is not the only issue that motivates our xenophobia of Californians. Another is what happens when a Californian sells their piece-of-shit bungalow for millions, and drives up the real estate prices in their new location simply because real estate outside California is, relatively speaking, far cheaper than their overpriced postage-stamp-property in Sherman Oaks or Cupertino. Here’s the map:
As locals find their home towns less and less affordable because arriving Californians (and East Coasters, to a lesser degree) have driven up the cost of real estate, it’s only natural to resent the newcomers. (We in north Texas haven’t had that problem to the same degree because this part of the state has hitherto been underdeveloped, and we have lots of room to expand. Nevertheless, we’re starting to see the “Californian effect” take place, where people have to move further and further out to find affordable property, which means traffic jams on otherwise-deserted country roads.)
My own experience, when selling the old Plano house a year or so ago, was not that I got a massive price increase on the place. What I did get was a quick sale — eighteen hours after its listing, the house sold for the full asking price with no significant conditions attached. And no, I didn’t leave money on the table; all the “comps” (comparable properties) in the area were listed for about the same amount, and that price was nowhere close to nosebleed levels (for north Texas; for Californians, it was a steal).
To be frank, I’m far more concerned about the political shit that Californians bring with them. We Texans are the most hospitable and friendly folks around — but we will get cranky if you start voting for politicians like Skateboard Jesus* who want to advocate more regulations, wealth redistribution, statism and gun control. Then watch us get ornery.
*Senatorial Democrat candidate Beto O’Rourke — and many thanks to the incomparable Iowahawk for the nickname: it’s beyond brilliant.
