You can pick up a basic 1700 Sq.ft house for about $130,000
Meh. There are a number of them about that size down the road from me, for sale for half that. Yes, you read right, $65k. Now, it's not the nicest area in the world (nor the worst), but we have more than two seasons and no Texans, so for me it makes up for it
If you want a more populated area, there appear to be a number for sale in the nicer areas of Rochester for $80-100k.
Here's a quote from an e-mail to a business counterpart in Montreal, Canada when we got on the subject of weather.
I live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
In January we had a monthly low of 27F and a high of 81F. The same in February.
March was 30F to 81F.
April was 38F to 87F.
May was 39F to 92F.
As far as June, our first 100+ day is expected to be on the 12th with it hitting a high of 102 with estimated lows being in the 60s.
As far as "Texans" most of them are fairly decent don't believe everything you see in the media. The majority of the jerks I've dealt with are transplants from other states.
If you're talking about religious stuff, we have a lot of Southern Baptists but they're all around the south followed by Methodists, non-denominationals, Lutherans and Catholics. There's some pentacostal chuches in the more rural areas, I haven't met any of them in person.
I've lived here for nearly 35 years and have not met a single "earth is only 6000 years old", or "Jesus rode dinosaurs" person.
I don't recall ever having a conversation with anyone who felt evolution and their faith were incompatible. I've always felt that the science was there so that must have been how God intended it. That and my family was big into fossil collecting and IIRC my grandfather discovered a completely new species of Trilobite.
I know Dave's an atheist and I've met a few atheists over the years. Most of them once they hear you don't have odds with evolution really don't seem to care any more about arguing with you and tend to get along ok with them.
Radio host Dennis Prager said something one time that I though summed it up perfectly (He's Jewish)
I believe there are atheists that have gone to heaven, and Christians and Jews that have gone to hell and also vice versa.