Houston help needed

[lennyonbass]

If y'all were set to buy a house in Houston, what areas would you avoid and why?
Thanks in advance for your help.

[mjolnir]

Set to buy...

Avoid the Sharpstown area at all costs.

Where were you considering?

[lennyonbass]

Thanks for the response M.
Without knowing too much, I am thinking the NW part.
I enjoy mountainbiking as a hobby and although, flat, I understand that there are some OK trails up that way. I wish I could specify a neighborhood, but I am pretty clueless.
Perhaps near Memorial Park?
Peace...

[mjolnir]

Cypress is absolutely beautiful, I got some friends that live up there.

The Woodlands, though expensive, is also gorgeous. Both of these places are nice areas, you aren't likely to get shot walking out your front door or anything like that.

As for Memorial Park area... Don't really know much about it. I live no more than 10-15 minutes away from that area, but that can be a long way in terms of quality of life. If you don't mind the higher cost, the Medical Center and surrounding aren't too bad at all, and incredibly close to the Memorial Park area if that's where yer heart is set.

May I ask why yer thinking of moving out this way?

[lennyonbass]

It's not 100% yet, but the missus may be switching gigs.

[mjolnir]

Ah. Well I guess where you chose would depend on where the gig is.

[lennyonbass]

To a degree, yes. The big mystery right now is that the company is moving there office to (blank)...They are in Houston now, and will stay, but what section? We don't know where the new location yet.
So right now, I am "research-man".

[mjolnir]

Right then. Well, I can offer insight and insider information on the Southeast, South, Southwest, West, and Northwest sides. Central is still new to me, I just moved here, north is hazy, but I drove through it all the time to get to Huntsville, and Northeast and East might as well not even be on the map.

I will help as much as I can, but you might want to seek out need4mospd somewhere, he lives 'round here too.

[need4mospd]

Originally Posted by mjolnir

I will help as much as I can, but you might want to seek out need4mospd somewhere, he lives 'round here too.

AND, I just bought a house in June.

Location of the job is VERY important when deciding on where to live in Houston. Houston is just so freakin huge that if you buy a house on the NW side and get a job on the SE side, you'll kill yourself in a month. Most of the nice neighborhoods are suburbs on the outskirts of Houston. The exceptions being River Oaks, Memorial, Bellaire, and a couple other nice inner-loop(that's with the 610 loop) areas. Expect to pay 2-10x the price of a suburb home and get no yard and have your kids attend a crappier HISD school.

Set your budget low and be surprised at what you can get in Houston for so little. The best way to find a home for me, was to look at the schools first. Nice schools = nice neighborhoods.

I looked on www.har.com for my house, and I used a realtor to help with the paperwork.

PM me any questions.

[mjolnir]

Yeah, what he said.

Sorry I never made that gig, Spd, something urgent came up.

[need4mospd]

Originally Posted by mjolnir

Sorry I never made that gig, Spd, something urgent came up.

You didn't miss much! It was probably the worst we've ever sounded, which wasn't surprising because that's the first time we've played since July.

[jrthebassguy]

I live in Deer Park, about 15 minutes east of Houston. If you like boring suburbs, then I definitely recommend this area. Very safe...something like one murder in the past fifty years here. Very small town feel, yet minutes away from the big city. Housing is relatively cheap too (cheaper than, say, The Woodlands). Only minus is there are some chemical plants close by, but you can only smell those when you get really close to them on the freeway.


If money is no option, then The Woodlands, the Clear Lake area (NASA area), Sugarland, and Cypress would be the places I'd look into. Sugarland yearly makes the FBI's list of safest cities in the U.S.


But like others said, location of your job is very important. Houston is gigantic and if your work is on the opposite end of town from where you live you could easily be looking at an hour+ daily commute.

[mjolnir]

Originally Posted by need4mospd

You didn't miss much! It was probably the worst we've ever sounded, which wasn't surprising because that's the first time we've played since July.

Well be sure to let me know when the next one is, if only so I can actually meet another TB'er in person for once.

[mjolnir]

Originally Posted by jrthebassguy

I live in Deer Park, about 15 minutes east of Houston. If you like boring suburbs, then I definitely recommend this area. Very safe...something like one murder in the past fifty years here. Very small town feel, yet minutes away from the big city. Housing is relatively cheap too (cheaper than, say, The Woodlands). Only minus is there are some chemical plants close by, but you can only smell those when you get really close to them on the freeway.


If money is no option, then The Woodlands, the Clear Lake area (NASA area), Sugarland, and Cypress would be the places I'd look into. Sugarland yearly makes the FBI's list of safest cities in the U.S.


But like others said, location of your job is very important. Houston is gigantic and if your work is on the opposite end of town from where you live you could easily be looking at an hour+ daily commute.

I used to live in the Sugarland/Missouri City area. Great neighborhood.

Be sure to let us know the general area yer wife's company is moving to. That information will help us a lot to help you.

[need4mospd]

Originally Posted by mjolnir

I used to live in the Sugarland/Missouri City area. Great neighborhood.

Be sure to let us know the general area yer wife's company is moving to. That information will help us a lot to help you.

There are a few parts of Mo. City you'll want to avoid. Just before leaving the area, we refered to the house on the corner as "the crack house". My wife, gf at the time, lived a few blocks away, and she also had "the crack house" on her corner. No joke.

Not a bad looking area, OK schools, but parts of it are going in a bad direction.

Sugar Land in general is much better.

[lennyonbass]

Wow. Thanks for the response guys!
I am a bit tied up at the moment, but should be able to reply in better fashion after my boy goes to sleep in a couple of hours.
Keep 'em coming though!

[need4mospd]

Originally Posted by lennyonbass

Wow. Thanks for the response guys!
I am a bit tied up at the moment, but should be able to reply in better fashion after my boy goes to sleep in a couple of hours.
Keep 'em coming though!

So you've got a little one eh? Definitly search for the schools first! The top school districts in Houston are...

Katy
Klien
Clear Creek
Conroe
Cypress-Fairbanks
Fort Bend
Humble
Pearland
Spring Branch

Stay FAR away from Houston ISD unless you plan on sending the little one to private school. No disrespect to any HISD teachers or students, it's one of the lowest scoring districts in the US, just the plain truth.

Keep in mind the property taxes for houses here can be a bit high. My monthly payment is 30% higher when you add taxes.

[lennyonbass]

Thanks need,
I greatly appreciate it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but y'all don't have any basements in H, do you?

[need4mospd]

Originally Posted by lennyonbass

Thanks need,
I greatly appreciate it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but y'all don't have any basements in H, do you?

Those of us with basements also have indoor swimming pools if you catch my drift....

I see you're already getting familiar with the Texan word "y'all".

[ThatGermanDude]

yeah, i live in League City - Clear Lake /NASA area south of Houston. It's a nice area about the same distance between the beach and downtown.

but as all the others said, try to get somewhere close to the workplace cause rush hour traffic is bad.