DeveronD

Hi everybody,

I'm looking for some advice on leasing a house in Katy / Cypress areas of Houston. We've been here for 4 months, currently in a nice apartment in the energy corridor, but we'd like to move out west / NW.

Been looking on HAR and Craiglist for something suitable, (3-4 bed with pool), but haven't found anything we like yet. Are there any other websites, we could look at?

Our budget is $2K5. Is that going to be enough?

Any advice always appreciated by us newbies.

cranston

HAR and Craigs seem to have it covered.... I think you figure is low for a place with a pool.

Weeze

Agree with Cranston, kinda low for a pool. Are you working with a realtor? They often know of them just before they reach HAR.

DeveronD

Thanks for the advice.

Will discuss with our realtor tomorrow. Might have to review the budget after this.

Yorkieabroad

Maybe review the budget or... review the need for a pool....we've been here for 10 years, but only built our pool 3 years ago when the youngest became a decent swimmer. Its nice having the pool, but not sure our swim season is significantly longer than the opening dates of the area pools (apart from the odd xmas/thanksgiving heat-up)

Don't know what your personal circumstances/other requirements are, but most of the subdivisions have "facilities" - even though we have a pool in our back yard, this afternoon the kids still wanted to go to the area pool to see if any of their mates were there...

DeveronD

The pool idea came up because the one in our apartment complex is always extremely busy, with no shade. We thought it would be worth the extra to have our own one. To be honest, I didn't consider the area pools.

I'll talk to some of my colleagues, to see what their experiences have been.

Weeze

If you rent in cinco you get to use all of their area pools, there are loads. There's even a massive beach. The only trouble is that their open season is restricted by when the college kids are out of school to act as lifeguards. We swam a lot longer in our pool last year than the area pools were open for. But, we pay a premium for that convenience.

Bink

If you up your budget slightly, there are a couple of options:

Copperlakes, $2,200: http://search.har.com/engine/17602-M...AR97306034.htm

Park Harbor, $2,300: http://search.har.com/engine/1502-Pa...AR28100634.htm

$2,300: http://search.har.com/engine/626-Air...AR43828440.htm

As others have said, this is on the low side budgetwise for renting with a pool.

If you up your budget to $3,500, there are quite a few more options but $4k up is really where it's at in terms of choice of places with a pool.

Bink

It's much more convenient to be albe to just stroll out back, have a dip, grab a drink, sit in the tub, grab a bite to eat from the kitchen, have another dip though if the pool's in your backyard. This is the main reason we want one, the area pools we have are good, it's just a bit of a hassle, especially with an 8 month old.

Another thing to consider is if you have kids, very few pools here seem to have any fencing or safety system to prevent kids falling in, the majority of them are just open to the back yard. I only know of one house local to us that has a fence round it with gated access from the house and there's a lot of pools in my area.

DeveronD

All of these are on our radar. Will probably arrange a couple of viewings this week.

My office is NW, out 290, but all our friends live in Katy / Cinco. We also looked at Cypress, between 529 and 290, but there's not many rentals with a pool out there. There are plenty north of 290 (Tomball / Spring) but then we're almost an hour away from Katy.

We're trying to compromise on who does the most travelling. I don't mind a 30 - 40 minute drive in the morning. Homes closer to Westpark Tollway, would mean a longer drive (an hour?) for me, but closer for family and friends.

decisions, decisions!

Bink

As someone who commutes in on 290 on a daily basis, I'd avoid commuting on it if you don't have to... I live in the 529/290 area you describe (copper lakes) and although there are a lot of pools here, you're right, there aren't many rentals with them. I think there are a few more in the Coles Crossing area (just N of 290).
I personally don't like the trip between Katy and where I live near 290. It's okay but certainly going north from I-10 in the afternoon on highway 6 or Barker Cypress isn't much fun, I don't have experience of the other way around though. There's just a lot of lights and no freeway.

You mentioned westpark tollway, if your office is out towards Cypress, that'll add quite a few miles and the toll fees do add up if you're hitting 3-4 tolls each way every day (assuming you'd take it to the beltway and then north to 290).

It is a tough decision though. I compromised on a 25 mile each way commute to work to get the house and space that we wanted. It's fine by me. I go in early and finish early and have a comfortable car with a good stereo - that's all I need if I'm in traffic for it not to bother me that much.

Weeze

We were lucky in that ours has the pool separate to the back yard. The few we went for before this one didn't have safety systems. We used the realtor to discuss with the landlords putting in a removable pool fence at our own expense. Both landlords agreed as you are giving them a selling point later. If we had needed it, we were quoted just under $1000. The drill small holes round the pool and then the fence sits in them.

DeveronD

Bink,

At the moment I'm going the opposite way from you. I come up from Eldridge and drive past the slow incoming traffic on 290 every morning, so I know what you mean. A few guys in the office come up Barker Cypress from Katy and cut across West Road to avoid 290. They describe the drive as leisurely!

We are looking at a couple of places (without Pools) around Copper Lake. How do you find that area? We started our search in the area bordered by Barker Cypress, 529, hwy 6 and 290, before we looked at Katy.

Yorkieabroad

Can't argue with that - that's why we built our pool. All I meant was its not the end of the world if you dont have one in the back yard, as long as you're in a subdivision with decent facilities.

Kids and water - people take incredible risks and thats why every year there are multiple cases of kids drowning in private pools. Folk never learn. I'm even more amazed that people are putting houses on the market for lease with pools without fences - that just seems to be a trainwreck in the making....

We had a swim party for my 7 year old last weekend - I was amazed that one of the girls got dropped off (mom didn't even come in!) in her swimsuit and just as she was about to jump in the deepend I asked her if she could swim. No. Hve you brought armbands/floaties? No. WTF?? Who the hell drops a 7 year old off at a swim party without even telling the hosts she can't swim!!!

Michael

I've been around when 2 kids almost drowned. The first was at my uncles home in Phoenix when a neighbor kid (about 5 years old) jumped in the pool while we were in the house. He forgot that he didn't have his life vest on and my uncles father noticed that he was missing so we all ran out and he was under the water. My uncles father pulled him out but he was gagging and eventually was ok.

The second time was in Fremont when I was walking by the HOA pool with my kids when I noticed some kid under water. I reached down and grabbed his hand and pulled him out and he was gagging. His mother was busy talking to a friend and she ran over grabbed him by the legs holding him in the air and started slapping him on the back. He was eventually ok.