julie2

HI. My husband has just been offered a job in Houston. He will be working in North Dairy Ashford Road. We are mid 30s with no kids and seeking advice as to which areas of Houston we should be looking at for renting an appartment. We are going to be there for 12 - 18 months. I would prefer to live in the city itself as I've heard the travelling times can be over an hour or so if you live in the suberbs. Any suggestions would be most welcome. Thanks!

Bob

Welcome to BE....though have a search, plenty of threads on BE to look through for a start and also city-data.com is a good place.

MrEmjoy

I'm waiting for the "not Houston" crowd to show up!

Good luck!

dfjordan

When you say you´d prefer to live " in the city itself", it seems that you haven´t visited Houston yet as "the city" isn´t where people live, it´s not residential, it´s just a whole load of office blocks, and after 6.30pm it´s like a morgue.
If your husband needs to work in North Dairy Ashford Road, you will already be a long way out of the centre so the last thing you would want to do is live in the centre. Any of the suburbs around that area should be OK for you, and if you live out there you wont need to worry about the traffic at all, and rents will be a lot cheaper. I moved out of Houston a while ago,but when there, I also didn´t have to work in the centre so never went there. It´s not a " desirable" area. Out on the West side where you´ll be, you have everything you need close by.

lisa67

my lips are sealed!

ChocolateBabz

North Dairy Ashford is almost in the suburbs - for the best commute you probably want to look at Katy/Cinco Ranch areas. "Downtown" isn't exactly a hotbed of excitement where you would want to live - I only go there for specific reasons like a restaurant I want to try.

We moved almost 2 1/2 years ago from Stonehaven and love it so far - don't listen to the Houston bashers that show up .

Just read your other thread - being the trailing spouse isn't that bad - I am quite getting used to being a lady of leisure although I do have a 12 year old who keeps me busy! Our green cards are being processed at the moment and I have promised DH that I will "look" for a job if they are approved but I also warned him that the job market is not great at the moment and it might take a long long time.....

Mandana

Hi Julie

Welcome to BE!

We moved to Houston in May 2007 (can't believe where the time has gone) and we too moved only for a short spell, but loved it here so much we got our Green Cards so we could stay!

Work is in the same area, and our criteria was to live no more than 30 minutes from work. We moved to Cinco Ranch in Katy which has a great community, and many, many 'trailing spouses'. I am one of them!

The areas you should be looking at for a reasonable commute will be Katy, Memorial, Lakes on Eldridge and perhaps Cypress, but I don't recommend that area as it's a little far. Memorial is on your doorstep, but Katy is fabulous for Expats.

Anyhow, I've made some really great friends in Houston, and there are lots of us on here who'll be able to help you get set up. Lots of personal friends are from Aberdeen, so plenty have been in your shoes.

Start with HAR.com to take a look at what's available. Are your company providing you with accommodation? If so, are you coming for a pre-assignment week to sort yourselves out first?

Shout for help and advice. Glad to help where I can.

Octang Frye

I spent six months there few years back. I've never suffered with allergies before, but my nose ran like Roger Bannister every other day. Sinuses were terrible. Mold spores...

If you have allergies, don't let it stop you moving there, but I would recommend being prepared.

Good luck and enjoy yourselves. Oh, also consider applying for a green card as soon as your arrive. You can always abandon your application if you decide you want to go home, but it you want to stay, it'll give you a really good leapfrog.

julie2

Hi thanks to everyone who has been able to reply to my question. We haven't been to Houston before so your comments are really helpful. Katy looks like our starting point - not city centre! I am also feeling more reassured about being a trailing wife! Thanks again everyone

Picnic

You might like to look at the Heights area or around the Galleria. Cinco Ranch and Katy are great when you have school aged children but for young marrieds it might be a little boring.

Your husband's commute out to N. Dairy Ashford wouldn't take more than 30 minutes and you would be nearer to the "hipper" parts of Houston.

Weeze

Hi Julie

We did the move 3 weeks ago from Aberdeen to Houston! Like some of the other posters said, Dairy Ashford is near Katy and so if you want to live in memorial/galleria or somewhere else more central it's about a 20 minute commute. We are in the galleria at the moment and are moving out to Katy. HAR is the equivalent of ASPC and gives you a good idea of houses avaliable in different areas. Also, meetup.com can give you some ideas of local groups you could join. We wanted a pool and some backyard for our money so that limited the areas we could look in. Lakes on Eldridge is a gated community with a lot of expats. We liked it but some people find it a bit stepford wifes and I can understand why. We were provided with a realitor by OHs company and they took us for a drive round various neighbourhoods when we came over for our looksie beofre the move. I can highly recommend it as like you, I had never been here before and didn't know what to expect. Generally we found the houses were older in memorial and newer in areas like lakes on Eldridge. Both had good options. We have a toddler so we didn't look at any of the condos and apartments but some of them are lovely. We went to friends in a apartment block in the galleria area and the entrance was like a five star hotel!
Anyway, good luck with the move and feel free to PM me if you like.

ukintexas

Welcome to BE Julie. I definitely agree with the above. I moved to Houston 5 years ago and do actually live in Katy because I have school aged kids. However, if I were young, free, single, blah blah blah I would definitely live further east in Midtown, Rice Village, the Heights for sure. It's got a better social life there, bars, restaurants etc and it's not that we don't have those in Katy, but it is a different "vibe". If your company is not helping you find a realtor, I've got some names I can suggest.

Any other questions you have, feel free to ask. We'll arrange another BE Houston get together once you're here and you can meet us all face to face!

Mandana

I also can recommend a first class realtor who actually did the relocation of all the expats for a certain company based in North Dairy Ashford! Until they went in-house that was, and now it's all gone a bit FUBAR.

Anyhow, she was that good, when we got our GCs, I rang her and we bought our house through her. She is excellent as a) she is a native Houstonian so knows the area inside out, b) she knows the oil companies well and what they expect for their staff, and c) she knows her business inside out.

Let me know if you want her details

julie2

Hi folks.

Thanks so much for all of the advice. It is really appreciated. Unfortunately the plans have been put on hold for the moment.

After worrying so much, initially, about being an expat wife, I was actually getting quite excited by the idea! Everyone who has been in touch has been so friendly and helpful. I was looking forward to meeting up with you!

If/when the plans do become a reality, I will definitely get back on line and ask all the other questions I held back!

Thanks again and take care

ukintexas

Oh gosh - welcome to the expat rollercoaster. Things will work out just the way they're supposed to so sit tight and come back here as and when things kick off again.