Originally Posted by Bink

Can't help with the schooling yet as mine is too young at the moment to give any practical advice.

We live out towards Cypress (Barker @ West) and I commute to the Galleria (my office is also just off San Felipe @ 610). The commute is okay pre 6am or post 8.30 it's only 25 mins for me but it can be an hour in traffic. I used to commute 1.5 hours each way into London every day so compared to that it's a breeze.

Katy is also nice and has the benefit that I-10 has been completed and is a much nicer drive into the center than 290. There are plenty of nice areas on the West side from Katy up towards Spring it just depends where you want to be and how much you want to spend.

We bought our house last year. You can get a lot for your money if you buy, but renting is much more difficult. There is far less choice. It all depends on what your priorities are. Ours were nice area, decent schools, being able to have a decent sized yard for our son to play in and to have the sized house that we wanted (circa 3,600 sqft). We live in the Copper Lakes area and absolutely love it. All of our neighbours are really nice and friendly and we really like the area. There are chain restuarants all over Houston, this isn't isolated to just Katy and there are non-chain restaurants around too.

The beauty of being outside the city is that there is a lot of family stuff to do. A lot of the sports activities take place further out. Having lived downtown myself, I wouldn't recommend it with Children and actually although there are a few nice bars/restaurants in the midtown/downtown area, it's not somewhere I'd want to live now.

Originally Posted by Bomjeito

Ahh - no offense on being in LOEN. Only one particular group of ladies seems to be Stepfordish, and I'm not a part of that group.... but we moved here not knowing that our neighbors most likely would not be Texan or American by birth. In our cul de sac of 8 houses, one is of a Texan couple who moved from Memorial with their 4 kids. They home school. The others are Pakistani, Indian, English, Scot, Chinese, Thai and the other is Japanese. Lets just say our block party has great food!

The communities out in Cypress are quite nice too, and I have friends at Copper Lakes. The only problem is they are far from downtown, if you like the eating and theater places around Montrose, Rice Village, etc.

As for private schools, and other areas of Houston, look into City-data.com. Just recently another thread went up about private schools. Here is that one: http://www.city-data.com/forum/houst...s-houston.html I realize those are high schools, but you can post the question for private elementary schools.

We chose Lakes on Eldridge North because we travel so much that the house is vacant often. The idea of a monitored, gated community with sheriff patrol attracted us. Along with the lakes and amenities - the second biggest draw was the 7 mile drive to hubby's work. Our first plan was to live in Memorial, but the stock of housing was quite aged and we weren't ready to do renovations along with our move here.

What is so important is to get a good feel of the neighborhoods first, esp if you cannot rent. We also went with a local Houston realtor (she was exceptional - I'm happy to recommend her) instead of the realtor the company offered (a Brit who had only lived here about 4 years and insisted Katy was the only place for us...) - and we did Katy for rush hours, school let out times, etc. After a few days, we knew Katy wasn't for us (which means for US, not for everyone else! Many people love it out there, especially those with kids!) We then spent time in Cypress - loved it out there but decided that closer was better for us, as my husband did not want to get up at 5 AM to get ready for work.

We lived on the south part of Aberdeen and often had 30 minutes wait at the Brig o Dee. After Houston, that wait won't affect us in the least!

I've lived in Dallas, Fort Worth and Las Vegas before, and Houston traffic is some of the worst I've seen in the USA. Even locals will tell you - try to live close to where you work.

Above all, get a good feel for the neighborhood by spending time in them. One Aberdonian insisted they were moving to Fairfield, sight unseen, because so many other Brits told them how great it was. They got here, rented in there, and hated it because it was far from work and other activities. They had a home built in Bridgeland. I'm giving you these names so you can google them for location.

My husband's company is British, and mostly expats in his department. The single folk tend to go toward Galleria, Rice V and Montrose. The married and young folk without kids tend to be in the Heights, Montrose, Rice. The married with kids seem to be Bellaire, Copperfield, Cypress and Katy. The Lakes of Eldridge crowds tend to be older marrieds with teens or empty nests. The Twin Lakes crowd is definitely family as those houses are rarely under 4000 sq ft. Shell and BP stock these last communities. Everyone in our cul de sac of 8 is in the oil and gas sector except the two homes with retirees, and one of those is retired oil folk. So I can see Katy having more of a melting pot of people from all over the world (including many more natives) than some of these neighborhoods so close to Shell, BP, etc.

The families I know that moved to Katy are quite happy there. Is this a permanent move? We were offered 3 months rental by the company first and we chose the Memorial Area. They let us choose the area, which was really helpful. This gave us time to look around, see places and decide.

It'll be a nice adventure for you all, and you'll find many friendly folk here.

Originally Posted by Weeze

It's so funny isn't it. Your grass can't be uneven, but the gators in the lake are fine!

Originally Posted by Bink

You can't escape the HOA's!! We got a letter from them 3 weeks after we moved in as we hadn't cut our lawn and apparently the tiny little spurt of grass in one place was bothering them! I think most places have similar regs to be honest it's just that some enforce them a little more forceably than others! We, for example, have to have at least 2 trees in our front yard at all times, keep everything looking neat (mow the lawn etc reguarly) and I think we can only use certain colors on the outside of the house.

Originally Posted by Yorkieabroad

Just to put a little context on that rather bizarre post about Katy earlier in the thread....not looking to start a "my grass is greener than yours" spat, but there is a lot of misleading and incorrect stuff in there that isn't really fair to someone trying to get a feel for the area.

We've lived in Katy for 10 years - I wouldn't say I'm in love with it, but it sort of works. We came here because the kids' grandparents/aunts/uncles/cousins are here, and for no other reason. Otherwise, if we had to be in Houston, I'd probably look at Sugarland or The Woodlands (latter is not a good idea if working in the Galleria!). The Heights is a great area, but with a family? Really, I find that an odd suggestion.

I do tend to agree on the restaurants - Katy is not best served with high class restaurants - its more the "family dining" ie kids menu, nuggets, burgers, mac cheese. Bu its not much of a drive to get to some pretty reasonable restaurant areas.

The public schools are supposed to be good, but as we have only experienced this school district, it' hard for me to compare from personal point of view. Friends/Neighbours who have moved in from elsewhere (US, UK, Scandinavia, Asia) have all compared KISD favorably, and few use the non-American system unless they are planning a short stay. We have friends here on 2-3 year contracts who go to the British School - most say its not as good as the private schools they moved from in the UK, and all bemoan the fact that the kids have very different holiday schedules to the majority of the kids in their neighborhoods, which hasn't made for an easy transition socially for the kids. Obviously this may be different if you lived in an expat area where a large percentage stick to the overseas schools, but not many people in Katy seem to do that.

Now for the Bizarre stuff -
House prices are cheap in Katy? Katy is huge, and has a huge variation, so not sure how that statement comes about. Quick look on HAR.com can pull up 3 bed townhouses for a little over 100k or 6 beds for 1.5 mill. It depends what you want. Houses for sale on Lakes on Eldridge curently range from 300k to 1mill.

Katy looks like a housing estate? If you were plonked in the middle of LOE or the middle of a Cinco subdivision of similarly priced houses, the feel would be pretty much the same. You'll notice more difference once you get out of the subdivisions - as mentioned above, LOE is close to some not particularly nice areas.

1 hour from katy to the Galleria? Depends where you are in Katy. We're in the south (Fry/99), my wife has been commuting to San Felipe for 3.5 years on Westpark and it takes 25-30 minutes in rush hour. No need to get anywhere near I-10. South Katy is a very viable option for Galleria commuting

Why all the Brits run to Katy is beyond me. Maybe its because its good for families?

The restaurants are all chain, Can't argue with that in the main, although there are some nice options out in the country (which is a lot easier to access from Katy) and the drive to say Memorial city is only 20 minutes.

Its very family-oriented, Isn't that a plus for a family?

but it remains 17 miles from downtown Why would that be an issue for someone with a job in the Galleria?

Like I say, not looking to get in a pi$$ing match, just trying to put some context on some statements from someone who obviously has a downer on Katy for whatever reason.

Originally Posted by PaulineB

Hi,
My husband has been offered a job in Houston. We currently live in Aberdeen and have two children aged 7 and 5. I have never been to Houston and have heard many negative comments about the place. I do feel that 'Katy' would be the best place for us to live with the children but they would be going to the British School of Houston if we decide to go. Are there any other 'nice' areas nearer to the school or is the commute possible from Katy? My husbands office is in San Felipe. I also believe there are good schools in Katy but they don't follow the 'British' curriculum and have been told they are 'big' schools which would scare my daughter as she is currently attending a small village school.

Any information/advise would be greatly appreciated.