goodbyeyellowbrickroad

Hello

Myself, my husband and 6 month old son are moving to Houston early next year for my husband's job. We're visiting Houston on a homefinding visit in a couple of weeks time and we'd like to get an idea of what areas we should focus our search in before we get there.

Husband's job is Downtown so where would be a reasonable commute? At the moment his commute is only 35 minutes on public transport but we realise that this isn't necessarily going to be feasible in Houston. We're looking to rent in a fairly family friendly area with some good parks nearby for our young whippersnapper and some good local eateries for us.

Thanks in advance!

ChocolateBabz

Start with a search of this forum (top right of threads) for Houston. There have been a few recent threads with the same information. Many members live in Katy, Cinco Ranch and Lakes on Eldridge. If hubby will be in 'actual' downtown (i.e. the small square in the middle) it might be worth looking South, Pearland, Friendswood or Sugarland. I am in Pearland as my hubby splits his time between his office on the West and workshop on the East which means his commute is around 30 mins either direction.

Most communities (think housing developments) have parks with many having pools and other amenities. There are many other large parks dotted all around that you can drive to.

Public Transport is practically non existent in Houston so at least one car will be a must. Seriously even taxis are a rare sight.

Also have a look at the city-data.com forum for Houston as there are lots of threads on people moving to Houston.

Good luck with the move.

Weeze

Chocolatebabz is right, lots of people have moved to Houston recently, so a search will bring you up lots of useful information.

Budget is going to be a big factor. If you don't want too long of a commute, you may like West U/Rice Village/Memorial/Museum District/Medical District. Generally anything in Houston ISD has worse schools than outside Houston. This isn't always the case. You may not need to consider it for your son, but it does affect how many families you may meet. Should you end up in either West U or memorial type areas, I can hook you up with a moms club!
If you were near the museum district, the children's museum is an excellent place to meet people as they have a floor of baby only play.

JenABZ

Join the club! We move over in July. I got lots of helpful advice from this forum. Have a look at my recent thread. We have narrowed things down to Lakes on Elridge and Legends Ranch areas. Still a big commute...but then we've been spoiled here where we can both get to work in ten minutes. If we lived outside our city it would take an hour to g pet to work too. My husband is also going to work downtown.
Good bit is that you don't need to worry about schools just yet, but if you intend staying longer have a look at the Trulia and Greatschools websites for advice and ratings on pre-K schools. They start later in the us than in the UK.

newtohouston

Hi There,

I moved to Houston in July and there is quite a few options, depending on what you're looking for. As you mentioned, public transport is not an option really unless you enjoy a 3 hour bus ride! I would stick predominantly around the main freeways into Downtown such as I-45 and I-10. I currently live in Jersey Village which is a lovely area, and commute wise, around 30 minutes to downtown if not less, depending on traffic. A big factor is also your budget - areas such as river oaks, montrose and the heights are wonderful but require a high budget. Other popular family areas are those such as Katy.

Happy to help more if you have more information. As a helpful hint, I work for a relocation company specializing in relocating people into the Houston area so happy to provide more assistance!

Thanks
Natalie

PaulineB

It seems that everyone is moving to Houston! We are moving across in June! We are flying out this Saturday for a look around as I've never been to Houston. We have two kids of school age so we are primarily looking at the Katy/Cinco Ranch area for houses. Our kids are going to a private school so we don't have the headache of finding a home that zones into a particular school. If you want 'family friendly' then Katy would suit you plus many expats out there although I've been told it's a 'mini Aberdeen'! Lol! Good luck with your move when it happens.

JenABZ

We've decided on th private route too. Most likely the BIS. Going to live closer, hopefully elridge. I too haven't been to Houston but going at end February. We are lucky that we have family there already. You're right though, half of Aberdeen seems to moving over.....the other half were in Florida in October! Or so it seemed � ����

goodbyeyellowbrickroad

Thanks for all the tips! We're flying to Houston tomorrow for a visit and we'll mainly be driving round getting a feel for the different areas. It's making our move feel very real all of a sudden!

Not too concerned about schools at present as we plan on returning to the UK in 3 years but who knows what will happen.

Wish us luck on our first flight with a 6 months old - will be an interesting experience.

tonrob

axc

Hi,
Public transport is possible on the metro apparently. I live in Cinco Ranch and the guy across the road commutes every day by Metro. He's done this for 2 years and says he would never do it by car!
Good luck with your search

Bink

Good luck! When we fly with our boy at about 6 months it was okay. He was crawling but we managed to get him down fairly easily (they have bassinets on most of the flights - some airlines they automatically put you in them - BA, some you have to ask - United). It was the last flight (14.5 months) that was tough as is walking and just wanted to be all over the plane. Mrs Bink and I found it rather stressful - no sleep

One thing to mention about the schools is that if you're renting it's not an issue but buying/selling a house here is a lot more expensive than the UK and if you were thinking of buying it may make sense to look for a good school zone even though it's years away as moving in 5 years would probably cost you.

ksb76

All is not lost - there are plenty of places to live closer to downtown that don't involve a huge commute. we live right by memorial park so plenty of green space for the kids, and hubby has a 10 minute commute to downtown. You won't find an enormous house on a huge lot with a pool but you'll have to weigh up commute vs other amenities. We are also 10 minutes to the british school so that makes a huge difference to our family as the kids aren't stuck on a bus in heavy traffic.

zip codes to have a look at on www.har.com include 77007, 77008, 77009 for memorial park, washington, heights, and 77005 for west university.

Hope that helps allay your fears.

goodbyeyellowbrickroad

Well were here! Been in Houston for just over 3 weeks now and so far so good

Thanks for all the tips on different neighbourhoods. We've leased a house in the Montrose area which we'll be moving into next week. I cannot wait to get my mitts on all our stuff and get our new home set up. Think we'll be happy there - seems to be a lot of places to eat nearby, husband will have a very short commute to Downtown and there's a couple of little parks and a local library nearby for me and the baby during the week.

Next step is for me to learn to drive. Crazy as it is I reached my thirties without learning and now we're in Houston I definitely have to bite the bullet and get on with it! The thought of driving on the freeways freaks me out but keep tellign myself if 15 year olds can learn then so can I. Wish me luck.

JenABZ

Welcome to Houston! We leave the uk 12 weeks on Saturday. I am on the countdown and cannot wait!

Speedwell

Welcome to Houston, y'all Check the meetup board. With so many of us there has got to be a way to meet!! By summer my husband will have made it here too... give him a reason to get out into the heat, lol.