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Canveydave Sep 17th 2014 2:01 pm

So, where in Houston should I live?
 
Our move has now been confirmed and we are off to Houston in January. We are all very excited, but now all the browsing of houses to rent on Trulia is starting to need to have a purpose!

I am looking for advice on good areas. Everyone speaks about Katy and it seems to be a popular area, I asked about it before and got a mixed response. I will be working in Gessner, but hear terrible things about the I-10 commute.

I have two very young children, one of which will be in Kindergarden, I won't be using the British School, instead opting for a public school. So with all this information, to hand, what can you people who live around Houston offer me in terms of advice.

Katy, Spring, Cypress, Sugar Land, any others I should check out???

Thanks in advance!:thumbsup:

ChocolateBabz Sep 17th 2014 3:31 pm

Re: So, where in Houston should I live?
 
It depends where on Gessner, will you be closer to I-10?. My hubby works at Westchase and we live in Pearland and the commute is not too bad depending on the time he leaves.

The 290 and the I-10 are really busy at rush hour(s) but then the 59 out of Sugarland will be busy too. Will you be working regular office hours?. Hubby normally works early 7-4 or goes in later but leaves at 6.30 to avoid the traffic coming home. He hates nothing more than sitting in traffic for an hour so avoids it at all costs.

We have friends in Bridgeland (up 290) who love the area and their schools, we know people in Cinco Ranch who like it there. We really enjoy Pearland but I also like the 'feel' of Sugarland. Have a look at HAR.com, that's our local Houston property listing site.

Canveydave Sep 17th 2014 3:40 pm

Re: So, where in Houston should I live?
 
Thanks for the reply,

I will be close to the I-10 Sam Houston Parkway intersection.

I currently have a 1 hour 45 minute each way commute, so I feel like I am less concerned about 45 minutes in my car than I might be if I lived close to work now. The things that are important to me are (in this order) Schools, keeping my wife occupied with things to joy to ease the move, commute.

ChocolateBabz Sep 17th 2014 5:03 pm

Re: So, where in Houston should I live?
 
OK so for my tuppenceworth I'd be concentrating on Sugarland, Cypress, Katy in that order. You can play around with the traffic leaving at different times to get your commute under control. I have always liked the feel of Sugarland, it has a nice walkable 'town center' with lots of shopping, restaurants etc. It feels quite established, fully grown trees etc, it doesn't feel sparse and 'yet to be finished'.

Cypress, at least the areas I have been to, has always felt like it's in the early stages and that there is a lot of building yet to do but with the reality that the 290 isn't coping so well with the new volume of traffic. We had a good look round the houses up there, lots of nice areas.

Whenever I have visited Katy is has just seemed overwhelmingly suburban sprawl, houses and more houses and more houses. I haven't spent a lot of time out there other than a trip or two to the Katy Mall so I probably haven't discovered all it has to offer. Certainly a lot of Brits end up over that way in part because of it's proximity to the energy corridor. Although the I-10 is busy there is a toll road in if you don't mind paying for it which may shave time off your commute.

I guess you would be looking at Katy ISD, Cypress ISD and Fort Bend ISD I think for Sugarland, I don't have experience of those school districts though.

Weeze Sep 17th 2014 6:01 pm

Re: So, where in Houston should I live?
 
Katy to work wouldn't be a bad commute as long as you aren't planning in rush hour morning traffic. Husband gets to the galleria in 35 mins.

We ended up in Katy for the school really. Generally it's a well rated school district and the elementary we are using ended up being one of the best rated. Cyfair isd is I believe well rated as well. Houston ISD isn't as well rated so you'd need to be careful which school zone you were in. We stopped looking at Sugarland fairly quickly so can't help there.

I am busy every day in Katy so that's great for me. Plenty to do, plenty of people to meet. Nice house, nice area, no complaints really.

Personally I wouldn't go from Spring. You could look at Lakes on Eldrigde, Lakes on Eldridge North, Briar Forrest as well if you didn't want to be as west as Katy.

To give you some sort of idea of what I get up to with the younger one while the older one is at elementary, we do baby gym class, singing and music time, moms club, Ballet and tap, british group, free toddler events, art class..... I am invited to go to more things than I have time for.

If do you end up in Katy feel free to hit me up for more specific details of events. Otherwise I'm sure other folk will help with other areas. I'm presuming you have already checked out the wiki entry for Houston? If no, check it out.

Canveydave Sep 17th 2014 7:44 pm

Re: So, where in Houston should I live?
 
Thank you very much guys, I really appreciate your input.

Wheeze I will definitely get Mrs Canveydave to hit you up if we decide on Katy, her being occupied and happy is very important to me and vital to us making a success of it.

It seems like you have plenty to do which is very comforting. I'd definitely be keen to learn which elementary school you got because if other expats are happy with it path at is a greater recommendation than the great schools website which seems a little out of date

Weeze Sep 17th 2014 7:55 pm

Re: So, where in Houston should I live?
 
I think there were 14 exemplary elementary schools in KISD. You can google to get the results per school district, or I think HAR has a program that pulls all the data for you.

TimFountain Sep 18th 2014 12:54 am

Re: So, where in Houston should I live?
 
Austin.

Bink Sep 18th 2014 1:05 am

Re: So, where in Houston should I live?
 
We live in Cypress and love it here.

We would have considered Katy and Sugar Land but it was a bit further from the in laws than we were looking to be otherwise we'd have considered both more closely.

Cypress isn't as developed as Katy or Sugar Land in terms of restaurants/shopping/amenities though it's starting to get there and there's still plenty to do.

I commute to the galleria every day from here and it takes me 20 mins if I leave at 5.15 but gets substantially worse quite quickly from about 5.45/6 and is bad from
6.45 onwards. Commute time for me at 6.45 would be about an hour.

Your work location is quite good and must be near or in City Center which is a great little location especially for lunch or after work drinks.

I think you'll probably be happy in any of the 3 it's just about what funding what works for you and your budget.

Owen778 Sep 18th 2014 12:58 pm

Re: So, where in Houston should I live?
 
I agree with most of the responses here. I live in Bridgeland, on the west side of Cypress. The western Houston suburbs (Cypress, Katy and Sugarland) are all have good quality of life, especially for families. They are commuter towns though, with all that entails. If you'd prefer more city-style living you might want to look at the area near to your work. City Centre, SE of the I-10 and beltway intersection, is a walkable mixed-use area with restaurants, wine bars and shopping, with areas of family homes nearby. Alternatively, somewhere like The Heights is nearer to downtown - more walkable and an older area with homes of a distinctive style. For either of those areas you'd be paying quite a lot more for housing though.

Mr Weeze Sep 18th 2014 11:11 pm

Re: So, where in Houston should I live?
 
My morning commute is 25 minutes, but I do leave about 5:30. On an evening it can be 35 minutes, if I leave at 4. 10 minutes later adds another 10 minutes on top of that. Note that we live East of 99. All the "new" Katy stuff, which is virtually in Fulshear, can add another 30 minutes on an evening.

Bomjeito Sep 19th 2014 1:42 am

Re: So, where in Houston should I live?
 
Hubby works at I-10/Beltway 8 area as well. We live in Lakes on Eldridge North, and his commute is 10 minutes. Our zoned elementary is not good, and the middle and high school (Cypress-Fairfield ISD) are okay but not exemplary. Our kids are only 2 at the moment. We are not impressed with Cy-Fair ISD.

We moved in here thinking we'd be private schooling but recently started to reconsider.... but with the housing prices so high, we can easily put our kids into private school for less than selling what we have and buying elsewhere (if it was a purely economic decision.)

After being here now 4 years, we did consider moving so our kids could experience the US public schools. We looked at Barker's Landing, loved the Elementary (Wolfe) but not happy with the zoned high school, and things could change about that if Katy ISD redistricts.

We have also looked at the Memorial areas, especially Nottingham and the Kirkwood areas. Your commute from Kirkwood would be literally minutes. We also looked at the Lakes on Parkway, zoned to Barbara Bush elementary.

Our realtor, a life-long Houstonian also suggested some neighborhoods in the Spring Branch school district and said the areas north on the beltway in Champions are still a lot of value for house, and decent schools.

Since we moved here in 2010, the school districts around Memorial City mall (on Gessner and I-10) are definitely out of our budget with tear down ranches (for re-builds) going for $1m.

There are some very nice neighborhoods in the Spring Branch ISD. We are considering that ISD at the moment.

Unless your family falls in love with Sugarland, I think it wouldn't be the easiest commute for you. And do bear in mind, as mentioned, Katy is quite large lately, so be sure you aren't so far west that just getting to Grand Parkway and I-10 doesn't take half hour to begin with. There is definitely a price difference west of Grand Parkway, but the housing stock is older, too. The schools do remain excellent in these neighborhoods. We considered Kellywood areas.

ETA: I love areas around North Cypress. The trees are still mature and there aren't billions of MPCs (yet.) Nice folk, too. But it is developing FAST.

Do you have the opportunity to get corporate housing in one area and explore?

@TimFountain - ha ha ha. And I agree!

g1ant Sep 19th 2014 5:42 am

Re: So, where in Houston should I live?
 
I-10 is the work of the devil. :nod:

Bomjeito Sep 20th 2014 6:18 pm

Re: So, where in Houston should I live?
 

Originally Posted by g1ant (Post 11410607)
I-10 is the work of the devil. :nod:

Nope, the 290 is the work of the devil. The I-10 is the devil's spawn.

Parisangel Sep 24th 2014 2:25 pm

Re: So, where in Houston should I live?
 
We live in Pearland as my husband works in the Medical Center, and honestly our decision to move here was in no small part due to the ease of commute. It might be useful to move into temporary accomodation - we stayed in a lovely apartment in Houston while we explored and found a house. That way, you can test drive commutes and explore - it's really valuable - we thought we wanted to live in Sugarland, we also like the feel of it, it's a great area with great schools and a good school district, but once we had experienced the 59 at rush hour we discounted it immediately.

In terms of things to do etc - we have been here two years now - we love it. There is SO much to do, get involved with school, join activities and you will easily make friends. We have a fabulous school district and our wonderful elementary was rated #13 in a list of over 600 schools in the Houston area. Our kids adore their school and have made some really great friends. It's fantastic out here, good luck!!


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