Yet another Yankee wanting to move to Houston (Pearland, Conroe: rent, HOA fees)

[kisaacs]

I've been doing some reading on this board, and you guys seem like a very knowledgable, friendly bunch with lots of info.

I, like many people asking questions, am thinking of moving to Houston. The plus is, I went to college there (Rice), so I know a little about the city and know I like it. The downside is, I really only know the Rice area as I was a student with no car.

Now I'm married, wanting to start a family, and wanting to move to warmer weather. Houston seems to fit the bill, and is hopefully cheap enough to make it work. We'll probably rent to start until we can figure out exactly where we want to live. But, I'd like to get a feel for costs before I jump into this whole thing.

Here's what I'm thinking - can you tell me if it's realistic?

House price - looking for approx 2000 sf, 4 br house with a nice yard in a suburb, not a ridiculous commute (35 min or so) from the center of Houston
$180K

Taxes on above house: 3%? = $5400/yr

Annual HOA dues: $500

Home Owners Insurance (total guess here): $1000/yr

So, for monthly expenses, I'd have my mortgage plus about $600, does that sound right?

We're coming from Boston, so we should come out on the better end of this move, but I'll also need to take a substantial pay cut in the transition to make a signficant career change, so I want to make sure I think it through all the way!

Thanks for your help!

Smiles,
Kristen

[person]

yes to all.

35mins commute will limited you to the south like pearland. shadow creek ranch area comes to mind. $180,000 is definitely doable there. Cozy yard.
But estimations are about correct. HOA probably higher. Shadow creek is about $635. Taxe rate is about 3.71.

But every estimation is pretty close and definitely doable.

monthly fees like gas, electricity for 2000sf air con all day, hot water shower once a day, washing and drying clothes once a week, would about $200 to $300, depending on how many ppl live there, duh. my estimation is for 3.

Cable or DirectTV, $100+
High Speed Internet: $45

Insurance is about right too, maybe need to add car insurance in there too.

Sugarland are is ok too, slightly longer commute.

[kisaacs]

person,

Thanks for the info. I appreciate you taking a look. Overall, it sounds really doable for us. We're coming from a place where it's more like this:

1300 sf 3 br house with decent yard, stinky schools
$325K

taxes on above house: $3K

HOA: $0

Insurance: $700/yr

We'll net about $80K or $90K out of our house, so if we can keep the mortgage to about $100K in Houston, we'll actually be much better off than here.

Plus, here our car insurance is the most ridiculous I have ever seen. There are two of us, on two pretty new cars (hyundai tiburon (02) and toyota rav 4 (06)), and it costs us over $4K a year for car insurance, which is a bit unbelievable to me, given our almost perfect driving records.

Thanks for the thoughts, and I'm sure I'll be back again as our plans firm up and we start to look at neighborhoods. I love how friendly texans are - something I miss up here!

Smiles,
Kristen

[Wysiwyg]

and mowing and insecticide and water etc... speaking of water make sure you check out the complaints about Aqua Tex, some supplier in the NW thats costing people $100+ just for water

[person]

Oh ya, wysisyg is right, mowing, $80 per month, pest control $75 every quarter. I mow myself, but I am beginning to hate it already.
water softener, $2500 one time if you want, plus salts every so often to operate it. I wanted to put a softener in but end up didn't. Hard water sucks, but still liveable.

[kisaacs]

Okay, so sounds like electricity will be more (from the AC), gas or oil will be less (for heat), and I have to take pest control into account. Mowing, we will likely do ourselves like we do now.

You guys are giving me a very good financial picture and including things I wouldn't have thought of (like pest control), so thanks!

Kristen

[Texas Mack]

Indeed, lawns are a big deal in Houston, especially in older, more established neighborhoods. In the fall and winter (and parts of the spring), if you mow it yourself, you can get away with mowing it once every two weeks. In the summer, forget it! You'll want to mow it weekly unless you don't mind your lawn looking like a forest.

As for suburban like areas with a decent commute (roughly 35 minutes), consider some of the west side neighborhoods west of Kirkwood on Briar Forest or Memorial. Some of the homes are expensive but some can be had for around $200K (four BR, 2 baths, etc).

If you prefer just not to live in the city but still have a 35-40 min commute, Pearland isn't a bad option, although the flora isn't as nice as other suburbs in the area.

[Kandy]

I wanted to suggest Summerwood to you which is North of downtown (about 20 miles) Check out Summerwoodonline .com
Also check out Eagle Springs. I think they are in Atascacita.
I prefer the wooded feel of areas North as apposed to Pearland and areas South of the city. It's all about personal preference. ~K~

[BearBranch]

Check out Kingwood and also Eagle Springs. Kingwood is a bit further out (22 miles to downtown but it has alot more amenities.

[SamB]

Kristen,
I just moved here from NY in Dec, I am in Legends Ranch in Spring, and love it, the HOA fees are a little higher, but I did get a 4 bed home for $186,good size home, nice size yard. You may want to look in Imperial Oaks, the next sub-division over, there HOA fees are a lot less, but the homes are priced about the same. Compared to NY the electric is higher, but water and gas are much lower and the taxes are much cheaper, my taxes are going to run about $5,000. Also the school district we are in is Conroe, which I am finding is wonderful, my child is doing much better here than in NY. Good Luck.