San Francisco to Houston—what do you think? (Sugar Land, Paris: apartment, crime)

[getupandgogotupandwent]

My wife and I are entertaining an offer in Houston and we're wondering if there are things worth considering that we haven't, well, considered yet.

We currently live in San Francisco.
Although we make good money, housing is far too expensive here for what you get, and the standard of living is very low.
We are also not big fans of the tightly-packed urban vibe; we are originally from Chicago and have a been-there-done-there attitude about the urban experience. It would be nice to get a house and some space at this point in our lives.
Finally, while San Francisco is temperate—it never gets hot and it never gets cold—we both miss having summer heat. 55 degrees gets very boring after a while, and the gloom drives me nuts.

With Houston, we are expecting:
* Greatly improved housing at (literally) a fraction of the price
* Much more space, higher standard of living
* Warmth, to the point of being hot and humid
* Buggie—there are virtually no mosquitoes in San Francisco
* A likely increase in traffic time, given the highway situation

What are we missing?
We are politically liberal and not religious. Living in Chicago and California, this has been a non-issue, but I would imagine it would be different in Houston.

Thanks for any and all input!

[cheryjohns]

Originally Posted by getupandgogotupandwent

My wife and I are entertaining an offer in Houston and we're wondering if there are things worth considering that we haven't, well, considered yet.

We currently live in San Francisco.
Although we make good money, housing is far too expensive here for what you get, and the standard of living is very low.
We are also not big fans of the tightly-packed urban vibe; we are originally from Chicago and have a been-there-done-there attitude about the urban experience. It would be nice to get a house and some space at this point in our lives.
Finally, while San Francisco is temperate—it never gets hot and it never gets cold—we both miss having summer heat. 55 degrees gets very boring after a while, and the gloom drives me nuts.

With Houston, we are expecting:
* Greatly improved housing at (literally) a fraction of the price
* Much more space, higher standard of living
* Warmth, to the point of being hot and humid
* Buggie—there are virtually no mosquitoes in San Francisco
* A likely increase in traffic time, given the highway situation

What are we missing?
We are politically liberal and not religious. Living in Chicago and California, this has been a non-issue, but I would imagine it would be different in Houston.

Thanks for any and all input!

I think you have it nailed.

Liberals and conservatives mix and aren't even aware. It seems to me that rarely anyone vocally discusses religion or politics. It's much more prevalent on internet forums than face-to-face. I always just assumed it was a southern thing to not bring them up. I notice it more in an election year but just because of yard signs and bumper stickers.

I love San Francisco and could see how you could exist without a car. Not so here - all that wide open space stuff makes a car mandatory.

[getupandgogotupandwent]

cheryjohns,
while it's really nice to be able to walk to 30 different restaurants of representing 20 different ethnicities in a 5 block radius, I really miss my car. And I miss car culture—parking lots (instead of circling the block 100 times to find an open meter), having a garage, etc.

I'm sure I'll miss being able to walk to a bunch of different places, but I'm pretty sure I won't miss the fact that those walks are up some serious hills.

San Francisco is an easy city to love for the visitor, but you definitely have to drink the KoolAid in order to love living here. It's probably the most wonderful city I'll be happy to leave.

[LostInHouston]

Originally Posted by getupandgogotupandwent

What are we missing?
We are politically liberal and not religious. Living in Chicago and California, this has been a non-issue, but I would imagine it would be different in Houston.

My wife and I are also liberal/non-religious and have not had any major issues. The majority of people we've encountered tend to keep politics/religion to themselves. As a liberal you're going to be in the minority pretty much regardless of which suburb you pick, which may be an issue for you if you plan to be involved with your local government. Bottom line - you can be happy and have a healthy social/work life in Houston being an atheist/agnostic liberal.

[jfre81]

I think we have all the summer heat here you could want and then some. For all the complaining that we don't have seasons here, we have two. One of them is hot, and the other is pleasant when it's not raining all the time. And every once in a neon blue moon you'll see a dusting of snow to remind you that people are shoveling that stuff out of their driveways in a good part of this country. I get the feeling you're not looking for that experience so much since you've done Chicago.

First things first - Houston lacks the density of San Francisco or Chicago, even "in the city" which, if we are defining "in the city" as the city limits then you have suburbs within those boundaries that were not really intended to be "in the city" as it were. Even a house inside 610, which generally encompasses the older, more traditionally urban parts of Houston, would be a fair bit of space for most people coming out of San Francisco, and even people who live in apartment blocks or high rises tend to own cars even if they don't use it for every single place you go. Further out, you pretty much have to do that.

It just comes down to exactly how much space you want and how much you're willing to pay for it. The housing market didn't take it as hard as it did on the West Coast but it's not exactly boom times here either, and that extends to the economy in general. Anyone who suggests we aren't feeling recession effects is full of it.

Traffic is obviously worse the further you live from work, wherever that is. The freeways lock up, particularly 45 going either north or south and 290 going northwest, and parts of 610 and the beltway which is a toll highway.

As for the politics thing - when you come here, try for a minute to put aside everything you hear about Texas. Ditch the "red state/blue state" thinking. You're moving to another major American metropolitan area. People lean more conservative in rural and suburban areas here, just like in California. There is a more progressive bent in the city and among some in the suburbs, and within the city the conservative element tends to be more of the libertarian variety over the Bible thumping kind. More Ron Paul than Rick Santorum. This is old news around here now, but more Houstonians voted for an openly lesbian mayor than anyone else. Apparently it was a surprise to the rest of the country that it could happen in Texas, but maybe the political climate is a little more nuanced than outsiders would reckon.

[getupandgogotupandwent]

LostInHouston,
that's fantastic news.

To be honest, my religious concerns are probably more for any kids we may have down the road than for myself; if we do have kids and send them to public schools, I'd be concerned that they would (1) be construed as freaks because they weren't raised to believe in the Christian god and (2) there'd be (unwanted) religious undertones to what was taught in the public schools.
This may be unfounded, and I guess if it was an issue we'd cross that bridge when we came to it.

Would you say that you can get a healthy dose of sunshine by-and-large year round in Houston? I realize it gets quite rainy there at times, and to be honest I like that. There are no thunderstorms on the west coast, and I dearly miss them. But Houston is far enough from the Gulf to avoid a looming, gloomy marine layer, right?

Also: how do best educate yourself to prepare your home for flooding? Is there a good site or resource on flood plains (before buying a home) and how to protect your home once you have it?

There is a Houston home site that people told us about—some 3-letter URL—but I can't for the life of me remember what it was. Do you guys know what I'm talking about? It's like HOD.com or something, except "HOD" isn't it.

Thank you so much for your help and input!

[houstmom]

HAR.com

[getupandgogotupandwent]

jfre81,
more fantastic news—thank you. I would personally love to ditch the "red state/blue state" stuff; I suspect it's more a product of the media than it is true life, real world stuff. But it's hard to really know what it's like culturally to live somewhere else, so a little peering-over-the-fence speculation is the best you can do sometimes.

I have visited Texas and Houston a couple of times and have known some Houstonians. I really dig the Texas vibe—I've perceived a kind of "do what's right" mentality/undercurrent that I really appreciate.

We were considering the West University area or thereabouts, which coming from San Francisco is incredibly spacious and very suburban-feeling. It would be work-friendly and would likely keep us off the highways for the most part.

We checked out Sugar Land, and while the homes were huge, cheaper, and there was tons of space, I am concerned that a commute into the city (near the medical center) would be rough. Also, while I want space, I almost got an agorophobic feeling in Sugar Land—it's almost *too much* space, if there can be such a thing.

Another common concern with moving to a new place is: crime. Obviously, any city has shady areas, and you make a point to avoid them. Is ambient crime an issue in areas that seem "nicer", like West University? I can accept the occasional broken-in car if I park downtown or something, but I obviously want to avoid having home break-ins and other random badness where I live.
Thoughts?

Again, thank you!

[getupandgogotupandwent]

Originally Posted by houstmom

HAR.com

Thank you! That's exactly it

[Willsson]

I'd agree with cheryjohns, you'll do okay in Houston. You'll get all those things you never thought you could live with when SanFrancisco is an option.

As a bonus, you'll be three hours closer to Paris.