Humble, Spring, or Katy...Help! (Houston, Amarillo: houses, find a job, neighborhoods)

[mistergus75]

Okay, here goes...

We're moving to Houston from Amarillo, TX in May 2011. We're looking for homes between 90-120k. We're leaning towards the cities of Katy, Humble, or Spring.

The homes in Humble seem to be cheaper, but we drove through the area around 1960 and 59, and it seemed like a madhouse. We hate to rule it out altogether based on that one area, though.

Is Humble a traffic madhouse? Is that why the homes seem cheaper there? We haven't driven the area yet, but we're especially suspicious of the area between I-45 and 59. We're afraid that area is way too busy, like the area at 1960 and 59 that we saw in October. But on the other hand, the houses seem so cheap there!

We did see Katy (North of I-10) when we were there, and liked it. Seemed much less stressful than our impression of Humble. But the homes seem not quite as nice for the money.

We really haven't seen Spring yet, but if Humble is a bad area, it might effect our feelings there.

I'm in air conditioning repair, so any commute isn't really an issue. Probably get a company truck, anyway. And my wife can get a teaching job anywhere.

Please, can some of you help us? Did we get an inaccurate impression of Humble? Or is it as crazy around there as it seemed?

Thanks!

mistergus

[lhafer]

Actual Humble (which is where you were) is very busy, especially on the weekends. That's because there are tons of restaurants, shopping, a mall, etc there. It's kind of the "hub" for the chain-type stores for Humble, Atascocita, Kingwood, Porter, etc.

Now if you went more north to Kingwood it's less hectic (unless is rush hour and people are wanting to get home). Or more east toward Atascocita and it's less hectic.

Up here in Humble/Atascocita/Kingwood seems to finally be getting noticed as the traffic is getting worse. I live in Atascocita and love it up here. Mainly the trees.

There are some new schools being built in our area, so your wife would be able to find a job most likely.

But don't knock Humble until you've driven around a bit more (away from the hubbub) and into actual neighborhoods. 1960 is a busy road no matter where you are on it.

[Redlionjr]

1960 and 59 can get real crazy...and seems to me alot more people are moving into Humble so more traffic just plies on esp. in that area since that's where most of Humble businesses are located..I'd say the best location in that area where it gets a little less traffic would be the area of 1960 before you get to I-45.. Aldine-Westfield area..travel in that area long enough you'll see some nice homes..

I think they should expand the roads or do something fast in 1960/59 area..the only time it slows up is during after hours.

Spring can be just as bad esp. on 2920..but it's a little more spread out and i've mostly only had problems in the morning when people are going to work and in the evening when people are getting off of work..but it's ok pretty much after those hours...with Humble it can still be crazy

Haven't been to Katy too many times to tell you about that area

[chris_ut]

They are expanding Will Clayton.

[lhafer]

And after they finish expanding Will Clayton, they will be expanding 1960. Both of these should help with rush hour traffic.

[sunny57]

You might want to look at Conroe... just north of The Woodlands. More of a country setting with all the "trimmings" on a much smaller scale. Best of luck...Sunny

[cheryjohns]

Why did you rule out Kingwood?

[handkeswife]

We just moved to Katy last month, and I will say that I LOVE IT here. We looked at Cinco Ranch (South of I10), but just didn't "fit" with that area. We ended up buying in a new subdivision north of I10 and I don't think I'd change a thing. We're less than 10 minutes away from anything you could possible want, yet far enough away from the interstate so it's quiet. The schools here are great. Housing is not too bad either. We got a 3000 sq ft, 6 bed/3.5bath brand new model home for under 160K. Smaller homes in this neighborhood are going for 120-130k. We looked at Humble also, but had trouble with the commute time for hubby (Houston Tollway South).

[SouthernBoy205]

A 3000 sq ft 6 bed/3.5 bath brand new model home for under 160K????? You have got to be kidding.

[handkeswife]

Nope. We got the first model home of this floor plan. There are only 3 other homes built on this street so far (besides ours), so we'll have to put up with construction for the next 6 month -year, but the next home of our floor plan will be about 200k, so we'll have instant equity of 30-40k. The builder told us they do this to get the first people in the neighborhood, so others will move in. I don't mind. It's nice and quiet. For now.