French family moving to Sugar Land (Houston, Holland: for sale, real estate, rent) - Texas (TX) - Page 2 - City-Data Forum

ayannaaaliyah · 07-18-2007, 05:34 PM

Chris B, I'm not familiar with New Territory or Missouri City however, in Cinco Ranch, I will tell you that rental properties are going to be scarce. However, if you should find one available, expect to pay anywhere from $1,200-$1,600 per month.

Doudou · 07-19-2007, 07:13 PM

ayannaaaliyah thank you for the advice, i was already looking in this website but when we find a house, i tried to see how far is from my husband office, from cypress it was written 30Mn but when i asked the agent they told me more then 45 to 60mn, so it really difficult to check the distance, we will be in houston in 3 weeks and our contenaire arrive only in the first week of october, the brooker told us it is too early to check the houses because most of them will be leased. could give us an idea about lease of a house with pool?

Do you think it will be possible to have a good house for 3000$/month in memorial, katy,cinco ranch?

Is the trafic so bed in Houston, we have a terrible experience in Shanghai, my daughter kingdergarden is only 6miles from our house and it's took more then 1hour to arrive. 18millions people in one city is not funny everyday.

What about the mosquitos? thank's in advance for your reply.

mjewell · 07-19-2007, 07:52 PM

Most leases only require a 30 day notice to move out so you won't find a house for rent now if you plan to wait until October to move in. There are a few furnished apartments that rent monthly until you actually want to have a house available. Ask your realtor for the names, sorry I forgot them.

For $3000 a month you should be able to afford something fabulous so don't settle. Sure you don't want to buy instead and put that money into equity?

Our traffic is bad, but doesn't sound nearly as bad as Shanghai. Yes, mosquitos are horrible. You'll be applying a lot of repellant to your skin.

ayannaaaliyah · 07-19-2007, 08:34 PM

If you're going to rent then for $3k a month you definitely will not have a problem. I would suggest that you find 4-5 properties that you like, have your broker put in an offer for you and then when you come, you can always rent furnishings until yours arrive. As mjewell suggested, with $3,000 per month you might want to just do a 6 month lease somewhere and focus on making a purchase. What part of town will your husband be working in again?

Doudou · 07-20-2007, 02:17 AM

My husband will be working in memorial drive, we are thinking about buy something but we want to lease first, to know houston: good and bad area, because we dont want to make a mistake, we are not from Usa so we need to check all the details first, how to purschasse, taxes, insurance, and so on. This is why we want to take it easy first. We already rent a hotelappartment for one month and we will extend another month after.

I have a question for you, on HAR.COM all the house seems furnished, is it the only way to lease the house? we have our own furniture and i dont know if we like the house, the owner can remove the furniture? the price of the house on Har.com are they based with furniture or because the house is already rented to somebody and their contract is finished?

A Family with one child how much will need to spend monthly in food,bills for the house?

Thank's for advices

mjewell · 07-20-2007, 07:34 AM

The listing on HAR should tell you if the house comes furnished. A lot of people just take pictures of the place with furniture in it so you can imagine where you might like your things.

Each house is going to be a little different on utilities because of size, how well insulated it is, age of the air conditioner and appliances, etc. Once you have an address of something you're interested in you can call the electric company and they will tell you what the average bill was for last year. You can also shop around for a different electric provider if you think the rates are bad. Cable TV will be around $50 to $100 depending on how many movie channels you get. Internet can be $20 to $40. Phone is about $40 and long distance is extra. Gas is about $30 and water (without a pool) is anywhere from $30 to $150 depending on how hot and dry it is that year. Groceries for my family of 5 is about $125 a week and that includes diapers, beer, wine.

Hope this helps.

Chris B · 07-20-2007, 10:49 AM

Thank you mejewell for this useful piece of information ! We are narrowing our research on areas like First colony, sienna Plantation or New Territory. Our primary concern still being the elementary school. Coud anyone tell us if they heard about Brazos Bend Elementary and Walker Station (NT) ? and if so what are they like ? Our rental budget would be between 1000 to 2000$ / month. Apart from Cinco ranch, do you think we would have chances to find such a house in one of the districts listed above ? Thanks !

Chris B · 07-20-2007, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ayannaaaliyah

Chris B, I'm not familiar with New Territory or Missouri City however, in Cinco Ranch, I will tell you that rental properties are going to be scarce. However, if you should find one available, expect to pay anywhere from $1,200-$1,600 per month.

Thank you for this information ! if we decide to purchase, would there be houses arounnd 150 000 to 200 000 $ in Cinco Ranch that is !

ayannaaaliyah · 07-20-2007, 06:17 PM

Cinco Ranch is divided into several different sections. For that price you can possibly find something in the following sections:

CINCO RANCH SOUTHPARK
CINCO RANCH WEST
CINCO RANCH SIERRA MEADOW
CANYON GATE CINCO RANCH
CINCO RANCH MEADOW PLACE

mjewell · 07-21-2007, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris B

Thank you mejewell for this useful piece of information ! We are narrowing our research on areas like First colony, sienna Plantation or New Territory. Our primary concern still being the elementary school. Coud anyone tell us if they heard about Brazos Bend Elementary and Walker Station (NT) ? and if so what are they like ? Our rental budget would be between 1000 to 2000$ / month. Apart from Cinco ranch, do you think we would have chances to find such a house in one of the districts listed above ? Thanks !

Check out the schools on Texas Education Agency's website. I'm not sure about price ranges for rent out here, maybe HAR.com can help.

For general info on my neck of the woods:

First Colony is really terrific, tons of conveniences, excellent Ft. Bend ISD schools, gorgeous parks and playgrounds everywhere, restaurants, lots of activities and sports available for the kids, shopping, easy access to 59 to commute. The neighborhoods are well established, so a bit of upkeep is expected and you'll love all the landscaping and mature trees.

Sienna Plantation is further away from 59 down Hwy 6. It is really beautiful, they built around a lot of forest trees, and the houses are pretty new. With the newness comes the fact that you'll go further to get to grocery stores, gas stations, etc. If I remember correctly they have a very nice water park at the local pool. They are still building in the area so just a few years from now they'll probably have everything you want close by. This might be your chance to get in before the prices skyrocket.

New Territory has all the niceties that First Colony has and it's also close to 59 and the Grand Parkway, a direct access up to I-10 in Katy if you work out that way. The down side there is that the northern part is close to railroad tracks and you have check each subdivision to see if you're zoned to Ft. Bend ISD or Lamar Consolidated.

If you change your mind about renting and really want new construction, check out Telfair and Riverstone (they have websites). Both are building now and have some ambitious plans for parks, schools, and commercial use.