relocating from long island ny to spring or woodlands tx (Houston: apartments, to rent)

[lvmjac]

Our family may be relocating to Spring or The Woodlands Tx...which would be better regarding housing, school districts and overall friendly neighborhoods? Any information and thoughts would be greatly appreciated since we have never even been to Texas.

[carolineb]

Is work going to be downtown -- Spring is closer to downtown than the Woodlands. Have you done a search on this forum already - there's been a lot posted about both areas. Are you looking to rent or buy -- what's your price range?

[lvmjac]

Where is downtown? My husbands job would be around the channelview area (Yuk). We know relatively nothing about Texas...We would be looking to buy in the $200 - $300 range. We may look to rent for a while just to get the lay of the land depending on the situation.

[carolineb]

Hi lvmjac again - I've lived in Houston for one year and we rented for a year before buying a home this month. I think renting is a good idea just so you can have the oportunity to get a feel for traffic patterns and what type of recreation/cultural activities are important to you. When I was considering areas to buy a home, I used mapquest to see how far the homes were from my husband's job. From looking at har.com over the past 3 months for my own house search, I think you could easily find a nice home with good schools in your price range. I used mapquest for you and here's what I've found out about estimated commuter time and distance:

Channelview to:

Kingston 36 min / 27 miles

Sienna Plantation 47 min / 41 miles

Friendswood 29 min / 23 miles

Spring 41 min / 35 miles (Woodlands would be a bit further)

Pearland 29 min / 23 miles

Montrose 23 min / 18 miles (where I used to rent) -- Montrose has lots of apartments and the route to Channelview seems to be straight shot on I-10 - maybe another poster can advise how traffic would be. Montrose would give you a central location as you look at different areas.

Good luck with your decision to move to Houston.