Thinking of moving to Houston from DC. Thoughts & advice needed! (Sugar Land: loan, homes)

[Chris402]

Considering moving from the DC area (Maryland) to Houston. We have a toddler and a dog and are looking for a nice family-oriented community and a bit of lawn. We are fine with suburbs and want to focus on really good school districts, access to Houston, close to good shopping and grocery stores.

Mainly, we want a community that we can call home and where we can raise our family. DC is great, but it's a stressful environment and extremely competitive - even for kids. We are looking for a place that combines a strong economy and job market (I have some natural gas/energy background) with a more family-focused lifestyle, and Houston seems to have that. Being anchored by a major city is important, but we don't want to live in the city right now.

Budget is around $350,000-$600,000. Any thoughts or feedback would be much appreciated.

[City Love]

Originally Posted by Chris402

Considering moving from the DC area (Maryland) to Houston. We have a toddler and a dog and are looking for a nice family-oriented community and a bit of lawn. We are fine with suburbs and want to focus on really good school districts, access to Houston, close to good shopping and grocery stores.

Mainly, we want a community that we can call home and where we can raise our family. DC is great, but it's a stressful environment and extremely competitive - even for kids. We are looking for a place that combines a strong economy and job market (I have some natural gas/energy background) with a more family-focused lifestyle, and Houston seems to have that. Being anchored by a major city is important, but we don't want to live in the city right now.

Budget is around $350,000-$600,000. Any thoughts or feedback would be much appreciated.

Any of the suburbs should do. But if you end up working for one of the energy companies, then you might consider the Katy/Cinco Ranch area. Or possibly The Woodlands, Sugar Land, Cypress. All are generally towards the West side of town except The Woodlands which is pretty far north, but there are a couple energy companies based there. The energy corridor is located off I-10, between the Beltway and Hwy 6 on the West side of town. Most companies energy companies have a base there. So that's a start if you plan to enter that field.

It's hard to say without knowing where you are going to work. Only because there are quite a few options that should fit your needs without a problem.

Are you planning on transferring jobs here? Make sure to look into securing a loan first once you know your plans.

[Chris402]

Thanks very much. Still looking at the energy space - that's the likely option. We'll be all set on the financing front once we're ready. Apart from being job-specific, are there any communities or areas that are especially family-focused?

[chris_ut]

Tons and tons of family-focused areas all around Houston. Too hard to narrow it down just based on that one criteria. Keep in mind that the city of Houston itself covers 600 sq. miles and that's not even counting the suburbs and satellite towns. If Houston was on the East Coast it would be its own state.

[City Love]

Like Chris said, it's hard to say because Houston is so large. Most people first decide on their work location, and then pick their home location based on distance and other criteria. You should probably do that as well.

Regardless of what you decide to do, you'll find many, many options here in Houston and the suburbs if you decide to do that. We have master-planned communities which might fit the bill a little more. Areas like Cinco Ranch, Shadow Creek Ranch, and Sienna Plantation are large subdivisions which are laid out with families in mind. Imagine a very large subdivision, with smaller subdivisions within. Each smaller subdivision has similar homes priced in the same price range. The overall community could be between $200-$2mil. But each small subdivisions will have homes in much tighter price ranges.