Housing Location Help (Houston, Allen, Bellaire: houses, neighborhoods, school districts)

[cpfoutz]

I'm considering a job opportunity in Houston...would be located on Allen Parkway in Neartown. I'm open to city or suburb options.

Looking for suggestions on where to do a house search...I'm looking for the following:
- Near a nice downtown area with locally owned restaurants and bars
- Lots of young families
- Great schools
- Reasonable taxes
- Less than 30 min commute to work
- Budget <$250k for a 4 bedroom SFH and not looking for a new development...prefer a older, proven house to one of the shoddily thrown up McMansions over the last 10-15 yrs.

I'm in the early stages of the interviewing process...just trying to get a lay of the land right now.

[houston-nomad]

I doubt you'll find something very easily that meets those conditions. A four-bedroom house within 30 minutes of downtown, especially an "older, proven house" is hard to find for under 250K.

I was doing a similar search a couple of years ago, though looking for a 3-bedroom. My search was very quickly narrowed down to some areas around the Heights, and the Westbury area southwest of the loop. For your work, the northern neighborhoods (around the Heights) might be better. I'm sure people living there will happily post some more detailed advice for you. I remain skeptical about the four-bedroom, good schools part of the equation, however.

When you search on HAR, also have a look at 77096. This is my southwest area. It feels like a small town, with lots of families, a fun pool, good schools (up to HS), lots of stuff like little league, boy scouts, etc. You can commute to Montrose/downtown in 20-30 minutes.

[whogo]

I suggest the Bellaire area, MLS areas 20, 21 and 22 on HAR.com. Bellaire is a seperate city located inside of Houston, which has some advantages.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Try garden oaks/oak forest. I hear good things about their elementary schools and you'll probably want to change areas before the kids go to middle school anyway (though the middle schools may be improving with gentrification). The other option is meyerland/willowbend. Once again, good elementary schools and possibly better middle schoils in a few years. For <250k those are really the two best options under 30 minutes to neartown.

[westres1]

77042

[Beto]

Garden Oaks would be an option.

[cpfoutz]

Wow...I thought I was setting the pricepoint high in saying 250k...what is the limitation? Are there not many good school districts? Would it be typical for people to send their children to private schools?

In tooling around Trulia, it was looking like most houses are under $200k...

[Lost_In_Translation]

Originally Posted by cpfoutz

Wow...I thought I was setting the pricepoint high in saying 250k...what is the limitation? Are there not many good school districts? Would it be typical for people to send their children to private schools?

In tooling around Trulia, it was looking like most houses are under $200k...

Good schools (by my estimation) + <30 minutes to downtown limits your options.

[k28mas]

Originally Posted by cpfoutz

I'm considering a job opportunity in Houston...would be located on Allen Parkway in Neartown. I'm open to city or suburb options.

Looking for suggestions on where to do a house search...I'm looking for the following:
- Near a nice downtown area with locally owned restaurants and bars
- Lots of young families
- Great schools
- Reasonable taxes
- Less than 30 min commute to work
- Budget <$250k for a 4 bedroom SFH and not looking for a new development...prefer a older, proven house to one of the shoddily thrown up McMansions over the last 10-15 yrs.

I'm in the early stages of the interviewing process...just trying to get a lay of the land right now.

The only great schools in that area are private schools. You will have to drive 30 minutes or more to get into decent public schools

[City Love]

Originally Posted by cpfoutz

Wow...I thought I was setting the pricepoint high in saying 250k...what is the limitation? Are there not many good school districts? Would it be typical for people to send their children to private schools?

In tooling around Trulia, it was looking like most houses are under $200k...

If you are considering sending your kids to private school, why not just raise your budget and live in an area that is zoned to better schools?

$150k-$200k is the median price is Houston, but the inner city does not fall in the "median" range.