Best Master Planned Community In SE Houston? (Pasadena, League City: apartment, hotel)

[Harleyman123]

Hello all, I'm relocating to Houston this upcoming Wednesday. My wife will work at Bush Inter. Con. Airport and I'll work in Valero Refinery in Texas City. I know its polar opposites of each other and well have to commute. The best halfway point appears to be Deer Park. Are there nice masterplanned communities there? I'm also interested in knowing about Clear Lake( i hear of flooding), and Passadena.
I'm looking to spend no more than $200,000 on a home and hoping i can stay under $5,000 in taxes. Is this realistic? I also need a good school for the kids (9 and 11 years old). My best friend lives in Mon Belvieu and he says he only pays $3,000 in taxes on his $240,000 home in Cottonwood. Is this real or Bull***?
My wife is there now staying in a hotel until i come next week at which time well rent. So i could also use some good apartment info in good areas.

Thanks for the help guys.

[Yonkers]

You can look up the tax for any house through the county appraisal district website for whatever county the house is in. Most of Houston is in Harris County so you can go to hcad.org.
In general property tax will be about 3%. It is likely more than that in a MPC since there are more amenities and likely newer. You can find houses around 2% but they are older neighborhoods that have paid off their utility bonds, etc, already.

[Poltracker]

There are no MPCs on the SE side. Tough choices for commute.

[Harleyman123]

Tnx Yonkers..

[llmrkc07]

La Porte is another option...you will be close to HWY 146 and that will take you straight to Texas City. Also your wife can take 225 to the Beltway and ride the beltway all the way to IAH. With that said an EZ Tag is needed. I have some family that stays in La Porte. Nice Town. They have some nice neighborhood around the area, like Spencer Landing and Farrington Place. The whole area has home that will accommodate your budget, but flooding is a problem in the just about every community in the area. Also if you want to go into the city from time to time you can ride 225 all the way to 610.

Here is a link to Google Maps.

http://maps.google.com/

Just key in La Porte, TX and view the map. You can also see other neighborhoods around the area and how close the area is to the freeways. Hope this helps.

[lhafer]

I can't give you any recommendations on MP communities in Deer Park. I personally would never live in or around Deer Park or Pasadena because of the refineries. My husband works at one of the refineries on the ship channel - and I still wouldn't move there to help his commute. We currently live in Atascocita.

What I can tell you is that I know 3 different families that have had similar situations as yours - one spouse works near IAH, and the other in Texas City. They try this for about 2 years MAX before they decide it was too much and they move. Depending on who makes more, the job in Texas City has been the deciding factor and they have all moved closer to there.

So, again - depending on who's the higher wage earner in the family (I'm going to bet the Valero position) I would suggest moving to Friendswood, Clear Lake or League City and having your wife do a reverse commute up the eastside of the beltway to IAH. It would be about 45-60 minutes for the commute depending on how far off of 45 you are located.

[modster]

Originally Posted by Poltracker

There are no MPCs on the SE side. Tough choices for commute.

What about Clear Lake.

[Harleyman123]

Tnx Ihafer.. At times I wish my wife would look for a job in hobby airport.. Ok so in regards to Friendswood, clear lake and league what do you think is better?

[Harleyman123]

Modster i hear clear lake floods?

[modster]

check the flood plain maps.