Relocating from Northeast-Best areas/schools in Houston? (Sugar Land, Mission: travel, zoned)

[kate24]

My husband has been asked if he would relocate to Houston within the next 9-12 months. We have 2 kids...one is 4 and one is almost 2. We have traveled the US extensively, but have never been to Texas. I know absolutely nothing about the Houston area, especially the schools. We are in Pennsylvania and prior to having kids have also lived in DC and Florida for a few years. We currently live in an area with an excellent school district. I drive my daughter to preschool, but will be able to walk her to kindergarten next year. What are the BEST areas to raise kids? We do not HAVE to relocate, but his company would like him to build up the Houston office. It looks like maybe Katy, Pearland, Sugarland, West University.
Thank you so much for any help

[kate24]

P.S. his office is located West of the city near the intersection of the West Park tollway and Sam Houston Tollway.
Thanks

[charris911]

If you can afford West University, go to West U. The property values are skyrocketing that close to downtown, and you will be close to employment.

[kate24]

Thanks....the property values are skyrocketing, meaning that home prices are $$$. What is the average cost of a 3-4 bedroom house in that area? What is the feel of that neighborhood like? It's pretty close to downtown and the office?
Thanks so much for any help....it's so different to move when you have children since they are your main concern.

[nana053]

Originally Posted by kate24

My husband has been asked if he would relocate to Houston within the next 9-12 months. We have 2 kids...one is 4 and one is almost 2. We have traveled the US extensively, but have never been to Texas. I know absolutely nothing about the Houston area, especially the schools. We are in Pennsylvania and prior to having kids have also lived in DC and Florida for a few years. We currently live in an area with an excellent school district. I drive my daughter to preschool, but will be able to walk her to kindergarten next year. What are the BEST areas to raise kids? We do not HAVE to relocate, but his company would like him to build up the Houston office. It looks like maybe Katy, Pearland, Sugarland, West University.
Thank you so much for any help

I will put in a plug for Pearland. I really find this to be a very family friendly community. I am not sure where you would buy to walk your child to school. We have a K student and she is on the school bus. I didn't see that many homes near the school we wanted her to be in, but there may be walking distance schools in some areas.

Looking at where he is working though, I suspect Sugarland would work better for you. Schools there are good and you should be able to find a nice home. Pearland is probably too far east and would be a long commute, I think. From what I understand, Katy would be a long commute too as traffic on I-10 is much worse than on 59 or even on hwy 6.

Dorothy

[descovy]

My husband works right where yours plans to... near Beltway 8 and Westpark. We just moved to Cinco Ranch in Katy. We live on the south part... nice short shot to the westpark tollway. Currently we are 25 miles from work with roughly a 30min commute.

We moved from 290/hwy 6 area where we were 20mi from work with a 45-60min commute... worse when it rained.

My husband does leave 6:30 no later than 7am so that does make a difference as the wetpark does get busy later in the morning

A good amount of people that work in his building live in this South Katy area, so that speaks well for the commute.

Katy is very family oriented, schools have an excellent reputation. I have a K and 2nd grader and they are doing great. We really like Cinco Ranch for all the parks, pools, amenities in the neighborhood... along with great schools.

Near "work" is a little iffy... HISD and Alief ISD boundries. West U is a nice in-town destination, but not super close to where you would be working. I sense the commute from Katy would rival the commute from West U

Pearland is way to far south. It doesn't look bad on the map but the commute would be worse than a westpark commute/westheimer pkwy commute.

We also looked into Grand Mission and Lakemont subdivions along the westpark. Closer commute to work. Grand Mission is in Fort Bend ISD, Lakemont in Lamar CISD. Both nice neighborhoods, but shopping, dining, church, etc... all still in Cinco Ranch

[Premont]

Sugar Land is not far from that job address. There's a lot of nice planned communities out there and it's growing rapidly.

[Bike4Life]

If you can afford to live in West U, then go for it and let the dude drive out to the lame suburbs. Do you realize that West U is in the top 5 most exclusive neighborhoods in Houston? But if you have to keep him closer, then somewhere around Memorial or Tanglewood might work but we can't tell how much you can afford.

Cinco Ranch is a...suburb where you'll beat the Jones with a 5,500 sq. ft. of wasteful consumption in a egocentric mansions, if that's what you want. Schools may be good but not better than some HISD schools in exclusive neighborhoods. Besides, many West U folks send their kids to private schools.

[Mr. Football]

Briargrove Park is a very handsome neighborhood located nearby. I also really like the West Memorial neighborhoods zoned to Stratford in Spring Branch ISD. Check out Wilchester, Nottingham Forest, Yorkshire, etc. Of course the Memorial area is one of the nicest in town, but quite pricey comparitively.

For newer homes further out in the suburbs, I'd look at Cinco Ranch, Cypress or Sugar Land.

[kate24]

Thanks so much for all of the info. I have lived in older homes my whole life-our current house was built in 1927, so it is interesting to see all of these brand new homes. They are really nice! The area where we currently live is a suburb with an urban feel. We can walk up the street for sushi, ice cream, walk to the park, etc. It seems that many neighborhoods have good schools. I am going to look into some of the neighborhoods that Bike4Life and Mr. Football suggested. Right now we live in an exclusive area without the exclusive attitude, which is nice. I would personally prefer to live in a smaller house in a similar neighborhood than a huge house. I think we need to take a market trip to get a better feel. Do many people go the beach on the weekend? Is the climate similar to the Florida Gulf Coast?