Atascocita Area (Houston, Post: houses, living, shop)

[modster]

Originally Posted by s-viveiros

My husband and I have been looking at homes in the Atascocita area. We were wondering if any of you live there and what you think about it...We are relocating from Charleston, SC at the end of November...Not sure if we are going to buy right away or rent for a few months first. He is former Air Force and I am a Certified Dental Assistant...What is the job market like in this area? Crime rates, cleanliness...We are young...early 20's...and still want to go back to school...how close would we be to downtown for nightlife and college? Any information on this area is greatly appreciated!! Thanks!

You would be very far from downtown.

[Txgal33]

You would be very far from down town as just stated. If you are a young couple planning on staying that way for awhile and not having kiddos I would suggest looking closer to downtown and maybe renting or buying a condo so you can be closer to those things.
You will quickly learn it is all in who you talk to on whats what on this board. This is my two cents and some may say it is just worth that but here it is anyways.
Atascocita is a very nice area. We moved up here from Clearlake in 02. Love Clearlake just not the home prices down there. That and when we drove up here it felt more like home with all the mature trees. We lived here for five years and then moved away for two. We moved back this past summer to the exact same community. We LOVE it here and it is home to us. We started our family here and hope to raise it here. It is grown soooo much in just the past two years. Reason to love it all the more I say.
Several wonderful communities to choose from all varying in pricing. We choose Eagle Springs. The people overall are very nice though some idiots out there like anywhere. As for crime, that is an issue anywhere these days. It is a sign of the times. NO matter what community you choose to live in there will be crime. You just sadly enough have to be on your guard at all times. Hopefully it will pass in the next few years.
Our first 5 years here we only experienced theft from our property twice. First time my husbands truck was broken into. We were only the third house on the sac and no street lamps at the time and we parked in the driveway and not the garage. So duh to us. Second time was just before we moved and all of our porch items were stolen. There had been a rash of those thefts at the time. Knocking on wood very hard we have not experienced any of that thus far though we do know it occurs in and around the community. You just have to be smart and get to know your neighbors. watch out for each other. Overall do I feel safe when I go out and about? The answer would be yes. Do I ever let my guard down? That answer would be no. I believe though that would be my answer no matter where I lived.
In closing, the area is a great area though yes there are bad situations that arise as in any area of the country. Very diverse mixture of people here from young to old to ethnicities. I would say though that there is an overwhelming amount of young families here.
Happy home hunting. I know it would be hard to leave Charleston. It is such a beautiful area. We always loved to visit when we lived in GA.

[Yonkers]

Originally Posted by tdhg566

I WOULD research the school zones and make SURE you get in the Atascocita or Kingwood district and not the Humble district.

Just wanted to point out that Atascocita HS, Kingwood HS, and Humble High School are all in Humble Independent School District.

[Txgal33]

Originally Posted by Yonkers

Just wanted to point out that Atascocita HS, Kingwood HS, and Humble High School are all in Humble Independent School District.

School district is important for resale but lets remember they are only 22 so my guess is if they buy they will not still be in the same house by the tim e they have a kid in high school if they choose top have children.

[Crazymomof3]

Atascocita is nice (I grew up in Kingwood). Up until 3 months ago, we lived in Huffman (just on the other side of Lake Houston) and we spent a great deal of time in Atascocita. I know there are some excellent neighborhoods in the Atascocita area...Pinehurst comes to mind. My mother lived in Pinehurst for a long time and loved it. Home values are good, and it's a nice, clean area. However, Atascocita can be a beast to get around...especially on a Saturday. We've often gone through Kingwood via Lake Houston Parkway to get to Humble. On another note, it isn't that hard to get out to Beltway 8 to get into other parts of Houston.
I'd say on a good day you could get from the heart of Atascocita to Midtown in about 40 minutes or so. The shopping in Atascocita is ok...there's your usual Target, Ross, Lowe's, etc. I love the HEB there but parking is a pain. As far as restaurants...there's a few good ones. We loved going to Los Vega for 'ritas and Mexican food.

We're in Laramie, WY and we wouldn't always drive 30 miles in to Houston to go to Costco or whatever, but sadly, we'll drive 70 miles for a friggin' Target. It's all relative. Houston is one of those cities where you pretty much have to drive, but you get used to it.

Good luck!

[Txgal33]

Originally Posted by Crazymomof3

Atascocita is nice (I grew up in Kingwood). Up until 3 months ago, we lived in Huffman (just on the other side of Lake Houston) and we spent a great deal of time in Atascocita. I know there are some excellent neighborhoods in the Atascocita area...Pinehurst comes to mind. My mother lived in Pinehurst for a long time and loved it. Home values are good, and it's a nice, clean area. However, Atascocita can be a beast to get around...especially on a Saturday. We've often gone through Kingwood via Lake Houston Parkway to get to Humble. On another note, it isn't that hard to get out to Beltway 8 to get into other parts of Houston.
I'd say on a good day you could get from the heart of Atascocita to Midtown in about 40 minutes or so. The shopping in Atascocita is ok...there's your usual Target, Ross, Lowe's, etc. I love the HEB there but parking is a pain. As far as restaurants...there's a few good ones. We loved going to Los Vega for 'ritas and Mexican food.

We're in Laramie, WY and we wouldn't always drive 30 miles in to Houston to go to Costco or whatever, but sadly, we'll drive 70 miles for a friggin' Target. It's all relative. Houston is one of those cities where you pretty much have to drive, but you get used to it.

Good luck!

Thats funny and very true! I wish that we were closer to things like Costco, Ikea, The Woodlands but after awhile you get use to the 30-40 min drive. It's not that they are so far away but really just traffic in most cases. I love that we have the hated WM, Target, HomeGoods and Hobby Lobby all within 10 minutes though.

[Crazymomof3]

Yeah, we'd gripe about Atascocita traffic to get to Chick fil A but now we'll load the whole fam up and drive 70 miles to get us some Chick fil A and a trip to Target!

I'm telling ya....I miss my little Huffman/Atascocita/Kingwood/Humble bubble! I'd give a pinky toe to shop at HEB again!

[tdhg566]

Originally Posted by Yonkers

Just wanted to point out that Atascocita HS, Kingwood HS, and Humble High School are all in Humble Independent School District.

Thanks for the correction. It was late and I used the wrong word. Should have said to avoid Humble HS not Humble district.

[Txgal33]

Originally Posted by Crazymomof3

Yeah, we'd gripe about Atascocita traffic to get to Chick fil A but now we'll load the whole fam up and drive 70 miles to get us some Chick fil A and a trip to Target!

I'm telling ya....I miss my little Huffman/Atascocita/Kingwood/Humble bubble! I'd give a pinky toe to shop at HEB again!

That intersection is the worse ever!!! We had been gone two years and moved back. Came in on a freaking Friday at lunch time thinking no big deal. Sat at that intersection for 30 minutes. Its like nobody works anymore. We try to avoid it at all cost. We will even go thru the HEB parking lot or go up like we are heading to Kings River and then back down to get there. Its crazy.

[Crazymomof3]

That intersection on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday is brutal! I used to tell my husband, "doesn't anyone work on Friday?" It was a mess trying to get through there...anytime mid morning on is rough.

Coming from Huffman, we'd go through Atascocita Shores and avoid 1960 altogether, and sometimes go through Kings River through Kingwood....just so we could keep it moving! Pretty sad. But, I do miss home terribly. I'd gladly take back some of that traffic inconvenience just to have some modern conveniences again.