Moving to Houston in a few months (Allen, Pearland: crime rates, houses)

[jdub45231]

Hello everyone! I will be moving to Houston in a few months. I'm single guy here, close to 40. I will be working downtown on Allen Parkway. I would like to buy home between 125k and 150k with an attached 2 car garage for my truck and motorcycles. I'm from a pretty small town, so I want to be in a safe, family type area that has a smaller town kind of feel to it (as much as possible in a big city like Houston). I would like a newer house probably 1500 to 2200 square feet built newer than 20 years old...preferably newer than 10. Probably my biggest worry is the traffic. What area or suburb is best for me to be looking? What area/suburb has the best commute to allen parkway area?

[dwrecker]

Originally Posted by jdub45231

Hello everyone! I will be moving to Houston in a few months. I'm single guy here, close to 40. I will be working downtown on Allen Parkway. I would like to buy home between 125k and 150k with an attached 2 car garage for my truck and motorcycles. I'm from a pretty small town, so I want to be in a safe, family type area that has a smaller town kind of feel to it (as much as possible in a big city like Houston). I would like a newer house probably 1500 to 2200 square feet built newer than 20 years old...preferably newer than 10. Probably my biggest worry is the traffic. What area or suburb is best for me to be looking? What area/suburb has the best commute to allen parkway area?

125-150 is the avg home cost here so you will be in a sea of homes for that cost. you can get to downtown/allen parkway fairly quick from pearland. 288 is one of the least crowded freeways from the suburbs and it has a small town feel to it as well. the worst freeways for traffic are 45, 10, 59, and 290

[likeeveryoneelse]

allen parkway is pretty much in the center of town, so every suburb is gonna be about the same distance away.
suburbs south and east have less traffic in general. but most people consider them to be less desirable. i dont personally, but most every thread encourages looking west or northwest.

anything with a "small town feel" is gonna be an hours commute or so, as most suburbs nearby have at least small city feel to it, and there are few areas with small town charm. Though there are pockets/neighborhoods that have small town charm to them in some of the suburbs.

[jdub45231]

Thanks for the feedback! From looking at Zillow, it seems like alot of the houses in south or southeast are older. How is Atascocita area instead? Or Spring? Are these pretty safe areas? How about the commute? I've been reading horror stories about commute from Katy and Cypress so guess I will steer clear of those. Any other thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

[likeeveryoneelse]

you will read horror stories about every area. And you will read rave reviews about almost every area.
"pretty safe" is relative. Most every suburb, whether its tomball, or atascocita, or sugar land, or league city all have similar crime rates.
While there are some inner city areas generally regarded as high crime areas, most of the suburbs have your average suburban crime rates, with none being sky high, and none being guaranteed safe.

Commutes from Spring, and Cypress are essentially the same. I-45 is bad for traffic. north and south. 290 from cypress is worse though.
The north/northwest is generally the most desirable places, and therefore the fastest growing section, which means anywhere in that quadrant is going to have the most traffic, and arguably the worst commute.
It also has arguably the least culture as well, since its just huge development after huge development and strip mall after strip mall next to big box stores. which may not fit your idea of "small town" most of the west to north suburbs you wont be able to distinguish from any other suburb in america.

[jdub45231]

Thanks again for your feedback! Is there any suburb where the commute would be half an hour or 45 minutes? Or am I looking at an hour or more no matter what?

[Oildog]

Use this site to search. Allen Parkway is zip code 77019

www.har.com

[trbstang]

I work at Allen Pkwy & Montrose/ Waugh. We have people from all over the city that I work with. Two of the better areas for commutes are from Pearland down hwy 288 and up north on Hwy 59 from the Kingwood/ Atascosita areas. Both are usually better than other drives according to what my co-workers say. I live towards Cypress, but right at the beltway & 290, and my commute is about 30-45 min, BUT I generally work a "later shift" from about 9-6 or so to avoid most of the traffic. During rush hour my commute is 45 min to an hour or so.

Welcome and good luck on your search.

[DejaBlue]

Originally Posted by jdub45231

Thanks for the feedback! From looking at Zillow, it seems like alot of the houses in south or southeast are older. How is Atascocita area instead? Or Spring? Are these pretty safe areas? How about the commute? I've been reading horror stories about commute from Katy and Cypress so guess I will steer clear of those. Any other thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Katy = I-10
Cypress = 290.

As far as Houston those are the Devil's freeways. You live in Katy and really there's only one way out...I-10. Alternate routes no happening. There are none really that move good. The same with Cypress. 290 is it.

Rush hour 290 is ALWAYS full of accidents. "290 southbound there's an accident left lanes, right, center" jeez. I'm always smh listening to the traffic check and feel real bad for the people who have that as their only real option.

Originally Posted by isellpower

And there it is folks, the good ole "culture" reference. Is being around white people really that bad? Name on nation that benefited from "diversity" or mixed culture. The U.S. is being ruined by it and one could argue that Africa was ruined by it as the Europeans took over nations only to leave them in disarray. To the op, be VERY weary of someone touting a "culturally diverse" neighborhood. It pretty much means "no white people."

And here it is folks, a good ol' troll lurking from under the bridge

[jdub45231]

I'm just refreshing my post here. I'm traveling down to houston after Christmas to start looking at areas of town. I'm hoping to narrow things down to a couple areas, so I can find a realtor that knows what they are talking about. What I'm looking for really hasn't changed much since my original post. However, I will add, that I want to be in an area that is growing and property values would be increasing over time. I'm the type of guy that would rather have an average house in a great neighborhood vs. the best house in a bad one. Any advice or thoughts at all would be welcome!!!