Possible relocation to Houston? (Sugar Land, The Woodlands: neighborhoods, best school, universities)

[cc&lola]

First off, thanks in advance! I have a ton of questions, and I'd appreciate any answers you can give.
We are planning on relocating in the next year, and I'm doing lots of research to find the city that would best suit our family. I can google till my fingers go numb, but it's nice to get answers from current residents. Houston has popped up on my husband's list of possible job locations.




-We are in our mid thirties with two elementary school age daughters. We want a city, with lots of family friendly activites (weekend festivals, parks, libraries, etc) where we can go out with kids and not be out of place. What area would fit this?



-He is a professor and I am a registered nurse (considering a return to school for my ARNP). We have narrowed our search based on college programs he is interested in, but how hard are RN jobs to find and what is the pay scale for RNs in the area? Do you know of ARNP programs in the area?



-Currently we don't live in the best school district so our daughters go to a private Montessori school that we adore-its like a family. We've had such a horrible public school experience and amazing private experience, that we are really leaning towards keeping them in a private school (perferable Montessori) when we move, but are considering a public (and the $ savings!) if we can move to a location with excellent public schools. What are the best public schools? Or, do you know of an amazing private school?



-We don't really want to live in a cookie cutter development, but want to live around other families with similar-age kids. We'd like a larger home, trees, decent-sized yard, sidewalks. Access to a pool and park would be great. Proximity to the above mentioned schools, university, hospitals would be a huge bonus. Any neighborhood suggestions?



-Our daughters love gymnastics, volleyball, swimming, and track. We don't want to take their activities away from them if we move, so the availability/affordability of lessons/teams for participation, and also spectator events is big. Are there programs in the area?



-We currently attend a large, liberal to middle-of-the-road, Methodist church with great social, kids, youth, and community activities. Anything like this nearby?



-We love to travel, and will also be moving away from family, so we would like to be within an hour of a good airport. How easy is it to get out of here?



-I'm a girly-girl. I need decent shopping. Sound horrible, but it does factor in to my great place to live. If the local mall consists of a Sears, a Payless, and a Supercuts, I'm not gonna be happy. Are there better department stores, chains, and cute boutiques nearby? Awesome bookstores?

[ToyYot]

Budget? Likely work location(s)?

[swopoe]

You can find all of that and more in Houston. I have two elementary age children (and a preschooler), I also love my shopping (can't help it!), we also really want good schools, we live away from family so we fly back east 2 to 3 times a year, etc.

There are probably many places in Houston where you can get all or most of what is on your list depending on your housing budget and on your work commute(s). We are in Sugar Land and love it here though.

Good luck!

[RiceU2008]

Katy,Sugar Land, League City, Pearland, The Woodlands, Cypress, Kingwood are all great family friendly areas in Houston where you would stay would depend on your budget and place of work

[cc&lola]

University of Houston for my husband, unknown for me at this time.

[timtemtym]

Not sure on your budget, but it sounds like you're describing Spring Branch area. I would have said Sugar Land but you said no cookie cutter and the commute to UofH from Sugar Land would be not so happy. Plus there are a ton of hospitals along the I-10 corridor and nurse pay in Houston is pretty good depending on your degrees/certifications/specialities/etc... Memorial City Mall has pretty much anything you'd want and schools in Spring Branch can be hit or miss but if you're living in an upper-middle income area you're going to have a school with similar children who have had similar education opportunities and similar parents pushing them to achieve more and so on.

Another option, though cookie cutter, would be Pearland. The commute to UofH isn't too bad, the Texas Medical Center is the largest complex in the world and not too far. Pearland Town Center and that area would have any shop you'd want and Pearland ISD schools are pretty good.

[bam989863]

When my wife was a professor at UH we lived in Pearland. We lived on the far east side of Pearland and my wife took back roads all the way to work. The highways have lots of traffic so choose your location wisely. Even with taking the back roads it would take her a good 30 to 40 minutes to get to work. The thing about UH is due to where it is located within the city, there are not many nice family neighborhoods close to it. UH has a weird feel to it, it doesn't give off the college vibe. I don't know what University your husband is at now but UH is definitely a different animal.

Also as far as schools go, the public schools tend to be larger in Texas. It is no big deal for a high school to have 3500 to 4000 students. I worked at a 7th and 8th grade campus and we had almost 800 kids in two grades. We will be sending our daughter to Catholic schools and we found Houston to be severely lacking when it came to Catholic School options. The good thing is the east side of Pearland has St. Helen's church and school but once they get out of the 8th grade there aren't any catholic high schools close to continue their education at.

[houston-nomad]

Check out 77096/77035 on HAR.com. It has what you're looking for-- proximity to universities, med center, Galleria for shopping/restaurants. Great family neighborhood with pools and parks and activities. I recommend Maplewood South for the community and the pool, but other subdivisions in this area are great too. Oh, it's also close to St. Catherine's Montessori and Post Oak Montessori schools.

I commute to UH from here, it's a decent commute (20-30 minutes door to door, 610 south mostly, which doesn't get much traffic). Beware of the Pearland commute; Pearland is deceptively close (it looks close but 288 is a parking lot).

[chris_ut]

Kingwood has a very good Montessori School (Pines) but it does not go through high school. School of the Woods is on the west side of Houston and does. Kingwood also has everything else you want but would be a bit of a drive to UH if he commutes rush hour times.

[cc&lola]

Thanks so much for your replies!