Living in AZ & Want to relocate to TX - How should I start? (Houston: 2015)

[DrD76]

Hello City-Data People!
Long-time reader of City-Data here... and a newbie/first-time poster!

I am currently (as of Oct 2013) living in AZ.
Married and expecting our first-borns (Twins) in Jan 2014.
Interested in relocating, for the very first time, to TX.
Currently debating between Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston... but will most likely go with Houston.
Move Date would be late 2014/early 2015... so I have over a year to plan and execute my move.

I understand that Houston has quite a few Master Planned Communities (MPC) in the top 20 nationwide, so I am inclined to go for one of those.

I am looking for people's past experiences/suggestions/advice/recommendations on how and when to start coordinating a long-distance move.

Some of the questions that I am looking for an answer for:
- Timeline... If I want to complete my move by early 2015, how soon should I start "looking"?
- Would hiring the buyer's agent by my 1st step? If so, when should I do that?
- How should I go about looking for and hiring a buyer's agent?
- I understand that Houston is a huge city... so which "areas" should be of interest to me?

The things we are looking for in a home:
- Preferably New construction
- Master Planned Community suitable for families with children
- Want to stay in the same home until kids become young adults... so 15-20 years
- Excellent School District
- Easy commute to IAH... I am a consultant, so I will be either working from home OR frequently flying to client locations around the country, so proximity to IAH is preferable
- Homes with Large Lots... at least a quarter acre
- Big house... 3000+ sq ft
- Preferably NOT cookie-cutter houses
- needless to say... but... SAFE neighborhood
- Budget... can't go over $600k

Looking for people's past experiences/suggestions/advice/recommendations on how and when to start coordinating a long-distance move.

Thank you very much!
DrD

[trbstang]

You will want to be on the North side of Houston, probably the Woodlands, Kingwood, Fall Creek areas, all nice master planned communities. All of them would give you a reasonable commute to IAH, probably less than 30 min even in traffic, and most of the time much less. I would start out by looking on www.har.com in those areas to see what kind of homes are available in your area, price, and your qualifications. Often the new homes inventory will be listed too.

Depending on if you want a new home from scratch or will buy an inventory home would govern when you should start looking. Most new homes will take say 4 months to build, so you need to add a month or so to find an agent and do all of your looking/negotiations, etc. before signing and setting up your move in date.

There are several realtors on here that can give more specific information, but at least this will give you some ideas.

Oh, and congrats on your twins! We have 12 yr old boys, and they are fun! Luckily, it is not exactly "twice" as much work, but it is certainly more work than one.

Good luck!

[DrD76]

Thank you very much for that helpful information!
I appreciate that. That will be a good start for me.
We are expecting a boy and a girl! Very excited!
Thank you!
DrD