Househunting in Houston & Sugar Land...I am so over it! Talk me back from the ledge, guys? + (League City: HOA, countertops)

[Sugar Land Yak]

I might have missed it somewhere but if you can go a little futher southwest(Richmond/Rosenberg) you can do it. You need a good agent who is willing to spend the time to get you what you want...

[Lbjen]

Originally Posted by skybluesky

Where did you end up building, if I may ask? And congrats on your new home!

Grand Parkway area of Richmond.

Have you also looked at Missouri City addresses? Some of them zone to SL schools, and it's obviously very close to Sugar Land.

[GTRdad]

poor guy. Posts like this doesnt enbolden me to find a new house with my dream garage. I'll stick with my *unsavory part of town* with recognized schools, until middleschool i guess. goodluck!

[Aggiebuttercup]

Pearland is nice, depending on where you look. I'm looking out the window of my brand-new house to the extremely tall trees in the field across the street. There's a horse pasture within walking distance, and I'm less then 5 minutes from the Beltway. I didn't like the west side of Pearland (that is closer to your family), but the east side has some very nice areas. Some of them are in MUDs, so the taxes are a little over 3%.

Friendswood has some lovely homes too.

I had friends buy in Sugar Land over the summer, and they had the exact same problem you did - homes were going under contract the same day they were listed.

[Failed Engineer]

Based on your responses about the other suburbs, my honest take is that you aren't going to find what you are looking for in your budget. Houston is more expensive than common thought is. You have to make compromises, and significant ones, in that price range.

[AK123]

Building new would fix the problem of outdated interiors and problematic sellers... but then you'd also be further out, have no real trees and have high taxes.

I think the Sugar Land subdivisions of Summerfield, Stratford Park, Village of Oak Lake would fit your criteria. But inventory is probably very low right now, considering the time of year... the best listings all probably sold by end of summer. I bet that's a lot of the problem. When something good comes up in the "off season", you'll have to be ready to jump on it immediately.

[npaoinc]

At 6 AM every day, there are a lot of people wake up and pick up their devices to see the email from HAR they have it set up every time new house that meet their criteria come in the market.

Have you done that?

Seeing your limitation, it's very tight and you might have to work harder in a different way. As a reminder, you are looking at Sugarland that there will be a lot of People who would do anything to have their kids in Clement. I am pretty sure there will be tons of those who would check their HAR set up every hour to see whether there are any new houses come in and try to catch it before the email send out in the next morning. Being passive and wait for your realtor would not work. You need to be super active and initiate the search. Home goes to pending less than 24 hrs become quite common in those popular area.

Sounds crazy, right? But it's the fact.

I can say all this cause I am one of those too. (different area though)

But if you have done all that, being patient might be the only thing you need.

[Meyerland]

You could find a home east of 99 in Katy that fits your requirements. You may have to update some off the décor, but you would have the schools, trees, and lower price.

My first home was in Alief west of Hwy. 6 and Westheimer, and it is now worth around $186,000. It is smaller, backs onto Westheimer, zoned to iffy schools, and is outdated in décor. Housing is cheap in Houston, if you are willing to compromise on everything.

You can still find a home that has most of what you want, but it comes at a cost. Figure out what you can compromise on: schools, décor, lot size, location, on a busy street, backing onto retail, home size, etc....

http://search.har.com/engine/23218-E...AR45361359.htm

Here is a home that is in good condition, great schools, near shopping, amenities, and easy access to 99 and the tollroad. It does back onto a pretty busy street.

here's another one in Firethorne. It has great schools, newer, close to I10, amenities. Not sure if anything is wrong with

http://search.har.com/engine/28106-E...AR76205496.htm

[Lbjen]

If you have a smartphone get the Redfin app, set up an account and you'll get an alert every time a new listing that meets your preset criteria comes up. I see some of these places go under contract within a day or two.

[slnt]

Some other areas to consider are: Sienna Plantation, River Park, and some of the neighborhoods in First Colony, Fieldstone, Lakes of Bella Terra, LCISD-part of Pecan Grove (you might get more for your money than on the FBISD side), and Aliana.

Here is a link that might help you with your house search in Sugar Land: Sugar Land Neighborhoods

A caveat, typically the newer the area, the higher the tax rate.

Good Luck!