Southern Trails subdivision in Pearland - Seeking input (Houston, Allen: 2015, insurance)

[Phishman]

My wife and I are considering a move from Montrose to Pearland. While we love Montrose, we're looking for a community that will be better for our 17 month old daughter and any siblings that she might have down the road. We're looking at Pearland specifically as I work in The Galleria while my wife works in Clear Lake. West Pearland is just about the exact geographic center between the two.

We’d like to keep a home purchase under $600K and are looking at the newest developments in Southern Trails. After an admittedly cursory look, we really like what we see: the home builders, the lakes, pools and running trails are all great. Pearland Town Center isn’t exactly Highland Village, but it’ll suffice. It seems that at 7am the commute from Southern Trails to The Galleria and to NASA Rd 1 is ~30 minutes according to Google Maps. I have no idea if that’s accurate.

I’d like to hear from this forum about the downsides. According to the many threads I’ve read on this forum there are a few things people gripe about:

- Taxes – It seems that property tax is high. True?
- Insurance – As Brazoria is a coastal county it appears that hail and wind insurance is required. Is that correct?
- Shadow Creek Ranch – SCR is just on the other side of West Broadway per my understanding. It seems to get a lot of grief on this forum but I’m not sure why. We’ve driven through it and it seems nice. Apparently you can smell the dump from the west side?
- Schools – Being zoned in Pearland ISD seems preferable to Alvin ISD. That said, they’re building at least one new elementary school and a high school to serve Southern Trails. I suspect that this will bring improvements in education quality but it’s a guess at this point.
- Traffic – Is traffic to/from Galleria and Clear Lake that bad from Southern Trails? It seems that access to 288 is quite easy from West Pearland.

Other questions:

What are the racial and economic demographics? – It seemed that Southern Trails was fairly racially diverse (a good thing) but that’s after spending only a few hours there. What’s it really like? Most houses in the "older" part of Southern Trails seem to be near the ~$300K price point.

[sentrywoods]

Southern Trails is a nice and diverse neighborhood. I don't have exact demographics numbers but if you google Southern Trails demographics, you will find some information. You are correct, the taxes are a bit high but in return you get good schools. I hear people say they prefer Pearland ISD over Alvin ISD. I have yet to find a good reason why. You will be required to have windstorm insurance. As far as traffic goes, my wife works off of Allen PKWY and if she leaves at 7:00am, it takes her ~40 min. When she leaves at 6:00am, it takes ~25 min. We live in the Silverlake area, so that adds on a few extra minutes.

[DSL_PWR]

We looked in that area several times. Ended up building in Katy instead.

Taxes are high for that area.
Yes, insurance is required.
Traffic sucks and as they build more it will get worse.
Crime has gotten a lot worse in the past few years as well.

[irishndude4]

- Shadow Creek Ranch – SCR is just on the other side of West Broadway per my understanding. It seems to get a lot of grief on this forum but I’m not sure why. We’ve driven through it and it seems nice. Apparently you can smell the dump from the west side?

I'm not sure why either. It is a nice place to live and I have had no issues whatsoever with our home on the Far West side of SCR. Smell is fine, so let's please try and stop these ridiculous rumors.

[sentrywoods]

I've never smelled anything while in SCR.

[Timnwendy]

I've lived in Southern Trails since 2008. Still love it.

Taxes and insurance are the only downsides that I can relate to, since I don't have school-age kids. However, my neighbors with children are (overall) happy with AISD. The only minor headache has been the fact that we have had to adjust to some school rezoning within AISD, since the area is growing so much.

SCR is our big brother to the north but it is not bad. I live on the east side of Southern Trails, and my house is probably a little over 2 miles (as the birds) fly from the landfill that borders SCR. I have never smelled any odor from it at my house. We have an active resident community on Yahoo and Facebook, and I have never heard my neighbors complain about the odor (even those living in the Enclave, on the west side of Kingsley Dr.).

Traffic is traffic. It will probably be worse going to the Galleria than going to Clear Lake, and you'll probably want to take the Sam Houston tollroad if you're headed to CL, so consider that toll cost in your decision.

We have low crime in ST. We have an active Neighborhood Watch program (one of the few in Pearland) that does help in this regard.

You can pm me if you want more details of ST.

[hbcu]

but lo and behold..KP Homes has popped in and dropped a huge community behind Southern Trails off 521 and Broadway..

even have the nerves to rip off half the Shadow Creek name..lol

Shadow Grove - Pearland, TX| KB Home

[Phishman]

Thanks to all for the input!

According to Wikipedia:

The 2012 property tax (combined) on homes in Southern Trails is $3.725816 for every $100 valuation. This includes tax for MUD district 34.

3.73%!? That means more taxes are roughly equivalent to one's mortgage payment with 20% down. Yikes.

Do we know the combined tax rate for 2014/2015?

[Timnwendy]

Originally Posted by hbcu

but lo and behold..KP Homes has popped in and dropped a huge community behind Southern Trails off 521 and Broadway..

even have the nerves to rip off half the Shadow Creek name..lol

Shadow Grove - Pearland, TX| KB Home

This statement is not really accurate. First, that is KB Homes, not KP. Second, the new Southlake subdivision (Perry Homes) sits between Southern Trails and the site where Shadow Grove will be developed. So (IMHO), Shadow Grove may be Southlake's issue, but not ST's. Also, Shadow Grove will be in FB county, so it won't impact Alvin ISD.

[nervouslaughter]

Originally Posted by Phishman

Thanks to all for the input!

According to Wikipedia:

The 2012 property tax (combined) on homes in Southern Trails is $3.725816 for every $100 valuation. This includes tax for MUD district 34.

3.73%!? That means more taxes are roughly equivalent to one's mortgage payment with 20% down. Yikes.

Do we know the combined tax rate for 2014/2015?

They won't be set until fall.