Moving to Houston - this is like drinking from a fire hydrant! (Sugar Land: rental, countertops)

[momrock]

This is a long post because I need HELP! Figured I'd answer as many questions up front...

The husband just started a job in Houston, which means we're moving. We're not in a major rush; we live close enough that he's living there during the week and commuting home on the weekends. But this is not a lifestyle we want to live for an extended period.

So, we're house hunting. And trying to decide where to live is like drinking from a fire hydrant.

In theory, we'd love to live in Montrose or the Heights. We love walkability, older homes with character, cultural diversity, blah, blah, blah. We used to live in NJ just outside of Manhattan and loved the community.

But we hated how tight it felt living on a 7,000 sf lot. We moved a few years ago to a small town in East Texas. We love the cost of living, the space (on half an acre), the ability to have a swimming pool and a giant house, etc. And the school district we're in now is great! But we hate being SO far away from everything interesting (food, bars, live music, grocery stores). And we dare not mention in polite company that we're not strict Republican conservatives.

So we're a bit torn between the boring, white, strip-mall suburbs (that are inexpensive!) or the congested, expensive, mixed-bag schools of the inner loop (that are interesting!). And we're not wealthy enough to have it all.

Husband is working right off of 59 in SW Houston, inside the loop. In all likelihood, I'll find a job in the same general vicinity as him or in East Houston. I'm an industrial construction cost controls person, so that's just a guess.

We're open to a project house and in fact, would prefer that over one that had somebody else put in granite countertops in a poorly laid-out kitchen. But our max budget to spend (with rehab budget included) is $550k for a 4-bedroom, 2500 sf house on a lot that is at least 10,000 sf. And we have 3 boys (12, 6 & 3) who will be in public school.

The neighborhoods we're looking at now include northern part of Northside Village, Meyerland, and maybe Riverside Terrace. Or we're willing to conside a suburb if traffic isn't evil and it isn't all chain restaurants and malls.

The last kicker... we'll probably start with a rental home for the first six months to a year. But I don't want to make the kids change schools twice, so I'd like to find a rental (that will take us, our three kids, AND our three dogs) for 6 months to a year in the same area we'll eventually buy in.

Sorry this was SO long. Thanks for hanging in with me till the end. Let the floodgates of opinions open! ;-)

[DavidAg02]

I would suggest something in Spring Branch. You'll find good schools there (mostly), larger lots for well under $550k, and will offer a pretty good commute for your husband. It's a good mix between suburban and inner-loop style living.

[Meyerland]

Riverside Terrace has terrible schools for your boys. It's too late to magnet into better schools. I would rule that out unless you can go private.

The Meyerland area has better schools, although home inventory is low right now. Make sure the homes you look at are zoned to Bellaire high school.

Spring Branch is a great area, but it will be a bit of a commute for your budget.

Sugar Land might be a better fit, especially with your work location.

If you can up your budget, maybe Woodshire would be a good fit. It's in the loop and is zoned to Bellaire HS. I believe it is zoned to Pershing middle school, but I'm not sure.

Also Knollwood village might be a possibility.

[Danbo1957]

Agree, Spring Branch ISD. Look at the Kirkwood at IH10 area (both north and south of the freeway. You can easily find nice homes on decent sized lots with mature trees, from $375 to 600K. More expensive housing is available. The trick, of course, is to make the commute worth it, no matter where you live.

If you're dead set on living inside the Loop, good luck.

[momrock]

Thanks for the replies so far! Magnet schools are definitely on our radar, if not for this year, then for next. Our oldest is off at Space Camp right now and is an uber-wanna-be-an-engineer nerd, so telling him there were engineering magnet schools he *might* get in to is part of how we're selling the move. Does that rule Spring Branch out? Magnet is how we were considering Riverside Terrace... not going to spend money on private schools.

Woodshire... not sure we can up our budget enough to sneak into there. $550K is really pushing it for us already. Looks like buying just a lot may exhaust that in Woodshire.

[momrock]

We're not dead set on living inside the 610 loop. Saw some interesting stuff in Pearland till I read about this parking lot they call 288.

[eyeye]

I live in meyerland. It is a good location, close enough to most places you will want to go. Not walkable. Most of houston isnt. All the schools are decent except Westbury high school and fondren middle. Bellaire highschool is excellent. Johnston middle is nice too, but they have an old building. But it will be rebuilt soon.

You may really like Lovett elementary. Its got a new building and has a lot of enrichment classes. Kolter is also a good school. Harod too. Most primary schools are good enough. But they have different favors.

You can save a ton of money on housing by going even a block or two outside of meyerland. Plus more people are updating the older homes instead of ripping them down and rebuilding.

I wouldn't bank too much on magnet. The district has been threatening to get rid of it for years and are starting to actually make moves towards doing it.

[eyeye]

One thing I like about meyerland is its a 20 minute drive to the med center, museum district (including the zoo), sugarland that has a lot of kid friendly businesses, heights and montrose. Its about 15 minutes to the galleria and river oaks. About 30 minutes to downtown. 25 minutes to hobby airport, and 50 to intercontential. Its about an hour to Galveston.

If you aren't used to driving, that might seem like a lot...but houston is a driving city and 20 minutes is nothing. You can also get to most of these places without going on the freeway.

[eyeye]

Oh and I would really just pick which school you want and rent in that school zone, even if you have to rent so,etching not perfect. And then home shop in that zone.

We used to rent and had 3 dogs (even a pit bull) and never had trouble finding a house to rent. But it did mean we had to be a Little less picky.

[houston-nomad]

Originally Posted by momrock

Thanks for the replies so far! Magnet schools are definitely on our radar, if not for this year, then for next. Our oldest is off at Space Camp right now and is an uber-wanna-be-an-engineer nerd, so telling him there were engineering magnet schools he *might* get in to is part of how we're selling the move. Does that rule Spring Branch out? Magnet is how we were considering Riverside Terrace... not going to spend money on private schools.

Woodshire... not sure we can up our budget enough to sneak into there. $550K is really pushing it for us already. Looks like buying just a lot may exhaust that in Woodshire.

My situation is somewhat similar to yours (work location, kids, desire to be near the action). We lived in Riverside Terrace and LOVED the proximity to everything. But the schools were hopeless and we failed multiple times to magnet in to better schools. Plus, there was not a great sense of community; we tried to make friends in the neighborhood, met some friendly people, but it never got anywhere. Plus we saw a lot of sketchy stuff going on in the neighborhood.

We moved to the Meyerland area and have LOVED it. Friends from Montrose can't get over how old-timey, friendly, and generally neighborly it is here. We have made tons of friends. Look at Maplewood South-- our community pool is the most fun in Houston, I swear. Our little league (westbury) is awesome. JCC offers lots of activities. It's like a small town within a big city.

Between those two choices, for a family, there is really no comparison.