Moving from the San Fernando Valley

[Texas Ag 93]

OP,

I posted my response to your same query in the Denver forum. As of this writing, I think you will find that the responders here have offered very constructive and useful comments. Wonder if the Denver forum will catch up and give you the "compare areas of LA to areas of Denver" response you sought.

[Encino.Man]

Originally Posted by Texas Ag 93

OP,

I posted my response to your same query in the Denver forum. As of this writing, I think you will find that the responders here have offered very constructive and useful comments. Wonder if the Denver forum will catch up and give you the "compare areas of LA to areas of Denver" response you sought.

Thank you. I really am appreciating the helpful advise here on the Houston forum. This is a really big move for us especially since my boys haven't lived anywhere else and I want to find somewhere that they will be able to adjust easily to and be happy

[LoraMao]

Hi Encino Man,

I moved here in 2008 from Chicago. We chose Katy because of the schools. We love it in Katy. There is an older section of Katy that is still very nice that has been that way for years. You can find some really nice 4/2/2 homes for $250,000 to $300,000. Most of the people moving here are moving to the west because that's where all the new homes were being built. However, Katy to the west is all built up now. They are now moving north of I-10 and will be building a brand new master planned community there. Katy's housing prices keep going up. Some houses sell within the broker's office before it even hits the MLS. It is also that way in Sugar Land. People are competing for the houses. Some offer more than the listing and still lose out to a cash buyer. The Memorial area is another hot spot for people moving in because it's close to Energy Corridor. However, those homes are much older and there seems to be a lot of foundation problems on the homes. I'm not saying all are like that, but the ones I've looked at always had cracks here and there. The good thing about Katy is they have man made ditches that collect the extra rain water. We didn't have the flooding like some of the areas. So, be careful about flood areas, especially along rivers. Katy has added many jobs and they are building a boardwalk, convention center, and other businesses seem to be relocating their headquarters here. Your biggest concern will be traffic no matter where you live in Houston or its suburbs. You want to be located closer to where your going to work because traffic on I-10, Westpark Tollway, Hwy. 59, Hwy. 45 are awful in rush hour. It use to take me 45 minutes to an hour to do 16 miles to one of my jobs. Also, you do not want to live north by Woodlands because Exxon moved their headquarters there and has a house shortage too. I would highly recommend renting a home for a year so that you can check out where your working and see how the traffic is. You can also get to know the area better and make a better decision on where you should be located. We subleased an apartment for three months while we looked for a home. I hope this helps a bit.

[timtemtym]

Coming from Encino, you'd like the Energy Corridor along Memorial (77079 zip). Sadly you won't have the hillside views like Encino, but you also won't have the smog soupy skies! West Houston pollution is nothing like the SFV cloudy pollution. Houses are nice, schools are good. The High School is very highly rated.

You will find a nice, self-contained area with the things you need similar to what you'd find along Ventura.

[Rip808]

Originally Posted by Encino.Man

Hey y'all! We are a family of 5 (me, wife and 3 boys - 13, and 9 year old twins). We live in Encino, which is an upper middle class suburban area in the south part of the Valley. I'm an LA native, and my wife is originally from Houston (Alief) but her family moved here when she was a kid. We love it here and we love CA but we don't like the taxes, the high cost for a mediocre quality of life, the politics (we aren't liberal or conservative..very moderate/center-right but CA politics are quite crazy and one sided), and the fact that even in our neighborhood with $1,000,000 homes the schools are still rated a C and have gang issues.

I am contemplating an offer in Houston, and I would just like to know a little bit more about the place. My wife's info is 30 years out of date haha. Ideally we want would an area like the one we are in now: safe and established, middle to upper middle class, lots of families, safe but also better public schools, lower housing costs, and less dysfunctional local government (we are under the jurisdiction of the city of Los Angeles which is run by idiots). The pictures and stories from my wife and her parents describe their old area that way, but from what I've heard its gone downhill. Also we want schools with strong athletics since our oldest will be entering HS and is quite the football maniac.

I'm looking for some guidance, could Houston fit us? Any areas you had in mind? No specific commute as I am a pharmaceutical rep and thus will have to travel all over, it would be nice to be in a central location with access to freeways for that purpose. If anyone here is familiar with LA and the southern and western San Fernando Valley, can you recommend some areas that could make us feel at home? Also, my wife is an experienced administrative assistant/receptionist and is having issues breaking back into the workforce here because she isn't bilingual, is this also a large preclusion to employment as it is here?

Another city I might have an opportunity in is Denver, so if you think that'd be a better fit please let me know.

Thanks

Google: Cinco Ranch... your welcome. Some communities in the Inland Empire became infested b/c of the subprime mortgage mess and all the gangs that are in the general vicinity (Fontana, Ontario, San Bernardino, etc). Heck, even the high desert is full of filth now. No such things happened here in 2008-2010, Cinco Ranch is a very desirable area. High property taxes keeps things in check. We moved here from San Francisco almost a decade ago and have watched the area blossom and would NEVER move back to the plague that is California. We specifically chose South Katy for the schools, and it has been a great experience through and through.

Some high schools to check out:

Cinco Ranch High School
Seven Lakes High School
Katy High School (State champs in football, very competitive football program)
Tompkins High School (opened two years ago)