How's living in the baybrook/clear lake area ? Near baybrook mall or clear lake. (Houston: 2015, apartments)

[nyvrem]

Anyone living in the baybrook area ? I'm considering getting a place either near the baybrook mall, or around clear lake area. i've looked at the public schools in the area, they seem pretty good. or at least that's what some websites rate them. all 8/10~ ish.

my wife's first job offer is in the woodlands area, but she also has a job offer for another job in league city, and the pay is higher. so we might just go with settling around that area. how's the crime around the area of baybrook ?

is that area 'nice' to raise a family ? i saw google maps and the area around baybrook mall seems like a decent place to stay, stores all nearby and the rent is not to expensive. about $800~ for a 2 bedroom apartment. looks like a walk-able area to get stuff instead of driving 20mins away to buy.

the other option is clear lake. prices also about $800~ and it's near a lake ! but not sure if the area is family friendly ?

any input would be nice !

[Texas Ag 93]

I just moved to the Bay Area (Kemah/League City border) and I like it so far. I consider the whole area you are describing- Clear Lake, League City (and even Friendswood to a degree) to be essentially the same part of town. Both LC and CL are in the CCISD and the schools are good, so I am not sure there is much of a difference on that front, aside from researching individual schools and trying to ensure you don't fall into one of the few outliers that are not so great.

I will say I think the newer developments are in League City, and overall, I think it's a little nicer, and the area right near Baybrook mall is a traffic nightmare due to poor design and construction. I would not want to be adjacent to the mall, and I generally avoid going over there, or at the very least, approaching it from anywhere other than 45.

[DanielWayne]

I agree with the previous post. Traffic around the mall at peak hours is something I try to avoid. Also the mall is known as a high theft area - don't leave anything of value in your car. But that's probably true of any mall. I would not consider that area walkable. Too much traffic and it is probably more spread out than it looks. Lots of panhandlers, too. They are about to expand the mall with a large open air section, so that may or may not include plans to improve walk-ability in that area.

That area around the mall is ok. I mean you can do far worse if you were looking in Houston. But those $800 apartments you are probably looking at are right next to tatoo parlors and smoke shops. From the outside, they don't seem bad, but my preference would be to look elsewhere. $800 seems to be quite low. You really don't want to go with the cheapest unless it truly is a unique place.

Now if you look around in Clear Lake, League City, Friendwood, etc, there are many, many great places to raise a family. I'm just saying the area around Baybrook isn't the greatest. But not the worst either.

[wintersbone]

800 isn't really low for clearlake. Their is more apartments in the Harris county side of Friendswood. Personally until all the contruction on gulf freeway is done I don't see how people stand to live their.Not that it will ever be done though.

[tstone]

I looked at apartments in the area and found an old but well-kept 2/2 near the Clear Lake Medical Center for $1300, and a luxury 2/2 that was walking distance from JSC for $1900. That was 2 years ago. Looking online it's about the same today. $800 is low and won't put you in a good place.

Regarding traffic that whole area by the mall is several concentrated square miles of shopping. Traffic is bad now but gets horrendous during December. It is also not very walkable. If you're coming from League City you might want to just live in League City.

[hellpaso]

I agree that $800 is low for a very nice apartment. You might want to up that a little, & look closer to League City instead of right around the mall or near El Dorado. The whole area is not bad, but the higher the concentration of apartments, the higher the concentration of crimes. Although most of the crimes are things like thefts & car break ins. You can look at various websites/apps to get a good idea of what goes on where.
Most of the negative things you'll hear about the Clear Lake area are from people who don't even live here, so keep some grains of salt handy.
There's lots of new development happening right now, and there will soon be even more options for housing available.
I don't know where you're moving from, but walking just really isn't an option. Pretty much anywhere in the Houston area.
We love the area--it's family oriented as opposed to a city environment with a lot of activities for singles (though there are some). Haters gonna hate .

[texas7]

$800 is not going to be in the nicer areas.

[theone33]

$800 will get you something decent out there. These guys act like youll be in the ghetto smh

[DanielWayne]

$800 was decent for Clear Lake in about 2000. Decent will be far north of that in 2015.

[texas7]

$800 will be in the crummier complexes despite what theone33 says. I know this because my adult child was looking for an inexpensive complex at the end of 2014 with no luck in finding what they considered acceptable for what they wanted. They ended up moving out of state so it ended up not mattering. Even the very old ones wanted more than that.