Info on Kingwood and Atascocita (Houston: apartments, insurance, crime)

[Narkon]

We are in SE houston. Have a friendswood address but are unincorporated to either friendswood or Houston so we don't pay a lot of taxes. Since I work on the Beltway by Bush international I have an hour drive both ways.

I am looking at relocating to the NE so I can travel down 59 to the beltway from possibly Kingwood or Atascocita. I would like to have a 15 to 25 min drive. I am looking for advice and info on these and the area. Flooding? Taxes? Crime?

My home range is 130-160,000 for something Newer than 10 years old. I heard that in kingwood the less expensive homes have less desirable people in them. Any truth to that?

Was the NE the area that did not have power for several days when Rita came through?

I also heard that Atascocita has low Taxes because it it unincorporated. Any truth to that?

I have heard Greenspoint mall is bad. Is it close enough to cause issue? Is there the possibility of the crime from that area moving up towards where I am looking?

If you know where on the web there is an easy way to compare taxes for the different areas of Greater Houston please share!

Thanks for you time,

[chris_ut]

I live in Kingwood near 59 and my tax rate is 3.6%. No shady characters around here but I think the cheapest houses are 160k.

[jfre81]

Kingwood is part of Houston city limits (since 1996) so you will have Houston city tax.

Atascosita is not incorporated but I've heard there's a drive to incorporate it.

Houston Crime Maps and Statistics

Kingwood isn't crime-free, but no place is. I wouldn't worry too much about Greenspoint. That's over closer to 45 and on the other side of IAH. The mall itself isn't really all that bad - the shooting a few months ago was a crazy person targeting a specific person at work. If that girl worked at the Galleria the shooting would've happened there. It's the apartments north and east of the mall that are really rough. Other than that it's a pretty average mall that's seen better days, probably because of its reputation.

[Narkon]

Thanks to both of you for the information! Any-one know websites to get crime statistics on unincorporated area's? It is hard to compare our crime to Kingwoods when we aren't on that map neither is Atascosita.

Was the NE the area that did not have power for several days when Rita came through? Any flooding issues from lake houston? Still looking for an easy tax comparison wesite.
Thanks!

[sde1041]

what about the flooding risk in Kingwood ? Is it prone to flood damages ?
thanks.

[chris_ut]

There is one area of Kingwood prone to flooding but the name escapes me. Most of Kingwood is not in the flood zone.

[MDMontemayor]

I live in the area. Greenspoint is no problem and about 30 miles away. The homes around your budget will most likely be on North Park side of Kingwood. Kingwood and Atascocita are great places to live and I wouldn't worry about flooding in neither. If you have any more questions feel free to ask me or check out Atascocita.com and Kingwood.com my user name is RealEstate Mark.

-Mark

[Narkon]

Do you know what zone they are in? We are currently in an X zone and pay very little for flood insurance.