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Old 07-29-2016, 04:58 PM
 
111 posts, read 293,786 times
Reputation: 66

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Hello.

I finally secured a job in the area, and will be working near the 6 and 10. I have two small children (6 and 8) and a stay at home wife. For the lower crime, and good schools, we want a place in Katy, hopefully in Katy ISD.

Anyway, the job is paying hourly, but, without overtime, about 43,000 dollars a year. I was looking at homes and apartments, and it seems that a lot of the apartments are just as expensive as the homes, so we were thinking about trying to rent a home, but open to suggestions as to why that might not be as good of an idea. We saw a lot of stuff in the $1500-$1750 area for 3 bedrooms, but it feels like that might be a bit much, all considering.

Does anyone have some solid input on what sort of price range we should be looking at, with the above information? We have a car loan of 213 dollars a month, but other than that no major financial burdens over the normal.

Thanks in advance.
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Old 07-29-2016, 05:29 PM
 
Location: Cinco Dinero
967 posts, read 2,598,848 times
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General rule of thumb is housing is 30% your pay. So for you roughly $1200/mo.

You can certainly do that in North Katy. Built mid 80's maybe 1200-1500 sq ft. And close to your work.

Not trendy. Not Master Planned Community. But relatively safe with good Katy isd schools.

Use har.com to help you search.
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Old 07-29-2016, 05:33 PM
 
111 posts, read 293,786 times
Reputation: 66
I had been using Trulia, and most of the stuff around 1100-1200 was less than desirable, with average schools. I will check out North Katy, and see what is around. With luck, it will only be for a year or so until we buy a place, so it doesnt need to be trendy or master planned. Safe with good schools is good enough for us.
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Old 07-29-2016, 06:25 PM
 
1,483 posts, read 1,711,867 times
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Another area to look would be Meadows Place. Good, safe community and zoned to Fort Bend ISD schools--I think they're all good from elementary to High School. The drive to work would be a bit further.
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Old 07-29-2016, 07:49 PM
 
Location: Katy, TX
130 posts, read 133,550 times
Reputation: 49
I came here last year and have been living in an apartment. Like you, I also looked for a rental house when our 6-month lease was about to end and that's actually what drove me to just buy (haven't bought yet, still looking). My budget for a rental home was $1500 for a 3 bedroom and I could never find a clean, decent one in a good neighborhood. I wasn't being picky and understood that with that budget it would be impossible to find a home in Katy that's new, or zoned to Cinco Ranch schools. I didn't mind if it was small, I just wanted it to be clean, not too dated and in a fairly safe neighborhood. The ones I found in that budget were either: clean but in a sketchy location and appliances were super old, or in a better area but the house had dirty cabinets, walls and bath tubs and carpets that looked like molds were growing beneath them. The ones I liked started at $1800/month, so if you could stretch your budget a bit you should find one easily. I didn't mean to discourage you about renting, but you might wanna consider buying instead. Also, I looked about 6 months ago and don't know what the current market is in Katy as far as renting. Good luck!
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Old 07-29-2016, 10:53 PM
 
Location: The Greater Houston Metro Area
9,053 posts, read 17,129,124 times
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Get off of Trulia or Zillow or whatever and go straight to Texas Real Estate - 176,431 Homes for Sale and Rent- HAR.com. The others pull off HAR, but don't update - so you could be wasting your time looking at listings that closed several months ago on the other sites.

Memorial Parkway, Cimarron, and West Memorial are all older communities south of I-10 that are smaller and would work.
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Old 07-30-2016, 10:56 AM
 
Location: Houston, TX
308 posts, read 495,568 times
Reputation: 244
Just for reference. I rented out my old home in Katy (Cinco Ranch area) and zoned to Cinco Ranch schools. It is 3br, 2ba, 1600sq ft. I leased it out for $1700/month

And like others suggested. Check out HAR. good luck
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Old 08-01-2016, 09:09 AM
 
1,715 posts, read 2,281,047 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jalam321 View Post
Just for reference. I rented out my old home in Katy (Cinco Ranch area) and zoned to Cinco Ranch schools. It is 3br, 2ba, 1600sq ft. I leased it out for $1700/month

And like others suggested. Check out HAR. good luck
Good suggestion. We have a similar rental property approx 5 yrs old (3br, 2ba, approx 1550 sq ft) walking distance from Seven lakes high school (Cinco Ranch) which is leased out for $1700/month. I think if you keep your budget at that range you can find a decent place in that area.
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Old 08-01-2016, 09:35 AM
 
Location: Houston, TX
17,029 posts, read 30,801,858 times
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30% of income for housing.
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Old 08-01-2016, 09:48 AM
 
Location: Houston TX
2,431 posts, read 2,478,664 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasTony View Post
Good suggestion. We have a similar rental property approx 5 yrs old (3br, 2ba, approx 1550 sq ft) walking distance from Seven lakes high school (Cinco Ranch) which is leased out for $1700/month. I think if you keep your budget at that range you can find a decent place in that area.
Yes, this is wonderful suggestion. With 43K income the OP is making about $2500 of pure money per month.
$1700 for the house that means only $800 left for the food, utilities, gas, phone, internet and other payments. Wonderful life!

With this budget I would rent 1 br for $800-900 max.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Latsabb View Post


Anyway, the job is paying hourly, but, without overtime, about 43,000 dollars a year.
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