From SF CA to Sugar Land TX? (Houston, Orange: buying a home, neighborhood)

[Xhifer]

Hello all,

We have been thinking of moving from San Francisco to Sugar Land. We considered buying a home in the out skirts of SF but the houses are still very expensive (Over 800k). Sugar Land seems close enough to Houston but far enough to be the suburbs, which I like. I am getting tired of the Bay Area traffic. I waste over 540 hours a year sitting in traffic on my commute.

Buying a home in Sugar Land would be much less of a challenge than the Bay Area.

I also like that Sugar Land has a good school district.

Has anyone on here made the move? If so, why and any regrets? Pros and Cons?

Thank you all!

[cBach]

Do you live in the city of SF or just the Bay Area?

If you are used to the city life, you would want to be within the loop. Montrose may fit your needs.

[Xhifer]

I currently live in the city but I am tired of all of the traffic and overcrowding. I planned on moving out of SF to nearby suburbs but they're still expensive or with very bad school districts.

[ilikeme]

What part of town will you be working in? Sugar Land is a great place to live and most of the schools are excellent.

[westsidewolf1989]

Traffic is still bad in Houston. Doing the math on your traffic / commute, it looks like you average a shade over 2 hours per working day of total commute time (I'm assuming you're driving one hour each way right now) If you're working in downtown Houston, Sugar Land will be better than that, but probably not by a ton (Sugar Land is anywhere from 30 to 50 minutes usually). If not working as far away as downtown, than no big deal.

Sugar Land will get you affordable housing and probably bigger square footage than what you could get in Bay Area (think mid 3K to low 4K square footage at around the $500K mark). Plus there is a lot to do in Sugar Land (independent league baseball, lots of shops, restaurants and parks (including a smaller version of the Houston Museum of Natural Science), as well as a new 6,000 seat indoor performance venue that just opened up last weekend).

[SugLandDAd]

It really depends on where you would be working.... Houston is geographically the largest city in the country. It has many companies that are not located Downtown, like Greenspoint, Woodlands, Galleria Area, the energy Corridor leading out west towards Katy, and even Sugar Land. You really have to have an idea about where your commute is headed before thinking about where to live.

That said, Sugar land is a great place to live. We can be on an uncrowded beach in about an hour., drive our car right to the water line and have an easy family picnic. There are lots of local events including music and movies in the town square most Friday and Saturdays in the nicer weather. Sugar Land is now building a "dragon boat racing lake" in a riverfront park.

http://www.sugarlandtx.gov/DocumentCenter/View/4021

Houston is one of the largest cities in the country, and has all the cultural events that go with it, a good music scene, art galleries, theater.

Some of our favorites include:

30th Annual Houston Art Car Parade | April 8, 2017 | Powered by The Orange Show Houston Art Car Parade

Bayou City Art Festival

https://www.texrenfest.com/

Houston Museum District

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo | RodeoHouston | Houston, Texas Rodeo

These events tend to happen on the weekends, so regardless of where you live in the area, its not too difficult to get to them. Texas is an outdoors oriented state, with a great State Park system, and the warm weather means, you can be outdoors almost all year.

Brazos Bend State Park

Wineries, we've got wineries.

https://www.texaswinetrail.com/

Oh the Seafood! Don't forget the seafood.

http://eatgulfseafood.com/experience

Not far from Louisiana, the beaches of panhandle Florida, New Mexico or Colorado, you can make regional short vacations fairly easily.

Did I mention: NO STATE INCOME TAX

I never lived in California, but have been there for a few months at a time for work.... The weather is definitely better in California, and if you are well off, and can take part in the best of what it has to offer, California is difficult to beat..... but if you are not wealthy, its difficult to survive there, and you seldom get to enjoy the best that it has to offer.

I have turned down job offers several times in San Ramon, after interviewing,being offered a position with an incredible salary, but turning it down after spending enough time there to realize that the cost of living was so crazy, that I would be moving backwards in terms of lifestyle and commute.

[swopoe]

We love Sugar Land. We live here with 3 kids, ages 7, 11, and 12. Lots to do here, great shopping, great schools. We love our house and neighborhood, and have made great friends since moving here. My husband works in the galleria area, and his commute isn't bad, but he has flexibility with his hours, so he gets to work around 6 and leaves around 4. He also has every other Friday off. The weather can't compare with California, but is better than where we are from (northeast), and we don't miss snowy and cold winters. My husband also turned down a CA job offer several years ago. The salary was comparable to his Houston salary, but the COL would go up by so much. It wasn't worth the trade off for us- leaving friends, schools, being even further from east coast family, etc. And we are so happy we stayed. Plus there is more job opportunity here in his field. Anyway, SL is a great place. No regrets for us.

[houstonview]

Made the opposite move from Houston to the bayarea, I can tell you everything you need to know.

First- what area will you be working in and what Budget will you have ? Property taxes are higher but no state tax

Traffic - bayarea has bad traffic, but depending on where you live & work Houston can be worse.

Sugarland - it's nice but it may be other areas that fit you better coming from SF if you lived in the the bayarea in general. Like more walkable areas closer to the city, or suburbs that have water near.

Do you want nice large home cookie cutter or a character home ?