Moving to Houston in 4-5 months from Seattle (Sugar Land, Temple: appointed, fit in)

[archangel25]

Hi

We will be moving to Houston in 4-5 months period and are looking to buy a new single family home. I have researched some of the localities and need some more help in deciding the area based on below criteria.
1) We are an Indian (Gujarati ) family and have a 2 yr old who would soon start pre-schooling.
2) My wife is not fluent in English and finds it challenging to mix with community where Hindi / Gujarati is not spoken. Hence seeking for community with Gujarati speaking neighbours.She is trying to ramp up her language skills but hasn't got there yet.
3) School with better ratings are really important factor for deciding the neighbourhood
4) We prefer master planned communities and are inclined towards Riverstone, Sienna Plantation, First Colony, Commonwealth
5) Our budget is around $350 K but haven't got myself pre-approved so don't actually know the exact numbers
6) Current income range around $100-110 K with another $15K increment in 6 months.

Request if anyone can provide details on communities which fit in above criteria. I do understand tha not everything above might be available in a single place and am prepared to make compromises. Please provide exact community names as against a whole neighbourhood as I still learning the whole house hunting thing and am already overwhelmed with the options available.

Thanks

[cheryjohns]

First thing is to get pre-approved - to have a real budget figure. No one can suggest neighborhoods, realistically, without that number. Income is only one of the factors.

Justin Henneke is a good lender - 979-255-5686. I am sure there are others that can be recommended here by other posters.

The good news is Houston is one of the most mixed cities in America. The bad news, for someone looking for ethnic enclaves, is the same thing. Although there does tend to be a high number of Indian families in the Sugar Land area, mixed really does mean mixed.

[georgemichael]

In the Raja Sweets Kitchen Video : Bizarre Foods America : Travel Channel

Raja Quality Restaurant & Sweets - Gulfton - Houston, TX | Yelp

(just throwing it out there and perhaps around Hillcroft St. is an Indian community to consider?)

cheryjohns is right. pre-approval is a first step and a necessary step to get out of the way. then you can really start window shopping and making a decision. no sense in falling for a place and then finding out you have to start your search over.

if you look decide on the southeast part of Houston then Katrinia M. (lender)

[Foodie1980]

I would highly recommend the Southwest side of Houston, in the city of Sugar Land. It is a white collar neighborhood, with a median household income close to $115,000. The most unique part about this city is it has about 35% Asian American, predominately South Asians. You'll find ladies wearing sari daily on the streets. The closest hospitals are Methodist in Sugar Land and Memorial Hermann. The phyicians/nurses there probably are close to 50% Indians, many speak Hindi and Gujarati. That would be helpful especially should your wife needs medical care for your family, in case you're not around. There are plentiful of Indian grocery stores in the area, and many more 10 miles up 59 North, on 59 and Hillcroft. It is the India town of Houston. Raja Sweets is one of my favorites, you can get fresh Paneer at Patel Brothers.

Sugar Land a master-planned community, and the school district is wonderful. If you plan on staying in the area for a while until your child attends highschool there, I recommend to buy a property that is zoned to Clements High School. It is a Magnet HS, which currently has about 50% Asian American students and they perform exceptionally. However, the downside is as you may know, with high percentage of Asian American students, it can be extremey competitive and it takes additional effort to graduate in the top 10% of the class. You will also find many tutoring places in Sugar Land as well. I used to work in the Sugar Land area so know it pretty well. Clements High School - rating and statistics - SUGAR LAND 77479 HAR.com. I'm Chinese so I'm very very familiar with those tutoring places, unfortunately!

www.har.com is also the best website in terms of searching for real estate in the Houston area. $350K should get you a decent house, especially compared to what you can get in Seattle. I used to live in Issaquah, now downtown Houston.

What you need to really compare is the property tax in the master-planned communities. Many have taxes that are 3.5%+, the value is re-appraised annually and it has gone up 10-20% in the past few years due to the huge influx of of people into the area. Make sure to claim homestead exemption, since the first 20% of your property appraised value is tax free, and the maximum the city can implement tax increase is 10% annually, despite 20% increase in market value. This only applies when you take ownership of the property starting Jan 1 of that calendar year, and the deadline is April 30th to file for that year.
HCAD: Property Tax Exemptions for Homeowners

Hope this helps!

[AK123]

Originally Posted by archangel25

4) We prefer master planned communities and are inclined towards Riverstone, Sienna Plantation, First Colony, Commonwealth
5) Our budget is around $350 K but haven't got myself pre-approved so don't actually know the exact numbers

Sugar Land and the surrounding area can be a tough market, so I wouldn't limit myself to just those neighborhoods. Also, Riverstone and Commonwealth have an elementary school crowding issue where no new students are accepted until the new school is built (they have to go to an alternate school).

If you want masterplanned, in addition to those you named I'd also look at New Territory, Greatwood, Aliana.

[TexasTallest]

Originally Posted by archangel25

Hi

We will be moving to Houston in 4-5 months period and are looking to buy a new single family home. I have researched some of the localities and need some more help in deciding the area based on below criteria.
1) We are an Indian (Gujarati ) family and have a 2 yr old who would soon start pre-schooling.
2) My wife is not fluent in English and finds it challenging to mix with community where Hindi / Gujarati is not spoken. Hence seeking for community with Gujarati speaking neighbours.She is trying to ramp up her language skills but hasn't got there yet.
3) School with better ratings are really important factor for deciding the neighbourhood
4) We prefer master planned communities and are inclined towards Riverstone, Sienna Plantation, First Colony, Commonwealth
5) Our budget is around $350 K but haven't got myself pre-approved so don't actually know the exact numbers
6) Current income range around $100-110 K with another $15K increment in 6 months.

Request if anyone can provide details on communities which fit in above criteria. I do understand tha not everything above might be available in a single place and am prepared to make compromises. Please provide exact community names as against a whole neighbourhood as I still learning the whole house hunting thing and am already overwhelmed with the options available.

Thanks

are you religious? i saw the mention of Hindi, but i thought that was just in reference to language. forgive my ignorance, but i believe there are multiple branches of Hindu? there is a BAPS Mandir Temple on the edge of Stafford, right by Sugar Land. it was the first (and apparently is one of just a few) Mandir's in the US. it is a very beautiful and elaborate complex.

BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir - Houston

[swopoe]

I live in Sugar Land and love it. To correct one thing, Clements is not a magnet high school. It is a regular public school. Good luck; sounds like SL would be a good fit.

[archangel25]

Thank you every one for quick response.
Cheryjhons Georgemichael- Tahnks for the advice. Agreed I need to get pre-approved first. But I am worried about the Credit hard inquiry, so want to avoid it till the time I have shortlisted few of the houses over a range of price.
I track my score very closely and have good estimate of what will I get approved for. Do suggest if there are ways to get pre approved without impacting my score.

Foodie1980 - Thanks for the tax saving tips

swopoe - I am still not ised to school terminology here. Have just started looking in to type of schools (Public, Charter & Private). Not sure what Magnet High School are but will look in to it.

[boredboredteacher]

I'm a teacher (ESL in the evenings, by the way) and can explain a bit about the differences between the schools.

Private: Cost money. Private schools in Houston as a rule are outstanding. Since you are coming from Washington, you are going to find that the curriculum here is not quite as challenging as that of where you are coming from. Private schools in Houston are equivalent to and sometimes better than public schools from the Northeast and the Northwest.

Charter: Charter schools are public schools. They have waiting lists, so you cannot just take your children there to enroll them. Some are better than others. Harmony Charter schools have great STEM (Science and Math) programs but are plagued with problems with their administration. YES and KIPP, although great schools are more suited towards very bright children who come from tougher neighborhoods. Upon reading a description of where you are at (income level, family situation) I would say Charter Schools are likely not going to be for you.

Public/regular: You are coming from Washington, so if your children wind up in public schools with a regular curriculum, you are going to be extremely disappointed. You need to have your children either in:

Public/Vanguard or GT: Vanguard is a good program in HISD (Houston Independent School District). In my opinion (and it's just my opinion, mind you) the Vanguard program is superior to what Fort Bend has to offer. If your child is in the Vanguard program, you don't have to worry about where you live as your child will likely attend a school outside his or her zone anyways. GT programs are gifted and talented, and they are offered at all districts. They are a cut above regular level classes but sadly it has still been my experience that parents, especially from the northeast are not as happy with these programs as they were with the programs back home.

[fortitude82]

Welcome to houston!...One thing to take into account with several communities you mentioned is your daily commute to work with traffic. Apart from that, Riverstone & sienna plantation communities have plenty of Gujarati families residing. We looked into riverstone as well & though it's a nice community, it was a bit out of our price range, so decided with southern trails in pearland. If you're in need of a desi realtor, message me & I will share my realtor info. She was a great help & also a native of sugarland.