Moving to Katy, Tx (Houston, Keller: where to stay, new home, transfer)

[shani9]

Could you recommend some decently priced communities in the area that are good to move to? Are there any builders to stay away from? I was looking at Morton Ranch and Pine Mills Ranch.

[jd433]

Can I please help you out here? First of all not all of Katy is the same. Not all of Katy is considered a nice area. Morton ranch to me is kinda in the middle.

Pine mill Ranch is much better but Higher Priced than Morton Ranch. If you want my advice I'd say:

1) Stay South of the Ih-10. Believe me there is a big difference. Just look at the statistics on CITI-DATA about the zip codes north of the I-H 10 it is primarily 77449 then compare it to the stats south of the 10 they are 77450, 77494, 77094. NO COMPARISON

2) Stay north of the Westpark Tollway. South of the tollway is hit and miss, there are good subdivisions in there but it is MIXED! Also South of the Tollway is not Katy it is Richmond.

3) Get a newer home or a brand new home. The only area that is even remotely questionable in this area is the north part of 77450 because there are a few older neighborhoods closer to the IH-10.

I think that if you follow this advice you can't go wrong.

[shani9]

Thank you for the information

[KerrTown]

Morton Ranch is north of the freeway and it's not a development like Pine Mill Ranch, just a place name. Pine Mill Ranch is north of Cinco West.

Pine Mill has Newmark and it's lower-priced subsidiary Trophy Homes, Perry, Hallmark, and David Powers.

[shani9]

I read somewhere to stay away from Trophy homes because they were made cheap. Do you think this?

Looking for 2500-3000 sq ft for around or under $200,000 is a decent area, what can you recommend?

[jd433]

If Pine Mill is the one that I think it is it's off of Katy Gaston. I have driven around in there quite a bit and it looks OK. It is not in the more developed parts of South katy and I think the main road dead ends at an open field right after the developement, and right before the develope there is nothing until you reach Cinco Ranch road maybe 1.5 miles away.

Pine Mill Landing has a lot of Construction going on right now and some of the houses are on a road or in a cul de sac by themselves with partially constructed homes all around them. It might be a good place to pick up a spec home pretty cheap and then when the place developes more in the future it will add to the value of your home. You probably can't get anything in Pine Mill Ranch for less than 200k

Don't forget to check out Cinco Ranch though. You can get some pretty nice homes in there for about the same price.

[KerrTown]

Originally Posted by jd433

If Pine Mill is the one that I think it is it's off of Katy Gaston. I have driven around in there quite a bit and it looks OK. It is not in the more developed parts of South katy and I think the main road dead ends at an open field right after the developement, and right before the develope there is nothing until you reach Cinco Ranch road maybe 1.5 miles away.

You're correct. If one isn't familiar with the area, it will be a long drive from SH-99. Five years ago I thought driving down Cinco Ranch Blvd was a long drive but I got used to it.

[Mary Litschewski]

I live in Firethorne, which is west of Pine Mill, off FM 1463. It's got a very active community of people who care for one another. For instance, someone's dog was lying in the street and one person moved it off the road, another emailed the whole list to see whose dog it was, and went door-to-door. Turned out the owners had moved in the day before.

Anyway, prices are reasonable - around $215,000 for a 2500-2800 or so. Good builders, I think - Perry, Plantation (very nice), David Weekly.

Easy access to the I-10 and just a little more to the Westpark Tollway, which can save a lot of time if you're going Southeast.

Good luck.

[geaux tigers]

My wife and I (along with our 3 yr old daughter) might possibly be moving to the area as well this summer from Keller, TX. My job is transferring me to Houston and my wife is a 6th grade language arts teacher in the Keller ISD. Any suggestions on where we could find a home in the Katy area for ~$150,000-$170,000? Is that even a possibilty? Also, any suggestions for her to find a teaching position?

The Katy area looks like it would be very similar to Keller from what I've read online and we hope to visit in a few weeks to see the area for ourselves.

[chris_ut]

Originally Posted by KerrTown

Morton Ranch is north of the freeway and it's not a development like Pine Mill Ranch, just a place name. Pine Mill Ranch is north of Cinco West.

Pine Mill has Newmark and it's lower-priced subsidiary Trophy Homes, Perry, Hallmark, and David Powers.

David Powers is the only good builder out of that bunch.