Sugar Land or Katy??? (Houston, Galveston: homebuyer, school districts, living)

[azinwood]

Originally Posted by horn892002

It's still beyond me that some people are still thinking that Katy is city as Sugar Land.

I know! The nerve of some people!

[doms]

I grew up in Sugar Land, lived in Katy as a newlywed and now I'm back in Sugar Land. I prefer it because of the town center and the new Skeeters (minor league baseball) team. Katy and Sugar Land are both great choices. Choose one and then ask about certain neighborhoods within each. I think you'll find both highly desirable and lower-end communities within each suburb. In my opinion, Sugar Land is much more diverse and is more "hustle and bustle" (as far as suburbs go) than Katy. If you love both areas, the best of both worlds would land you in a neighborhood off Highway 99 (aka Grand Parkway) which connects the 2 suburbs. Good luck.

[deango]

Six months ago, I moved from San Francisco to Houston; San Francisco became too ridiculous to live with single earner's income. I have been shopping for a home in Sugar Land and in Katy since May 2015.

I have two kids in elementary school. My Asian wife likes the homes in (south) Katy, while I prefer Sugar Land (Sweetwater) for the 15 minute work commute.

It would be greatly appreciated if I can get some feedback on Katy vs Sugar Land home options, with current and future development outlook in mind.

Also...
1. How does the oil industry impact both Area's housing market? Being in Tech sector, I might have to relocate in five years. At that time, depending on my job location/stability, I may decide to keep my familly in houston area.
"IF" I had to sell or rent out the home, is newer home in (south) Katy a better choice than older (Sweetwater) Sugar Land home? I see a lot of homes on the market, and am afraid to buy into an area where I find foreclosed property on every block corner. I hear oil takes 10+yrs to recover. But next term is likely be a Republican. Is there Houston real estate trend that follows these criteria?

2. While shopping for a home in Katy, on couple occasions, I came across neighbors' disapproving look and their shaking heads as they saw my wife. I said hi, and was ignored on both occasions. This was in Seven Lakes and Westheimer/S. Fry area. I also saw sign that read "Warning. We do not call 911".
Coming from San Francisco, I am more or less oblivious to race/gender/2nd amendment issues in rest of the States.
Is race segregation an issue at any of these (KISD, FBISF) schools? Amongst the Parent-Teacher Association, or even within teachers? I graduated from San Francisco public High school comparable to that of Sugar Land's Clement high. I heard rumors of Houston's grade fixing on students scores. Is raising ethnic background children in one area better than the other?

I am embarrassed to ask these questions... but as the money is tight and the move has been big life changing experience for the family, I became desperate. Hopefully someone can understand my situation and have kind enough heart to express their thoughts with regards to the two areas.

[Failed Engineer]

Sugar Land will less price sensitive to the energy sector boom/bust cycle. Race is a non issue in either area. Anecdotally as you found out, you may come across people with racist tendencies anywhere. Katy is more "white" than Sugar Land if that matter to you. But there are many non-whites living in Katy and I've basically never heard of a problem.

[Astoriahoney]

Please Sugar Land easily over Katy. Has anyone driven down Fry Road or Mason Drive? Those places are hood as hell.

Even Sugar Land's Northern sketchy parts are still nice. Katy doesn't even have anything that looks as beautiful as the drive down Sweetwater Blvd in First Colony. You feel like you're living in a Nancy Meyers movie when you're living in Sugar Land.

There's definitely of a "higher class" and Money feeling in Sugar land than Katy.

[Htown2013]

Both are good with good schools, but prefer Sugar Land. Sugar Land is its own city with zoning and comprehensive planning. Katy is mostly unincorporated Houston ETJ. I don't like the massive apartment complexes that have sprouted all over Katy near the Grand Parkway, I-10, and Westpark Tollway.

[NigerianNightmare]

Originally Posted by Astoriahoney

Please Sugar Land easily over Katy. Has anyone driven down Fry Road or Mason Drive? Those places are hood as hell.

Even Sugar Land's Northern sketchy parts are still nice. Katy doesn't even have anything that looks as beautiful as the drive down Sweetwater Blvd in First Colony. You feel like you're living in a Nancy Meyers movie when you're living in Sugar Land.

There's definitely of a "higher class" and Money feeling in Sugar land than Katy.

I would normally agree with you but Sugar Land borders Alief and bot border Richmond with it's ridiculous mish mash neighborhoods. Although North Katy is low income their is nothing like SW Houston or Alief bordering Sugar Land and the Katy area and Sugar Land area are roughly the same sizes. Almost all of Katy south of I-ten which is over 170,000 people live in solidly middle class areas, take a drive down FM 1463 or Cinco Ranch Boulevard and you will see miles of miles of homes priced between 500,000-1.5 Million. Even Spring Green, and Fry Road in South Katy you see the same. I will say Sugar land is a much more organized city, and I respect that, but as soon as North Katy and the Mason Road corridor boom more master planned communities will be moved into Richmond and North Katy. Richmond though is at an even worse situation than Katy, hopefully LAke of Bella Terra can establish itself along with the other master plans so we don't end up with another North Katy between SL and Katy. North Katy may not be bad crime wise, and isn't even suffering white flight, It isn't even bad school wise but certain communities and Neighborhoods that border the area makes certain spots of North Katy look like Gessner/ Fondren in the making. The thing is Sugar Land and the surrounding area has 200,000 people, with Missouri City and surrounding with another 100,000. Katy ISD area has 300,000. This means that although North Katy is sketchy it would be if Sugar Land expanded limits to include all of Fort Bend ISD which has many rough areas like North Katy (isn't really that rough but parts look rough).
Things I see happening in this General Region, is Richmond/ Lamar CISD filling up with hopefully Cinco Ranch/ The Woodlands like communities. But since it is 380 square miles their probably isn't anyway that we can finally have a pattern of MPC communities with dense urban centers or town centers in between.

[Failed Engineer]

The difference is that the part of Sugar Land that is generally talked about as desirable is south of 90, quite far from Alief/SW Houston.

But I don't think spillover from nearby bad areas is really all that much of a concern for either Sugar Land or Katy. Reality is this is Houston and you are never far from a downtrodden part of town no matter where you live.

[usc619]

Originally Posted by NigerianNightmare

I would normally agree with you but Sugar Land borders Alief and bot border Richmond with it's ridiculous mish mash neighborhoods. Although North Katy is low income their is nothing like SW Houston or Alief bordering Sugar Land and the Katy area and Sugar Land area are roughly the same sizes. Almost all of Katy south of I-ten which is over 170,000 people live in solidly middle class areas, take a drive down FM 1463 or Cinco Ranch Boulevard and you will see miles of miles of homes priced between 500,000-1.5 Million. Even Spring Green, and Fry Road in South Katy you see the same. I will say Sugar land is a much more organized city, and I respect that, but as soon as North Katy and the Mason Road corridor boom more master planned communities will be moved into Richmond and North Katy. Richmond though is at an even worse situation than Katy, hopefully LAke of Bella Terra can establish itself along with the other master plans so we don't end up with another North Katy between SL and Katy. North Katy may not be bad crime wise, and isn't even suffering white flight, It isn't even bad school wise but certain communities and Neighborhoods that border the area makes certain spots of North Katy look like Gessner/ Fondren in the making. The thing is Sugar Land and the surrounding area has 200,000 people, with Missouri City and surrounding with another 100,000. Katy ISD area has 300,000. This means that although North Katy is sketchy it would be if Sugar Land expanded limits to include all of Fort Bend ISD which has many rough areas like North Katy (isn't really that rough but parts look rough).
Things I see happening in this General Region, is Richmond/ Lamar CISD filling up with hopefully Cinco Ranch/ The Woodlands like communities. But since it is 380 square miles their probably isn't anyway that we can finally have a pattern of MPC communities with dense urban centers or town centers in between.

What!

[curbur]

Originally Posted by NigerianNightmare

I would normally agree with you but Sugar Land borders Alief and bot border Richmond with it's ridiculous mish mash neighborhoods. Although North Katy is low income their is nothing like SW Houston or Alief bordering Sugar Land and the Katy area and Sugar Land area are roughly the same sizes.

This is a good point.

Originally Posted by NigerianNightmare

Almost all of Katy south of I-ten which is over 170,000 people live in solidly middle class areas, take a drive down FM 1463 or Cinco Ranch Boulevard and you will see miles of miles of homes priced between 500,000-1.5 Million. Even Spring Green, and Fry Road in South Katy you see the same.

This is true, but the same could be said about Sugarland as well.

Originally Posted by NigerianNightmare

I will say Sugar land is a much more organized city, and I respect that, but as soon as North Katy and the Mason Road corridor boom more master planned communities will be moved into Richmond and North Katy. Richmond though is at an even worse situation than Katy, hopefully LAke of Bella Terra can establish itself along with the other master plans so we don't end up with another North Katy between SL and Katy. North Katy may not be bad crime wise, and isn't even suffering white flight, It isn't even bad school wise but certain communities and Neighborhoods that border the area makes certain spots of North Katy look like Gessner/ Fondren in the making. The thing is Sugar Land and the surrounding area has 200,000 people, with Missouri City and surrounding with another 100,000. Katy ISD area has 300,000. This means that although North Katy is sketchy it would be if Sugar Land expanded limits to include all of Fort Bend ISD which has many rough areas like North Katy (isn't really that rough but parts look rough).

You have some good points, but the Mason corridor isn't likely to boom that much given the neighborhoods around it, plus only a portion of it is still going to be within KISD boundaries. The NW part of Katy with a lot of open fields just outside of 99 is really promising in terms of potential development though. I could see Katy having a larger population of upper middle class residents than Sugarland before it's all said and done, but that's trying to look 20-30 years into the future. That doesn't reasonably affect life in Katy at present really.

Originally Posted by NigerianNightmare

Things I see happening in this General Region, is Richmond/ Lamar CISD filling up with hopefully Cinco Ranch/ The Woodlands like communities. But since it is 380 square miles their probably isn't anyway that we can finally have a pattern of MPC communities with dense urban centers or town centers in between.

With all due respect, crazy talk. It won't happen for this area. The areas primed for that sort of development is along 99, so hopefully the few remaining greenspaces along 99 east of Pecan Grove develop that way. Since SW and W Houston are already fully built out past 99, it would seem that most of the growth of large scale MPC's will be taking place in the NW over the next 10-15 years.