I really don’t see the appeal in The Woodlands (Houston: homebuyer, price)

[Mr. Clutch]

Originally Posted by Caro42

I spent an entire day looking at houses in the $350-400 thousand dollar range just a week ago in the Woodlands and I can tell you that although the city center is handsome and very well done, the residential areas are nasty and ill kept. The place is so overgrown and covered in dead shrubbery and overgrown trees that no grass will grow. anywhere. Most yards are just mud or mud covered with green mold. Back yards are dark, dank wastelands of mud. Houses ill kept. The main roadways are not cleared - dead shrubbery and dead trees crowd the streets. I think the developers wasted a great opportunity in the Woodlands. They built a jazzy city center and then never cleared the land for the residential developments. I would agree that Katy, which I know well, is much nicer. There are handsome divided boulevards throughout, treed and landscaped and very pretty. Be careful of the housing however. There are plenty of cheap builder houses made cardboard and spit in the older sections. Even the newer ones. And there are nice houses too, but you will have to pay upwards of $500,000 for a nice house in Katy. Housing prices have doubled there in the last 6 or 7 years.

What part of the Woodlands were you in? This hasn't been my experience there - ever. It's way nicer than Katy in terms of physical attractiveness, imo. Probably the most physically attractive area in the region and that includes the individual homesteads.

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by Caro42

I spent an entire day looking at houses in the $350-400 thousand dollar range just a week ago in the Woodlands and I can tell you that although the city center is handsome and very well done, the residential areas are nasty and ill kept. The place is so overgrown and covered in dead shrubbery and overgrown trees that no grass will grow. anywhere. Most yards are just mud or mud covered with green mold. Back yards are dark, dank wastelands of mud. Houses ill kept. The main roadways are not cleared - dead shrubbery and dead trees crowd the streets. I think the developers wasted a great opportunity in the Woodlands. They built a jazzy city center and then never cleared the land for the residential developments. I would agree that Katy, which I know well, is much nicer. There are handsome divided boulevards throughout, treed and landscaped and very pretty. Be careful of the housing however. There are plenty of cheap builder houses made cardboard and spit in the older sections. Even the newer ones. And there are nice houses too, but you will have to pay upwards of $500,000 for a nice house in Katy. Housing prices have doubled there in the last 6 or 7 years.

You obviously were not in The Woodlands, because those are all deed restriction violations. Not clearing the land for residential was intentional, and part of George Mitchell's vision. Far better than the crappy neighborhoods built in Katy without a single tree, on top of soil that has a thick clay layer that inhibits the growth of plants. There's a reason that much of the Katy area was either rice farms or ranches.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by Caro42

I spent an entire day looking at houses in the $350-400 thousand dollar range just a week ago in the Woodlands and I can tell you that although the city center is handsome and very well done, the residential areas are nasty and ill kept. The place is so overgrown and covered in dead shrubbery and overgrown trees that no grass will grow. anywhere. Most yards are just mud or mud covered with green mold. Back yards are dark, dank wastelands of mud. Houses ill kept. The main roadways are not cleared - dead shrubbery and dead trees crowd the streets. I think the developers wasted a great opportunity in the Woodlands. They built a jazzy city center and then never cleared the land for the residential developments. I would agree that Katy, which I know well, is much nicer. There are handsome divided boulevards throughout, treed and landscaped and very pretty. Be careful of the housing however. There are plenty of cheap builder houses made cardboard and spit in the older sections. Even the newer ones. And there are nice houses too, but you will have to pay upwards of $500,000 for a nice house in Katy. Housing prices have doubled there in the last 6 or 7 years.

You're being facetious, right? Cleared the land?

Yeah, at least in Grogan's Mill, its hard to grow grass. That's kind of the point. Its a natural forest. It tends to look like a forest. They kept the trees. The "jazzy city center" came after Grogan's Mill and Panther Creek were mostly developed.

The roads are not supposed to be the focal point. They have winding roads that make it seem more secluded Even back in the early 70s, a realtor told my parents, "Don't turn left into the Woodlands. You will get lost and never get out!"

[hiwot]

I've noticed numerous properties in The Woodlands (realtordotcom) that are in the 500k and less range 4bdrm 2500sqft and higher. Are there something wrong with these numerous properties or why are they priced so low?

[Mr. Clutch]

Originally Posted by hiwot

I've noticed numerous properties in The Woodlands (realtordotcom) that are in the 500k and less range 4bdrm 2500sqft and higher. Are there something wrong with these numerous properties or why are they priced so low?

500k is well above the median price in the Houston area, this isn't Austin or Dallas.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by Mr. Clutch

500k is well above the median price in the Houston area, this isn't Austin or Dallas.

This, plus The Woodlands originally dates back to the 1970s. You might check to see when some of the less expensive homes were built - they could be 40+ years old and not very updated.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by OldSoulYoungSpirit

Funny... I don't think I've ever seen a less appealing upper-class suburb in the United States than Katy.

Woodlands appeals to Upper Class white people. Katy appeals to international community.

[DabOnEm]

Originally Posted by OldSoulYoungSpirit

Funny... I don't think I've ever seen a less appealing upper-class suburb in the United States than Katy. Now, Cinco Ranch, Sugar Land, Cypress, and, while we're at it, Fulshear aren't anything special either, IMO. That said, at least Cypress' Towne Lake and Bridgeland have a lot of nice neighborhood parks, which matter significantly in terms of quality of life.

But Katy is the ultimate example of "if it ain't broke, don't fix 'er and the people'll come," and it shows in its inferior physical and social infrastructure in every way. It's a fairly lazily run city, especially compared to their counterparts in Sugar Land and Fulshear; indicative of the Texas good-ol'-boy mindset of old, and Katy was nothing more than an old railroad/farming town until as recently as the 1990s. Katy is, for the most part, unorganized, unkempt and ugly, especially considering all the money practically awash there. (Cinco Ranch, Cypress and The Woodlands aren't incorporated cities, although The Woodlands has a weird township arrangement where it provides limited municipal services.)

Greater Houston has very, very few thriving, pleasant suburban old towns of any kind, certainly compared to metropolitan areas such as Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and, hell, even Austin and D/FW. For Houston, The Woodlands is actually a place that almost has character, as it has attempted to assemble a decent downtown area, and it has a river walk modeled after San Antonio's. I also have to admit to many of the wooded residential lots being beautiful.

And, before anyone tells me I don't know what I'm talking about, my work and commute have resulted in my becoming pretty familiar with Cinco Ranch, Sugar Land, Cypress, and Fulshear. If anything, I'm actually the least familiar with The Woodlands.

I think you might be confusing the unincorporated parts of the Katy area with the actual City of Katy. I say that because the actual City of Katy is actually a well run, nicely maintained city with a good amount of city parks. The Katy Dog Park off Franz is probably the best one (or at least top three) in the Houston area. Now Houston doesnt have as many old towns as DFW but it definitely has more than Austin.

[Redlionjr]

Originally Posted by OldSoulYoungSpirit

Funny... I don't think I've ever seen a less appealing upper-class suburb in the United States than Katy. Now, Cinco Ranch, Sugar Land, Cypress, and, while we're at it, Fulshear aren't anything special either, IMO. That said, at least Cypress' Towne Lake and Bridgeland have a lot of nice neighborhood parks, which matter significantly in terms of quality of life.

But Katy is the ultimate example of "if it ain't broke, don't fix 'er and the people'll come," and it shows in its inferior physical and social infrastructure in every way. It's a fairly lazily run city, especially compared to their counterparts in Sugar Land and Fulshear; indicative of the Texas good-ol'-boy mindset of old, and Katy was nothing more than an old railroad/farming town until as recently as the 1990s. Katy is, for the most part, unorganized, unkempt and ugly, especially considering all the money practically awash there. (Cinco Ranch, Cypress and The Woodlands aren't incorporated cities, although The Woodlands has a weird township arrangement where it provides limited municipal services.)

Greater Houston has very, very few thriving, pleasant suburban old towns of any kind, certainly compared to metropolitan areas such as Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and, hell, even Austin and D/FW. For Houston, The Woodlands is actually a place that almost has character, as it has attempted to assemble a decent downtown area, and it has a river walk modeled after San Antonio's. I also have to admit to many of the wooded residential lots being beautiful.

And, before anyone tells me I don't know what I'm talking about, my work and commute have resulted in my becoming pretty familiar with Cinco Ranch, Sugar Land, Cypress, and Fulshear. If anything, I'm actually the least familiar with The Woodlands.

I actually don't disagree with the sentiments but the unincorporated areas of Katy isn't what I would call UPPER CLASS. And honestly outside of a few subdivisions, Katy/Cypress/Spring/ Tomball start to look the same to me.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Gucci and Breitling are joining Chanel and Louis Vuitton in Woodlands Market St. this solidifies the woodlands as the #2 Houston area shopping district both for high end end and middle class shopping after Uptown/River Oaks.

Also in the Woodlands, Nike is opening the Houston area’s first stand alone store.

https://communityimpact.com/houston/...d-sixty-vines/