La Porte vs Deer Park vs Pasadena vs Mont Belvieu vs Dayton vs Clear Lake

[Watchful]

La Porte is a pretty good mix of housing options - and one neighborhood can differ significantly from another. Keep it on your list!

[DanielWayne]

Originally Posted by Gotterdamerung

Greetings,

I have next to no experience with these areas but all are within reasonable commute to a prospective job in Baytown.
Based on old threads and general impressions, a lot of people recommend Clear Lake, which is just a little nicer/further out than I need or want.
Deer Park seems to have the best rep among the downscale choices.
La Porte is a shorter drive but parts of it look unsettling on google maps - is this an overgeneralization?
Pasadena also doesn't give a great impression but I'm interested in opinions.
Mont Belvieu or Dayton - how are these?



I'm basically looking for the below ideally:
• Townhome/condo in a non-ghetto area (Does this exist, period?), otherwise a smallish house
• Somewhere to live for say, 3 years, and hopefully the value will appreciate in that timeframe.
• Schools, "community," and such are not a priority at this time.
• Comfortable distance from smokestacks/Baytown but a reasonable commute



Thanks for reading

Clear Lake has the most amenities by far - department stores, groceries, healthcare, etc. And it has townhomes and small homes. It has mostly highly ranked schools, and the smallest percentage of 'run down' areas other than Mont Belvieu. But that's comparing oranges to apples due to population sizes. Value is rising. I live near Clear Lake and my home value has risen over 30% the last decade.

Pasadena has some good areas. I would not mind living there, but you have to be more discerning because it has a higher percentage of sketch, too. There are nice Pasadena neighborhoods next to Clear Lake so you could easily enjoy the amenities in Clear Lake. You probably don't want to live in a townhome there, however.

Dayton is rather country. Now it may be changing with growth of Houston, but it will not feel suburban for now. Doubtful you will find townhomes there. It's small and a bit remote. A friend who lives there described it as mostly fast food joints.

Mont Belvieu is really nice. It became super popular as a bedroom community over the last decade. However it is small. If you need a bookstore or (hopefully not) a hospital, then you are headed to Baytown. Some addresses in Mont Belvieu actually say 'Baytown.' No townhomes. I was looking there a few months ago for that and apartments. But home values are rising fast. A relative of mine cashed out of a fairly new home in MB and moved the country because of the growth. The schools there are becoming more competitive as it gets more popular.