Dallas suburbs Vs Houston suburbs? (San Antonio, Austin: neighborhoods, schools, subdivisions)

[Redlionjr]

Originally Posted by crone

I grew up in Houston.. Company transferred us all over. we owned 17 houses in as many places. I never understood the competition that used to exist between Houston and Dallas until I moved to Dallas.

Dallas is a way better place to live if getting around town and what your community looks like is important to you.

People say Houston. Is that ITL or unincorporated Harris county?

My son has also gone back and forth between Houston and Dallas a couple times, too. They prefer Dallas. They are in Richardson but Plano ISD. We were right across the street from Lake Highlands HS once and off Walnut Hill just a few blocks from the Lite rail.

If you pick anywhere in the Harris county area, be sure you are in an incorporated area or a MPC with enforced deed restrictions or you will be living next to a wrecker yard or a hoar house. And there is not a thing anybody can do about it.

The fact is that the unincorporated areas of Harris county would be the 5th largest town in Texas. And they cannot make an ordinance that says your dog must be leashed says a lot about Houston.

Me personally, I think Inner Loop Houston is my favorite city region in the state. If I could have access to good diverse schools and an affordable safe neighborhood I'd move ITL in a heartbeat. But the burbs and especially the unincorporated parts of Houston MSA is where things really start to fall apart for me. Because with me and wife having a child, school and safety are our biggest priorities right now and Houston for the most part is just meh in that department. IMO, Fort Bend is the best cluster of burbs Houston has and the more I spend in them getting to know them the more I realize even those are lagging behind what DFW offers in suburbia.

It's the little stuff like uniformity that makes a difference.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by usc619

No, consider yourself lucky, Plano will never have a MUD.

It is still pretty uncommon for incorporated cities to create MUDs. MUDs are normally for unincorporated areas.

What is common in North Texas suburbs are PIDs. Incorporated cities create those to help developers finance new infrastructure. So, no extra property tax, instead you pay an extra assessment that can be levied various ways. I assume you'd prefer that, since it's not technically a tax?

[crone]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

It is still pretty uncommon for incorporated cities to create MUDs. MUDs are normally for unincorporated areas.

What is common in North Texas suburbs are PIDs. Incorporated cities create those to help developers finance new infrastructure. So, no extra property tax, instead you pay an extra assessment that can be levied various ways. I assume you'd prefer that, since it's not technically a tax?

Somebody has to pay for the new streets. Makes sense that it be the people who use them.

But, I have lived in towns where the property taxes stayed the same as they were when the house was built. It didn't take long to figure out buying a hundred y o house was cheaper, tax wise, than a new one.

When a house went on the market it had to be inspected and brought up to current building codes or the new occupant could not get an occupancy permit. Houston and Harris county would never do that.

That regional water authorities have fees instead of taxes. That 500 a year and and the MUD fee is beginning to add up

[NigerianNightmare]

Originally Posted by crone

I grew up in Houston.. Company transferred us all over. we owned 17 houses in as many places. I never understood the competition that used to exist between Houston and Dallas until I moved to Dallas.

Dallas is a way better place to live if getting around town and what your community looks like is important to you.

People say Houston. Is that ITL or unincorporated Harris county?

My son has also gone back and forth between Houston and Dallas a couple times, too. They prefer Dallas. They are in Richardson but Plano ISD. We were right across the street from Lake Highlands HS once and off Walnut Hill just a few blocks from the Lite rail.

If you pick anywhere in the Harris county area, be sure you are in an incorporated area or a MPC with enforced deed restrictions or you will be living next to a wrecker yard or a hoar house. And there is not a thing anybody can do about it.

The fact is that the unincorporated areas of Harris county would be the 5th largest town in Texas. And they cannot make an ordinance that says your dog must be leashed says a lot about Houston.

I'm sorry to rain on your parade, but your mistaken, it's growing so fast it's now approaching 2.2 million people and thus is the 2nd largest city in Texas if incorporated. Now if your only including the semi-contigous NW portion (from I-10 clockwise to I-45) which is the bulk of the population that's probably only between 1.4-1.7 million people, and is anywhere from 2nd to 4th biggest city.

[PurplePunch2017]

Houston suburbs have better neighborhoods (MPC) while DFW has better suburbs if that makes sense.

[KerrTown]

Originally Posted by lotophage

The suburbs of Houston and Austin look so similar that my brain sometimes gets confused driving around them about what city I'm in at the moment. It's the same developers doing the same home designs and neighborhood layouts. Same restaurants, same stores, same businesses.

That curvy, rock-hewn section of FM 2222 is the scariest drive in Texas. Driving uphill was a battle, can't imagine the wear on your brakes driving downhill on your morning commute!

All-red brick is popular in Houston, while bold limestone accents are popular in Austin. Austin notably lacks Kroger, Micro Center, and Saks off-the-top of my head.

Originally Posted by WRM20

I've lived in Plano. It was great when it had 15,000 people, ie 1972, but with 290,000, it's a suburban hell hole with a bunch of people I have no desire to live near.

It's a suburban hell-hole now because Legacy/Stonebriar is the center of the new Dallas for corporate relocations. Frisco is pretty much a suburban bubble because it's a company town for most transplants.

Originally Posted by Redlionjr

Me personally, I think Inner Loop Houston is my favorite city region in the state. If I could have access to good diverse schools and an affordable safe neighborhood I'd move ITL in a heartbeat. But the burbs and especially the unincorporated parts of Houston MSA is where things really start to fall apart for me. Because with me and wife having a child, school and safety are our biggest priorities right now and Houston for the most part is just meh in that department. IMO, Fort Bend is the best cluster of burbs Houston has and the more I spend in them getting to know them the more I realize even those are lagging behind what DFW offers in suburbia.

It's the little stuff like uniformity that makes a difference.

I would say Houston is more metropolitan and therefore more uniform. Pretty much the only ordinances that matter in the metro area are the CoH ordinances. The large land areas of CoH, Harris and Fort Bend counties allow uniformity in local legislation. It's easy to be tripped up crossing from say, Frisco to Plano, with differing ordinances.

Also DFW is starting to resemble Detroit's donut layout with bustling suburbs and a deteriorating central city. DT Houston skyscrapers don't have a counterpart anywhere in DFW because of the preference for greenfield suburban corporate campuses.

It's nice to leave Cinco Ranch and go into the central core of Houston for a day in The Galleria, MFAH, HMNS and other high-quality attractions. Can't do the same from Frisco to Dallas--the Kimbell is in Ft. Worth (and the Dallas museums are lackluster).

[crone]

Originally Posted by NigerianNightmare

I'm sorry to rain on your parade, but your mistaken, it's growing so fast it's now approaching 2.2 million people and thus is the 2nd largest city in Texas if incorporated. Now if your only including the semi-contigous NW portion (from I-10 clockwise to I-45) which is the bulk of the population that's probably only between 1.4-1.7 million people, and is anywhere from 2nd to 4th biggest city.

Thanks for the heads up. I was quoting the former county judge. Guess the population has increased since his defeat.

His number was all the unincorporated areas in Harris county.

[airdrawndagger]

Originally Posted by KerrTown

It's nice to leave Cinco Ranch and go into the central core of Houston for a day in The Galleria, MFAH, HMNS and other high-quality attractions. Can't do the same from Frisco to Dallas--the Kimbell is in Ft. Worth (and the Dallas museums are lackluster).

This is a good point. Houstonians often take the Museum District for granted, but it's pretty special to have multiple art museums, a natural science museum, and world-class urban park all within walking distance of each other and linked to DT via the metro. I haven't personally visited Dallas' museums, but I've heard on multiple occasions from folks who have visited both that they much prefer Houston's selection.

[Texascrude]

Originally Posted by codemc

We currently live in Austin which we like but the home prices are crazy.

We recently visited the DFW area and liked the area and neighborhoods. Everything was very clean and spread out compared to Austin. But the homes seemed very similar to each other - 2 story brick homes on tight lots. (Plano, Coppel, Keller, FlowerMound)

Now we are researching the Houston area, specifically the Woodlands/Spring area and will visit soon.

For those living there or around, I had read and heard that Houston was more "crimey" attributed to being a large city and other factors even before moving to TX. How much of a concern is this when considering the Woodlands/Spring area?

Secondly, if you've lived or are familiar with areas in Dallas like FlowerMound, Plano, Coppell, Keller how would you describe the difference between The Woodlands/ Spring from those areas? Pros cons?

In DFW, try looking in the old part of Keller — 76262. You’ll get an acre plus and great location.

As for the other part of your question, what can you spend? Benders Landing is a big development of custom homes and large lots, but you’re looking at $1M+. I will say that we did notice more crime in Houston than we experienced in Fort Worth. There was a break in / murder at the apartments a few miles down the street (nice neighborhood), and my car was broken into twice over 5 years, but i think it had just come to expect a certain amount of crime as normal.

We left Houston for Tennessee a few months ago and it’s been a quality of life upgrade in just about every conceivable way. I’d expand your search, but between the two you mentioned there really isn’t much difference.

[R1070]

Originally Posted by KerrTown

That curvy, rock-hewn section of FM 2222 is the scariest drive in Texas. Driving uphill was a battle, can't imagine the wear on your brakes driving downhill on your morning commute!

All-red brick is popular in Houston, while bold limestone accents are popular in Austin. Austin notably lacks Kroger, Micro Center, and Saks off-the-top of my head.



It's a suburban hell-hole now because Legacy/Stonebriar is the center of the new Dallas for corporate relocations. Frisco is pretty much a suburban bubble because it's a company town for most transplants.



I would say Houston is more metropolitan and therefore more uniform. Pretty much the only ordinances that matter in the metro area are the CoH ordinances. The large land areas of CoH, Harris and Fort Bend counties allow uniformity in local legislation. It's easy to be tripped up crossing from say, Frisco to Plano, with differing ordinances.

Also DFW is starting to resemble Detroit's donut layout with bustling suburbs and a deteriorating central city. DT Houston skyscrapers don't have a counterpart anywhere in DFW because of the preference for greenfield suburban corporate campuses.

It's nice to leave Cinco Ranch and go into the central core of Houston for a day in The Galleria, MFAH, HMNS and other high-quality attractions. Can't do the same from Frisco to Dallas--the Kimbell is in Ft. Worth (and the Dallas museums are lackluster).

This description of Dallas is quite overblown...