Recent college grad moving to Houston from NYC (Dallas, Allen: rental car, apartment complex)

[JDB3030]

So I just graduated college and I will most likely be moving to Houston in early or mid July. I have a few job interviews over the next two weeks and both look promising. I have never been to Houston but I have done quite a bit of research about some neighborhoods and apartment buildings.

For the past 4 years I have lived right outside of New York City (I am a bit sad to leave but exited about a new city). I am used to living in an urban area with the ability to walk to restaurants, bars, coffee shops, grocery stores, public transportation etc. I am looking for something similar. The jobs I have interviews for are both located in the outskirts of Houston right outside of the Sam Houston Tollway. One is north, right off of I-45 and one is west, off of I-10.

I have found the Midtown area to be close to what I'm looking for. From what I've seen, I like the Post Midtown Square Apartment complex and 2222 Smith St. My only concern is the commute to either of two job sites. One question I have is how is the reverse commute? (living in the city and commuting to the suburbs) I can handle a 30 minute commute so traffic is really the only issue.

Can anyone recommend any other neighborhoods or apartment buildings to look at? I am looking for a studio or 1 bedroom with decent parking and within walking distance to some sort of nightlife and shopping area. I am looking to keep the rent under $1200 per month. I will be in the area next week so I will take a look at some places then.

Thanks for your help!

[Premont]

First of all there's only 1 rail line in Houston and you would generally have to call for a cab instead of just waving one down like you might in Manhattan. Are public transportation is mainly park and ride buses. In fact I'd recommend you use it for those commutes you're talking about because of the amount of traffic. Park and ride has a special lane for just the buses and car poolers.

If you get the job off I-10, I would consder living right by there. The Town and Country Village is there Town&Country Village and there's a number of nice apartments between the Tollway and Gessner on Memorial. It would definitely save you a lot of commute time.

[JDB3030]

Ok, so I'm in town this week and will be staying in Greenspoint. I would like to spend a day taking a look at some places in Midtown and Downtown. I flew here and took a shuttle to a hotel so right now i have no car. Whats the most cost/time efficient way to get to midtown from here. I understand the 120 bus leaves from the Greenspoint mall throughout the day. Is the metro bus safe? Should i just pay the money for a cab or rental car?

Thanks.

[Bike4Life]

Okay,...so you are stuck in Greenspoint which is a bad start but there is room for improvements. First, ditch Greenpoint and get a hotel somewhere in and around downtown or if you like, near your future place to work. Rent-a-wreck or whatever and try driving from midtown to the Sam Houston Tollway during your usual rush hour and see how it feels. You might consider living in the Heights which is still close to night-life such as (++++deleted as it's only for locals need to know++++). But Midtown may be your best bet for urban life, then maybe Montrose could be another good choice.

[rasta empress]

If you are being put up in Greenspoint with the company that you are interviewing with up there, I'd rent a car and explore the city. From those job locations can I guess that you are in the energy industry? I did both of those commutes interning during the summers off of I-10 and Dairy Ashford and to Greenspoint from midtown.

The Midtown to Greenspoint commute is good 20-25 mins max in the morning and maybe 30 mins in the afternoon.

The Midtown to I-10 commute was 30 mins in the morning and up to an hour in the afternoon. I eventually ditched the midtown location and moved to a friend's house north in the Memorial area for the balance of the summer. It really wasn't a big hardship to travel to Midtown on the weekends to hang out with my friends or on Friday's after work.

So in summary Midtown, Montrose or the Heights are great locations if you are reverse commuting to Greenspoint. Not worth the traffic on I-10 if you are working at the location in the west, it would just be easier to live in the memorial area.

Another cool location to live is that area that's not quite Midtown, not quite Montrose I don't know what its called exactly, a native Houstonian maybe able to help me with that area. Its off of Allen Parkway and sort of adjacent to River Oaks . I stayed off of Dallas and Dunlavy one summer and really enjoyed it. There are a couple restaurants, you can walk to the supermarket, run along the Bayou without living smack dab in the middle of the trendy bars etc of Midtown. That area seems to be changing however with the demise of the Allen House apartments.

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by rasta empress

Another cool location to live is that area that's not quite Midtown, not quite Montrose I don't know what its called exactly,a native Houstonian maybe able to help me with that area. Its the area off of Allen Parkway and sort of adjacent to the River Oaks area.

Hyde Park? Jackson Hill? Any of that sound familiar? Indeed that's a good spot.

[rasta empress]

Originally Posted by jfre81

Hyde Park? Jackson Hill? Any of that sound familiar? Indeed that's a good spot.

Not really, I'm not sure I ever knew what people referred to it as even though I was there for about 4 months lol.

I've seen it described as Memorial Heights, Rice Military, Montrose and a number of different things on apartment finding sites which is why I'm confused I guess.

I really enjoyed that area and living in the Allen House which even though it was showing its age was a decent and reasonably priced spot to spend the summer.

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by rasta empress

I've seen it described as Memorial Heights, Rice Military, Montrose and a number of different things on apartment finding sites which is why I'm confused I guess.

It will probably be listed under Montrose or "Central Houston" on a lot of sites. Different sections of town don't always have fixed boundaries and kind of flow into each other for the most part.

[Texas Mack]

Originally Posted by rasta empress

Not really, I'm not sure I ever knew what people referred to it as even though I was there for about 4 months lol.

I've seen it described as Memorial Heights, Rice Military, Montrose and a number of different things on apartment finding sites which is why I'm confused I guess.

I really enjoyed that area and living in the Allen House which even though it was showing its age was a decent and reasonably priced spot to spend the summer.

Yeah, Memorial Heights, Rice Military and another is The West End. Like JFRE mentioned, Jackson Hill's turning out to be a cool little area. You're only a few blocks south of Washington, so it's walkable, and then you're only 10-15 minutes away from DT by bus, if you so choose.

I'm really excited to see what the Washington Ave Corridor is going to look like in about five years.

[Supermac34]

How about the 18th street/TC Jester area off of I-10?