Inner city living??

[Vicman]

Before deciding on a neighborhood, please get a short-term rental in order to decide which neighborhood you like the most! With that said...

Originally Posted by New-2-Houston

There was some really good advice on this forum. Anyone have advice about the hospital systems? My company will provide corporate housing I just need to choose a hospital in a preferably middle to upper class neighborhood. I am not familiar with the suburbs, nor Houston, for that matter. Please keep that in mind when responding. Thanks!

That's easy - There are TONS of hospitals (I.E. Memorial Hermann, Methodist, St. Luke's) in the Texas Medical Center, and the upper middle class neighborhoods of Southgate, Morningside Place, and Old Braeswood are directly west of the TMC. Plus, Braeswood Place, the City of West University Place, the City of Southside Place, and the City of Bellaire, all upper middle class, are a bit further west. Some neighborhoods northwest of the TMC are Southampton and Boulevard Oaks - those are very, very wealthy.

Also, the Greenway Plaza area has the Twelve Oaks Hospital. Some very wealthy neighborhoods (i.e. River Oaks, the wealthiest in Houston - as well as Highland Village, Afton Oaks, Southampton, and Boulevard Oaks) and some upper middle class neighborhoods surround the Greenway Plaza and nearby Upper Kirby area, as well as the Galleria area (west of the Twelve Oaks Hospital).

The Memorial area, which is home to six Houston enclave cities (Bunker Hill Village, Hedwig Village, Hilshire Village, Hunters Creek Village, Piney Point Village, and Spring Valley), is reasonably close too and is extremely wealthy: (Hedwig Village to Twelve Oaks is 10 miles - Hedwig Village to Memorial Hermann Texas Medical Center is 13.5 miles)

As for the schools:
* River Oaks, Southgate, Old Braeswood, Braeswood Place, West University Place, Southside Place (east of Stella Link), Highland Village, Afton Oaks, Southampton, Upper Kirby Boulevard Oaks, and Braeswood Place (east of Stella Link AND north of South Braeswood) are zoned to Lamar High School - http://www.lamarhs.org
* Bellaire, Southside Place (west of Stella Link), Braeswood Place (west of Stella Link OR south of South Braeswood), Linkwood, Knollwood Village, and Meyerland are zoned to Bellaire High School - http://www.bellaire.org
* Uptown Houston and the Galleria area subdivisions are technically zoned to Lee High School (http://hs.houstonisd.org/leehs) (broken link), but Lee has a very "Ghetto" reputation, so the Uptown parents badgered HISD into giving Lee-zoned kids the option to attend Lamar High School or Westside High School (http://hs.houstonisd.org/westsidehs/ )

By any means, you are not restricted to your zoned schools, as HISD offers magnet and transfer options.

One more thing... if the Memorial area is close enough to the hospitals for you, the Memorial area (with the exception of VERY SMALL portions of Hunters Creek Village and Piney Point Village south of the Buffalo Bayou - Those bits are in Houston ISD and are zoned to Lee/Lamar/Westside) is zoned to Spring Branch ISD schools. The portions of SBISD zoned to Memorial HS and Stratford HS are thought to have the quality SBISD schools. Many parents in Memorial LOVE Memorial High School (http://mhsweb.springbranchisd.com/home.asp), which is in Hedwig Village.

[i am just me]

Originally Posted by New-2-Houston

There was some really good advice on this forum. Anyone have advice about the hospital systems? My company will provide corporate housing I just need to choose a hospital in a preferably middle to upper class neighborhood. I am not familiar with the suburbs, nor Houston, for that matter. Please keep that in mind when responding. Thanks!

There are SO many hospitals in Houston to choose from. What particular area of town would you prefer?

I usually go to Memorial Hermann in the Texas Medical Center, but I have also heard good things about Southwest Memorial, Methodist, and St. Luke's.

[sazza]

Hi,

Which part of Australia are you from? We are Aussies too, and moved to Houston July 2006. We live in the Medical Center area, which isn't far from the Downtown area. Just note that you will need to drive everywhere here. I don't know if I would live in Downtown with two toddlers. We have two toddlers and live in a nice apartment but will be moving to a house soon. They need the space to run around in. Anyway, there are lots of areas near Downtown with houses or townhouses (patio homes) that have a small patch of grass.

[beckyjogatlin]

1 in college, 1 in high school, and 1 elementary. We love it. There are more and more kids in this neighborhood every year. Point being........it's nice here and kid friendly. However, if you'd like a little more yard space, you can go just north of loop 610 into Garden Oaks, Shepherd Forest, Oak Forest area. The homes there have decent sized yards, are still very close to downtown, and do have more children than inside the loop. I'd like to reiterate........you'll have to drive most places that you go........after all, you are moving to Texas; we're big and spread out here.

[Vicman]

Most of Oak Forest and all of Garden Oaks are zoned to Waltrip High School and Black Middle School. Some of Oak Forest is zoned to Scarborough High School, with people living in that section zoned to either Clifton Middle School or Black Middle School.

Six different elementary schools serve Oak Forest, while one, Garden Oaks Elementary School, serves Garden Oaks.

[Zoobeefoo]

In the Medical Center, just south of downtown.

[johnnyb]

Originally Posted by sazza

Hi,

Which part of Australia are you from? We are Aussies too, and moved to Houston July 2006. We live in the Medical Center area, which isn't far from the Downtown area. Just note that you will need to drive everywhere here. I don't know if I would live in Downtown with two toddlers. We have two toddlers and live in a nice apartment but will be moving to a house soon. They need the space to run around in. Anyway, there are lots of areas near Downtown with houses or townhouses (patio homes) that have a small patch of grass.

Hi sazza,

Sorry about the delay in replying - busy doing other stuff.

At the moment we're living in Hobart. We've been here for 3 years now, but I grew up in Brisbane. We love the climate in Tassie - I really don't like heat and humidity, which is why we got out of Brisbane. That's one of the reasons I'm not too keen to move to Houston, even if it is for only 1 year.

John.

[sgd]

Considering that the thread originator will only be in Houston 1 year, I expect he will be renting for his family and not too concerned with High Schools.

I recommend logging onto har.com and looking at rentals in the zip codes :

77005 - West University, Southampton - established, family neighborhoods w/ pedestrian feel - 15-20 min drive to downtown in rush-hour, and you can take a bus
77006 - Montrose/Museum area - more funky, but still professional area and closer to downtown than 005
77019 - River Oaks and related areas - if you can afford rentals here, you could be at your office in a 10 min drive - most prestigious Houston neighborhood
77008 - 10 min drive to downtown; funky area, but a diverse neighborhood - families, singles
77007 - Rice Military - a little West of River Oaks, mostly townhomes but with the huge Memorial Park to walk to you don't need a yard of your own. Probably one of the best rental inventories for you

I am NOT a realtor.

[johnnyb]

Originally Posted by sgd

Considering that the thread originator will only be in Houston 1 year, I expect he will be renting for his family and not too concerned with High Schools.

I recommend logging onto har.com and looking at rentals in the zip codes :

77005 - West University, Southampton - established, family neighborhoods w/ pedestrian feel - 15-20 min drive to downtown in rush-hour, and you can take a bus
77006 - Montrose/Museum area - more funky, but still professional area and closer to downtown than 005
77019 - River Oaks and related areas - if you can afford rentals here, you could be at your office in a 10 min drive - most prestigious Houston neighborhood
77008 - 10 min drive to downtown; funky area, but a diverse neighborhood - families, singles
77007 - Rice Military - a little West of River Oaks, mostly townhomes but with the huge Memorial Park to walk to you don't need a yard of your own. Probably one of the best rental inventories for you

I am NOT a realtor.

Yes, you're right that we're not interested in schools at all, since if we do move to Houston we will not be there long enough for our toddlers to start at school.

Thanks for the zip codes. I'll check them out.

John.