Inner city living?? (Houston, Dallas, Bellaire: real estate, apartments, rentals)

[johnnyb]

Hi All,

I work in Australia, but my company may require me to move to our Houston office for 6 to 12 months. I will be looking to rent somewhere to live with my family - myself, wife, and two 3 year olds, so we would like a bit of space.

What I would really love is to live in the inner city so I could walk to work (the office is near the intersection of Dallas and Smith Streets, if that means anything to anyone) as I want to avoid a long commute (I understand traffic in Houston can be a bit of a pain). In Australia you could find a good sized apartment or townhouse (not sure if that is what you call them in the US) in or close to the CBD. Does Houston have anything similar, or is the city centre filled with office blocks? Also, is the city centre the sort of place you would want to live with a young family?

If we do have to live further out from the centre what is public transport like in Houston? Are there buses (or trams or trains) that run regularly from most areas to the city centre? ALternatively, are there bicycle aptsh that I could ride to work on?

As you can see I've got no idea what Houston is like (although I've been reading lots on the web recently), so any help will be much appreciated.

John.

[j2773]

First of all, welcome to Houston if your company relocates you.

I would say that living downtown in the CBD is probably not an option for you and your family. Most of the space in the CBD is allocated for office space, and while there are lofts available in the area, they're more suited for single people or couples without children.

There are several options near the CBD, however, that would be good for a family. If you're looking, try to locate on the western edge of downtown. There are several nice areas where you can raise your kids and have all the amenities of living inside the loop and plenty of townhomes to chose from if you decide to rent. I don't know what you're looking to spend for housing on a monthly basis, but the area known as Rice Military is close to downtown, has convenient bus service to the CBD, and has a neighborhood feel very rare inside the loop. I live in this area and absolutely love the proximity to everything inside the loop, plus very easy access to Memorial Park (a great place if you're a biking/running/general outdoors enthusiast.) I ride my bike downtown occasionally but wouldn't recommend it on warm, muggy days unless you can shower at the office (the weather can be that muggy.)

Nearby is the Heights, which also be a nice place to look. Some areas are pretyt well built up while others aren't as nice, however, the whole area is undergoing quite a few changes.

Midtown is on the southern edge of downtown and is an option, but to be honest, I wasn't too keen on the pedestrian traffic late at night and don't think it's as nice a place for a family.

6th Ward is another area closer to the CBD, lots of nice, older, historic homes and is becoming a very desirable area. From this neighborhood, you could easily walk downtown, but I'm not sure it's the best place for kids. Same goes for Montrose (although not as close as the 6th Ward.)

Of course, if money isn't a big problem, you could look in the River Oaks area. This is Houston's premier neighborhood, with houses reaching into the 10's of millions of dollars, but other areas are not that expensive. And a little further out is West University Place (also known as West U.) Very desireable neighborhood, very nice homes, very close to some of the nicest, most beautiful parts of Houston. But again, this area is quite expensive.

Now I've been married just under 2 years and we don't have kids. Once we do have children, our options in our area are to either send them to schools in the Houston Independent School District, enroll in a private school, or home school them (not a viable option for us.) I hear bad things about HISD schools, but I believe those are primarily from the high schools. I've actually heard some of the area elementary and secondary schools are not bad at all, but I really can't say which ones folks here are referring to. Our first choice would be to send our kids to private school, or if you really wanted good public schools, you have to look much further out into the suburbs. I hope this helps you a bit.

[johnnyb]

j2773,

Thanks for your reply. I'm not sure yet what sort of monthly rent I would expect to pay, but the areas you've suggested give me a good starting point.

I'll check some rentals out on the web to see what to expect.

John.

[Vicman]

Well, the comprehensive high schools considered to be the best in the inner city are Lamar and Bellaire.

For middle school comprehensives: Pershing, Pin Oak, and Lanier.

Several elementary schools are considered to be good.

In the Heights in particular, many middle class residents who are in HISD send their kids to either Hamilton or Lanier.

Rice Military parents, I believe, send their kids to the same schools that Heights kids attend.

West U is zoned to several schools considered to be among the best in HISD (West U Elementary, Pershing Middle/Pin Oak Middle, Lamar High).

Originally Posted by j2773

Now I've been married just under 2 years and we don't have kids. Once we do have children, our options in our area are to either send them to schools in the Houston Independent School District, enroll in a private school, or home school them (not a viable option for us.) I hear bad things about HISD schools, but I believe those are primarily from the high schools. I've actually heard some of the area elementary and secondary schools are not bad at all, but I really can't say which ones folks here are referring to. Our first choice would be to send our kids to private school, or if you really wanted good public schools, you have to look much further out into the suburbs. I hope this helps you a bit.

[techatlarge]

I'm trying to do some reasearch on prices for efficiencies or private rooms in the 1.) midtown areas of Houston and the 2.) areas just before the suburbs or 3.) right in the suburbs but not way out. Can someone list different areas in Houston so that I can do a search on prices.

[Vicman]

Tech - Are you referring to apartments?

www.har.com has an apartment search, and several other sites also have apartment searches.

By the way, if you are looking for apartments, be careful! Some sections of the city, even some with nice houses, are known for horrible apartments.

[johnnyb]

Originally Posted by j2773

There are several options near the CBD, however, that would be good for a family. ...
Rice Military ...
the Heights ...
Midtown ...
6th Ward ...

I've tried looking on the web for rental properties in these areas, but haven't had much luck. I've been using rentclicks.com and there was only one or two properties that were for rent, and they only had 2 bedrooms, eg
http://www.rentclicks.com/display.as...a-fcf72831927b

Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place, or maybe my search criteria aren't correct (I was searching via zip codes - 77006, 77007, 77008, 77009, 77019). Can anyone recommend a good website for rental properties?

Thanks.

John.

[newinhouston]

A couple of web sites that come to mind are craigslist.com and Houston Chronicle (chron.com - choose 'real estate' link there and you can also search for rentals). Good luck!

[j2773]

Also check out har.com to look for residential leases in those areas.

[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!