Katy vs. Sugar Land (Houston, Austin: daycare, houses, neighborhoods)

[rishma]

We an active outdoor family from California moving from costal Mississippi to the Houston area come March and have 3 children, 4 yr. 2yr. and 3 months. I think we have narrowed down our hunt to Katy and Sugar Land. I would appreciate some input on neighborhoods. I am looking for one with a community pool and lots of trees, don't care if houses are old or new our price range is 200-300. I would love information on traffic, and the Park and Ride (commute to DownTown). I desire an active YMCA type facility, a co-ed adult soccer and a family based community. I have done a lot of reading about schools but some information about pre-schools would be helpful.
Thank you for any help and information you can share.

[westhou]

You will be able to find all you are looking for in both Sugarland and Katy. Traffic will be a nightmare from both places but since you are using park and ride that should not be an issue for you. As for trees you will find that in both Sugarland and Katy but it's not as wooded as the Woodlands and Kingwood. If I had to choose between the two I would go with Sugarland. It's closer to Houston. Katy is probably the furthest suburb to Houston compared to all the other suburbs.

[sbhubbell]

We looked in both places and ended up in Katy, Cinco Ranch. Great schools and very family oriented. In the end I think we chose Katy because we liked newer houses and could get more house for the money. No trees in our neighborhood though, if trees are important I'd say Sugarland has more of those. I think traffic from katy and Sugarland is pretty comparable despite the difference in miles. We have a very nice large YMCA and a big Lifetime Fitness for those who can afford it. Tons to choose from in the 200-300K range. There is a huge soccer area in George Bush Park that I believe has some adult leagues associated with it. Tons of good preschools around too...my kids are in daycare at Kids R Kids but I have a lot of friends with kids in preschool who speak very highly of St. Peter's Methodist ECDC (Early Childhood Development Center). I have friends who drive quite a ways to sent their kids there.

[Topaz]

Originally Posted by rishma

We an active outdoor family from California moving from costal Mississippi to the Houston area come March and have 3 children, 4 yr. 2yr. and 3 months. I think we have narrowed down our hunt to Katy and Sugar Land. I would appreciate some input on neighborhoods. I am looking for one with a community pool and lots of trees, don't care if houses are old or new our price range is 200-300. I would love information on traffic, and the Park and Ride (commute to DownTown). I desire an active YMCA type facility, a co-ed adult soccer and a family based community. I have done a lot of reading about schools but some information about pre-schools would be helpful.
Thank you for any help and information you can share.

We chose New Territory in Sugar Land because of the excellent school line up: Walker Station Elementary, Sartartia Middle School, and Austin High School (important only for resale value of your house, not really for your own children because there will almost certainly be more high schools built by the time your children need them). For preschool, my children are at KidsRKids on Homeward Way and we are happy with it. I've heard that other good Sugar Land choices are The School for Little Children and The Walden School. We chose KidsRKids because the teachers seem very caring, they are very conveniently located if you live in New Territory, and I love their Web cams because I check on my children throughout the day.

Sugar Land's master planned communities all have excellent amenities like community pools and planned activities. Soccer is big around here but I'm not sure about the co-ed part. The area is totally family-oriented. Sugar Land is an upscale community with a high median income. It is also very culturally diverse. We like that because our children now have friends with a lot of different cultural backgrounds.

As someone else mentioned, Sugar Land is not forested like The Woodlands but there are a lot of trees. Here are some pictures I posted a few months ago.

Lifetime Fitness is the nicest place to work out. If you haven't visited one, you may be amazed at how nice it is unless you are moving from somewhere with something similar. I have lived in Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, and Colorado Springs and I like Lifetime Fitness better than any of the clubs to which I belonged in any of those other places.

Katy was located too far away for us to consider. But the big advantage to Katy is that you get more for your money than you do in Sugar Land. For the same amount of money, you will get a much newer house than you would get in Sugar Land. But right now it is a buyer's market and there are wonderful houses in Sugar Land where they have been totally upgraded.

Our other big deal about Sugar Land was the new Whole Foods Market. We go there 2-3 times per week. The Sweet Peas Clubhouse is awesome. My children love to go there and do art or use the Mac computer while I shop. The Whole Foods staff are very nice and my children like going there so much, they will ask when we need groceries again.

If you have any questions about New Territory, let me know. I'm happy to try to answer.

[ZeroTX]

Lots more older trees in Sugar Land. I'd look at First Colony as your area of choice for the beauty of mature tree-lined streets. Just drive down Williams Trace Blvd and you will be "sold" so to speak. You can get a lot of house in First Colony for 300k. Should be a recent build or at least kept up to date. Houses there range from 1978 to around the year 2000. All of the neighborhoods are kept extremely well, immaculate, strict HOA's.

[RobertQ]

Sugarland