A native, 22 year old male's general advice for people considering moving to Houston. (Dallas: apartments, condos)

[dv1033]

About myself:
I currently attend college in San Marcos, but have lived in the same house in Fondren Southwest (Gessner and West Bellfort) for 22 years. I went to high school at Westside at Hwy 6 and Briar Forest at the edge of West Houston. I am pretty familiar with inner Houston, SW and, W Houston metro. I love Houston and plan to move back here when I graduate after living in the San Marcos/ Austin area. With that said, I don't sugarcoat Houston and I am very much aware of Houston's shortcomings (and there are plenty).

Expectations:
Houston is Houston. Plain and simple. Just don't try comparing it to other cities. Houston isn't representative of stereotypical Texas, you will need to look towards Austin and Dallas for that. A lot of Houston has a lower income, gritty feel to it because Houston has a large, lower income population. Also, Houston has no zoning in terms of what you can build, don't be fooled into thinking Houston has no zoning. I've been to many cities, but no other city is as economically (therefore, socially and culturally) integrated as Houston in my opinion, which is due to the zoning. The city of Houston doesn't really have any large, distinctive wealthy areas (Memorial is by far the largest but it's a seperate entity from Houston).

In other words, Houston can be and is ugly in many respects. Most major streets and highways are to blame for this ugliness. Subjective opinions come into play here, but to classify Houston as completely ugly is a bit much. I have yet to see another city that has a Briar Forest/San Felipe or Memorial Street than can offer almost 20 miles of beautiful green scenary and tall mature trees through various types of neighborhood.

Houston's feel and look can be described as overall chaotic, which is why Houston can look so damn ugly. It is the ordered chaos that give Houston's best areas (there are way more than 5 or 6) a feel unlike any other city.

General Advice:
Where you live in Houston is very important. Otherwise, you will take out your frustrations via online forums like Yellowmenance, EEStudent, and Wysiwyg (to name a few). Houston has great areas on each side of the metro area so there's no point in living on different side of town from you work. Also, reverse commuting would significantly cut down commute times because there is a ton of options for singles, couples, and families.

I break Houston up into different areas based on the highway loops. Inner Houston is within the 610 loop, the city of Houston is somewhat confined to within the Beltway 8 loop, and most of the major suburbs are outside of hwy 6/1960 (technically not a loop but a good boundary marker).

Basically the farther you move away from Houston's core, the more "suburban feel" you get. This is characteristic of every American metro area. I must point out, about 85% of Houston metro would be considered suburban by East coast standards.

You have to be careful with Houston's affordability that many people like to point. If you are raising or are hoping to raise a family then you are in the right place. The Houston metro has many wonderful master planned communites with the amenties and schools needed. However, living in some of the nicer single family neighborhoods in Houston require at least $500,000 in many cases and over $750,000 in some cases. That said, there are plenty of townhouses, apartments, and condos are reasonibly prices in nice areas.

This was just a general intro of some things I thought people should know about Houston. There is much more info that I would like to include, like the people, weather, etc. but I don't want to write a pamphlet about Houston. If you have any general or specific questions about anything Houston related I will be more than happy to seperate the fact from fiction.

[westhou]

Memorial is not the only large wealthy area of Houston. Within the inner loop is River Oaks and West University. Also just outside the loop is Bellaire.

[dv1033]

Originally Posted by westhou

Memorial is not the only large wealthy area of Houston. Within the inner loop is River Oaks and West University. Also just outside the loop is Bellaire.

Correct. Those areas are pale in comparison to how large Memorial is though. Out of River Oaks, Bellaire, and West U., only West U. is truly insulated from the "criminal" or lower class elemen in my opinion. Bellaire shares a border with Gulfton and River Oaks shares a border with Montrose, which still does have some criminal element. Montrose's gentification still hasn't eliminated the homeless and criminal elements there, yet.

My point was that Houston is different than many cities in how our wealthy enclaves mesh in with the surrouding areas. Driving down Bellaire Blvd. can show one how quickly you go from McMansion to a run down automotive repair shop.

[WillysB]

Originally Posted by OP

I went to high school at Westside at Hwy 6 and Briar Forest at the edge of West Houston.

Heh. Late 70's I used to hang around an old farm house about half way between Eldrige and Hiway 6 and Briar Forest and Westheimer. Was nothing out there at the time but the old house. It sat in the middle of about 500 acres with cows mulching around. My buddy lived there and just had to make sure the fence gates were always closed. Was a good time...

[westhou]

Originally Posted by dv1033

Correct. Those areas are pale in comparison to how large Memorial is though. Out of River Oaks, Bellaire, and West U., only West U. is truly insulated from the "criminal" or lower class elemen in my opinion. Bellaire shares a border with Gulfton and River Oaks shares a border with Montrose, which still does have some criminal element. Montrose's gentification still hasn't eliminated the homeless and criminal elements there, yet.

My point was that Houston is different than many cities in how our wealthy enclaves mesh in with the surrouding areas. Driving down Bellaire Blvd. can show one how quickly you go from McMansion to a run down automotive repair shop.

The mansions in River Oaks are not McMansions. I consider a McMansion to be identical houses. The Mansions in River Oaks do not look the same.

I think I'm totally missing the point of this thread. Are you trying to emphasis the negatives of Houston to those that don't know much about Houston?

I should probably just leave this thread because no good can come from it.

Bye Bye

[dv1033]

Originally Posted by westhou

The mansions in River Oaks are not McMansions. I consider a McMansion to be identical houses. The Mansions in River Oaks do not look the same.

I think I'm totally missing the point of this thread. Are you trying to emphasis the negatives of Houston to those that don't know much about Houston?

I should probably just leave this thread because no good can come from it.

Bye Bye

River Oaks and Bellaire are different. First of all, Bellaire Blvd goes no where near River Oaks. Secondly, River Oaks is where the elite live, not Bellaire. In fact, Bellaire is mostly known as a wealthy Jewish area here on the SW side.

No we are splitting hairs about McMansions. To me, McMansions are big houses that take up most of a lot. Cookie cutter homes would be the term I would use for identical houses.

The point of this thread was to give some general overall advice about Houston from someone who has lived here for 22 years. People need to realize and understand the negatives and positives so that they can make good choices. I feel like that I have a lot of insight into Houston and can give people good advice besides telling them to move to Katy, Woodlands, Sugarland, or the typical, generic responses that are common here (these are great places to live btw but there is so much more).

[jfre81]

Generally a good post, although I don't know about Austin (at least the city itself) being "stereotypical Texas." Maybe Dallas and San Antonio.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Originally Posted by WillysB

Heh. Late 70's I used to hang around an old farm house about half way between Eldrige and Hiway 6 and Briar Forest and Westheimer. Was nothing out there at the time but the old house. It sat in the middle of about 500 acres with cows mulching around. My buddy lived there and just had to make sure the fence gates were always closed. Was a good time...

I recall that place, Briar Forrest was just a dirt road that led to HWY 6, which itself was an elevated two lane road!

[Topaz]

Originally Posted by dv1033

The point of this thread was to give some general overall advice about Houston from someone who has lived here for 22 years. People need to realize and understand the negatives and positives so that they can make good choices. I feel like that I have a lot of insight into Houston and can give people good advice besides telling them to move to Katy, Woodlands, Sugarland, or the typical, generic responses that are common here (these are great places to live btw but there is so much more).

I take issue with calling advice about Katy, The Woodlands, and Sugar Land as "typical, generic responses." You said yourself that it costs at least $500K and likely much more to live in desirable areas of the Inner Loop. When people come on this Forum seeking recommendations of affordable, family friendly places to live in the Houston metro area and suburbs, they usually do not want to be told to house hunt for a condo in a close in area. That's why they are given names of farther out areas they can afford, areas with good public schools and low crime. When you say "there is so much more," the challenge is that "so much more" costs a lot more money!

[desertsun41]

dv1033 you are quite qbviously intelligent. I thought you were writing your college essay but you did a real good job of describing Houston in the shortest amount of words.

I live outside the city, I would never live in a big city anymore, but I love having Houston within an hour drive for all the great things it offers for recreation, dining and my love of sports. Just last night while getting lost trying to find a small cafe/bistro kinda place I got to see some of the back roads and all its blight. The bums peeing on dumpsters, begging for change, the graffiti, the thugs sitting in dark corners and so on. Nothing different then any other city.

Other then the antiquated dilapidated disintegrating roads I think it's a great city. Maybe in 10 years I will feel different when I have done and seen everything 10 times over, but for now I look forward to driving into Houston for something different all the time.