Moving to Houston and would appreciate your advise (The Woodlands, McKinney: to rent, low crime)

[Pack Attack]

Please rate these communities 1-5 with 1 being the best and 5 being the worst in terms of the following based on the below information:

My family of three is moving from Wisconsin to Houston.
I work smack downtown Houston on McKinney.
We're looking to purchase a home in the $175,000-$235,000 range.
I refuse to pay expensive tolls, but public transportation like park and rides are an option.
Low crime and family-first culture are appealing to us.

Example to show the format for responses:
Cypress:2
Katy:1
Kingwood:5
Tomball:4
Woodlands:3

Public Schools:
Cypress:
Katy:
Kingwood:
Tomball:
Woodlands:

Commute to downtown Houston not using tollroads:
Cypress:
Katy:
Kingwood:
Tomball:
Woodlands:

Likelyhood for home appreciation within 10 years:
Cypress:
Katy:
Kingwood:
Tomball:
Woodlands:

Best overall home values, all factors considered:
Cypress:
Katy:
Kingwood:
Tomball:
Woodlands:

and the most important
Community that will make my stay-at-home wife and our little growing family feel like we never left family and home:
Cypress:
Katy:
Kingwood:
Tomball:
Woodlands:

Please also feel free to throw in any detailed comments if you're feeling ambitious. Thank you in advance!

[Sampaguita]

and the most important
Community that will make my stay-at-home wife and our little growing family feel like we never left family and home:
Cypress:
Katy:
Kingwood:
Tomball:
Woodlands:

LOL - that's the most important one, eh? You're a good husband (I'm also a SAHM).

Where in WI are you coming from? I'm just wondering because that may help the people who can answer your other questions. Using Milwaukee area as an example, you can't really compare living in Whitefish Bay to Katy or Wauwatosa to The Woodlands so neither Katy nor TW would necessarily make your family feel like they never left home.

[Pack Attack]

We're moving from West Bend, a suburb about 45 mins to the NW of Milwaukee. I'd say average schools with an average community for the greater Milwaukee area.

[Josci]

Originally Posted by Pack Attack

Please rate these communities 1-5 with 1 being the best and 5 being the worst in terms of the following based on the below information:

My family of three is moving from Wisconsin to Houston.
I work smack downtown Houston on McKinney.
We're looking to purchase a home in the $175,000-$235,000 range.
I refuse to pay expensive tolls, but public transportation like park and rides are an option.
Low crime and family-first culture are appealing to us.

Example to show the format for responses:
Cypress:2
Katy:1
Kingwood:5
Tomball:4
Woodlands:3

Public Schools:
Cypress:
Katy:
Kingwood:
Tomball:
Woodlands:

Commute to downtown Houston not using tollroads:
Cypress:
Katy:
Kingwood:
Tomball:
Woodlands:

Likelyhood for home appreciation within 10 years:
Cypress:
Katy:
Kingwood:
Tomball:
Woodlands:

Best overall home values, all factors considered:
Cypress:
Katy:
Kingwood:
Tomball:
Woodlands:

and the most important
Community that will make my stay-at-home wife and our little growing family feel like we never left family and home:
Cypress:
Katy:
Kingwood:
Tomball:
Woodlands:

Please also feel free to throw in any detailed comments if you're feeling ambitious. Thank you in advance!

How did you pick these communities?

Kingwood and the Woodlands are very far North and your commute will be over an hour!

I think if you live in Katy and work downtown you will need to take Westpark Tollway (or be in hell on I-10)...so if you refuse tolls I would say Katy may be a bad commute...I-10 into downtown is AWFUL...

There may be other parts of Katy that offer a different route than I-10 or Westpark but I am not sure....

I think Cypress and Sugarland may be the areas for you to scope out...If you want to look North look at Humble or Sping...they are closer in than the Woodlands and Kingwood. Go South and you have Friendswood which is very nice.

In Houston...tollroads are your bestfriend! Traffic into downtown from any of the suburbs sucks...

[Josci]

Sorry I do not know anything about park and ride.

[EasilyAmused]

Example to show the format for responses:
Cypress:2
Katy:1
Kingwood:5
Tomball:4
Woodlands:3

Public Schools:
Cypress:
Katy:
Kingwood:
Tomball:
Woodlands:

ALL THE SAME

Commute to downtown Houston not using tollroads:
Cypress:6
Katy:2
Kingwood:1
Tomball:6
Woodlands:5


All those commutes are going to be bad. Kingwood is really the best out of those.

Likelyhood for home appreciation within 10 years:
Cypress:
Katy:1 maybe
Kingwood:
Tomball:
Woodlands:

prices are falling elsewhere


Best overall home values, all factors considered:
Cypress:6
Katy:1
Kingwood:2
Tomball:4
Woodlands:6- overpriced for what it is.

and the most important
Community that will make my stay-at-home wife and our little growing family feel like we never left family and home:
Cypress:
Katy:1
Kingwood:1
Tomball:
Woodlands:1

Interchangable again. Don't know enough about Tomball and Cypress to comment

[sheilovealways]

Closest to me is Woodlands, I live in Montgomery near Lake Conroe and love it here. Boyfriend works in Houston most of the time and is not bothered by the long commute. There are alot of people in this area that commute to Houston on a daily basis. I don't have children in school but I know of children in this area and they like their school activities. All the schools around here seem up to par.

Houston is HUGE and has ALOT of traffic, I wouldn't recommend living there, but that is me and I can't handle the masses of people and vehicles. But it is close enough for me to access when needed.

The price range you stated will buy a nice house in the Lake Conroe area, just not on the lake - a much desired location.

The Woodlands is NICE, a bit ritzy, but you can still find a decent home there and I don't know of any bad things about the Woodlands - you don't hear about crime in the Woodlands - sure there is some, just not worthy enough for the news.

Tomball is closer to Houston and closer to all the bad things the city is known for.

Cypress is basically the same as Tomball.

Doesn't really matter how far away you live from Houston, you could live 10 miles out of the city and still take over an hour to commute or you could live 30 miles out of the city - basically same drive time. The traffic crunch happens in the city, not so much before the city.

[Josci]

Originally Posted by sheilovealways

Closest to me is Woodlands, I live in Montgomery near Lake Conroe and love it here. Boyfriend works in Houston most of the time and is not bothered by the long commute. There are alot of people in this area that commute to Houston on a daily basis. I don't have children in school but I know of children in this area and they like their school activities. All the schools around here seem up to par.

Houston is HUGE and has ALOT of traffic, I wouldn't recommend living there, but that is me and I can't handle the masses of people and vehicles. But it is close enough for me to access when needed.

The price range you stated will buy a nice house in the Lake Conroe area, just not on the lake - a much desired location.

The Woodlands is NICE, a bit ritzy, but you can still find a decent home there and I don't know of any bad things about the Woodlands - you don't hear about crime in the Woodlands - sure there is some, just not worthy enough for the news.

Tomball is closer to Houston and closer to all the bad things the city is known for.

Cypress is basically the same as Tomball.

Doesn't really matter how far away you live from Houston, you could live 10 miles out of the city and still take over an hour to commute or you could live 30 miles out of the city - basically same drive time. The traffic crunch happens in the city, not so much before the city.

A friend commutes from Conroe to Houston area and it takes them over an hour...often an hour and a half. The Woodlands and Kingwood would also be around an hour...I personally would never be able to handle that every day...2 times a day....but some people do not mind it.

[davidtk]

All of the areas you're considering are very nice but also very far from downtown. You could easily spend an hour each way, depending on which time of day you leave. Moving twice is no fun, but you may want to rent somewhere closer in until you get a feel for the city. Plus, you can also take your time finding a place to buy.

[Mom2Feebs]

I'm going with The Woodlands or Kingwood. Your most important question, to me, was the one about the community that would make your wife and kids feel like they never left home, and you're from Wisconsin.

The Woodlands has its own spectacular Park-n-Ride called The Woodlands Express. Your commute would be about 45 mins to an hour...but you wouldn't be driving and you'd be able to access the HOV lanes so, for the most part, you'd be moving and not sitting still! You'd be able to use your computer, etc...read, catch up on work, whatever. People make such a HUGE deal over the commute, but honestly, every closer suburb in the Houston area is at least 25 minutes if not 40 minutes, so who cares if it's 20-30 mins longer if you're not driving? You'll probably be more relaxed and less tired as a result of not being stressed out!

That being said, Kingwood has a great Park-n-Ride as well, through the Houston METRO. Good schools, nicely wooded, and I'm a bit biased, because I grew up there.