Relocating to Houston from UK - HELP!!! (The Woodlands, Pearland: rental, townhouse)

[traceyw]

Hi. We are moving to Houston from Manchester UK in June/July. We have a 7yr old boy and are looking for a good family area to live with a good elementary school and amenities. My husband will be home based so we are not restricted to any specific area, just that he will be using the domestic airport (Hobby?) quite a bit. We believe that Clear Lake City and The Woodlands are good districts to live in but wondered if anyone could give us more information on these areas or of any others. We are coming to Houston in 2 weeks for a few days to scout around so would like to know as much information as possible prior to our visit. Thanks.

[Skyjunky]

The Woodlands is an excellent place to live but is on the far northside of town. Hobby airport is the southside. The Woodlands is about 45-60 minutes away.

Clear Lake is nice as well, probably a 30 minute commute to the airport on a good day.

You might also look at the Pearland area.

[Premont]

There's 2 local airports. The much larger one, Bush Intercontinental Airport, is up north close to The Woodlands. There's also nice neighborhoods like Kingwood and Champions near Bush Intercontinental that you might want to check out. Clear Lake is near the coast, so if you're into boats you'd want to choose that area. Woodlands has a bunch of nice neighborhoods and parks and good schools.

[movingtocolorado]

There is a huge community of british families here in The Woodlands. You can't go wrong as far as finding a great house with great schools. We have tons of neighborhood parks, great pools, trails that kids can use to ride their bikes to school, etc.

Personally, I would have to say that Galatas Elem. is the snobbiest of all the schools and it's not the warmest school in terms of how they treat the kids. All the other elementary schools are wonderful. Rave reviews in my circle are mostly for Bush and Buckalew elementary schools. They feed into a wonderful award winning Middle School (Grades 5-6), Mitchell Intermediate. The newer neighborhoods have newer schools that I am sure are terrific as well - just maybe not as established. Something to think about as elementary school flies by so quickly!! Let me know if I can help further! (Kids love to be able to ride their bikes to school here. You may keep that in mind when you look at houses. See if it's too far or if there are a lot of streets to cross etc. The bus system is phenomenal though, so don't let that deter you from buying the perfect house!)

PS: My son attended Paddington British Storybook Garden School for his first year of preschool. What a fantastic school!! Too bad they don't have K-12!

[BearBranch]

I prefer Kingwood to the Woodlands. I purchased in Kingwood (and moved here from California)

[BearBranch]

In my neighborhood in Kingwood, we have a number of Union Jacks raised in folks front yards.

[traceyw]

Thanks for your info. I never really thought about moving to where there are other British families but I suppose it would be nice (especially for my son) if there were similar people he could relate to.

[traceyw]

Just had another thought - we have been looking at a website for rental properties and, other than the rent, wondered if there will be any other fees we will have to pay ie. local taxes. I know there will be utility bills and the like but we don't know anything about the US system so any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Kunter]

We are moving to Houston from Norway this summer. If you search in ealier posts you will find a lot of subjects regarding how things are working in the US. You will also learn a lot about the different communities, cummute time and schools. You need to spend some time but have been very usefull for us. We did consider renting a house but now we think we will buy. We are staying for 3 years.Go to www.har.com to look for houses to lease.

[Renata Pecar]

We are moving this summer to Houston from UK. We've no kids so I looked at Memorial or Galleria area. My husband will work in Stafford. Can someone please let me know how far is to commute to Stafford from downtown Houston? Also does anyone know of a nice gated townhouse developments in those areas? Thank you.