OK, what's the catch? Houston seems too good to be true. (Austin: crime, house prices)

[tstone]

Originally Posted by EasilyAmused

1 1/2- 2 hours TOTAL drive time Tstone.

Yeah, 45-60 minutes each way is pretty usual and not unreasonable for any big city in the USA. To a 'Nor'easter,' this is usually a big improvement!!!!

[karuna95]

Originally Posted by iamanewcomer

There is no catch.
Better keep Hou as a secret...
If lots of people discover it ,prices may go up...

Too late - more than 2 million people have already discovered how nice Houston is!

The humidity here is not too bad, even in summer. I've been in Phoenix in June, at 117 degrees. No humidity. It was like sticking your head in the oven. I've never experienced heat like that! In Houston, I can bike, swim, and garden pretty much year round. Love that!

Bad stuff - mosquitos and roaches!

Transition areas - as families move in, they are changing the neighborhood schools, for the better, I think. Houston is a work in progress (esp our roads!), and is a thoroughly enjoyable place to live, IMHO

[lane_change]

The 3.0%-4.0% property taxes will have the MUD included. I have never seen anyone paying 4.5% before even if they are the first house in a brand new master planned community. 4.0% seems to be about the limit for most places, and again, within 2-3 years, those 4.X%'s are down to the high 3.X%'s.

But you also get your Homestead exemption and the normal tax range is still going to be around 3.2% give or take minus about .3% for homestead. So depending on what your assessed value comes in, for $300k, I can't see ever eclipsing $12k for taxes, and more than likely you will be between $8-10k. As far as commutes, if you work downtown, avoid rush hour...be early, show up at 6am instead of 7am or 8am. Leave at 3pm if available and just trade your 9-5 for a 7-3, or just accept the fact that you will be getting more done at work by being early vs. showing up on time after your 1h30m commute from the burbs. Better for you, better for your company, and better for everyone else to have 1 less car on the road during rush hour. The suburbs generally have the better schools as well, short of some select schools in Houston, or private schools. Crime is less, average income is higher, houses are cheaper, etc....your biggest sacrifice is the distance between yourself and the activities available in the city.

[tstone]

Originally Posted by EasilyAmused

As to value, I know Montgomery County hits you for full purchase value right off the bat.

How does the appraisal district get this information, being that Texas is a non-disclosure state? Are they that good? Or do people blindly fill out that CAD 'survey' that arrives in the mail shortly after purchase?

[EasilyAmused]

I know in The Woodlands everyone suspected that the Association or Home sales office freely gave the info to MCAD. The appraisals were strangely right on target of sales price. Higher the tax values more prestige and more money for improvements. Either that or they are THAT good.

[RNeub]

Thanks everyone, you have been very helpful in giving me greater clarity on the subject.

I would think, if given a clean slate, I would prefer being in a home on the middle to outer-edge of the suburbs. (Of course, its not like I have a job currently in place that I would have to commute to, so this is just pure "fantasy" thinking out loud). I don't think I would need a huge house, maybe 2750 sq. ft or so. Being a single Dad, much larger then that would probably be a bear to keep up with.

I am not really interested in living down town proper, I am more of a sub-urbanite by nature. Given that, what area(s) would you all consider that would fit my criteria? I'd like to do a little house shopping on line and see what I pull up. In addition, any "bad" areas to stay away from would be appreciated as well. I am a total novice to the lay of the land, so I apologize for my ignorance.

I am a Librarian, and would prefer to stay in that field if I could. What is the public library system like? From what I have seen, pay looks to be on par with NJ.

As far as the heat, well, NJ summers are hot and humid as well, so I think I can transition pretty well. I am more of an inside person anyway. Heck, this morning it was 8 degrees here, and I find as I age, I am less tolerant of the cold. I used to eat it up, no problem, now I find it hitting me harder and harder.

Again, thanks all for your help.

[RNeub]

Actually, one other thing I was interested in knowing...what are the difficulties in adding on a room to one's house if one desired some additional space for say a hobby room or such? Are the zoning laws generally liberal or restrictive?

[Jenn45]

We lived in houston for 21 years and have recently moved to Virginia. I can answer a lot of your questions. We lived in the nw side, willowbrook mall area. Good location, only short distance to airport. Good schools, everything close by. Be careful, I would not recommend the south east side of Houston now adays. Has gotten a little rough due to increased crime. We were still subsidizing victims from Katrina in apartments and quite a few of the jail inmates are floating around in houston.
It definately has changed in the last few years. Just need to be careful like any big city.
I would recommend looking within 10-15 miles of where you work since traffic is a nightmare. If you live farther away, plan on long commutes unless you can get on the freeway by 6:30am.

Adding on to your house is reasonable, though housing is so inexpensive(suburbs) compared to east coast, you can find a lot of options. Labor is cheap!! You can always find someone to do anything you need and I think it is a lot cheaper than other places. A great website to look at housing is HAR dot com.

[TexasTheKid]

Originally Posted by RNeub

I am not really interested in living down town proper, I am more of a sub-urbanite by nature. Given that, what area(s) would you all consider that would fit my criteria? I'd like to do a little house shopping on line and see what I pull up. In addition, any "bad" areas to stay away from would be appreciated as well. I am a total novice to the lay of the land, so I apologize for my ignorance.

You have an endless array of 'burb choices here. Some other people on this board can probably rattle off a couple dozen or more. I'll list one on every major freeway (not including tollroads): 59N - Kingwood; 45N - the Woodlands; 290 - Copperfield; 10W - Katy; 59S - Sugarland; 288 - Pearland; 45S - Clearlake; 10E - er... don't go this direction

Originally Posted by RNeub

As far as the heat, well, NJ summers are hot and humid as well, so I think I can transition pretty well. I am more of an inside person anyway. Heck, this morning it was 8 degrees here, and I find as I age, I am less tolerant of the cold. I used to eat it up, no problem, now I find it hitting me harder and harder.

NJ and Texas have similar summer climates. What you get in your worst month, we have for three solid months. The rest of the year is typically outstanding though.

Originally Posted by RNeub

Actually, one other thing I was interested in knowing...what are the difficulties in adding on a room to one's house if one desired some additional space for say a hobby room or such? Are the zoning laws generally liberal or restrictive?

What's zoning?

[tstone]

Originally Posted by Jenn45

Be careful, I would not recommend the south east side of Houston now adays. Has gotten a little rough due to increased crime. We were still subsidizing victims from Katrina in apartments and quite a few of the jail inmates are floating around in houston.
It definately has changed in the last few years. Just need to be careful like any big city. ...

The SE side from U of H down to Fuqua has always been a barrio with severe flooding issues. But once you get down to about Fuqua St and further south it's fine. Suburbs off I-45, worth looking at, that aren't too far out are Clear Lake (zips 77062,77058,77059) and Friendswood (77546). I live in Clear Lake by Ellington and in non-peak traffic I am 15 mins from Hobby airport, 20 mins from the waterfront, 20 minutes from downtown, 30 mins from the Galleria and 35 mins from Galveston. Double those times during peak traffic. Something 2750 sq ft, ~12-15 years old will run about $250-400k out here. Property tax rate is 2.8-2.9%. The big downside is being in a hurricane evacuation zone, even though most houses around me came out unscathed after Ike. The fences and trees were a giant mess, however. And I've never seen street flooding in Clear Lake, but it definitely floods to the north and west of us. So if you work in town, you might get stuck at home about once a year.