Making choices about Houston...from So Cal (Bellaire, Katy: sale, real estate)

[OCBrownEyedGirl]

It looks like my husband will be offered a job in the Houston area. The office is in the Galleria area. The move would be in the Fall.

We will be moving from Southern California and have 2 small children. One is in school and I really prefer to keep him in a Christian school even though I hear the public schools are pretty good.

Depending on how hard we are hit on the sale of our home, we can probably spend about 500K (remember, that's not a lot by CA standards)

Any suggestions about areas and Christian schools?

Thanks,
E

[modster]

When deciding your price range here, remember to keep in mind we do have higher property taxes, (but no state income tax), so that may impact what you can spend.

$500,000 will get you into some desirable close in areas. Since you are going to do private schools and can afford closer in, I would not recommend enduring the long commute to any of the farther out areas like Katy, Sugarland, Cypress, etc. There is no point in it unless you have your heart set on a 6,000 sq ft new house.

A lot of it depends on the size, style and age of home you want. You could easily afford Meyerland, Timbergrove Manor, Heights, possibly Afton Oaks and sections of Memorial. I would go on Houston Real Estate - Houston Homes, Houston Home Value and Houston Relocation and check those areas.

[sevfiv]

What does your family want in a home? 500k will afford you many choices...

Architecture? Amenities? Size?

Can't really help out on the Christian school stuff..

[westres1]

77079 would be great. You could get a nice home in a very family oriented neighborhood.
Christian schools in the area are St Francis,Grace,St Cecilia,Second baptist,St Michaels

[Oildog]

Check out www.har.com for choices. For 500k you can have a decent dwelling inside the loop say zip 77019. Lots of christian schools in Houston.

[houston-nomad]

For being near the Galleria, I recommend the Meyerland area and surrounding neighborhoods. You will get a very nice house for the money and there are lots of private schools nearby.

Oh, and since you are open to public schools, you'll find a number of good ones in this area, as well. Some great elementary schools, and you can probably afford to be zoned to Bellaire HS, which is good.

[EasilyAmused]

Briargrove, Charnwood or Briarcroft right in the Galleria. St. Michael's, St. Francis or Second Baptist for schooling. However, Briargrove Elem. is excellent.

You really don't have to live outside of the Galleria area if you are going private. The above are very nice family neighborhoods with small ranch style homes.

If you don't mind a 20-25 minute drive(at rush hour) then I suggest the Memorial West area in 77079, like suggested above, and The Grace School, St. Cecilia's and St. Francis again. The houses are still old in the 500k range, but they are bigger than the Galleria area homes in your price range. The public schools are excellent in this zip code though.

[Poltracker]

Originally Posted by modster

When deciding your price range here, remember to keep in mind we do have higher property taxes, (but no state income tax), so that may impact what you can spend.

$500,000 will get you into some desirable close in areas. Since you are going to do private schools and can afford closer in, I would not recommend enduring the long commute to any of the farther out areas like Katy, Sugarland, Cypress, etc. There is no point in it unless you have your heart set on a 6,000 sq ft new house.

A lot of it depends on the size, style and age of home you want. You could easily afford Meyerland, Timbergrove Manor, Heights, possibly Afton Oaks and sections of Memorial. I would go on Houston Real Estate - Houston Homes, Houston Home Value and Houston Relocation and check those areas.

Good suggestions.

[OCBrownEyedGirl]

Wow, I am overwhelmed with the responses...this is awesome! My husband are traveling in the motor home right now and will sit and look at all of this tonight. We just received word that the powers that be at his "potential" new employer want us to travel back home to CA via Houston...LOL...the "long way" home. Based on our plans, we should be there in about 2 weeks so that I can see these neighborhoods (they mentioned a realtor) and schools for myself. All of your suggestions will help. This is pretty new to us so we have not really discussed the type or age of home we want. We have always pretty much lived in newer homes, but we are open to older homes. We also have a 42 ft motor home we need a home for. We have never been able to store it at home but that would be nice as well.

I will definately be posting more specific questions later!

Thanks so much again. It gives me a much better feeling about this "potential" big move.

E

[sbhubbell]

I highly recommend Katy. My husband works in the Galleria, and we live in Cinco Ranch, in Katy. The public school district is the top rated one in the entire Houston area. As for Christian schools...I was raised in one and my guess is I know what you're looking for and a Catholic or Episcopal school is not it. Most of the schools previously mentioned are not what I think you are looking for, except for maybe 2nd Baptist. I don't know much about the academics there. I would recommend Faith West Christian school, in Katy. It is evangelical and very strong academically, which is what I think people mean when they are looking for a Christian school.