Young Married Professionals being transferred to Houston from Chicago! Need Advice! (The Woodlands: rental homes, condos)

[Mollmack]

Hello All!
I am looking for advice on where to live in Houston/Houston area. My husband is being transferred to Houston from Chicago and we have no idea where to begin! We are planning a trip down there soon to look at areas however any advice on neighborhoods would be much appreciated

Here is a little about us- we are both 30 yrs old and have professional jobs (my husband’s is in energy component sales, mine is corporate training). I was born and raised in Chicago, my husband born and raised in Iowa but has been living in Chicago for 9 years. We lived in the city for 5 years, in the suburbs outside the city (Wheaton, IL) the last 4. We have no children and two smaller dogs (not purse dogs )

We are HUGE sports fans, both collegiate and professional and absolutely LOVE football. We also played on a bunch of intramural teams here in Chicago (softball, dodgeball, volleyball, etc) so we like to try and be active. We also love music (love good rock and roll, open to country, but aren’t that into Jazz) and enjoy going to any size venue to check out live music. Being close to shopping is a plus, but not necessarily imperative. We are not into the “club scene” but love a good pub or sports bar!

Ideally we would like to purchase a home (I am loving how many have pools in the backyards!), but we may end up renting for 6 months to a year as we will have to sell/rent our place in the Chicago ‘burbs…however right now we are looking into both.

The maximum rent we would like to pay is 1250.00 a month
Maximum amount we would like to pay for a house is 250,000

Any suggestions would be so much appreciated!

[westres1]

I would suggest renting in the Heights/Rice Military/Timbergrove/Oak Forest area then make your decision after living here a few months. These areas are close enough to DT and the Washington ave area that has many live music venues. However,You wont find many homes with pools in this area. Those are mostly out in the burbs.

[Oildog]

Start looking at homes on www.har.com try typing in the zip codes 77019, 77006 and 77007. Those are River Oaks, Montrose and Washington ave areas. I think the Heights it 77008. Those are good inner loop areas for young professionals. Agree that you may want to rent for a couple months to get a feel of the area.

Unfortunately there isnt as strong an recreational sports program as there was when I lived in Chicago (volleyball at North beach etc), but its a large city so you can find many things to do. I dont know much about clubs, but I'm pretty good with pubs. As you get closer you can DM me w questions if you wish.

[jonesy77]

My husband and I just moved into Houston 2 weeks ago from the suburbs -The Woodlands. We picked the Heights. We love it so far. A lot of people have termed it as an "urban surburban" area. It has a lot of older homes and newer homes. We rent a place for $1200 and have 1250 sq ft. It is just right down the road from Washington Ave. which has a lot of restaurants and bars. Close to Memorial Park...which we love. Has a great jogging trail. It isn't really that far from any of the other great areas of the inner loop. We looked into and really did like the Rice Military area as well. However, we are renting and wanted to get a house. We didn't really find any rental homes in the rice military area at the time we were looking. Being here only 2 weeks we haven't really gotten to try out a whole lot. I am still relatively new to Houston (only have been in texas about 1 1/2 years) so I'm sure some others who have been here longer can give you some great advice. they did for me! But I really think you should check out The Heights area. Also, keep in mind where the two of you will be working.

[jonesy77]

Just thought I'd send you some sites to check out. A little of the stuff I looked at before moving and some places I want to try out or have tried that I thought you might be interested in based on your "likes" you listed.

www.har.com (rentals are listed if you go to advance search. can search for properties to buy by the area code or location)

www.yelp.com (should check out for local reviews of things in the area) another great forum to ask locals questions.

http://www.hottowncoolcity.org/view/site/thesite/ (some local gems of the city)

SportsMonkey Adult Sports Leagues Softball Volleyball More (adult sports league. haven't checked into this yet but I think my husband may try this out)

Houston Sportsplex Houston Softball Complex Adult Softball Leagues Tournaments Youth Softball Flag Football League (haven't checked into this yet)

Reliant Park - Your Houston Host with a Stadium, Convention Center, Sport Arena and Hundreds of Meeting Rooms and Halls in Houston, TX. (houston texans play here....heights is a little farther away from here)

Midtown Houston (close to downtown) http://www.tafia.com/mfm.html

HOUSTON HEIGHTS HistoricHeights.com http://farmersmarket.rice.edu/

The Creek Group - Onion Creek, Dry Creek, Cedar Creek (3 sister cafe/bars in the Heights area)

Houston Downtown - Home

Minute Maid Park | astros.com: Ballpark (houston Astros....in Downtown)

Rice Village (shopping, bars, restaurants)

Memorial Park Conservancy

Houston Events - Fun Events Free Events Make new friends in Houston, Meet new people in Houston - MEETin.org (haven't tried)

Red Lion Pub - About Us (GUY FIERI from Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on Food Network recently shot an episode here....supposed to air this fall season I think)

The Maple Leaf Pub Warehouse Live » Home

Welcome to Lucky's Pub House of Blues Houston Tickets | HouseOfBlues.com

Welcome to the Continental Club Choose your area of Houston to find local Food and Drink Specials!

Big Star Bar - Houston, Texas

[travelguy_73]

You don't say what part of the city you will be working in. Living inside 610 will typically mean an easy commute to downtown or reverse out to the suburbs, but if you are working in an area with good housing options, then that makes it easier.

Depending on what space requirements you have, $1250/month rent might be tight, but doable. $250k to purchase a home will definitely mean compromises inside the loop (great location or great house, you don't get both ), but fewer compromises outside the loop (which has an entire other set of compromises).

[EasilyAmused]

Originally Posted by jonesy77

A lot of people have termed it as an "urban surburban"

This is a good term for most of the single family neighborhoods inside the Beltway. Houston is very suburban in it's layout. Pockets of family neighborhoods in the middle of urban area. It's rather unique.

[sevfiv]

I strongly recommend renting first no matter what - Houston is so large you'll never get the feel of things from a visit. Use that time to explore different areas. I would start with HAR, too, and look for rentals in 77004 (Museum District, to the west of 288), 77006 (Montrose/Museum), 77007, 77008, 77009 (Heights areas), 77019 (upper Montrose), 77098 (lower Montrose), and even 77002 (downtown) or 77027 (Greenway).

Also knowing where work will be and how much time you're willing to spend in the car every day will help narrow it down.

[marbell]

Based on your description, you want to buy a house in West Pearland, this area is flooded with people like your selves.

Have fun.

[pig4801kj]

Hi,

Wellll, I have been a police officer in Houston for 23 years. The Heights is a wonderful area, very over priced but beautiful older homes. Many car break- ins in the Heights. The police dept is extremely ,undermanned!!! And the city leaders continue to make budget cuts, so basically we show up AFTER the crime has occurred to do a report and clean up.

With that said, I would suggest the Woodlands, Tomball, Katy; although Katy's crime rate has continued to increase. They are refurbishing several buildings into condos, etc in the downtown, neartown areas but the criminals are breaking into cars like crazy because the ex-burbanites are leaving briefcases, laptops, ipods, etc in plain site as they are not accustomed to removing ALL articles from their vehicle.

The Woodlands is a very nice (Lots of large trees), great shopping, awesome restaurants and a dog park! and a 30 - 45 minute drive into town. My personal opinion, is choose something in the burbs. You should not have to pay $1250/mo unless it is in the Heights.

Hope this helps and doesn't offend anyone, just being honest from a crime standpoint.

Karen