Realtor Moving to TX from CA

[texasdiver]

Hi all. I'm a single mom and Realtor in California considering moving to Texas. The market here is terrible, can anyone give me some information on the Houston real estate market? I've heard that Katy and Sugar Land are nice places to live and raise children. Any input on that front?
Thanks in advance for any info.

What kind of information do you want on the real estate market? are you looking to buy for your principal residence? Looking for investment properties? or looking to work as a realtor? Those are three completely different things.

In general, real estate is extremely affordable and has not appreciated wildly in most all of Texas. There are a few isolated examples of exclusive neighborhoods like Westlake Hills in Austin, Highland Park in Dallas, and River Oaks and the Heights in Houston where prices have gone way up. But for the most part, the real estate market in Texas is quite anemic. Yes, builders are throwing up thousands of houses in the fast growing suburban areas around the major cities. But don't expect price appreciation. And expect to pay substantially more property taxes than you are accustomed to in California.

Buying is what you have to do to live in most of the "better" neighborhoods around Texas cities and put your kids into the better suburban schools. And that is fine, it's what everyone else does. But don't expect to get wealthy doing anything associated with Texas real estate.

Oh yes, to answer your question. Katy and Sugar Land are both nice places and are both full of ex-pat Californians. So you will not be lonely. On the other hand, both are heavily populated by families so if you are looking for any sort of adult single social life those would not be the places. You would want to look more towards central Houston for active singles life.

[carolineb]

We ended up working with a realtor who provided this info unless the home was a new home sale last.

[sharee85]

I was speaking along the lines of working as a realtor. Although any information would be helpful for when I buy as well. A realtor sent me a listing in Spring. I haven't started researching yet, but I plan to look on this forum for info on that town. I'll be visiting over the weekend, so hopefully I'll get a feel for it once I get there and drive through the area.