First Time Home Buyers - Aliana (Houston, Dallas: transplants, sales, apartments)

[lavared]

Hi,

We have been searching for our first home in a good school district. We have looked at Sugarland, Riverstone, Aliana, Cinco Ranch, Pearland etc. We like Sugarland area but we are not able to find good/newer homes (within 5 years of construction) within our budget of ~300k. As far as Riverstone is concerned, only the back end of it has newer homes (the area which we didn't like) but the front end area was good. Cinco Ranch and Aliana seem to be our other options left as Pearland makes it necessary for me to take a tollway for daily office commute.

Office commute wise, Aliana and anything in Cinco Ranch East upto Grand Mission blvd seems good to me.

In Aliana, we liked the Highland Homes and Conventry homes (both seemed to be above our budget range) and the community is still developing. We didn't like the Aliana community on the other side of 1464 (near the clubhouse). Any ideas on Aliana community in general and Highland Homes in particular ?

Unlike other posts on this forum, we are fine with whoever are neighbours are as long as we are in a good and safe neighbourhood with a good school district (Oh btw we are indians too). We don't have kids yet but planning soon.

Kindly let us know if you'll have any suggestions about good neighbourhoods and about Highland Homes in Aliana.

Thanks

[AK123]

Originally Posted by lavared

Office commute wise, Aliana and anything in Cinco Ranch East upto Grand Mission blvd seems good to me.

Where is the office?

Does Cinco Ranch east have new construction? I thought most of that was about the same age as a lot of what's in Sugar Land...

[phaze]

Seems like there are these requests once a week in the Houston section, and each person has an amazing budget ( > 300k ). I'm curious as to what industry/reason has sought the person/family to relocate here.

[lavared]

AK123, my office is located right of westheimer and beltway 8. I couldn't find any newer homes in Cinco ranch east but I see lot of new homes in westheimer lakes which is quite far for commuting.

Btw Phaze, my intention is to stick below 300K. originally the realtor we were working with showed us only homes above 300K while our budget being <270k and nothing in our budget seemed to our liking. This created an impression on us that all good homes are priced above 300k. Btw I have been in houston for the last 8 years but always rented. I hope I was able to answer your question.

thanks

[houstonfan]

Originally Posted by phaze

Seems like there are these requests once a week in the Houston section, and each person has an amazing budget ( > 300k ). I'm curious as to what industry/reason has sought the person/family to relocate here.

I would take a stab and say it's oil/gas/energy or IT related to oil/gas/energy. I think I have 3x more friends who are transplants than who are native texans. Houston also has a large medical center so many transplants who come here with good jobs are also in that sector.

[MDinTelfair]

Yes I would say health care, Engineering firms, & oil/gas.

I am in health care and basically it was a no brainier to relocate here. Roughly the same pay and MORE bang for your buck.

Originally Posted by phaze

Seems like there are these requests once a week in the Houston section, and each person has an amazing budget ( > 300k ). I'm curious as to what industry/reason has sought the person/family to relocate here.

[MDinTelfair]

Aliana has not sold well and many of the higher end home builders have moved out. Now a lot of cheaper home builders have come into fill that void. If you drive by you can see that there is quite a few empty lots. I guess the fact that it really was not close to any major roads except maybe 99 and the economic downturn had an impact.

Originally Posted by lavared

Hi,

We have been searching for our first home in a good school district. We have looked at Sugarland, Riverstone, Aliana, Cinco Ranch, Pearland etc. We like Sugarland area but we are not able to find good/newer homes (within 5 years of construction) within our budget of ~300k. As far as Riverstone is concerned, only the back end of it has newer homes (the area which we didn't like) but the front end area was good. Cinco Ranch and Aliana seem to be our other options left as Pearland makes it necessary for me to take a tollway for daily office commute.

Office commute wise, Aliana and anything in Cinco Ranch East upto Grand Mission blvd seems good to me.

In Aliana, we liked the Highland Homes and Conventry homes (both seemed to be above our budget range) and the community is still developing. We didn't like the Aliana community on the other side of 1464 (near the clubhouse). Any ideas on Aliana community in general and Highland Homes in particular ?

Unlike other posts on this forum, we are fine with whoever are neighbours are as long as we are in a good and safe neighbourhood with a good school district (Oh btw we are indians too). We don't have kids yet but planning soon.

Kindly let us know if you'll have any suggestions about good neighbourhoods and about Highland Homes in Aliana.

Thanks

[AK123]

Originally Posted by lavared

AK123, my office is located right of westheimer and beltway 8. I couldn't find any newer homes in Cinco ranch east but I see lot of new homes in westheimer lakes which is quite far for commuting.

Maybe someone else can chime in about new construction, but, I would go with Aliana over Westheimer Lakes any day. Westheimer Lakes is way too far out if you ask me. At least Aliana is relatively close to Sugar Land. Plus there are a few developers who apparently want to build low-income apartments next to Westheimer Lakes.

I don't know much about Highland, but their homes look nice from their website.

As far as home sales, I don't think location was Aliana's problem. In addition to the economy, I think they didn't have good marketing. There was an article that the developer, from north Dallas, had no clue about the Houston market and that the homebuilders didn't think the lots were the right design or something. Since then, a Newland (Cinco Ranch, Telfair) former VP was wooed by Aliana Development, so things will probably change for the better. I know a few people in there... all professionals who work anywhere from the Energy Corridor to the Med Center to Sugar Land, an entrepreneur, and I think there's even an NFL player somewhere in there.

[cyfairre]

I've worked with Highland Homes in Bridgeland and have been very impressed. The build quality has been great great, a lot of standard features, and the sales and construction staff have been great to work with.

With that said, builders can vary quite a bit from community to community.

[lavared]

Originally Posted by houstonfan

I would take a stab and say it's oil/gas/energy or IT related to oil/gas/energy. I think I have 3x more friends who are transplants than who are native texans. Houston also has a large medical center so many transplants who come here with good jobs are also in that sector.

Houstonfan and MDinTelfair, you'll are right on the money. I do work in Oil/Gas sector but don't make as much as the perception of the industry seems to be. Its just that with years of cost saving/cutting, that I'm able to think about it now.

And thanks for the inputs all of you'll.