Average homes in Katy or Cypress (Houston, The Woodlands: real estate, custom home, neighborhoods)

[Moondance75]

Hi! I am looking to relocate from The Bay area and amabit confused about the homes... This may sound crazy.. But i see a lot of posts with people talkng about a lot of " nice" homes being around 400k etc.

What constitutes a "nice" home? On realtor.com etc.. I see TONS that are 4 bedroom huge homes ( over 2500 sq feet) for 200k - 300k.. Is there a catch? Or am i just jaded coming from the bay area? I mean my million dollar house here is about 1500 sq feet and only 3 bedrooms.. So anything more than that is amazing.

Anway, it just seems people here are taliking higher prices that i am seeing online. The 400 k homes seem like mansions.. I cant imagine living in a place that big!

Am i missing something?

Thanks!

[houstonfan]

The phenomenom is called "TEXAS SIZED"!
Yes, you're used to Cali prices. Land here is cheap. The houses in the suburbs do have cheaper prices. Once you get into the core of the city, land is more expensive and prices climb. People here seem to like everything BIG. Even families with modest incomes will try to buy 3000sqft home. There is a huge range in prices in each subdivision and it has to do with how desireable a neighborhood is. One with more amenities and better school zones tend to be more expensive. Many houses in the lower price range are built with less quality though. Use har.com for houston real estate

[TurtleCreek80]

First, Bay Area values are significantly higher for three reasons: it's land-locked, highly desirable, and has a lot of natural beauty. These "it factors" are the #1 reason for your home's high value. Houston doesn't have any of those characteristics, outside of a few pricey in-town neighborhoods (River Oaks, Museum District, West U) where a 1500sf tear down/ cottage can cost $750k-1M and a mint condition older home or a new home can climb into the $3-10M range. It is basically the Menlo Park or Pacific Heights of Houston.

Katy and Cypress are both really far out from the city's core (1 hour or so in traffic) and are nowhere close to being "built out".


You'll need to first figure out where you'll work in Houston and how far you want to commute. Houston is huge. You'd need an hour + to drive across just city limits in rush hour, never mind coming in frm the burbs. It's not compact like SF. There are few public transit options, so you'll more than likely need to drive yourself. Houston has many job centers, not just downtown, so it's important to know the job site.

If you want to live "in town", you'll find most neighborhoods that are desirable to be in the $300-600k range outside of the handful I named above. These will mainly be homes built between 1920-1960 that are in great conditiion (remodeled with today's standard of bathrooms and kitchens) and in the 1,500-3,000sf range.

If your job site and commute tolerance allows you to look in the suburbs, you can certainly find a 4,000sf brand new home for $200k or so.

The "catch" is thre-fold:
1. Appreciation is near 0% annually in Houston outside of a few highly desirable in-town neighborhoods and suburbs like The Woodlands. Your Houston home will not keep zooming up in value like you've probably seen in the Bay Area because going back to the first thing I said- not land locked.

2. Property taxes are in the 2-3% range. A $200k home carries a $4-6k annual bill and a $1M home carries a $20-30k tax bill. This can easily be a trade-off for your state income taxes in CA unless you are very high income.

3. A/C costs. We run A/C for 6-7 months a year vs practically never in SF. It can be anywhere from $200/mo in a highly efficient home or $1,000 / mo in a rambling home with high ceilings.

[d2mini]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

The "catch" is thre-fold:
1. Appreciation is near 0% annually in Houston outside of a few highly desirable in-town neighborhoods and suburbs like The Woodlands. Your Houston home will not keep zooming up in value like you've probably seen in the Bay Area because going back to the first thing I said- not land locked.

2. Property taxes are in the 2-3% range. A $200k home carries a $4-6k annual bill and a $1M home carries a $20-30k tax bill. This can easily be a trade-off for your state income taxes in CA unless you are very high income.

3. A/C costs. We run A/C for 6-7 months a year vs practically never in SF. It can be anywhere from $200/mo in a highly efficient home or $1,000 / mo in a rambling home with high ceilings.

Just to clarify a little...
1. Pretty much any decent area inside the beltway will keep going up in value. At least on the west side. In 10 years my house went from a purchase price of 140k, plus 100+k in renovations and sold for $400k. That's well outside the 610 loop, north of 1-10.

2. Taxes can be even higher. Cinco Ranch and neighboring neighborhoods are around 3.6%.

3. Our old 60 year old 2500 sq ft ranch with some cathedral ceilings cost in the high $300's to cool this summer for the hottest few months. Not the worst, but not the best efficiency. And we like it pretty cold.


The biggest catch is once you move here, you will never be able to leave. Houston is like financial quick sand. Consider yourself stuck.

[Supermac34]

Around 400 - 500K you start getting into actual custom homes, instead of just acre after acre of tract homes. The price cut off into custom homes differs in differnt locations, and there is a lot of overlap between a high-end tract builder and an actual custom builder.

[smuggy_mba]

Originally Posted by Moondance75

Hi! I am looking to relocate from The Bay area and amabit confused about the homes... This may sound crazy.. But i see a lot of posts with people talkng about a lot of " nice" homes being around 400k etc.

What constitutes a "nice" home? On realtor.com etc.. I see TONS that are 4 bedroom huge homes ( over 2500 sq feet) for 200k - 300k.. Is there a catch? Or am i just jaded coming from the bay area? I mean my million dollar house here is about 1500 sq feet and only 3 bedrooms.. So anything more than that is amazing.

Anway, it just seems people here are taliking higher prices that i am seeing online. The 400 k homes seem like mansions.. I cant imagine living in a place that big!

Am i missing something?

Thanks!

I just signed a contract for a 415K home in cypress which will be built ground up.

It has 5 bed rooms, one media room, one game room, porch, dining & breakfast room, familiy room, patio. The builder has many nice standard features. around 4400 sq ft on a 15000 sq ft lot. Let's see how it goes...will know around June end.

[EasilyAmused]

If you have 400k to spend, I would do it in 77079. You actually have great schools AND major appreciation there. Just outside the beltway with taxes around 2.8, with NO MUD business, and no master planned funk feel

It won't be new..but very old..tried and true, well respected area with homes that seem to span the test of time...even with 8 foot ceilings.

[stratfordspartans]

Originally Posted by smuggy_mba

I just signed a contract for a 415K home in cypress which will be built ground up.

It has 5 bed rooms, one media room, one game room, porch, dining & breakfast room, familiy room, patio. The builder has many nice standard features. around 4400 sq ft on a 15000 sq ft lot. Let's see how it goes...will know around June end.

Hopefully you don't have to commute to downtown... Hwy 290 from cypress into downtown is the worst around houston.

[smuggy_mba]

Originally Posted by stratfordspartans

Hopefully you don't have to commute to downtown... Hwy 290 from cypress into downtown is the worst around houston.

I commute to gunspoint and woodlands. We wanted a new home within 400K so Memorial, heights is ruled out. We really want the 4 million dollar homes but can't afford them

This community is around 290 but we avoid telge, barker cypress etc...so it's not as far as bridgeland. There is no ideal location for ppl with a budget but this was ok.

[Moondance75]

So, work is north of 610, just east of 290...
Thats why i thought maybe cypress... Thoughts? Schools aremy number one priorty.

Also, strange question, but is there any stigma to living in a smaller or cheaper home? Its not a matter of affordability as much as i cant imagine living i a 4500 sq ft house. I actuaslly prefer smaller.. But want my kds to it in :-)