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Old 08-05-2012, 10:35 PM
 
17 posts, read 70,346 times
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Good question, DanielWayne. I guess I'm looking for a friendly place with some sort of community center with interesting shops, cafes, etc., and parks I could wander. If this makes any sense, some suburbs are simply too large. When we first moved to Colorado, we lived in Highlands Ranch and I just felt trapped there staying at home during the day. It was miles of lovely, new homes and even the grocery store was too far to walk to. I spent so much time driving. I've been looking at the zip code 77059. It is in Clear Lake and I think it's the Houston part. We don't need a new home and I like the trees around some of the houses I can see online. Online, I just can't see the rest of the neighborhood. It is disappointing that amenities like Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Ikea, and Nordstroms all seem to be on the west and north side of town. We could easily extend our budget to 300k but I'm not sure what that would open up as it seems like you already get so much for your money in Texas.
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Old 08-06-2012, 07:20 AM
 
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Hi, we're moving to the Houston area in a couple of weeks from Southern California. I'm originally from Dallas though. In April, we came down to Houston to house hunt and our price range is 250K too. I drove all around Clear Lake/League City area and did not like it. It was way too congested! It was Easter weekend and it was a nightmare getting on the freeway because everyone wanted to be near the water. Also, it scared me to think of living that close to the water with hurricanes and insurance can be crazy high. Plus, I couldn't find any yoga studios nearby and Whole Foods was way too far away considering the traffic in Houston is horrible.
However, we fell in love with Sienna Plantation in Missouri City. The minute we drove through the entrance we felt relief (I was getting very discouraged moving back to Texas after driving through Clear Lake/League City the previous 2 days). It is very close to Sugarland and only take about 10 minutes to get to the Whole Foods. Everything you need is right there on Hwy 6 near Sienna Plantation. They have great community events and parties and walking/biking paths, everyone is outside with their kids. tree-lined streets. We are buying a beautiful home for $250,000 on a cul-de-sac. Coming from Southern Cal, I'm thrilled with this! The public schools are good in Sienna too. I plan to enroll my daughter into private though regardless of where I live in Texas.
I haven't explored Sugarland too much so can't comment. The areas I have been (hwy 6 from the 59 to Sienna), has been congested the times I've driven. The town center is nice! Good restaurants and walkable. Sienna and Sugarland will definitely be more diverse than the Clear Lake/League City area.
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Old 08-06-2012, 09:07 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX
4,760 posts, read 13,826,111 times
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Clear Lake and Sugar Land feel very different to me. When we moved to Houston in 2008, we drove around both areas and Sugar Land felt more like home to us than Clear Lake did, even though my husband's job was in Clear Lake. We relocated to Sugar Land and my husband commuted to Clear Lake for several years before changing jobs and now he works from home in Sugar Land.

It is true that things like Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Ikea, and Nordstrom are located on the west side of town. Add Costco to that list.
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Old 08-06-2012, 09:41 AM
 
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It's starting to sound like Sugar Land is a good choice. A friend of my husband's said the Woodlands is awesome but it looks too far away and from what I can tell from this site, is kind of a white flight vibe--but I could be wrong. Are there a lot of greenbelts in Sugar Land? What zip codes/neighborhoods are the most centrally located in SL?

Btw, judging by this site, Houstonians are way nice!
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Old 08-06-2012, 09:49 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX
4,760 posts, read 13,826,111 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by deirdrec View Post
It's starting to sound like Sugar Land is a good choice. A friend of my husband's said the Woodlands is awesome but it looks too far away and from what I can tell from this site, is kind of a white flight vibe--but I could be wrong. Are there a lot of greenbelts in Sugar Land? What zip codes/neighborhoods are the most centrally located in SL?

Btw, judging by this site, Houstonians are way nice!
Yes, The Woodlands is so far away, when I visited it, I felt like I was driving to Dallas.

There are plenty of green areas in Sugar Land - you have to drive into neighborhoods to find them. I posted some photos of New Territory a few years ago - if you search this forum, you will find them and you can see how green it is.

Zip codes are 77478 and 77479.
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Old 08-06-2012, 11:11 AM
 
139 posts, read 356,124 times
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In Sugar land in your budget, If you can find a home in New Territory, east of 99 you will be really happy. The Elementary and Middle schools are among the best in state, HS is excellent, One step below Clements, among the best in the city. We looked at New Territory, but the homes in our range and sections were slim pickings or too weird looking. We built in Telfair. New Territory is close to all the major Hwys & freeways.

Homes still on East side available:
5423 Ambrose Drive, Sugar Land, TX 77479 - HAR.com
6014 Planters Point Ct, Sugar Land, TX 77479 - HAR.com
5530 Whisper Ridge Dr, Sugar Land, TX 77479 - HAR.com

On the westside, you will get a larger home, but you will have to drive to the "stuff" on the east side.

More info:
New Territory Residential Community Association - Welcome to New Territory

Walker Station Elementary School - rating and statistics - - HAR.com
Sartartia Middle - rating and statistics - - HAR.com
Stephen F Austin High School - rating and statistics - - HAR.com
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Old 08-06-2012, 11:14 AM
 
139 posts, read 356,124 times
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Oh, Yes there is a large Asian Population in Sugar Land. Large percentage are professionals, the rest I guess are business owners.

Reasons:
1) Lots of engineering service companies
2) Oil companies
3) Hospitals
4) Good Schools with excellent Gifted and talented programs.
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Old 08-06-2012, 12:30 PM
 
Location: The land of sugar... previously Houston and Austin
5,429 posts, read 14,841,754 times
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The older, charming, less "cookie-cutter" communities are mostly off of Hwy 90a... which is also now one of the nicer major thoroughfares in Sugar Land, since within the last few years it's been upgraded and trees and landscaping have been added to the medians and sides. Certainly much prettier and more pleasant than Hwy 59 (though Hwy 59 in Sugar Land is still nicer than Hwy 59 in most of Houston because of Sugar Land's zoning and strict signage/anti-billboard laws.)

77479 and 77478 were mentioned as Sugar Land zips... but 77498 is the other one. It used to be part of 77478, but Fort Bend has added some new zips with the population boom. That zip includes the communities with less cookie-cutter housing IMO (such as The Hill), big trees, and where Sugar Land originally started, around the Imperial Sugar site. Just stay south of West Airport Blvd because most areas north of it, though a Sugar Land postal address, aren't really Sugar Land and are getting close to Alief. 77479 is the most central Sugar Land zip, but also the most expensive. The other zips are literally right next to it and not far enough to be considered inconvenient.

Clear Lake, League City, Friendswood etc. are southeast of Houston. Sugar Land is southwest. I agree with others that the bulk of places of interest in Houston are on the west side of town (employment, museums, TMC, EC, Galleria and other shopping, CityCentre etc.) Sugar Land is the more convenient location to these.

IMO, Sugar Land and The Woodlands are the two nicest outer suburbs of Houston. Nice combination of aesthetics, housing, amenities, shopping, food, schools, activities, and corporate presence (as opposed to just being bedroom communities.) Sugar Land's advantage is the closer location to Houston, The Woodland's advantage is being more forested.
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Old 08-06-2012, 01:54 PM
 
Location: Clear Lake, Houston TX
8,376 posts, read 30,700,202 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AK123 View Post
Clear Lake, League City, Friendswood etc. are southeast of Houston. Sugar Land is southwest. I agree with others that the bulk of places of interest in Houston are on the west side of town (employment, museums, TMC, EC, Galleria and other shopping, CityCentre etc.) Sugar Land is the more convenient location to these.
Comparing to a neighborhood directly off Clear Lake City Blvd (my neck of the woods, where the OP was looking), in most cases the advantage Sugar Land has to everything is pretty small. Off peak I'm 20 mins to the TMC, 20-25 minutes to downtown, 25 minutes to the museums & zoo...

Now the clear advantage to Sugar Land starts showing as I am 30 mins to the Galleria, 35 to Ikea and 40 to Harwin/Chinatown.

However I am also 10 minutes to NASA, 15 minutes from Hobby Airport, 20 minutes to Kemah, 35 minutes to Lake Houston and 40 minutes to Galveston.

Having lived in both areas, I can say the northern-most part of Clear Lake City seems more central to everything regarding drive times. You'll never have the long haul, but unless it's NASA you won't have a short hop either. And if you're looking further south into League City, forget it. Add 20 minutes to everything that's not NASA, Kemah or Galveston.
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Old 08-06-2012, 02:15 PM
 
17 posts, read 70,346 times
Reputation: 30
Thanks so much! I'm definitely going to look into the New Territory area in Sugar Land. Really thinking it's going to be Sugar Land. How far is it to the beach from there?

I've noticed several homes in Greatwood. Is that off the SL beaten path?

Last edited by deirdrec; 08-06-2012 at 02:26 PM..
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