Sugar Land: Telfair or Riverstone? (Houston, Missouri City: new house, neighborhoods, school districts)

[swopoe]

This may be a bit premature, but which would you choose? We currently live in Richmond (FBISD), but are looking to move back to Sugar Land within the next year. Originally, I had my heart set on Telfair, but now, my husband and I are considering Riverstone (Sugar Land part) too. They don't seem all that different in terms of makeup, houses, etc, and the new SL part of Riverstone down University (when it is finished) isn't far from Telfair. I think we could get more house for our money in Riverstone too. Anyway, we are looking for two story, 4 BR (5 if poss.), max of about $450k. We are very familiar with the Sugar Land area, but does anyone have opinions on those communities in particular? How different are the schools? We currently have a third grader, first grader, and a preschooler.

Thanks!

[JoshRall]

I had the chance to look at new houses on HAR. WOW- Riverstone is the new suburb! Though not as affluent as Sugar Land (simply based on the average price), Riverstone would be the NEW Sugar Land. They have some houses built around the lake, 4000 sqft, priced below 400k. These houses are reminiscent of some waterffron homes in Mission Viejo in the Orange County that are priced more than $3 million.

[LoraMao]

You can do the search here to see the ratings of the schools. This is the first place I looked when I first moved to Houston years ago. I personally would go for more house for the money if the schools are pretty much the same ratings.
Houston Schools - Houston Texas School Ratings - Public and Private

[rsh2k1]

Originally Posted by swopoe

This may be a bit premature, but which would you choose? We currently live in Richmond (FBISD), but are looking to move back to Sugar Land within the next year. Originally, I had my heart set on Telfair, but now, my husband and I are considering Riverstone (Sugar Land part) too. They don't seem all that different in terms of makeup, houses, etc, and the new SL part of Riverstone down University (when it is finished) isn't far from Telfair. I think we could get more house for our money in Riverstone too. Anyway, we are looking for two story, 4 BR (5 if poss.), max of about $450k. We are very familiar with the Sugar Land area, but does anyone have opinions on those communities in particular? How different are the schools? We currently have a third grader, first grader, and a preschooler.

Thanks!

We bought in Riverstone in November of last year. We went through the exact same comparison between Telfair and Riverstone. Obviously, my views are old and the market may have changed quite a bit, but... general impression...

Telfair was significantly more expensive than Riverstone, so if you're looking for more house for your money, Riverstone is the better bet.

However, there are two things going for Telfair, IMHO. The school districts are a bit more settled from what I can tell, since Riverstone is split between Sugar Land and Missouri City, and the elementary schools are somewhat different.

We wanted to be in Commonwealth Elementary for our kids, and Riverstone opened up some new subdivisions that are zoned to it. However, my understanding is that the school was in no way prepared for the huge influx of new students at Commonwealth. There may be changes coming in the near future. Not living in Telfair, I don't know what sort of issues they've got.

But as far as I can tell, at least for elementary and middle school, there is very little difference in terms of quality: both Telfair and Riverstone have excellent schools and very, very involved parents. High school... well, consensus appears to be that Clements has an edge over pretty much everyone else in Sugar Land.

The other small difference, I think, is that driving from one place to the next is a little bit easier from Telfair, since it's closer to 59. Depending on where you work, that could be significant. Riverstone is quite a bit south of 59, and the opening up of University should help for those of us on the western end, as of today, it is quite a hike to get to 59 or to places like First Colony Mall or Town Center.

But can't go wrong with either one.

[OducksFTW!]

I would say Telfair, Getting off and on 59 is much easier and its not as large and ginormous as Riverstone, which is good for getting in and out quickly.

Other than that both are large boring master planned communities, one being more expensive than the other. But pretty much the same product.

[swopoe]

Thanks so much for the opinions. Guess I will do some more research on the schools. By the time our kids are old enough for high school, who knows what will be going on.

[Topaz]

It might not be a good idea to base your home decision on the current zoning at FBISD - it will probably re-shuffle every few years.

[ethanw]

From Riverstone you get very easy access to everything in Sugar Land, i.e. Town Center, First Colony Mall, Restaurants, etc, etc. Telfair is pretty far out on 59, where Riverstone is in middle of everything.

[sxrckr]

It's expensive to move so if you're just moving within the same school district and general area, you'll want to have some very compelling reasons (such as having really outgrown your current home.) Otherwise I'm not sure it's worth it just to move a few neighborhoods over to similar schools or to try to achieve a perfect situation... it can be a financial setback.

Having said that, I'm familiar with Telfair having friends out that way, it's very centrally located. RiverStone is more far south, more spread out and one of those places that looks like it would take forever to get out of if you live toward the back.
The higher prices of homes in Telfair reflects the better/more central location, along Highway 6, 90 and 59.

[OducksFTW!]

Originally Posted by ethanw

From Riverstone you get very easy access to everything in Sugar Land, i.e. Town Center, First Colony Mall, Restaurants, etc, etc. Telfair is pretty far out on 59, where Riverstone is in middle of everything.

I disagree with this. Riverstone is along 99, which is much further south and out of the way than Telfair. Telfair is adjacent to Avalon and right next to the UH SugarLand campus. Hopping on 59 and then taking the highway 6 exit is much easier, whereas Riverstone can take up to 10 minutes to just get out of your subdivision..