Checklist for visiting pre move (Houston, Sugar Land: foreclosure, rentals, buying a home)

[Nugget_Brain]

My husband and I are beginning our research for a hopeful move this winter. He will be graduating with his Physics degree, he has 7 years management experience (not Physics related) and I am a Communications Coordinator for one of the Big 3 auto companies. Houston SEEMS perfect for us and I loved it when I visited several years ago. We are planning to visit the week of 4th of July (required vacation week for me). We know it will be at the height of the hot weather and we're doing it intentionally to make sure we can make it. We'll be staying at a time share in Willis (free). This is what we plan on doing; is there anything I'm missing?

• Visit placement agency/recruiters for our industry
• Try to see some rental houses to get an idea
• Try to drive around downtown-Woodlands during rush hour
• Begin our hunt for *best* Mexican and BBQ
• Drive around the Energy Corridor
• Check out Medical area/Rice/Sugarland/Katy areas

[LoraMao]

All the highways are really bad during rush hour, so you want to try to live within 20 minutes from work. The energy corridor is a hot location to work. A lot of people that work there live in Cinco Ranch. I will discuss buying a home first. The reason is because rent prices went up 17% last year alone. It is rising like crazy. For the price you will rent for, you can just buy a brand new house. Definitely visit the model home village in Cinco Ranch. It's a lot of fun. The prices range from $190,000 on up. There are around 18 or more homes to view. This will give you an idea of the way houses are built here. If your coming from downtown, take I-10 going west. Then head south on Hwy. 99. Take that to Cinco Ranch Blvd. and turn right heading west. It's about six to eight miles. You'll see signs pointing to the model home village along the way.

If your looking for something cheaper, there are many used homes that you can pick up anywhere from $150,000 on up. In Cinco Ranch, they go like hotcakes. The Woodlands will be very crowded with the new Exxon Mobile employees moving in (I think around 10,000 jobs relocating to the area). I'm not positive on that number, but there will be a huge housing shortage there. I know of around 1,000 moving to the energy corridor for sure. My spouse is very familiar with Sugar Land and Rice area since he shows homes there. The medical park area is much more expensive to live. There are some older homes you can buy there. There is a park and ride you can take from Katy all the way to the Medical Park. The buses are allowed on the HOV lanes, so not as bad as driving your car. I heard that inside the I-610 area is where a lot of singles live because there's lots of night life and things to do there. People with families tend to head out for the burbs outside the Sam Houston Tollway (Hwy. 8) loop. There are some that live between the two loops, but the housing prices can be hefty and you will get an older home.

The rent prices are very different depending on where you want to live. Inside the 610 loop, they can be very pricey. I heard one person paying $1,400 for 650 sq. ft. If you go outside Sam Houston Tollway, you can sometimes find houses (3 bedroom/2 bath) for around that price or a little less. In Cinco Ranch, some of the houses are rending for $2,000+. Definitely find out where you will work and try to live close. Once you get the location, then a realtor can do a search on MLS to get you pricing. A lot of the decent homes are put on MLS. You could try the Greensheet, but those are mainly rentals by investors. The homes were usually bought in foreclosure and fixed up. If you want to test it out though, there are many stores and restaurants that carry it in racks close to the front door.

When you stop in Katy, be sure to visit Rudy's BBQ. There is also Spring Creek BBQ. Both are on the I-10 Frwy. feeder road. Rudy's on the south side and Spring Creek on the north side. You can search their address online too. I'm not sure if I should post links to their website since they have strict rules in the forum. For Mexican, you have to try Pappasito's. It is also along the I-10 feeder road.

I hope this helps some.

[Nugget_Brain]

That is very helpful, thank you. Since we're just beginning this journey, we don't have jobs yet. We won't move until at least one of us has a job, of course. But we have to make the trek there to make sure we can actually 'make' it. We're coming from Louisville, Kentucky with about a million people. I say I love the big city...time to actually find out for sure.

I really appreciate the information about the rental pricing having gone up so much!

[ninerfan]

I also researched before moving out here..you will find that Houston is BOMBARDED with restaurants...too many to choose from. I am in the Katy area and chose this area for the schools. We checked out Woodlands, Spring, Pearland areas. Good luck in your search. This was the best move we made...cost of living is cheaper than where we came from.

[Nugget_Brain]

I have this silly little idea of going to an office store and getting a huge print out of Houston neighborhoods and making my way around the cities restaurants and marking them down.