Houston burb comparable to Alpharetta, GA (Sugar Land, The Woodlands: real estate market, homes, neighborhood)

[Ajtcz404]

We are thinking about moving to the Houston area from Milton, GA. Can anyone tell me what comparable suburbs are in Houston to Milton, Alpharetta or Johns Creek (demographically)? Or can anyone recommend a middle-upper class suburb 30-40 minutes outside of downtown Houston with fantastic schools and homes under $500K? Thanks for your help!

[CFUS]

Having lived in Atlanta prior to moving here, I think the closest thing to Alpharetta in the Houston Metro Area is The Woodlands. It's about 40 minutes north of downtown just like Alpharetta is to downtown Atlanta. It's well manicured, has decent shopping, restaurants and lots of trees. Not so familiar with the real estate market up there so don't know what $500K will get you but my guess is that you'll get less than you would in Alpharetta. Especially if you're looking for new construction in Woodlands proper. It's gotten pricey up there. You should try looking at HAR.com which is the Houston Association of Realtors website. It's free, no registration necessary and it's a great resource to search listings, very easy to use and has some great search features, including a map search.

[vwgto]

Agree The Woodlands matches the demographics of your area, they are still building, and prices are probably comparable. The Woodlands is more self contained, with many people now living and working there. Interesting thing about Houston is that there are pockets of upscale housing throughout the area, but the broader vicinity may not be as nice. Not sure how bad 400 is these days, but the Houston traffic (like Atlanta), should always be considered - - 45 south from The Woodlands can be brutal if you have to go downtown everyday. There are areas worth looking into on almost every side of the city: Katy (west), Sugarland (southwest), Friendswood (south), Kingwood (northeast), among others.

[AK123]

The Woodlands. Or to be a little closer to town, Sugar Land. Though Sugar Land has a much larger Asian demographic than The Woodlands.
Both very nice suburbs, with an educated demographic and relatively affluent. Good schools.

[Ajtcz404]

Thanks for your help! We're hoping to keep the commute to 30 minutes or better. Is this possible and where should we look?

[vwgto]

You will find various strings here debating commute time, but a typical Woodlands to downtown commute will average above 30 minutes. As mentioned, Sugarland gets you closer - - but I would look closely at The Woodlands if you want to try and duplicate the north Fulton+ area.

[CFUS]

If you want to keep your commute to 30 minutes or less, it really depends on where you'll be commuting to. Doubt you'll be able to do 30 min from Woodlands to downtown or galleria area in rush hour traffic (can perhaps do it at off peak hours). I live and work intown so I don't have that much of a commute but I do have a friend who lives intown and works in the Woodlands and have plenty of co-workers who live in Spring which is near the Woodlands and their rush hour commutes are closer to an hour each way. As previoulsy indicated I45 can be brutal, sometimes even on weekends. But Houston rush hour is probably pretty comparable to Atlanta.. both are awful.

[newreverie]

30 minute commute is the hardest thing to swing. If you are outside of beltway 8 and working in downtown, you will NEVER have a 30 minute commute between 7-10am 4-7pm

Homes under 500k really isn't a problem anywhere so don't worry about that for now.
If you go to har.com you can look at the school district ratings around houston. The school districts also include demographic information so that should help you out. You can also find census data to determine incomes, ect. But at the price of home you are hunting for, the neighborhood will be plenty affluent.
Once you find a school district, you can use a har.com advanced search and filter by school district, sqft, cost, and other options. This will help you pin down a neighborhood!

Good luck!

[Meyerland]

The woodlands commute to downtown would be more like 45 minutes to an hour and a half during peak traffic times and depending on work/ home locations Most days would probably be closer to the 45 mark, but an accident to severe weather will push it up.

If you use Park and ride or your office has a commuter bus it is not that bad. At least you can do some work while riding.

I think Pearland is the best bet. Maybe Friendswood, ClearLake or Sugar Land. All have nice areas and better commute times.

The woodlands is 31 miles from downtown.

Sugar land is 21 or 22 miles from downtown.

[dejamiller]

I agree, please stop with the 30 minute Woodlands commute to downtown. Sometimes depending on where you live it may take 10 minutes just to get to 45.