I loved my visit to Katy!!! (Friendswood, Cinco Ranch: HOA fees, new home, neighborhoods)

[shermomof3]

I made a visit to Katy this past weekend and loved it. We will be buying in the next couple weeks there. One question I had though, any advice on what good sub divisions there are that are kid friendly. I didn't see really any kids playing in the neighborhoods. Is that normal? I don't want to be the only family with loud kids on the block and have my neighbors hate me. LoL. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[Bily Lovec]

Cinco Ranch seems to be really popular

[descovy]

Katy itself is pretty family friendly. I don't have an answer to the park situation, other than to say last week our family was plenty busy and didn't have time for the park! lol!

We live in Cinco and really like it for the kids in the summer. There are 7 pools to choose from (8 as of next year) including a sand pool, and slides water park. So the kids like we can go to a different pool each time.

The one thing I will say about Katy that you should know about, is it is growing at a massive pace... and with that goes plenty of school rezonings. I can't tell you how many of our neighbors moved into our *brand new* section an are upset that the schools are changing. All I can say is if you move here be prepared to "go with the flow" 50,000 kids are expected to move to the district in the next 10 years an neighborhoods will have to rezone as the schools fill up and new ones are built.

Actually, I find it quite exciting, but you need it expect it

[shermomof3]

I would love to go the cinco ranch but the houses are a little more expensive. We are looking at 200,000 or under.

[vickiapg]

Hi again Shermomof3,

I am the person who lives in Friendswood. Another thing to consider, judging by what you've said in some of your posts..........Friendswood is pretty much finished growing. There is some (not much) building going on and some open areas, but last I heard, it is pretty much as big as it is going to get. Personally, I like that idea!

[shermomof3]

I did like Friendswood. However Katy seemed to have the best schools for special needs which I have to kids that special needs. I live now in Huntington beach,ca and the population here is like 174,000 so anything under 100,000 is good for me.

[Rick4Life]

Hey Shermomof3,

Pine Mill Ranch is located right next to Cinco Ranch and offers many of the same floor plans for much cheaper. Kids are even zoned to the highly acclaimed Katy ISD. I see kids playing there all the time. I know you can get a very nice home for under 200,000 there and still be in the family oriented Cinco Ranch area. Good luck.

[shermomof3]

Thank you very much for the info rick4life. I will check it out now.

[usc619]

Lakecrest- Sterling Collection in Katy New Homes by Lennar (http://www.lennar.com/findhome/community.aspx?COMID=4488 - broken link)

I think lakecrest will give you the best bang for your buck in katy, low taxes, good schools and low hoa fees. I don't live there and I don't work there either. Go there and check out some of the other buliders in lakecrest.

[Rick4Life]

I'm not so sure about purchasing a Lennar home. There stock has dipped in the last year. It used to be worth $52.00 a share last December and it's only $16.00 now. I'm not sure what that is a reflection of, but I'd take caution.