Woodcreek Reserve - Katy (Houston, Spring: for sale, home sales, neighborhoods)

[sb08]

Hello friends

My first post in this forum and looking for some guidance. My husband & I are in the process of looking at building a new home in Katy. Our budget (including all upgrades etc.) is around 450-470 K range and want to be close to I10 with easy access.

A lot of the subdivisions are quite far from I10, so we have narrowed down our choice to WoodCreek Reserve. We love the wooded nature trails with tennis courts and lakes for fishing as part of the amenities. Also the community looks very well maintained with some really matured foliage.

Ashton Woods is currently building out there and have a few plots left. We want to buy in a community that is close to completion and AW indicated that they would be done within next 1.5 years. They have only a few plots left but most of them seem to backing to commercial, not sure when will they be able to sell them out.

We found a few plots that are reasonably far from any of the electric towers and that do not back to the commercial storage sections on FM 1463. Most of the plots seem quite large (10k-12K sq ft), so has enough for us to put in a future swimming pool.

Seems like the home prices on an average are 400K plus and with upgrades, we would be placed around 460K which is in our budget. We love one of their floor plans (about 3950 sq ft) and do not want to lose that plot.

Any thoughts on this community and the builder ? Any residents actually living there who can provide input will also be very helpful as well.

[Kiovo]

Great, quiet little community located within the City of Katy and right off i10 which makes it very convenient. Lots of families/kids and the elementary and middle school are located inside the neighborhood.

There will be a new section opening up with homes being built by J.Kyle I believe. I am not sure if they have started but this will be the last section for Woodcreek.

[usc619]

With that price range you could buy a really nice resale in Firethorne or Woodcreek. I would start with Firethorne IMHO

[sb08]

Originally Posted by usc619

With that price range you could buy a really nice resale in Firethorne or Woodcreek. I would start with Firethorne IMHO

Thanks, actually we did look at resales in Woodcreek but most are above 400K and not that big diff in sq footage either. Also we did not really like the floor plans either. So preference is for new homes as of now. Firethorne somehow did not appeal much in terms of amenity package to us. Any reason why that is better than Woodcreek ?

[gsmj]

Originally Posted by usc619

With that price range you could buy a really nice resale in Firethorne or Woodcreek. I would start with Firethorne IMHO

What makes you lean towards Firethorne over Woodcreek?

[usc619]

Originally Posted by sb08

Thanks, actually we did look at resales in Woodcreek but most are above 400K and not that big diff in sq footage either. Also we did not really like the floor plans either. So preference is for new homes as of now. Firethorne somehow did not appeal much in terms of amenity package to us. Any reason why that is better than Woodcreek ?

Originally Posted by gsmj

What makes you lean towards Firethorne over Woodcreek?

Both are very nice, IMHO I think Firethorne is planned out a little better than Woodcreek when it comes to amenities and location.

[Kiovo]

Firethorne has more amenities but it also has 3 to 4 times the homes than Woodcreek. When you have that many homes sharing the same amenities it cancels out the benefits IMO. Woodcreek is not technically a MPC, but more a small community. As far as location wise, WC is sandwiched between 1463 and Pin Oak, giving the residents two options to enter and exit the neighborhood. HEB is 2 mins away and a Kroger is coming soon on 1463 and Spring Green.

It really comes down to what the OP is looking for in a neighborhood. Firethorne does have more options concerning floor plans, builders, plots etc. Firethorne also has more name recognition and is a newer neighborhood. Woodcreek is a quieter, more established smaller community with mature trees. The neighborhood did hit a little rough patch in 2009 (home sales slowed down) but overall has recovered very nicely and homes prices have gone up.

[sb08]

Originally Posted by Kiovo

Firethorne has more amenities but it also has 3 to 4 times the homes than Woodcreek. When you have that many homes sharing the same amenities it cancels out the benefits IMO. Woodcreek is not technically a MPC, but more a small community. As far as location wise, WC is sandwiched between 1463 and Pin Oak, giving the residents two options to enter and exit the neighborhood. HEB is 2 mins away and a Kroger is coming soon on 1463 and Spring Green.

It really comes down to what the OP is looking for in a neighborhood. Firethorne does have more options concerning floor plans, builders, plots etc. Firethorne also has more name recognition and is a newer neighborhood. Woodcreek is a quieter, more established smaller community with mature trees. The neighborhood did hit a little rough patch in 2009 (home sales slowed down) but overall has recovered very nicely and homes prices have gone up.

Did not explore Firethorne too much but we would rather prefer to be in a smaller community and yes love that Kingsland Blvd gives us access to both 1463 and Pin Oak. Any idea if the rough patch in 2009 was specific to WCR or a lot of subdivisions in Katy ?

We also liked Avalon at Spring Green but that exceeds our budget by 70-80K.

[Kiovo]

Woodcreek started building in 2005 and in 2009 the home sales in all of Houston slowed down due to the economy. The other Katy neighborhoods in the area are newer, most were not even around in 2009. If you check HAR you can see there's a low level of existing homes in Woodcreek for sale and they go really fast.

[Rip808]

I would personally choose Woodcreek over Firethorne...Firethorne is NOT in the City of Katy city limits. If we just compare Firethorne over Woodcreek that would be the deciding factor. However, both of these subdivisions are zoned to Katy HS, and to me personally, does not demand a "premium" like does Cinco, Seven, nor Tompkins.