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If any of you have ever been members of the Facebook page "HISD Magnet Families," you will find one of the strongest reasons families move out to the suburbs: It's simply easier. The magnet program is stressful, and this is after spending a premium to live close to town. It's easier to find a new/newish house of a decent size and easier to send your kids to a "good" school (relatively speaking), and still have money left over to fund their college 529 plans. You deal with the commute because it's worth the trade-off, right?
You will miss out on the amazing schools HISD has, but you surely won't have to deal with the crappy ones either. And you won't have to pay as much attention to the zones, so you can focus on the floorplans, etc., that you like.
I say this as a Meyerland resident who loves being close to everything, but recognizes that it took a lot more effort (and money) to make sure we did it right than we would have had to in the 'burbs.
^^^ THIS!
We used to live near the med center in an apartment. When baby came along, we chose to have more space, and we loved trees, and chose the Atascocita area. We lived in a 3100sqft one story, great neighborhood, and top ranked school for $280,000. Our commutes were about an hour...that was the trade off.
We moved away to Europe for 2 years and lack of education options for my oldest brought us back to Houston.
My daughter will attend school in the Galleria - it’s a special needs school, of which there are only a handful in Houston, and none are located in the NE where we are familiar with. On top of that, my husband will likely be working in Channelview.
So I had to find a neighborhood that would be a compromise to both school and work locations, be in a good school district for my younger child, and be “affordable”. Let me tell you...that’s not an easy task! And because we are moving back in the summer...trying to get into any magnet programs in the ‘lower ranked’ schools is impossible.
We settled on Oak Forest. And to get a house that is more to our standards (I.e. what we were used to when we built our previous homes) will land us in the $600-700k range. And that’s not for a McMansion. That’s for a 2400sqft new build (our preference) craftsman 1 story. We could buy resale, but wouldn’t be much cheaper after renovations and we have to deal with the the hassle during it.
We know we are fortunate to be able to even be able to consider this. But it kills us to have to pay this much for a smaller house on a smaller lot, and we won’t even be IN the loop! But My husband is over the commute to the burbs.
Finding a school has been harder than I thought it would be for my youngest. I’m new to charter schools, and magnet/vanguard programs. So I was shocked when I went to register her to the school earlier this week and was told the school may be full by the time I can register her (when our lease date starts). WHAT? I’m paying twice as much rent because this house is zoned to this school I want her to go to and she might not be able to even GO to it? It’s frustrating to say the least.
I see the argument about it all being about money. But it’s more about convenience and space when it comes to living in the burbs.
But if you have endless money, you don't have to put in the effort. I think you are missing my point. If money were no issue, more people would live closer to town.
Agree with this. It is mostly about money. The other issues are just sub-issues to the money problem. You can have it all... big house and good schools close to town if you have enough money.
Let's take a closer look at the James Harden example. The Beard today can live wherever he wants. The Beard when he bought that house in Royal Oaks could not. Back then, he signed a contract extension for 80 million over 4 years. That's not 20 million a year, that's more like 5 million the first year and 30 million the last year. He bought that house for about 2 million from another Rocket...roughly half that year's salary. These guys get game checks, so its not all up front cash. Does he really want to pay what it would have cost to get that equivalent house inside the loop? That might be something like the 20 million dollar Saudi Prince house for sale right now.
It's tough to commit to a custom build when he might be traded the next year. The smart move was to buy a house that was already made for the baller lifestyle and see what happens next. We'll see if he continues to live there after this 200 million extension, but I would bet money that won't be his permanent residence after basketball.
The guy has multiple houses, and probably 2 dozen cars. He works in the afternoon and at night, so rush hour commutes are not an issue for him. He's in Vegas right now, and he's only in that house for the few months during the season anyway. This is a temporary home/situation for him so he's a pretty bad example to use when it comes to a discussion of where should I live in Houston.
Let's take a closer look at the James Harden example. The Beard today can live wherever he wants. The Beard when he bought that house in Royal Oaks could not. Back then, he signed a contract extension for 80 million over 4 years. That's not 20 million a year, that's more like 5 million the first year and 30 million the last year. He bought that house for about 2 million from another Rocket...roughly half that year's salary. These guys get game checks, so its not all up front cash. Does he really want to pay what it would have cost to get that equivalent house inside the loop? That might be something like the 20 million dollar Saudi Prince house for sale right now.
It's tough to commit to a custom build when he might be traded the next year. The smart move was to buy a house that was already made for the baller lifestyle and see what happens next. We'll see if he continues to live there after this 200 million extension, but I would bet money that won't be his permanent residence after basketball.
The guy has multiple houses, and probably 2 dozen cars. He works in the afternoon and at night, so rush hour commutes are not an issue for him. He's in Vegas right now, and he's only in that house for the few months during the season anyway. This is a temporary home/situation for him so he's a pretty bad example to use when it comes to a discussion of where should I live in Houston.
Lol again, it's amazing how people refuse to believe that there aren't examples that do exist for this situation... seems like your disqualifications for Harden are some pretty lousy semantics, but sure. Regardless, there are outliers to the 'money is no object = will live in urban core' argument. If you looked at all of my posts, I already conceded several times that money is usually the key for most people, but outliers do still exist. That's literally the synopsis of every comment I've said on this thread, no more no less. I have a family friend who has a helicopter pad on his property in sleepy suburban NJ. You don't think he couldn't live in NY or Philadelphia if they wanted to? Point being, some people just don't prefer to be in the hustle and bustle of urban areas, no matter what their bank accounts look like.
Back in the 90s Donald McAdams (HISD trustee) wrote about how white middle class in west Houston determined whether certain public schools were "acceptable" (they'd be willing to send their kids to these schools) or "unacceptable" (they would very much like to avoid these schools). Jane Long Middle School, for example, lost its middle class white kids because of an influx of very poor, low level of English Hispanics from Central America. A school having to cater to such a group means the middle class folk are afraid that the level of academics would be watered down.
What I'm trying to ascertain is: which zoned schools today are "acceptable" for these parents and which ones are considered to be "unacceptable"? Then one can determine how much money is needed for a family in central Houston, in HISD, to be in an area where the zoned public schools are of a good academic quality.
I've had trouble accessing Facebook in the country I'm in, but I'll see what I can do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by travelguy_73
Since the focus is on working within HISD's stressful magnet system, the discussion of zoned schools only enters in when a magnet school is so popular with zoned families that it runs the risk of being removed from the magnet program altogether.
It's a fascinating page to follow, and you really come to respect what parents will do to "have it all" (great schools and stay in town).
Lol again, it's amazing how people refuse to believe that there aren't examples that do exist for this situation... seems like your disqualifications for Harden are some pretty lousy semantics, but sure. Regardless, there are outliers to the 'money is no object = will live in urban core' argument. If you looked at all of my posts, I already conceded several times that money is usually the key for most people, but outliers do still exist. That's literally the synopsis of every comment I've said on this thread, no more no less. I have a family friend who has a helicopter pad on his property in sleepy suburban NJ. You don't think he couldn't live in NY or Philadelphia if they wanted to? Point being, some people just don't prefer to be in the hustle and bustle of urban areas, no matter what their bank accounts look like.
I think we are probably in agreement. There are specific situations, like crone and Pedro and your NJ friend, where people have a specific desire/need for a house location. In those cases, they are not choosing their neighborhood based on money. For the other 95% who are just looking for a place to live and pay bills, they are in the suburbs because that's what they can afford.
My sister, when she was house-hunting, was trying to explain to my mother that it wasn't as easy for her to live centrally because houses out there were more affordable.
My mother and father live in the Museum District. My sister and my brother-in-law were originally thinking of living further out, but my mother didn't like that idea since they'd be far away from their jobs, and from my parents. Therefore it would be harder to have dinner with them, or take care of each others' pets, etc.
They settled in on the Willowbend area, but the house was fairly expensive for them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PinkLadyK
I think we are probably in agreement. There are specific situations, like crone and Pedro and your NJ friend, where people have a specific desire/need for a house location. In those cases, they are not choosing their neighborhood based on money. For the other 95% who are just looking for a place to live and pay bills, they are in the suburbs because that's what they can afford.
Lol again, it's amazing how people refuse to believe that there aren't examples that do exist for this situation... seems like your disqualifications for Harden are some pretty lousy semantics, but sure. Regardless, there are outliers to the 'money is no object = will live in urban core' argument. If you looked at all of my posts, I already conceded several times that money is usually the key for most people, but outliers do still exist. That's literally the synopsis of every comment I've said on this thread, no more no less. I have a family friend who has a helicopter pad on his property in sleepy suburban NJ. You don't think he couldn't live in NY or Philadelphia if they wanted to? Point being, some people just don't prefer to be in the hustle and bustle of urban areas, no matter what their bank accounts look like.
I think everyone gets why folks would choose a truly rural area - if that's what they want, it's obviously not going to be available in the middle of town.
But the examples of The Woodlands and Sugar Land have been used. Those are NOT examples of "avoiding the hustle and bustle" - they are becoming more hustling and bustling all the time. For folks that could comfortably afford the Memorial Villages, why choose those other places? That's what we're trying to figure out.
I've heard a lot of athletes live in Missouri City... I'm not sure why.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LocalPlanner
I think everyone gets why folks would choose a truly rural area - if that's what they want, it's obviously not going to be available in the middle of town.
But the examples of The Woodlands and Sugar Land have been used. Those are NOT examples of "avoiding the hustle and bustle" - they are becoming more hustling and bustling all the time. For folks that could comfortably afford the Memorial Villages, why choose those other places? That's what we're trying to figure out.
Lol again, it's amazing how people refuse to believe that there aren't examples that do exist for this situation... seems like your disqualifications for Harden are some pretty lousy semantics, but sure. Regardless, there are outliers to the 'money is no object = will live in urban core' argument. If you looked at all of my posts, I already conceded several times that money is usually the key for most people, but outliers do still exist. That's literally the synopsis of every comment I've said on this thread, no more no less. I have a family friend who has a helicopter pad on his property in sleepy suburban NJ. You don't think he couldn't live in NY or Philadelphia if they wanted to? Point being, some people just don't prefer to be in the hustle and bustle of urban areas, no matter what their bank accounts look like.
Of course there are exceptions. I am in the camp that wonders why. I am saying using Harden as your outlying case is a terrible example. He is more of an exception to your exceptions. Jeremy Lin slept on a couch, JJ Watt Slept on someone's floor. They could certainly afford more. These are not people looking for a permanent place to put down roots or worried about where their kids are going to school. They are waiting out their temporary situation.
Your friend with the helicopter pad is not a good example either, as stated. No one is asking why would you live in the suburbs if you could live downtown. Now, if you said he could have chosen something like Alpine, NJ, but chose something else further away, then I might wonder why.
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