Where to start looking for homes? (Houston, Pearland: for sale, real estate market, apartment)

[rjj42]

Hi everyone,
My wife and I are looking to buy a home by the end of this year. We currently live in an apartment in the Galleria area. I am thinking that I should start narrowing down the areas in town that I should start looking at seriously, given our constraints, so that I can finish the home buying process before my current apartment lease ends in Nov. Here are my details:
1) Commute: Wife works in Medical Center south campus, I work at the intersection of Beltway 8 and JFK Blvd (basically very very close to IAH). I am thinking a 45 minute commute for each of us should be doable.
2) Budget: We are looking to spend somewhere between $330k to $370k.
3) Kids: None yet, but hope to have one in the near future, so I'm thinking I should at least look at the elementary schools in the area I'd be buying a home in.
4) Type of home: Not sure yet.

I would appreciate suggestions of places that I should seriously zeroing in on. Thanks everybody.

-RJ

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by rjj42

Hi everyone,
My wife and I are looking to buy a home by the end of this year. We currently live in an apartment in the Galleria area. I am thinking that I should start narrowing down the areas in town that I should start looking at seriously, given our constraints, so that I can finish the home buying process before my current apartment lease ends in Nov. Here are my details:
1) Commute: Wife works in Medical Center south campus, I work at the intersection of Beltway 8 and JFK Blvd (basically very very close to IAH). I am thinking a 45 minute commute for each of us should be doable.
2) Budget: We are looking to spend somewhere between $330k to $370k.
3) Kids: None yet, but hope to have one in the near future, so I'm thinking I should at least look at the elementary schools in the area I'd be buying a home in.
4) Type of home: Not sure yet.

I would appreciate suggestions of places that I should seriously zeroing in on. Thanks everybody.

-RJ

Townhouse in the Greater Heights area, zoned to Harvard or Travis. Sinclair and Love are OK too, although some folks will argue about that.

[rjj42]

Any of the burbs that I should look at?

[SK115]

Not a really suburb by todays standards, but check out Oak Forest. It's a good location based on your work locations, if you don't mind a smaller ranch style home.

[elnina]

I started to look by driving around selected parts of Houston to get the visual feeling about areas to consider. Then I narrowed those areas down and checked HAR listings.
Although, from experiences - I noticed, that the best deals never make to the listings.
If you want to buy an older home, look for signs of remodeling and let your RE agent to track it, before the owner put it on the market. That way you could negotiate a really great deal and be the first to put a bid on it.

[elnina]

Originally Posted by SK115

Not a really suburb by todays standards, but check out Oak Forest. It's a good location based on your work locations, if you don't mind a smaller ranch style home.

It will be very hard to find there a home for OP's price range. Or it will be really small one 1000-1400 sqft.
https://www.har.com/zipcode_77018/re...ice_max=375000
"Quick overview of current real estate market:
Oak Forest ( East ) has 108 homes for sale with average list price $ 620,500."

[notkim]

Originally Posted by elnina

Although, from experiences - I noticed, that the best deals never make to the listings.

If you want to buy an older home, look for signs of remodeling and let your RE agent to track it, before the owner put it on the market. That way you could negotiate a really great deal and be the first to put a bid on it.

Please, can you elaborate a bit on the BOLD part? What do you mean by "look for signs of remodeling and let your RE agent track it?"

TIA

[DejaBlue]

Honestly, if I were you, I'd stay where I am until you can raise your budget OR she can get a medical job elsewhere in the city and away from the one of the most congested commutes during rush hour.

Pearland is an option but then that's very far for you. Humble/Summerwood would be a good option but her commute will be a nightmare.

Her job location and the surrounding areas is your budget problem. Basically, she works where y'all can't afford in pretty much every direction within 45 minutes right now with "good schools". The suburbs will give you more flexibility with your budget but the good ones are far away. Your commutes will be probably right at a hour if you go that way.


Where she works and places with "good" schools will have you at over $500k budget wise because the cheap ones get picked up quick and/or need a lot of help.


If you could squeak up to $500k then you'd have some wiggle room around the Medical Center and 45 and 59 North are doable traffic wise. South is pretty much most of the Greater Houston area driving south in the morning and afternoon.

[elnina]

Originally Posted by notkim

Please, can you elaborate a bit on the BOLD part? What do you mean by "look for signs of remodeling and let your RE agent track it?"

TIA

What's to explain? Lots of people (not all, of course) try to remodel before selling to get the best price for the house. Just get the address, and ask your Realtor to find out if the owner is getting the house ready to sell.
I got three houses that way.

"look for signs of remodeling" - you know, a big container on the driveway full of old carpet, tiles, sheetrock, old kitchen cabinets, windows, paint, etc.

[rjj42]

Originally Posted by DejaBlue

Honestly, if I were you, I'd stay where I am until you can raise your budget OR she can get a medical job elsewhere in the city and away from the one of the most congested commutes during rush hour.

Pearland is an option but then that's very far for you. Humble/Summerwood would be a good option but her commute will be a nightmare.

Her job location and the surrounding areas is your budget problem. Basically, she works where y'all can't afford in pretty much every direction within 45 minutes right now with "good schools". The suburbs will give you more flexibility with your budget but the good ones are far away. Your commutes will be probably right at a hour if you go that way.


Where she works and places with "good" schools will have you at over $500k budget wise because the cheap ones get picked up quick and/or need a lot of help.


If you could squeak up to $500k then you'd have some wiggle room around the Medical Center and 45 and 59 North are doable traffic wise. South is pretty much most of the Greater Houston area driving south in the morning and afternoon.

There are van pools from Katy and Sugarland to my work place, so maybe that could be a way for me to go about things. If we were to bump our commute time to an hour each, which ones would you recommend we start looking at?