Home buying - Friendswood or Clear lake? (Houston, Pasadena: sale, houses)

[tstone]

I've lived in this area for 16 years. With $500k budget in your situation I'd suggest Pine Brook or Brookwood over Bay Oaks or The Reserve. That's where the bulk of the young kids are in this part of town. Pine Brook is a bit higher priced and more diverse than Brookwood, but both are very family friendly neighborhoods.

The Reserve seems like a retirement community to me (lacks kids), and looks generic. Bay Oaks has a lot of busy doctors, lawyers, executives, etc. and it is all about image, hence the price. Absolutely beautiful neighborhood (esp. to bike through with your kids), but the amount of time it takes to sell a house in Bay Oaks is 3-4x higher than the surrounding area.

Also watch the school borders/zones because all of these neighborhoods may be slightly different.

[Rootminusone]

Originally Posted by Samiamj

Are you nuts? A morning and evening commute from Spring Branch to Galveston is almost 1.25 hours without traffic.

I feel the same it's far and I don't intend to travel that much in a day!

[Rootminusone]

Originally Posted by alsal29

I would tend toward CCISD for more diversity. Friendswood is kind of clique-ish. You might also try Marbella and that area. It is technically League City, but is zoned to CCISD schools. They are still building new in that area. Would be a straight shot up 146 to Galveston.

Any specific communities in Marbella?

[Texas Ag 93]

Originally Posted by Rootminusone

I got feedback from my realtor saying Bay Oaks may have relatively older families (Kids in college, etc), not sure if that is the case. I did like a couple of homes there compared to The Reserve. We are looking for having some younger families so that kids will have some company to play in the community and of course decent school district.

I want to say, as the parent of a 13 and 10 year old, I applaud you for considering this so highly. We did not. And by "we", I mean primarily my husband. He wanted a house that had a couple of very specific, and difficult to find, features, and we ended up finding only a few houses that fit the bill. They all happened to be in neighborhoods that are skewed towards residents who are retired or empty nesters. This wasn't a big deal when we moved here and our kids were 7 and 4, but it is a big source of dissatisfaction for my kids now, especially the 13 year old. She mentions it often, and I spend a fair amount of time schlepping her to see friends who live in other areas, although she does have 1-2 friends in this neighborhood who are in biking distance.

Both Friendswood ISD and Clear Creek ISD are very good, but as another poster mentioned, be sure that you don't venture too far into the south of League City that you end up in Dickinson ISD (though I will say that I know several people who are relatively pleased with DISD).

[Rootminusone]

Does anyone see a potential of price increase down the line, say around 5 years in Clear lake vs Friendswood?
Trying to see if buying a smaller home for the same price in The Reserve is justified and has any potential to build equity, as it's relatively closer to Houston compared to Friendswood.

I understand that no one can predict and guarantee what the future holds!

[Rootminusone]

Originally Posted by Texas Ag 93

I want to say, as the parent of a 13 and 10 year old, I applaud you for considering this so highly. We did not. And by "we", I mean primarily my husband. He wanted a house that had a couple of very specific, and difficult to find, features, and we ended up finding only a few houses that fit the bill. They all happened to be in neighborhoods that are skewed towards residents who are retired or empty nesters. This wasn't a big deal when we moved here and our kids were 7 and 4, but it is a big source of dissatisfaction for my kids now, especially the 13 year old. She mentions it often, and I spend a fair amount of time schlepping her to see friends who live in other areas, although she does have 1-2 friends in this neighborhood who are in biking distance.

Both Friendswood ISD and Clear Creek ISD are very good, but as another poster mentioned, be sure that you don't venture too far into the south of League City that you end up in Dickinson ISD (though I will say that I know several people who are relatively pleased with DISD).

I understand your difficultly in having to constantly engage the kids! We learned this the hard way, as we currently live in a community where there are no young families and with pandemic, both kids being mostly home hasn't helped either!

Yes, we are cognizant of the school districts that a particular property falls into. Thanks for pointing that though.

[Rootminusone]

Originally Posted by tstone

I've lived in this area for 16 years. With $500k budget in your situation I'd suggest Pine Brook or Brookwood over Bay Oaks or The Reserve. That's where the bulk of the young kids are in this part of town. Pine Brook is a bit higher priced and more diverse than Brookwood, but both are very family friendly neighborhoods.

The Reserve seems like a retirement community to me (lacks kids), and looks generic. Bay Oaks has a lot of busy doctors, lawyers, executives, etc. and it is all about image, hence the price. Absolutely beautiful neighborhood (esp. to bike through with your kids), but the amount of time it takes to sell a house in Bay Oaks is 3-4x higher than the surrounding area.

Also watch the school borders/zones because all of these neighborhoods may be slightly different.

Great information, I will look into those specific communities. Thanks!

[texas7]

I live in FW and really like it. My kids are grown but I moved here because I know an excellent ISD keeps home values up. I can tell you that in Friendswood it is all about the kids. They are a priority here. Watch out for areas that have a flood history. If the house flooded or almost flooded in Harvey - stay away. Stay in the Galveston County portion of FW rather than Harris County so you get Friendswood High School.

Clear Lake is nice as well. Get in a section zoned for Clear Lake high school instead of Clear Brook. Now a few neighborhood in Clear Lake with Clear Lake schools are technically in Pasadena City Limits and those are Brookwood and one side of Pinebrook. That is an advantage because you get the luxury of Living in Clear Lake with Clear Lake schools but city services such as fire, police, ambulance city repairs of Pasadena. So smaller city so you get better and more prompt city services. Also note that in Clear Lake you will be close to Ellington airport and spaceport so if the sounds of military planes rattling your walls and windows will bother you - then be ready to hear it. The reserve actually put in triple pain windows to help mitigate the noise but I believe homeowners had to sign a waiver with the builder acknowledging they knew about Ellington. You reall do get used to it but some people truly hate it. If that sound is something you don’t want to hear - then make wise choices and choose one of the Clear Lake communities farthest from it. You’ll still hear it but just not be on top of it.

[shanv3]

Originally Posted by Samiamj

Are you nuts? A morning and evening commute from Spring Branch to Galveston is almost 1.25 hours without traffic.

Oh sorry. Didnt look at the galveston part. ( even though i ised to commute to texas city everyday from near eldridge/hwy6 area. For me it was against the traffic) .

If you are asian indian you may take clearlake because friendswood is around 90% white . Pearland wiuld be best if ypu can add another 25 mins each way to your commute.

Also clearlake will appreciate owing to the proximity to 45 . Friendswood not likely .

[tewest86]

Originally Posted by Rootminusone

Curious, do you still like CL after spending a year now? I assume you moved into The Reserve (or) somewhere nearby. I feel the prices in The Reserve are inflated and the new homes I see don't have character (compared to the ones I see in Friendswood and other places in the same price range), I know this is subjective, and based on the photos I see online.

Not sure if you have kids and if so, is there a decent community of kids to play around- it's difficult to keep engaging kids all the time on your own

Thanks for sharing your perspective here.

I like it. It's close to Downtown while still being a decent drive to my office in Galveston. I didn't move into The Reserve. Those were out of my price range. I don't see many options in The Reserve below $550k. I'm in one of the Bays. With your budget, I would look at Pinebrook or maybe Bay Oaks. Bay Oaks is super nice. It has houses as low at $399K and then some around $5million. During Christmas time, that is the neighborhood to visit.

I picked Clear Lake over Friendswood, League City, and etc. because I hate when new construction raze down every darn tree around. In CL, you have full grown trees throughout the neighborhood and lining the streets. That is something that I always hated about brand new areas.

Be aware that the closer you are the Ellington, the louder the military jets will be. It's not like an airport where it's constant noise all the time but when they do their training, it can get loud quickly. I hear that the noise isn't as bad in The Reserve because of some of the building materials they used for the new houses. However, you will hear them. Sometimes they get so low that it will rattle my house. You have to experience it to understand. Some people love it. NEVER EVER EVER get on the Next Door app and complain about the military jets. I'm warning you now. I feel bad for the new people that get on there and comment about the noise. The commenters basically rip them a new one.