Cons of Katy Texas (Houston, Amarillo: apartments, house, neighborhoods)

[Elizabeth_]

Hi,

We are thinking of relocating to Katy, TX, and want to hear your opinions! I have heard that there is bad traffic, it's crowded and expensive. What other negatives are there about Katy?

Also- what are some good alternatives instead of Katy?

We are a family of four and looking for newer homes and communities and top-rated schools.

Thank you so much!

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Pros - good schools, nice and quiet, pretty diverse for a suburb. Good growing food and nightlife scene. You don’t have to get into Houston for much at all for day to day activities outside of work if you don’t work in Katy.

Cons - feels fairly far from town. Not as much as Sugar Land or Woodlands/Conroe but still quite the distance. Doesn’t appear to have many trees very cookie cutter and well plastic.

[SugLandDAd]

"feels fairly far from town?" I cant say I can detect that subtle a difference between the two places, however Sugar Land is 5 miles closer to downtown than Katy. Sugar Land is also 10 miles closer to Hermann Park, and the Museum District, than Katy.

[Jtxg]

Originally Posted by Elizabeth_

Hi,

We are thinking of relocating to Katy, TX, and want to hear your opinions! I have heard that there is bad traffic, it's crowded and expensive. What other negatives are there about Katy?

Also- what are some good alternatives instead of Katy?

We are a family of four and looking for newer homes and communities and top-rated schools.

Thank you so much!

I think "crowded and expensive" is pretty subjective. Are you relocating from L.A.? If so, it's not crowded and it's dirt cheap. Or, are you relocating from a very small midwest town? In that case, yes it'll feel crowded and expensive.

If I were looking in Katy, I'd personally prefer the 77494 zip code. I don't find the parts of Katy east of 99 or north of I-10 all the great, but of course that's just my two cents.

[Raider Scott]

Cons - uglier and more barren than other Houston burbs like Woodlands, Kingwood or Cypress. Homes and subdivisions seem more cookie-cutter and boring.



Katy is also super-congested in places along I-10 and shopping along I-10 can be maddening. If you work from home or work in the Katy area....you can ignore this "Con."



Katy is also VERY dependent on I-10 for your only convenient route into Houston. If there is a bad accident...you're screwed on getting into Houston proper. I-10 west traffic is horrible...especially right before a holiday, when people are leaving Houston in droves or on a Sunday when they are returning from a holiday weekend. Literally a parking lot from about Columbus to the Loop. ...count me out on that!



The schools are good there, but you can find good schools in more attractive areas like Cypress, Kingwood, Sugar Land and The Woodlands.


I live in Cypress and would NOT trade it for Katy, but that is just me. I also have relatives that live in Katy and travel out there often, so I do know what I am talking about when it comes to this part of Houston.


This is just my opinion...for what it is worth. I would look at other areas before settling on Katy.

[Waffleton]

77094 avoids a good chunk of the traffic and congestion issues, though it's not "newer". That's subjective, however, as a home built in '99 would be considered newer in many places around the country.

Katy is more affordable than Fulshear and Cypress, at least when I was looking at the beginning of the year, however, the further west you go, the less diverse and more congested it becomes (e.g. Cane Island). Just my anecdotal sense, nothing to back this claim up.

[NigerianNightmare]

Originally Posted by Elizabeth_

Hi,

We are thinking of relocating to Katy, TX, and want to hear your opinions! I have heard that there is bad traffic, it's crowded and expensive. What other negatives are there about Katy?

Also- what are some good alternatives instead of Katy?

We are a family of four and looking for newer homes and communities and top-rated schools.

Thank you so much!

Cons-
Traffic- I-10 and 99 which are the two major free routes through Katy can be absolute parking lots most of the time.

It's also one of the most city-fied suburbs. The portion closest to the Energy Corridor doesn't feel too different from the city neighborhoods on the other side of George Bush/Bear Creek, and due to pretty substantial infill and apartments, part of Katy feels far more crowded than the average Houston suburb. It's fairly hard in some parts of Katy to find greenspace that isn't a park, and this is only gonna continue for the next 20 years. While other suburbs like The Woodlands are far stricter with allowing development and so have some random greenspace scattered around.

One con might be how relatively flat it is, and also it's size. But I'm used to it, and I personally like larger burbs so personally it isn't a con for me.

Another con, is that the most desirable part of the city is basically built out. So a lot of construction that market's itself as Katy area, is Brookshire/Fulshear/Richmond/Cypress areas, or on the border. Only area still considered Katy ISD getting new neighborhoods is NW Katy. The rest is pocket neighborhoods, or selling the last lots in a development. Theirs nothing wrong

The lack of local government in much of the Katy area could be considered a con. But virtually every major suburb in Houston barring Pearland/Sugar Land/Mo City suffer from this problem.

[Bos2Iah]

Originally Posted by Elizabeth_

Hi,

We are thinking of relocating to Katy, TX, and want to hear your opinions! I have heard that there is bad traffic, it's crowded and expensive. What other negatives are there about Katy?

Also- what are some good alternatives instead of Katy?

We are a family of four and looking for newer homes and communities and top-rated schools.

Thank you so much!

In the evening time its easier to reach katy from downtown , austin that is.

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by Bos2Iah

In the evening time its easier to reach katy from downtown , austin that is.

Not really, what with the construction near Sealy. Downtown Amarillo, maybe.

[HTownNearNative]

Originally Posted by Elizabeth_

Hi,

We are thinking of relocating to Katy, TX, and want to hear your opinions! I have heard that there is bad traffic, it's crowded and expensive. What other negatives are there about Katy?

Also- what are some good alternatives instead of Katy?

We are a family of four and looking for newer homes and communities and top-rated schools.

Thank you so much!

A little research on this forum probably would tell you all you need to know and separate truth from the snarky, sarcastic posting on this thread.

If you live south of I-10, I-10 is NOT the only way to get to town. To some, freeways is the only way to get there, I suppose. But if that is the case, can’t use that as a reason to bash the Katy area as almost every suburb has a main freeway (non tollway) as the sole freeway leading to town. There is Westheimer Parkway (for those in Cinco Ranch east of 99, Cinco West and Kelliwood areas) which connects to Westheimer Rd in Houston, FM 1093 which becomes Westheimer Rd on the Houston side (for those living in southwest Katy and northern Richmond areas) and Westpark Toll Road which extends almost to Fulshear, TX.

The established areas just east of 99 and just west of 99 are more conveniently located to desirable amenities like La Centerra. Friends who bought a newer house in southwest Katy now have to deal with more traffic just to get to good restaurants.

Cons-huge area that should have been incorporated but is not. Because of this, I believe this is why the Katy area will not ever attract major company headquarters since there are no politicians lobbying to bring the high paying professional white collar jobs to the area. Sugar Land and The Woodlands have a huge advantage over the Katy area because of this. This is reflected in their higher $/sqft home prices. Instead, most Katy area folks (unless they live in subdivisions like Green Trails which are closest to town) can count on a mininum 20 minute commute just to get to the Energy Corridor for professional white collar jobs.

The small section that is City of Katy is not in the same class as cities like Sugar Land and The Woodlands as City of Katy has more of a small town mentality and prides itself into having a small town, unpretentious feel to their area (vs a polished, well-organized community like the other two suburbs). This can be a good thing if that is your vibe. But to some, Sugar Land and The Woodlands are more their style.