Moving to Houston: Woodlands vs Katy vs ?? (Conroe, Spring: apartment, homes)

[Hankrigby]

Originally Posted by bznavybrat

Thanks for the reply, how is life in Memorial? We thought it might be a good middle ground between Woodlands and Katy, though it looked like homes were a bit older and costlier whereas public schools not *as* highly rated? Are there still lots of young families with children?

Memorial is very nice keep in mind Harvey hit memorial hard. I have never seen that part of town get hit that hard with high water. It is very unusual. A lot of the people I've met from memorial strike me as more uppity than people from woodlands or Katy but that might just be because I'm a low life peasant that lives with the riff faff lol. It's a personal experience and you should take those with a grain of salt. There's very nice people everywhere and there's very snobby people everywhere and all the things in between.

All I would suggest to you with regard to memorial if no idea how good their schools are. Make sure if the house was damaged during Harvey that it was repaired properly. You will be further away from the international airport then you would be in the woodlands, but you would be closer to hobby airport then in Katy or the woodlands.

Pecan Grove is pretty nice I think of this part of Houston is the home of the most uppity people but again that's a personal experience. I have met some fantastic people in New Territory and pecan grove. You will be closer to hobby but further away from intercontinental. But if your wife is interested in working for a smaller airport there's one write a new territory. Pecan Grove and new territory are very close.

There is also Pearland and friendswood these put you much closer to hobby closer to Galveston nearby some community colleges. But much further away than any other place from Bush intercontinental airport. In all fairness though Pearland is exploding right now with population growth so it might be higher cost.

[bznavybrat]

Originally Posted by Hankrigby

Proximity to the airport we have two major airports and you don't want to be close to either one of them. Bush intercontinental is closer to the woodlands, hobby is in south Houston. And if you're thinking about a place in Katy or in the woodlands you do not want to think about a place in South Houston. The traffic getting to the airport from The woodlands is terrible I would recommend if you need to travel somewhere via plane find yourself a shuttle that will take you there they have those.

Appreciate the thorough reply -- I've also heard the drive to IAH from Woodlands can be pretty bad (despite it being closer distance-wise than Katy). How bad are we talking? When I put in Google maps, I see the following:

- Woodlands:~30-45min (from Panther Creek, using Harvy Toll Rd)

- Cinco Ranch: ~50 min - 1hr 10 (using Sam Houston Tollway)

Is this pretty accurate for a typical day?

[Hankrigby]

Originally Posted by bznavybrat

Appreciate the thorough reply -- I've also heard the drive to IAH from Woodlands can be pretty bad (despite it being closer distance-wise than Katy). How bad are we talking? When I put in Google maps, I see the following:

- Woodlands:~30-45min (from Panther Creek, using Harvy Toll Rd)

- Cinco Ranch: ~50 min - 1hr 10 (using Sam Houston Tollway)

Is this pretty accurate for a typical day?

Depends on the time of day one thing I'll say about this city if you've been to LA I don't know if that's where you're moving from the traffic though it's bad it dies down pretty quick. We haven't rush hour it's short lived compared to other cities. But it depends on the time of day you're going if you're in peak rush hour at 30 minutes. It doesn't really matter where you live you're going to be a long ways away from intercontinental and that's on purpose the city made a strip going down the middle of the freeway all the way out and surrounding the airport and annexed to that as part of the city so that it was far enough away but still in the city limits. And you don't want to live close to that airport. Something you can do is you can look at the Houston TranStar map various times of the day and see what the traffic's like that's pretty reliable. Google maps with the traffic on the ballpark in a little more but still it's decently accurate.

But yeah on the typical day I think those times are reasonable. You got to understand weather changes traffic conditions and sometimes we have pop up thunderstorms. I've only ever seen such a thing divert traffic a handful of times.

[usc619]

I would do The Woodlands IMHO. Katy/Fulshear and Sugarland are both good options.

[TallGreengrass]

How familiar are you with Houston? Come on down and visit and get a feel for everything!

Katy and Woodlands are excellent choices. Very family oriented areas. Great schools, especially Katy. Katy has the the Asian cuisine and groceries you mentioned. Both are very suburban look and feel. Plenty of variety in people, demographics, etc. And really good schools for both academics and sports.

Memorial is the ‘one of these is not like the other’ among your choices. Beautiful older neighborhoods, good schools. It’s an affluent area with successful, professional, pretty parents and their smart, cute kids. You’re surrounded by street traffic, retail, commercial, freeway. Like other posters mentioned there was lots of flooding so be aware. I don’t know how far $800k will get you.

What about Cypress? It’s in the NW part of Harris county. Good schools, easy drive to airport on 99 tollway, very family oriented. Don’t know about the authentic Asian restaurants and groceries though. Lots of people, demographic variety as well. Big, newer suburban feel.

[bznavybrat]

Originally Posted by TallGreengrass

Memorial is the ‘one of these is not like the other’ among your choices. Beautiful older neighborhoods, good schools. It’s an affluent area with successful, professional, pretty parents and their smart, cute kids. You’re surrounded by street traffic, retail, commercial, freeway. Like other posters mentioned there was lots of flooding so be aware. I don’t know how far $800k will get you.

What about Cypress? It’s in the NW part of Harris county. Good schools, easy drive to airport on 99 tollway, very family oriented. Don’t know about the authentic Asian restaurants and groceries though. Lots of people, demographic variety as well. Big, newer suburban feel.

Thanks for the thoughtful reply.

We got the sense that Memorial was a bit more urban/midtown type of feel but with a slightly older demographic whereas Woodlands and especially Katy was brimming with young families--is this correct?

We hadn't considered Cypress but will definitely look into that now, especially as it seems like a good 'midway' pt between the airport and Katy.


On another note, is there any difference in humidity and/or mosquito density between Woodlands and Katy? We can't stand both though know it's unavoidable in Houston My wife heard from colleagues Katy might be a bit drier, less mosquitoes given a 'drier' prairie type feel vs the woodlands.

[Global_Run]

Originally Posted by bznavybrat

Thanks for the thoughtful reply.

We got the sense that Memorial was a bit more urban/midtown type of feel but with a slightly older demographic whereas Woodlands and especially Katy was brimming with young families--is this correct?

We hadn't considered Cypress but will definitely look into that now, especially as it seems like a good 'midway' pt between the airport and Katy.


On another note, is there any difference in humidity and/or mosquito density between Woodlands and Katy? We can't stand both though know it's unavoidable in Houston My wife heard from colleagues Katy might be a bit drier, less mosquitoes given a 'drier' prairie type feel vs the woodlands.

They are everywhere in the Houston area so even if one particular area is slightly worse than another, the conditions in your micro-area will matter much more. Things like, does your house backup to a drainage ditch?, a nature preserve?, or does your neighbor leave buckets of water out or do they have poor drainage in their backyard. These things matter more so I wouldn’t try to factor in some sort of mosquito density into the decision.

Don’t forget to factor in the local tax rate. It will vary between Harris and Montgomery county but also make sure you look at the difference at the neighborhood level as MUD tax differences can be significant.

[gwarnecke]

Originally Posted by bznavybrat

We got the sense that Memorial was a bit more urban/midtown type of feel but with a slightly older demographic whereas Woodlands and especially Katy was brimming with young families--is this correct?

I would not characterize Memorial as urban at all, unless having some retail or apartments along the freeway frontage roads or major arterials qualifies it as urban. The actual neighborhoods within Memorial reflect a quiet suburban setting, with big lots, mature trees, and minimal vehicle or foot traffic. The premium you pay vs the suburbs reflects the convenient location (not so much the housing stock or schools).

Also - flooding has occurred in the past in Katy, The Woodlands, and Memorial. The Katy neighborhoods inside the reservoir and the streets just along Buffalo Bayou between Hwy 6 and Gessner in Memorial were hit particularly hard. But 90%+ of all three of these areas have never flooded and have a low chance of future flooding. It's tough to paint any of the areas with too broad of a brush when it comes to flooding - best to look at the floodplain maps + talk to neighbors for the particular house/block/street that you're looking at.

[bznavybrat]

Originally Posted by Global_Run

They are everywhere in the Houston area so even if one particular area is slightly worse than another, the conditions in your micro-area will matter much more. Things like, does your house backup to a drainage ditch?, a nature preserve?, or does your neighbor leave buckets of water out or do they have poor drainage in their backyard. These things matter more so I wouldn’t try to factor in some sort of mosquito density into the decision.

Don’t forget to factor in the local tax rate. It will vary between Harris and Montgomery county but also make sure you look at the difference at the neighborhood level as MUD tax differences can be significant.

Great pts and makes sense on the factors more relevant to mosquito problem

[bznavybrat]

Originally Posted by gwarnecke

I would not characterize Memorial as urban at all, unless having some retail or apartments along the freeway frontage roads or major arterials qualifies it as urban. The actual neighborhoods within Memorial reflect a quiet suburban setting, with big lots, mature trees, and minimal vehicle or foot traffic. The premium you pay vs the suburbs reflects the convenient location (not so much the housing stock or schools).

The location does seem exceptional, can't seem to find anything quite like it. How is it in terms of young families w/ children? Visiting Katy it seems brimming with young working couples with kids, so lots of potential for play dates, kids' sports and extracurriculars (definitely where we're at in this stage of our life)