Suburbs to avoid? (Houston, Sugar Land, Missouri City: apartments, condos, low crime) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

jimdc58 · 03-09-2009, 10:28 AM

My friend in League City told me of some amazing prices on condos in the Houston area. As I look through the on-line listings, I don't know what, if any, suburbs should be avoided (either because they are trashy or crime-ridden). Any input would be great. (I'm interested in west, south, southeast, or southwest of the city.)

modster · 03-09-2009, 10:47 AM

Depends on what you are defining as a suburb I guess.

The current usual suspects, Kingwood, Woodlands, Spring/Champions, Cypress, Katy, Sugarland, Pearland, Clear Lake, all offer newer housing stock, good schools, nice neighborhoods, low crime, etc. The things people typically move to the suburbs for can all be found in any of these.

Within these specific areas, however, there are often times some individual issues that affect popularity/pricing/values whatever. Often times these "issues" are subjective and depend upon who you talk to, but sometimes they are pretty much universally held perceptions. Issues ranging from the performance of schools in Spring ISD vs Klein, or Klein Forest High vs the other Klein High Schools, or landfills in Pearland, or being on this side of a freeway or that side, or pockets that may be affected by flooding, so on and so forth. Like I said, some issues may be very legitimate while others may just depend on who you talk to.

Where you work and your need for schools will dictate a lot of it. Also your tolerance for commuting.

There are older suburbs, "first-ring" ones that can vary widely. You have really nice ones, exclusive ones, like Memorial or Meyerland. You have up & coming ones like Westbury, and block-by-block adventure ones where you have pockets of very nice homes next to some really sketchy stuff. (I live in one of those).

texas7 · 03-09-2009, 07:25 PM

You can get a decent condo in the Clear Lake area (Southeast side) just don't do the ones on El Dorado between the Gulf Freeway and Highway 3. Those along Bay Area Blvd. are fine though.

HTownNearNative · 03-10-2009, 12:41 AM

Why would you want to buy a condo in a suburb (if I am reading the post correctly)? People move to suburbs to be able to afford a nice home in good school systems, or to be close to work if work is in a suburb. Homes are more valuable as an "investment" (not that Houston sees much appreciation) than a condo or townhome. If you are wanting a condo vs. a home, better buy near 610 Loop (Galleria/Uptown, Greenway, Memorial Park/Rice Military, Midtown, Montrose, West U), Houston proper. Also, buy because it's where you want to live, not because you want to "flip" the property. Appreciation is not that great in the Houston area. The southwest side of Houston near U.S. 59 and Bissonnet has cheap condos for a reason. It is one of the worst crime-ridden areas in town. Just a thought....

jimdc58 · 03-10-2009, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HTownNearNative

Why would you want to buy a condo in a suburb (if I am reading the post correctly)? People move to suburbs to be able to afford a nice home in good school systems, or to be close to work if work is in a suburb. Homes are more valuable as an "investment" (not that Houston sees much appreciation) than a condo or townhome. If you are wanting a condo vs. a home, better buy near 610 Loop (Galleria/Uptown, Greenway, Memorial Park/Rice Military, Midtown, Montrose, West U), Houston proper. Also, buy because it's where you want to live, not because you want to "flip" the property. Appreciation is not that great in the Houston area. The southwest side of Houston near U.S. 59 and Bissonnet has cheap condos for a reason. It is one of the worst crime-ridden areas in town. Just a thought....

I didn't ask the question to be told how to run my life.

jimdc58 · 03-10-2009, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by texas7

You can get a decent condo in the Clear Lake area (Southeast side) just don't do the ones on El Dorado between the Gulf Freeway and Highway 3. Those along Bay Area Blvd. are fine though.

Can you tell me why the El Dorado condos are to be avoided? Just curious.

txstate · 03-10-2009, 10:57 AM

The best burbs are Missouri City Sugar Land hands down.

tstone · 03-10-2009, 11:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimdc58

Can you tell me why the El Dorado condos are to be avoided? Just curious.

The issue is it's the low-rent part of Clear Lake; that's all. It's not like it's terrible, and it's only about a 1 mile strip. They are next door to some junky-looking strip malls, fast food joints and auto repair shops. Traffic along this stretch gets pretty backed up at times. But all of them sure look like apartments to me, not condos. I could be mistaken though. But I guess if someone owns them, they probably don't live in them.

You could look along say Buccaneer between Reseda and Ramada (zip 77058), and near the courthouse & library. There are other places to look in that area (near Bay Area/El Camino Real) as well. Out there you could easily walk/bike to a decent amount of shopping venues. There are a lot of younger people out here who didn't feel the need to purchase in the city and are doing fine. The age distribution in this zip code is about the same as Montrose (according to C-D, anyway).

cfeder · 03-11-2009, 10:37 AM

Pearland is excellent, dont be shortsighted.

texas7 · 03-14-2009, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cfeder

Pearland is excellent, dont be shortsighted.

Pearland doesn't really have any condos - which is what the OP asked about. What TStone said is correct about the small El Dorado section of condos in CL. Plus the crime rates are a bit higher in those areas. Had a couple of realtors advise me to avoid that area as well. One who said that the area was going down and that he was moving his sister out of those as soon as possible.