Trip to Houston in 2 weeks -few ?'S about beach, neighborhoods & schools (Corpus Christi: cul-de-sac)

[roterjo]

I am very excited we are coming to Houston in 2 weeks for a place to live scouting trip. I have a few questions that I would love y'all's help if I may.

1.Where to stay? We were thinking somewhere around the outer loop maybe on the north, south or west side? We plan on checking out the following areas Cypress, Humble, Kingwood, Woodlands, Katy (Cinco Ranch), Sienna Plantation in Missouri City. I know that is a wide net!

2. Any thoughts on these areas? We are looking at the school districts of Klein, Katy, Cypress Fairbanks, Fort Bend, Conroe & Humble. I found a list that ranked them but it was from 2006 and it showed Katy & Klein as higher than the others. Lots of people on here talk highly about Katy. I just wanted to see about the others. My husband works from home so commute is not an issue. We want to stay 45 min. or so from the Bush Airport. Our plan is to drive around these areas and see what we think and hopefully we will find one that is a fit for us. I checked on Great Schools and all the districts listed above are 7 out of 10, but Katy & Conroe are 8 out of 10.

3. Beach - we want to go to Galveston and probably go to a pocket beach since that seems to be the one people say is the nicest. Is this right and if so is it actually called pocket beach and is it easy to find. OR should we go to Surfside beach or somewhere else? The reason we want to go to the beach is to see what it is like. We currently live in Atlanta and are 5 hours from SC or GA to the beach and 6-7 hours from the Florida Panhandle. We were looking at moving to NC or SC but at the moment Houston is in the lead. I have read up on here about the beaches and searched the Google images to see what the beaches look like. I do understand they are not going to be like Florida beaches but we want to find 2 types of beaches. 1) go to for the day to play in the surf and sand 2) go to the beach for a weekend type. Not sure if this would be surfside or if we would need to go to Corpus Christi or Padre Island. Keep in mind we are 6 -7 hours from the Florida beaches so moving to Houston is an improvement to the distance we are now.
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[SIZE=3]4. Large Master Planned Communities – we are debating between something like Cinco Ranch, Sienna Plantation, Fairfield verses the neighborhoods that have 1 pool, 1 park etc. Does anyone know if you live in Cinco or Sienna and you want to be part of the swim team, soccer or take horse riding lessons does it cost less to residents or is it about the same if you joined something not in the neighborhood? I was just wondering if this makes it more of a plus because practices and lesson would be in the neighborhood instead of driving around weekly.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]I think that is it. I have learned so much and chatted with lots of great people on here. Thank you for all your wonderful help.[/SIZE]

[descovy]

The beaches are nice, only because they are local... really nothing to write home about, nothing as good as FL/GA/SC

If you want to stay within 45 minutes of Bush airport, scratch Katy/Sienna Plantation off your list. Cyfair is a stretch at being 45 minutes away.

That is such a wide net that you are not going to get much of a feel for any area if you try to do them all. All the suburbs are essentially mind-numbing the same... sometimes the topography is different. You will confuse yourself. Also, Houston is much more spread out than you can imagine.

If you really don't have to commute into town... spend some time in The Woodlands. Many people like it there and there is a lot to do, good schools, the whole 9 yards. If you don't have to have brand new, Kingwood and Champions/Klein are nice too. In fact if you keep your search in the North area, you will have time to see and get what you like.

There is nothing in Katy or Sienna Plantation that you can't find in Spring/Woodlands/Kingwood. All these areas have good schools in them. Don't let yourself split hairs on minutia. For example, both Klein and Katy have great schools. Don't move to Katy just because of some rank... because trust me the schools aren't magic machines... essentially you are getting the same education in either area.

[roterjo]

Thanks descovy. I have never been to Houston I am just going on Google map for distances. This is what it shows:

The woodlands – 24 miles 35 minutes
Cypress – 32 miles 38 minutes
Katy – 43 miles 51 minutes
Spring – 16 miles 24 minutes
Sugarland – 42 miles 48 minutes
Kingwood – 14 miles 28 min
Humble – 7 miles 16 min
Missouri city – 38 miles 49 min
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[SIZE=3]Are these remotely accurate? I know that traffic is not always factored into that. In Atlanta on a good day we can get to the airport from where we live in 40 minutes. Most days it takes 60 minutes. On Google maps it shows 48 miles and 58 minutes. So in this case it is fairly accurate. [/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]We would honestly love to narrow these areas down. But without driving around I don’t know how else we do that. I will use Atlanta for an example. Here we have counties & suburbs that have billboards all the way down the freeway & on the major arteries in the suburbs. The streets you drive on feel “busy” with all the billboards. Then there are other suburbs that have more trees and not the billboards. You wouldn’t know this unless you either visit and drive around or ask people. I have spent about 2 weeks researching Houston on here & other places, as well as emailing a couple from Atlanta who moved to Houston. In searching on city data it seems most people are centering their search by where they work. Which makes sense but since we have no work week commute we have a bit more of a wide area to search. I have heard that The Woodlands, Cypress and Kingwood are tree areas. I also have noticed by searching on HAR the neighborhoods and areas that have more trees in the photos. [/SIZE]
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In the 10 years we have been here we have known we wouldn’t stay long term. We want to be somewhere closer to the coast. I grew up 20-30 minutes from the beach on the west coast. Being 5-6 hours away is too far for me. We do prefer the heat and humidity to the grey rainy winter. After visiting NC & SC we have ruled them out. The things we like about Houston is proximity to the coast, weather, housing costs and great schools. We are looking at the larger neighborhood since we don’t know anyone we want to get connected and meet people. With living in a big city and looking at moving to an even bigger city we are hoping that by moving to a large neighborhood we can try to avoid driving 20 minutes for a play date in the same suburb. I hope this all makes sense!

[descovy]

Honestly it sounds like The Woodlands has everything you are looking for. And since your only geography requirement is the airport, it is your best bet.

Those drive times are a little deceiving in my view. I have lived in Spring (near The Woodlands), CyFair, and now Cinco Ranch in Katy. To "pinpoint" the drive is near impossible. For example, I live in South Katy (Cinco Ranch) But to get to a friend's house in North Katy... we're 20 minutes apart. To get to the airport, I am at least 10 minutes from the I-10/99 interchange (which is often clogged) Someone else in Katy may be at I-10 and Barker Cypress, a good 15 min head start from me. But we are both "Katy." I give myself an hour from Cinco Ranch to get to the airport. On more than one occasion it has taken longer due to traffic.

Same with Cypress. To get to the airport from Cypress or Katy you have to take Beltway 8. Cypress is huge too, and on the most congested Houston freeway. You could be in Cypress and be only 5 minutes from Beltway 8 or as much as 20-30min away from Beltway 8 depending on exact location. And it isn't until you get to Beltway 8 that you "start" that drive to the airport. Move to Fairfield? Again, expect an hour.

Sienna Plantation is clear South of the city. So you will have to come up from the other end, through the city to get to the north, where the airport is. Also there is only one road in and out of Sienna Plantation... it's set pretty far back. And if that one road is clogged/congested what are you going to do?

I guess my point is Cinco Ranch is nice, Sienna Plantation is nice, and The Woodlands is the same kind of nice. There is nothing you will find in Cinco or Sienna that you cannot find in The Woodlands.

You can't be guaranteed block parties or a playgroup down the street in any case. Often, you just get lucky. I have wonderful neighbors... the kind that you can borrow a cup of sugar, share a ladder, etc... but virtually no elementary kids on my street. (again in family friendly Cinco Ranch) but several streets down the parents sit in lawnchairs every evening and watch the kids play ball and ride bikes. And on another Cinco Ranch street, my friends moved to a cul-d-sac looking for the "block party" style only to live near rowdy teenagers who are reckless drivers and play loud music. All in the same, pretty, master planned community.

But as I say, what I see you are looking for is in the Spring/Woodlands/Kingwood areas. Pretty neighborhoods, family friendly, lots of parks, pools, family activities. No sense driving further away, for the very same things...

[roterjo]

You made some great points. Thank you for taking the time to respond. I think your description about Cinco was something I hadn’t thought of. You can easily get a cul-de-sac full of young families, or full of teens. So maybe we should be looking at neighborhoods around July 4th then...LOL. But seriously your post helped a lot. I have been focusing on some of the great neighborhood posts I had read and that was why I added Cinco or Sienna. If we are looking at just the corridor North that will make it a much easier trip to get to know the area.

Let me ask this about the Woodlands. Some have posted it is snobby or more keeping up with the Jones' type but my thoughts are in most cities isn’t keeping up with the Jones’s how North America is?

[descovy]

No more than Cinco... you'll see those types in Cinco too. I heard someone call these folks $60k-ionaires. Yes folks who make $60k but want to "appear" like millionaires.

We all gravitate to people like minded. I admit, I freaked when I went to meet the teacher in my Cinco-area school. Stay at home moms in designer duds, driving luxury SUV's. I seriously thought I made a big mistake moving my family over here.

But we got the girls in Girl Scouts... met lots of down to earth folks that way. Met parents at the bus stop... it wasn't long before I flushed out a few cool, down to earth ones.

As I say, same can be said in The Woodlands...

I have a close friend who lives just East of the Woodlands. Basically because her family can't afford a home in the Woodlands, but they want the same shopping, etc., and good quality schools. They got that in a $120k home. Nice but not fancy... and you won't see any keeping up with the Jones types' over there.

[Radical_Car]

Houston is a very underrated city, don't let ignorant people from California and Minnesota tell you otherwise. Minnesotans are so full of themselves and their crappy state. Though I do like Minneapolis, but Minnesota as a whole is pretty boring and cold and bad.

[mikehtown]

Every district in and around Houston has some good and bad schools. The district ratings are meaningless when you ask the 'where should I live question'? Look at the schools for neighborhoods you are interested.

[debzkidz]

Keep in mind that when you are looking at school districts it can be even more confusing. You can be in Katy schools while still living in west Houston. Katy schools actually go all the way to the east of Hwy 6. When people talk about Katy, they are really talking about a very large georgraphic area that does include often include part of Houston, and where you are can really affect your commute time to places such as the airport. We lived just of I-10 and Greenhouse, and as another poster mentioned, we had a big head start on those living in areas such as southern parts of Cinco Ranch, Grand Lakes, or Seven Meadows, and those living further east (but still in KatyISD) had an additional 10-15 minute head start on us.

[roterjo]

Thank you all for taking the time to respond, I really appreciate and it has helped greatly. I wasn't at the point to pick neighborhood or schools yet since we needed to narrow down the area of the city and the suburbs. So it looks like we are looking at Kingwood & Woodlands Area. Plus those near that area. Is there schools in these areas that I should stay away from or must have? I have read mixed reviews on Spring and that you need to be careful and not just get anything Spring. Is Kingwood or Woodlands like that or would most areas be ok?

We have a 4 bedroom house in Atlanta with a full finished basement that has a bedroom(5th bedroom), large media room, large office/studio. My husband works from home and I have an embroidery business so we both need space in the house. We are looking to move in 9-12 months. I say let's go sooner but my husband wants to wait at least 6 months. So looking at houses are not quite as important as finding some neighborhoods we like and areas so we know where to look once we sell our house here. We need a fairly large house with either a 3rd garage or a multipurpose media game room. With a 4 year old & 2 year old my husband can't be in a study on the main floor or he will have way too much background noise from the little people of the house! I get the feeling that to get the size of house we need woodlands would cost more than a not woodlands home. I still don't completely understand what all is and is not woodlands but once we visit maybe it will make more sense. People reference leaving close enough to woodlands to get the benefits without paying woodlands prices on a house. Not sure what that means. We are looking to be around the $300,000 price range. If we can get something from $250,000-$300,000 we could make changes to have the house how we need it. Or we spend $300-$350 if the house was ready to go with what we needed. We want to make sure the neighborhood has walking trails, pool, and parks so we can get out and meet other families. I have seen some homes that fit our criteria but the neighborhoods are a bit older and I am not sure if it would be families with older or grown children. What neighborhoods should I be looking at?