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1.Our family will buy a house in Sugar Land or Houston early next year.. Do you guys know which particular residential neighborhood or subdivision in Sugar Land and Houston has the Largest or large Chinese /Chinese American population preferebly(but not necessarily ) Mandarin speaking Chinese. Our parents will live with us speaks Mandarin and little english,that is why we prefer to have a sizeable Mandarin speaking neighbors. Even Cantonese neighbors would do , even if they cant communicate verbally (due to pronounciation difference ) they can write down what they llike to say and be understood if ever they need something while me and my wife are away. . low crime rate (person/property) is also important since they would be staying home a lot . Their comfort and safety is our main concern in house selection.. Our maximum budget for a 3 or 4 bedroom house with 2 or 3 bathrom & 2 car garage home is about US$360,000 for a new or relatively new (5 to 10 yrs old) house , doesnt really matter if its a big or small place. If we could get one for 225 to 350 K that would be great. No kids so schools not a concern , traffic not much a concern .
2. What is the most preferred Home Security Service company in Sugar Land and Houston and also most preferred security system equipment brand ( motion sensors, smoke detector......)
3 Do residential homes in Sugarland or houston generally need to have its own water pump with tank (due to low water pressure from time to time )
4 We do NOT enjoy shopping IF possible , for all our BIG home furniture/ appliance (beds, ref, aircon, washer/dryer, sofa, dining table, range/oven, home entertainment, desk, chair, dresser) we would like to get it in just 1 mall that price their stuff fairly.. We are NOT brand conscious (except for home entertainment must be all Sony ) or even looks conscious , what we want are basic functions , durable and fairly priced . .Considering this where would you suggest we go to in Sugarland and or Houston for a one stop mall for our basic/durable and affordable home furniture/appliance needs ?
I can't help with the Chinese rich areas, however I can help on your other questions...
For security I would recommend Brinks or ADT. They are both good nationally known companies with excellent monitoring, although a little higher than other options in the area. There is a major difference between the two: Brinks doesn't use any sub-contractors. The installers who come out actually work for Brinks. The equipment is leased, and although you pay for equipment, you don't actually own anything - However you still have to pay for repairs on their equipment if something fails and you don't pay extra for "insurance". Discounting this major negative, I have Brinks and they have always been very responsive, the alarm dispatches are quick and professional, and the customer service is great. ADT on the other hand, uses sub-contractors for the equipment install, however you OWN the equipment. This means if at any time you are unhappy with ADT anyone can monitor your equipment. With Brinks, you are stuck with Brinks. I went with Brinks because the lack of dealing with contractors and the customer service I got. Just an interesting fact, former President George Bush Sr lives here and the US Seceret Service uses ADT on his property.
As for shopping - I would recommend Gallery Furniture. They have a website, which is www.galleryfurniture.com - the website is not very good and not impressive at all, however the store is very big and very impressive. Customer Service is excellent, and they have BIG furniture for every room in your house. They also sell electronics and plasma/LCD TVs. They have same day delivery on everything in the huge store. The furniture at Gallery is name brand, however due to thier volume of sales prices are equal than the no-name brand stuff. Gallery also has a resturant that serves free food to everyone there shopping.
If you don't mind one more store, I would recommend your electronic and appliance purchases down the street from Gallery at Fry's Electronics. They have name brand (yes, SONY) everything, as well as off brand stuff, and computers galore. They are like a Wal-Mart just for electronics and appliances - Huge store, big selection, low prices. This is also the place to purchase any security cameras or recorders - again, huge selection.
Back to your first questions - this might sound crazy, but you may want to try calling the Sugarland Police Dept. for info on where to look for a high population of Chinese. They would have a good idea of area demographics.
I can't help with the Chinese rich areas, however I can help on your other questions...
For security I would recommend Brinks or ADT. They are both good nationally known companies with excellent monitoring, although a little higher than other options in the area. There is a major difference between the two: Brinks doesn't use any sub-contractors. The installers who come out actually work for Brinks. The equipment is leased, and although you pay for equipment, you don't actually own anything - However you still have to pay for repairs on their equipment if something fails and you don't pay extra for "insurance". Discounting this major negative, I have Brinks and they have always been very responsive, the alarm dispatches are quick and professional, and the customer service is great. ADT on the other hand, uses sub-contractors for the equipment install, however you OWN the equipment. This means if at any time you are unhappy with ADT anyone can monitor your equipment. With Brinks, you are stuck with Brinks. I went with Brinks because the lack of dealing with contractors and the customer service I got. Just an interesting fact, former President George Bush Sr lives here and the US Seceret Service uses ADT on his property.
As for shopping - I would recommend Gallery Furniture. They have a website, which is www.galleryfurniture.com - the website is not very good and not impressive at all, however the store is very big and very impressive. Customer Service is excellent, and they have BIG furniture for every room in your house. They also sell electronics and plasma/LCD TVs. They have same day delivery on everything in the huge store. The furniture at Gallery is name brand, however due to thier volume of sales prices are equal than the no-name brand stuff. Gallery also has a resturant that serves free food to everyone there shopping.
If you don't mind one more store, I would recommend your electronic and appliance purchases down the street from Gallery at Fry's Electronics. They have name brand (yes, SONY) everything, as well as off brand stuff, and computers galore. They are like a Wal-Mart just for electronics and appliances - Huge store, big selection, low prices. This is also the place to purchase any security cameras or recorders - again, huge selection.
Back to your first questions - this might sound crazy, but you may want to try calling the Sugarland Police Dept. for info on where to look for a high population of Chinese. They would have a good idea of area demographics.
Good luck,
Troy
Thanks a LOT. GREAT HELP. Does ADT or Brinks have regular (ex once a year ) check up on the equipment just to be sure they are all in good working condition ? Is it possible to have get your own security system equipment and have brink just provide the monitoring and equipment checkup ? I think Id rather own my own system , that way I can be assured (after doing good research) that I have the best system my budget will allow then pay extra to have brinks do have a yearly checkup of my equipment aside from having their monitoring service.
Thanks a LOT. GREAT HELP. Does ADT or Brinks have regular (ex once a year ) check up on the equipment just to be sure they are all in good working condition ? Is it possible to have get your own security system equipment and have brink just provide the monitoring and equipment checkup ? I think Id rather own my own system , that way I can be assured (after doing good research) that I have the best system my budget will allow then pay extra to have brinks do have a yearly checkup of my equipment aside from having their monitoring service.
I don't know much about ADT but with Brinks, you can purchase your equipment but it would be a more affordable option for you to not own the equipment . If you have Brinks, you can purchase the Extended Service Option ($5 or $6 per month depending on your area) which will cover the cost of labor on Brinks related malfunctions (As in, you didn't remodel, you didn't tamper with any of the equipment, etc...). Labor rates can be very expensive and are AT LEAST $50 for the first 30 minutes. Now, once again, the Extended Service Option only covers LABOR for Brinks related malfunctions. In terms of parts, if you own your equipment then you would be responsible for the cost of parts. However, if you do not own your equipment, then as long as it is a Brinks related malfunction, Brinks will generally replace the parts at no cost to you since it is their equipment.
If you ever decide to leave Brinks, you could purchase the equipment but it would be costly.
If you have any more questions, just call them or visit their website. I hope this helps.
VP18, may I ask your age and occopation. To answer your question about the Asian (or Chinese) community, you found the right location, because Sugar Land has 25% Asians and a big chunk of it are Chinese.
You can check on the web about Telfair Sugarland. This is a new subdivision is underdevelopment now. This is a place where alot of people wanted to move in.
I have lived and worked in Sugar Land for the past 20 years. I love the place. I would check out Colony Cove at Austin Parkway and Grants Lake Blvd. It is right behind the First Colony Mall off Hwy 59 and it is very International.
Quote:
Originally Posted by vp18
1.Our family will buy a house in Sugar Land or Houston early next year.. Do you guys know which particular residential neighborhood or subdivision in Sugar Land and Houston has the Largest or large Chinese /Chinese American population preferebly(but not necessarily ) Mandarin speaking Chinese. Our parents will live with us speaks Mandarin and little english,that is why we prefer to have a sizeable Mandarin speaking neighbors. Even Cantonese neighbors would do , even if they cant communicate verbally (due to pronounciation difference ) they can write down what they llike to say and be understood if ever they need something while me and my wife are away. . low crime rate (person/property) is also important since they would be staying home a lot . Their comfort and safety is our main concern in house selection.. Our maximum budget for a 3 or 4 bedroom house with 2 or 3 bathrom & 2 car garage home is about US$360,000 for a new or relatively new (5 to 10 yrs old) house , doesnt really matter if its a big or small place. If we could get one for 225 to 350 K that would be great. No kids so schools not a concern , traffic not much a concern .
2. What is the most preferred Home Security Service company in Sugar Land and Houston and also most preferred security system equipment brand ( motion sensors, smoke detector......)
3 Do residential homes in Sugarland or houston generally need to have its own water pump with tank (due to low water pressure from time to time )
4 We do NOT enjoy shopping IF possible , for all our BIG home furniture/ appliance (beds, ref, aircon, washer/dryer, sofa, dining table, range/oven, home entertainment, desk, chair, dresser) we would like to get it in just 1 mall that price their stuff fairly.. We are NOT brand conscious (except for home entertainment must be all Sony ) or even looks conscious , what we want are basic functions , durable and fairly priced . .Considering this where would you suggest we go to in Sugarland and or Houston for a one stop mall for our basic/durable and affordable home furniture/appliance needs ?
I went to a really nice Chinese New Year Lunar festival in February in Houston held at the Asian Community Center (not sure of exact name - Hillcroft area). I would suggest googling Chinese community center and speaking with a few of the people from the community center. You can also go on har.com and find a realtor who can help you with neighborhoods.
I highly suggest you go with Brinks. ADT charges you $30+ for what costs them $4 to monitor and customer service is horrible. I was a customer service specialist for them and they are a nightmare. The managers close out jobs at the end of month even if their not installed yet in order to hit their numbers to make their bonuses. This I may tell you causes horrible billing problems with them, especially if you choose not to go with them or delay installations or remove items from contract and the call centers are horrible to deal with as well as the monitoring centers. I had hundreds of customer's call me because they were billed before being installed(and what takes them moments to remove from your debit card takes months to get back) or hadn't been monitored for months on end although they paid for it. Also they do internal audits for SOX compliance and the managers sign documents that customer's neglected or forgot to before the outside auditors checked them(basically they scrub all files). I quit because they were so corrupt. Besides their managers are hired Walmart and McDonald's style where they start as installers then sales reps then sales managers, very few have business degrees nor know how to manage.
Go with Brinks or a decent sized local company, I had so many customers want to cancel but were not able to because they were stuck in a three year contract. Stay away from any authorized dealers, once they install you never hear from them again.
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Subdivisions in Sugar Land
I have lived and worked in Sugar Land for the past 20 years. I love the place. I would check out Colony Cove at Austin Parkway and Grants Lake Blvd. It is right behind the First Colony Mall off Hwy 59 and it is very International. 
