Finally---moving back to texas! (Houston, Dallas: real estate, apartments, lease)

[Fudgecopper]

Hi everyone!! I am super excited. My husband is from Texas and I lived there most of my Adult life (dallas area for us both). We are prior military and we've moved everywhere. An opportunity just arose in my current job (Fed. Employee) and my transfer request to move to Houston has been approved. Basically, we have 30 days.

Can anyone help us out? We're looking for a home to buy. We obviously would not be able to move into it right away. We are going to rent for about three months but as soon as we hit the ground there we will be looking for houses. We would like a safe neighborhood, we dont have kids but will like some soon so a good public school system would be great, at around $250,000. Drive time down to downtown Houston (which is where my office is located) is not an issue for me. I mainly work out of my home so at the most, I may have to try down there once a week. Any suggestions? We are trolling the past threads for suggestions but we'd love to hear from you!

[cheryjohns]

Originally Posted by Fudgecopper

Hi everyone!! I am super excited. My husband is from Texas and I lived there most of my Adult life (dallas area for us both). We are prior military and we've moved everywhere. An opportunity just arose in my current job (Fed. Employee) and my transfer request to move to Houston has been approved. Basically, we have 30 days.

Can anyone help us out? We're looking for a home to buy. We obviously would not be able to move into it right away. We are going to rent for about three months but as soon as we hit the ground there we will be looking for houses. We would like a safe neighborhood, we dont have kids but will like some soon so a good public school system would be great, at around $250,000. Drive time down to downtown Houston (which is where my office is located) is not an issue for me. I mainly work out of my home so at the most, I may have to try down there once a week. Any suggestions? We are trolling the past threads for suggestions but we'd love to hear from you!

I would suggest a short-term apartment. Houses will usually want a lease of about a year.

Try to get in the area that you think that you want to buy - it gives you a chance to "try it on".

[Fudgecopper]

Originally Posted by cheryjohns

I would suggest a short-term apartment. Houses will usually want a lease of about a year.

Try to get in the area that you think that you want to buy - it gives you a chance to "try it on".

I don't quite understand what you're telling me. Of course we would rent a short term apartment until we found a house. You do make a point about renting in an area you'd want to buy a house in, but of course, the reason I'm posting on this thread is to find out what that area is. Based on my own research is seems like Woodlands and Kingwood would best suit my needs;however, i do see plenty of beautiful homes in my price range on realtor.com just under "Houston." I wonder why no one has suggested looking at houses in "Houston." It seems everyone likes Woodlands, Katy, Sugerland, and Kingwood.

[cheryjohns]

Originally Posted by Fudgecopper

I don't quite understand what you're telling me. Of course we would rent a short term apartment until we found a house. You do make a point about renting in an area you'd want to buy a house in, but of course, the reason I'm posting on this thread is to find out what that area is. Based on my own research is seems like Woodlands and Kingwood would best suit my needs;however, i do see plenty of beautiful homes in my price range on realtor.com just under "Houston." I wonder why no one has suggested looking at houses in "Houston." It seems everyone likes Woodlands, Katy, Sugerland, and Kingwood.

Well, there you go. No budget. No job location. Good luck.

[lhafer]

Houston is the umbrella (unless you are talking Houston proper). All mentioned suburbs are considered "Houston". Houston is much, much bigger than Dallas. It's like most of the entire DFW area rolled into one (I'm from the Ft. Worth side of the DFW area). Most people like those particular areas because:

1. it's close to their work
2. good schools
3. lots of shopping/restaurants/etc in the area
4. it's close to their work
5. good schools
6. they find something they like in their budget
7. oh, yeah...the commute time to work is good

And please don't assume we assume what you assume. Cheryjohns is a real estate agent, and just looking out for your best interests. Believe it or not, a lot of people come to this forum completely clueless and wanting to dive in with both feet before checking the water depth. Meaning - yes, they want and do lease a house before they know where they are going to work, or where they want to live, etc.

Most of the people on this board are very passionate about where they live - from the Woodlands, Kingwood, Katy, Sugar Land, Friendswood, Clear Lake, Heights/Montrose, Memorial area, etc. And most will also tell you that you will have to visit these areas yourself to see what "fits" you the best. What feels like home to you. Only you can be the judge of that.

[Fudgecopper]

Originally Posted by cheryjohns

Well, there you go. No budget. No job location. Good luck.

No budget...no job location?? Did you even read my post?? Get out of here if your not going to offer anything constructive. Apparently you just like trolling on here for potential clients. Give me a break.

[Fudgecopper]

Originally Posted by lhafer

Houston is the umbrella (unless you are talking Houston proper). All mentioned suburbs are considered "Houston". Houston is much, much bigger than Dallas. It's like most of the entire DFW area rolled into one (I'm from the Ft. Worth side of the DFW area). Most people like those particular areas because:

1. it's close to their work
2. good schools
3. lots of shopping/restaurants/etc in the area
4. it's close to their work
5. good schools
6. they find something they like in their budget
7. oh, yeah...the commute time to work is good

And please don't assume we assume what you assume. Cheryjohns is a real estate agent, and just looking out for your best interests. Believe it or not, a lot of people come to this forum completely clueless and wanting to dive in with both feet before checking the water depth. Meaning - yes, they want and do lease a house before they know where they are going to work, or where they want to live, etc.

Most of the people on this board are very passionate about where they live - from the Woodlands, Kingwood, Katy, Sugar Land, Friendswood, Clear Lake, Heights/Montrose, Memorial area, etc. And most will also tell you that you will have to visit these areas yourself to see what "fits" you the best. What feels like home to you. Only you can be the judge of that.

Thanks for the information. i appreciate it. As for Cheryjohns, I just have no respect for people trolling threads just to gather business. Not one minute after I posted my thread she was already offering her services to me. As an attorney myself, I could never imagine imposing my services on anyone who would dare ask a legal question on this forum. I would answer his/her question since she would obviously want one if she posted her question on this forum but you wouldn't find me PM'ing her offering her my legal services. I do alot of research prior to moving to a another city/state. What I really wanted when posting on here was other people's opinions on where they like to live. After doing some reserch, and I'm sure I have much more research to do, I've decided on two locations: Kingwood and Woodlands. It's just that when I did a realtor search on "Houston, Tx" many homes populated. When I did a search for Kingwood and Woodlands, many more different homes populated. Thanks for your input and it was informative. Thanks!

[cheryjohns]

Originally Posted by Fudgecopper

Thanks for the information. i appreciate it. As for Cheryjohns, I just have no respect for people trolling threads just to gather business. Not one minute after I posted my thread she was already offering her services to me. As an attorney myself, I could never imagine imposing my services on anyone who would dare ask a legal question on this forum. I would answer his/her question since she would obviously want one if she posted her question on this forum but you wouldn't find me PM'ing her offering her my legal services. I do alot of research prior to moving to a another city/state. What I really wanted when posting on here was other people's opinions on where they like to live. After doing some reserch, and I'm sure I have much more research to do, I've decided on two locations: Kingwood and Woodlands. It's just that when I did a realtor search on "Houston, Tx" many homes populated. When I did a search for Kingwood and Woodlands, many more different homes populated. Thanks for your input and it was informative. Thanks!

Sorry - I don't troll. I am a little amazed at the attitude.

I did not offer my services to you - I merely asked if you wanted a list of apartments. Note that I don't make any money doing so - just trying to be nice to a newcomer is not trolling.

[ohmanon]

Wow, attacking just about the most respected poster on this forum - look through some past threads and you will see you've just made a huge mistake. The little sarcastic "smack" emoticon should be redirected to yourself.

[Txgal33]

Wow! Okay, OP the situation has gotten a tad out of control. I have never known CheryJohns to troll but to only offer assistance. Apparently you took it as such and that is ashame. Secondly you gave a budget of around $250,000 I think but you just said Houston as a whole. Houston is HUGE!! It is impossible to pinpoint one area. If you do do the research like you stated then you know there are MANY threads on here that talk about all the areas around Houston that people enjoy living. It is a crap shoot really until you yourself drive around and see what you think will fit. We started out down in Clearlake but decided NE Houston was a better fit for us.
Oh and I will make sure NOT to offer up my Realtors info even though we LOVE her and she knows her stuff. Your loss.
On a positive note, have fun learning about your new area and happy house hunting/apartment hunting! It is an exciting time!