Any info. on Tomball or Humble? (Houston, Sugar Land: homes, construction, schools)

[dreameyes]

Hi there. I'm interested in finding out what it's like to live in Tomball or Humble? Schools, Outdoor Activities, Scenery, Shopping, Restaurants, Medical Centers? Any Comments would be appreciated. Thanks!

[randtbrown]

what kind of surroundings are you looking for? I'm PERSONALLY choose tomball between the two- Humble is kinda run down to me....... I'm SURE there are areas that aren't, but I just have that impression of it. Tomball is growing fast, lots of new things there. The hospital there almost killed me so I don't have anything good to say about it.....lol. But there is one. Either one you could find "country" type living. Neither is a big city. I don't think either offer much as far as outdoor activities (too hot to go outside anyway! lol). Both have a mall pretty close. Actually- in all reality- not a TON of a difference. Just personal preference would have me choose Tomball. JMO! Something about the East side of I-45 (where you would find Humble).....a stigma that is slow to change around here.

If you worked the west side of houston Tomball would be a good place- access to 249 and 290. If you worked on the east side of houston, humble may be better (access to 59).

If you have more specific questions I'll try to help!

[dreameyes]

Thanks for the info. They both sound a little small for my taste. I've been doing a lot of reading on Katy too and that sounds a bit more to my liking. I think that might be the place for us. I was really leaning towards Katy but I was just curious what they were like. Thanks.

[modster]

Katy, Humble, & Tomball all kind of have a faux-small town thing going. They have long ago been absorbed into Houston's urban sprawl.

IMO Humble seems the most isolated. There isn't anything of much merit to the south of it. The areas to the north and west don't offer much. Lake Houston is to the east. If you are going out to eat or shopping, you have to do it pretty much right there, or travel a long ways for many other options. Locals may be able to offer insights into things there that I don't know about though.

Tomball by contrast does seem to have a little better access to shopping amenities. Woodlands Mall & Willowbrook mall are both relatively close, and the 1960 area does have a decent share of retail & restaurant development.

Katy is very popular, but Tomball is more wooded where Katy is generally a prairie. The construction on the Katy Freeway would be enough to make me consider other areas, but that is just me. You do have some shopping options with Katy Mills, West Oaks, and other things in the Memorial area. Since Houston's development tends to lean west, especially in upscale homes in the Memorial area, you would have easier access to things like Memorial City, the Galleria, and Town & Country. (On the occassions when you are wanting to do that sort of thing).

You may want to consider Pearland area or Clear Lake also.

[AK123]

I think the two nicest suburb cities of Houston are Sugar Land and the Woodlands. Of course there are other options, those two just really try to be their own cities, have regulations, etc... instead of just being outcroppings of Houston.

The problems with the northern areas of Houston like Spring, Tomball, etc is that FM 1960 is billboard city, no building regulations, no attempt at making things look nice. Drive down it and it looks like a mish-mash of ugly strip centers and tall ugly signs. Louetta Rd is becoming the same way. And don't even get me started on I-45 on the north side of town.

At least in the Woodlands they kept all the trees and you don't see billboards and tall ugly signs everywhere. And Sugar Land has a zoning law that no signs can be taller than a certain amount of feet. You will see zero billboards, and business signs are practically on the ground. Just contrast what Hwy 6 (1960) on the north side of town looks like, compared to Hwy 6 in Sugar Land / Missouri City. Quite a difference, does not even look like the same metro...

Katy is probably somewhere between these two extremes.

[randtbrown]

I'd agree with everything said here