New Jersey to Houston, bunch of specific questions

[jek74]

Nana, it was stated the one in Houston was the largest in the country and also one of the longest running. I think it started here in 1972. I've never been to one and never stated other cities didn't have one. I said it was unique to Houston. I don't think spending a weekend 60 miles out of town in the woods with people dressed in costumes is something most Houstonians do on a regular basis. I could be wrong. Anyway, there are too many hippies there for GTRdad's liking so that was the end of that.

[nana053]

Originally Posted by PhotoBee

My husband has a relocation offer from his company from Woodbridge, NJ to Houston, TX. I love the idea, yet there are few things I am concerned about. Hope you guys can helo me out. 1. I hear often about notorious humidity of Houston. How bad it actually is? NYC metro is also very humid and hot in summer. Is Houston much worse? 2. Real estate prices are great in Houston (we are considering Sugar Land or Katy). Real estate tax is a joke as compare to 8-9k for a small dated house in jersey. But i heard that house maintenance in TX will be super high. Guys, please share how much you pay for utilities and maintenance of some 3br house? 3. I am a family/children fine art photographer. By any chance anyone knows how is the market for these services in Houston. Do people buy custom photography? is it popular? any insight will be greatly appreciated. 4. How is the situation with daycare? Here we pay 1600 for two and three year old girls.

I grew up in a small town outside NYC and had lots of relatives in New Jersey.

The humidity here continues for 7 to 9 months depending upon the year. Right now we are having nice weather which will probably continue for a while. The heat in the summer is much worse than in NYC because in NYC it does not continue for weeks and weeks on end usually.

Average Weather for New York, NY - Temperature and Precipitation
Average Weather for Houston, TX - Temperature and Precipitation

Moderator cut: links removed, competitor site


Note the differences in percent humidity between the two cities. NYC is at 78 to 79% at its highest in August and September, while Houston is between 85% and 93% for the entire year at least in the morning.
NYC in the afternoon ranges from 51% to 60% while Houston goes from 60% to 67%.


Be careful about houses. Much of the housing stock that is inexpensive is not very well built. My house in Louisiana survived Katrina with minor damage from a tree that fell on the roof. My house her had major damage from Hurricane Ike because the contractor who built it managed to get away with shortcuts. You can find good homes, but be very careful to get a good inspection before you buy.

Your utility bills as others have pointed out will be high in the summer and lower in the winter. It probably evens out. We came from the Chicago area rather than the east coast and the bills generally are not a lot better.

I can't speak to the photography as we never do custom stuff since my dh does great photo work for our family.

Daycare will undoubtedly be cheaper here, but.... I don't know whether the quality is similar to what you are used to. Daycare in Chicago was not religion based and many here are. Daycare in Chicago also had smaller classes. The NAEYC accredited daycares generally had ratios that were better than the state's requirements. The ratio required in Texas is 1:11 for 2 year olds and 1:18 for 4 year olds. For 2 year olds the max class size is 22 and for 3 year olds the max class size is 30. The max class size for the 4 year olds here is 35. The NAEYC daycare I worked at in Chicago for 4 year olds had a 1:8 ratio and the state required 1:10. I looked up NJ's requirements. For two year olds they say 1:6 and for 2.5 to 4 year olds 1:10 or 1:12 with a max class size of 20.

I have tutored school age kids at their after school daycare here and the particular daycare was a zoo. They did not have a good room for me to work in with the child I was tutoring and the *homework room* was very noisy. I ended up having her come to my house since she lived next door.

[nate4l1f3]

My friend had a GF he meant while in the marines who was from NJ. They ended up spending a few years in Arlington after the service and in Huntsville after their time in Arlington. Unfortunately Her idea of Houston was Huntsville, and she wasn't very fond of it. She would come to Houston with her BF on certain weekends and pretty much stay in the house all day and complain about Houston. Houston is BIG (almost too big), when here get out and explore, otherwise i'm guessing you wont enjoy yourself. Plenty of great museums, parks, and events.

[katygirl68]

Originally Posted by PhotoBee

Kiovo, thank you for your answer regarding Katy. I walked all over it by StreetView of google maps and I really like it. It would be a pity to rule it out. So far I dont see any reason not to look for a house there.

There is no reason to stay away. People have their biases, but you will probably enjoy nearly any area you decide to settle. I grew up in the West University and Spring Branch areas, but I live in Katy now. I dreaded moving here at the time because I thought it was so far away from the city, but I love it now. There are good and bad areas all over town, but the further out you are the nicer a $250K home will be.

[katygirl68]

Originally Posted by UpstaterInBklyn

I'm born and raised in Upstate NY and lived in NYC for several years and I don't know what you're talking about. I've been going to city and small-town festivals all my life and they are pretty much the same everywhere - basically some entertainment, lots of food and local businesses promoting the their stuff. I can't think of a festival or event anywhere - even those sponsored by a local government - without the participation of local businesses. They pay the bills!

Speaking of traveling carnivals, These vaunted small-town festivals in the NE you admire are overrun with greasy "Fried Dough" stands and old creaky amusement park rides... look at the folks operating these "attractions" for further examples of "not exactly the people you'd be ok being neighbors with". And, yes, at these festivals you'll find lots of local banks and vendors selling stuff. And let's talk about NYC where most of the Street Festivals are just an excuse to close down two blocks so cheap vendors can set up their tables and trucks to sell socks and bad felafels... and more fried dough.

And regarding Art Cars... I guess you don't understand this unique Houston tradition, which is so much more than "cars with junk glued on them". You should check out the Art Car Parade and it's non-profit sponsor, the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art for just one example of a totally fun, and completely unique local event -- which, by the way, is free.

I'm not saying there aren't some some really nice local festivals and events in the NE (there are plenty), but don't paint Houston as some kind of entertainment wasteland. There are lots of unique local events and venues that are perhaps, different than what you are used to, but very fun! I'm talking about events like the Art Car Parade, The Dickens on the Strand Festival, Texian Market Days and of course, the Rodeo, plus unique local venues like Discovery Green, the Miller Outdoor Theatre, Space Center Houston and Moody Gardens.

I like your attitude. If you have a positive world view, then you will be able to find nice things about anywhere you live. It sounds like GTRDad misses home, or has a very negative attitude. My thought is if everywhere you go you meet a-holes, maybe the a-hole is you.

[katygirl68]

Originally Posted by TXbywayof

I grew up in NJ until about 1971. Your post made me reflect a bit on my childhood vs. raising kids in Houston. We did mostly "free play" growing up, as I'm sure most of us did. We were outside all day, played on the street and in the woods. In Houston raising children seems very structured and based around activities like sports, dance, art classes, etc. And again, I'm sure it has become like this everywhere but I think it is more so here because of the heat. Kids aren't outside playing a lot. We spent a lot of time at the community pool with the kids growing up and eventually put in our own, but that is probably the number one outdoor activity. Come August we don't even enjoy the pool because the water is like bath water. We live in a large master planned community and when we walk the dogs in the evening I always wonder, where is everyone? Seems most people just stay holed up indoors.

You should be okay in the real estate department. Just make sure you look at the tax rate!!! Newer communities will usually have a higher tax rate to help pay for the new MUD. If older homes with character is not your thing, you have come to the right place.

You should do fine photography wise. It will take some time to establish yourself but there is a lot of word of mouth here and that helps a lot! Good luck!

I grew up in Houston in the '70s, and we were outside every day during the summer, winter, spring, and fall. The heat was just as bad, but I didn't even notice it. Every Saturday morning my mom would tell us to leave the house because she wanted to clean. She had no clue where we were all day long.

I think what you are experiencing has less to do with heat than it does with the media putting fear in parents across the nation. Parents these days feel they need to put their kids in structured play because kids aren't allowed to roam the streets for fear of kidnapping, rape, murder. Some of this fear is justified, but I feel our kids have been robbed of a normal childhood because of the 0.000001% of children who were kidnapped, raped, and/or murdered.