Relocating to Houston from Orange County in March (Sugar Land, The Woodlands: real estate, 2014)

[lisamclark]

My family and I relocating to Houston next month- so February 2014! We have 3 children. I will be working off of Wilcrest in the Westside area near the 8 and Westheimer Road. I've had the help of a real estate agents, but need some inside information as to what areas are good and what areas are undesirable. We are looking to rent for a short time and then buy once we decide where exactly we want to be. We'd love to be in the $150-$200k range when we buy (6 months) and in the meantime, want to save as much as we can renting. We don't want to be near downtown- looking to be on the outskirts, even if it means somewhat of a commute. I've researched and researched and even spent a few days in Houston driving the areas, but it's nothing like hearing it from native Houstonians :-)
There's Katy, Sugarland, The Woodlands, Cypress, Friendswood, Pearland, Missouri City, etc. that I've looked at and considered. Missouri City seems very inexpensive and the crime rates seem low- maybe this is a possibility? Also, Pearland had good prices and was told this is a safe area. The Woodlands and Katy seem to be more expensive.
Any thoughts, ideas, advice would be very very helpful!!!!

[chris_ut]

My only comment would be that no one calls Beltway 8, "the 8" in Houston 😀.

[eastontracks]

welcome to houston! i was in burbank for a year (although native texan) and will try and help some. id look into sugar land. it has a clean, nice vibe there and its close(st) to where youre gonna work. although the scenery isnt the same, sugar land has that OC suburban type feel/setting, kinda reminds me of santa clarita too.

i dont know the areas as well as natives, but i also like the woodlands, but its too much of a commute, some areas of katy could be good. i dont care much for cypress as it didnt seem friendly to me. pearland seems a little bland, missouri city i dont much about other than going through which doesnt seem as nice as sugarland the woodlands, or katy. friendswood i know nothing about. good luck!

[ipuck]

Sugarland is probably not within your budget. Pearland and Missouri City is possible, but you have to look closely to see what school you are in. Since you are working on the west side of town, I think the better bet is katy. I don't know Katy well so maybe you can look further there or others chime in.

[timtemtym]

The good parts of Missouri City and Pearland would be a hefty commute up to Westchase (Westheimer and Bltwy. 8). Not sure what part of the OC you're coming from (I'm in Long Beach), but westside Houston commutes are pretty similar to OC commutes (as long as you're not heading up into LA) in terms of times and miles. Westchase is a big employment area along with the Energy Corridor (out west of there along I-10 around Eldridge) so think of those as hotspots on your map. Roads will be congested heading towards those as well as heading towards central Houston (the loop) in the morning and congested heading away from those in the afternoon. So use that as a rule of thumb.

Sugar Land is great but a little out of your price range. Cypress is nicest north of FM 529 and Katy is best south of I-10 (huge generalizations here!!!). You'll find in suburban west/southwest/northwest Houston, your money will get you something nicer than you'd have here paying twice as much.

[AK123]

Originally Posted by ipuck

Sugarland is probably not within your budget. Pearland and Missouri City is possible, but you have to look closely to see what school you are in.

Originally Posted by timtemtym

Sugar Land is great but a little out of your price range.

Actually there are a few neighborhoods left in Sugar Land where you can still sometimes find homes under $200k and good schools: Stratford Park, Summerfield, Park Pointe.