2-3 top LOCATIONS to buy first home - moved in from Chicago (Houston: crimes, house)

[boredboredteacher]

Originally Posted by curbur

Oh please, it's a very small section north from I-10 up to about Clay or W Little York that is west of Addicks reservoir and east of old town Katy. The crime statistics don't compare even slightly to Alief, and SE Cinco Ranch is about as close to Mission Bend and Alief, if not closer, than Cypress at 290@Fry is to the Bear Creek area I mentioned the boundaries of above. Living in a decent area not too far from bad areas is simply a fact of life for most Houstonians. Do you really think the 'decline' in Bear Creek is going to creep north into brand new neighborhoods that have homes that start in the $250's if not higher? As it is, Bear Creek more so has a perception problem due to the blight and rundown of the homes than it does a crime problem. Where do you live and how often do you come over this way?

I read the news, that's all. And I am generalizing of course. People lump SW and NW big time. I don't come up that way terribly often, but enough to see what's what.

The reason I predict this will continue to happen is do to proximity and the horrendous nature of the 290 freeway, not to mention sections of Alief are changing quickly and Mission Bend is suddenly becoming full of professionals. They just happen to be non-white professionals. I know several Alief and Katy admins that live in Mission Bend and a couple along Eldridge (their kids either go to Kerr or Katy schools). Also, Alief is in much favorable location compared to NW side and Cy-Fair. Read the news if you don't believe me. Seems to me, all the crazy high school shootings are happening out there.

When people move to Houston, generally they want to live in ITL, Katy or Sugar Land. NW is too far out. It's been on the decline for some time and those on the NW side have been in denial. Now, will there be pockets of nice? Of course there will be. There's also pockets of nice in Alief and Sharpstown if you look around.

I live in Idylwood (Wayside/Lawndale area).

[usc619]

Originally Posted by curbur

Well it's always possible that I'm way off base, but I see you posting negative things about Cypress in almost every thread someone mentions it as an option, and then in the same breadth mention Katy as a better alternative. Katy is a great suburb to live in, but it's not always the best option given individual circumstances and the traffic has gotten insane comparatively. As the OP also mentioned, he wants a home that is 3 years old or less, which would put him practically out near Fulshear in Katy way on the other side of 99.

lol I think you have the wrong poster, hell I almost moved to Cypress. I'm sure most Katy posters will admit that I'm far from a Katy booster

[kptran2]

HP is trying to make us come back into the office >=(

[judefenix]

Just as a reminder to all members who have posted on this thread, I am trying to solve for
+ me driving to HP campus
+ Spouse needs a park n ride situation to downtown (need this to be 30-35 mins max on bus)
+ Great location, 4+ bed, ample backyard space, 250K-400K max budget, 2011+ construction, safety, schools, low taxes.

So what we saying? Stay safe in Sugarland (tired and tested option) and suck up the car ride for over an hour to HP each way?

Cypress, Tomboll, Spring, Houston Heights are these viable options at all? Need a short answer about pros and cons of these other candidates.

[boredboredteacher]

If you are from Chicago, I am wondering why you haven't considered The Heights (price, I know I know). A lot of the areas just outside of The Heights are changing. Are your children very intelligent? Consider having them tested at HISD. That way, you could live in The Heights in a smaller place, be closer to amenities that are much more similar to what you are used to in Chicago and you could put your children in schools in HISD such as River Oaks or West U.

Are you from the suburbs or the city proper?

The 4+ Bedroom would be a bit outside of The Heights, but there are areas such as T.C. Jester and I-10 that are transitioning quickly. Perhaps even faster than I realize.

[curbur]

Originally Posted by boredboredteacher

I read the news, that's all. And I am generalizing of course. People lump SW and NW big time. I don't come up that way terribly often, but enough to see what's what.

The reason I predict this will continue to happen is do to proximity and the horrendous nature of the 290 freeway, not to mention sections of Alief are changing quickly and Mission Bend is suddenly becoming full of professionals. They just happen to be non-white professionals. I know several Alief and Katy admins that live in Mission Bend and a couple along Eldridge (their kids either go to Kerr or Katy schools). Also, Alief is in much favorable location compared to NW side and Cy-Fair. Read the news if you don't believe me. Seems to me, all the crazy high school shootings are happening out there.

When people move to Houston, generally they want to live in ITL, Katy or Sugar Land. NW is too far out. It's been on the decline for some time and those on the NW side have been in denial. Now, will there be pockets of nice? Of course there will be. There's also pockets of nice in Alief and Sharpstown if you look around.

I live in Idylwood (Wayside/Lawndale area).

So you admit that you rarely frequent or see all parts of an area, but you're ready to make sweeping views on it? Not just that, but you can predict it's trajectory looking into the future? I just don't understand that type of logic; I would never try to say I know the area you live in better than you, and if I did I would just come off arrogant and incorrect. That's what you sound like to me now, but perhaps I'm in denial.

The most astounding thing you've claimed is that Alief is a nicer area to live in than Cypress. Check any daily crime map of the city, and you can see that you're way off base. Here's one that I like to view. One shooting that happened at a house party in the Bear Creek area (I've been mentioning above) two years ago, and a shooting that happened way north near HP on 249 at the lonestar community college campus in Tomball. Every now and then crime is going to happen anywhere; a family showed up murdered in Katy just a few months ago. When you live in a large city, stuff like this happens everyday somewhere. Where is the prevalence of high volume violent crimes occurring in this part of town? The people involved in the shooting on campus, actually lived way inside the beltway along 249 and commuted there for classes. The truth is that it really doesn't occur in any real frequency greater than other areas of town. I do read the news, and although I find it alarming when I hear of a violent crime occurring anywhere in a particular area, I wouldn't just make some sweeping generalization about that place if I had only heard of a handful of events that happened, especially if I wasn't from there and didn't go there often at all.

You also said that Alief schools rank better than Cy-Fair, which is just laughable. I'll be the first to admit that Cy-Fair can depend on which actual schools you go to in order to get an excellent and not just mediocre education, but to even compare it to Alief which has entire high schools that are failing in regards to most national academic standards is insane. Here's a recent report on schools in the Houston area. There's many more just like it with similar results. Why is it that most Cy-Fair schools range in the A- to A+ range, with the worst being a C-, and most Alief schools range in the D to C- range, with the worst being at F. Alief has some of the highest crime statistics in the city in A LOT of categories, but keep believing what your friends tell you.

Lastly, comparing which area is a better location isn't even fair if one is an outer ring exurb along 99 and the other area of town is 30-40 years old and just outside the beltway. It's not even comparable. That's the equivalent of asking whether Alief is closer to the inner city than Katy or Sugarland; of course they're not. In regards to 290 being horrendous, did it ever occur to you that it's horrendous currently cause it's being widened and will soon be 5 lanes on each side of the freeway in a little over 2 years time? Of course a freeway is going to be a problem when it's being entirely altered and widened. Funny thing is, for all the groaning about it, the commute times don't range that much worse, roughly 15-20 minutes more than other suburbs equidistant to downtown. I invite you to point out these "pockets of nice" in Alief and Sugarland, and let's see how they compare to the areas I described in terms of home quality, home size, home value, safety, and schools. Show me a neighborhood in Sharpstown or Alief that is comparable to areas like this, or this, or this, or this, or this. As I said, if OP could afford it, I would suggest living in a neighborhood inside the loop west of 59, but that's not a viable option for everyone. Again, it's always a handful of people that seem to want to put Cypress down in every thread, yet they always come out in full force and are a very vocal minority. When you ask them, they almost always say they live on the opposite side of town and don't come around here much, but they know what that area is about because they drove through one Bear Creek subdivision once (which is 8 miles away from Cypress) and saw a random news report 2 years ago. Cinco Ranch is 9.8 miles away from Alief by the way.


edit:

Originally Posted by boredboredteacher

The 4+ Bedroom would be a bit outside of The Heights, but there are areas such as T.C. Jester and I-10 that are transitioning quickly. Perhaps even faster than I realize.

Ignoring the fact that I'm not sure how the heights feels more like Chicago at all, certainly not more than any other neighborhood inside the loop, I'm astounded that you're yet again willing to make predictions about things you admittedly don't know a lot about.

[georgemichael]

just to put my 2 cents in there is places inside the loop (not the heights, some close to there yes) that fit your specific criteria (4+ BRs, I went 2010+, $225-410 - yes I slightly modified the req.s), but as to the actual schools ratings I can not attest to any of those. Also I did not spend time scoping out taxes and backyards as you did not give any specifics on what is "ample" to yourself or what you consider low taxes.

another consideration, it has not been mentioned from what I skimmed (if I missed it my apologies), is Humble. the Humble area could fit your criteria depending on the drive time to downtown. I couldn't attest to that either so someone else might chime in that has experience with that drive. as for the campus you could cruise the beltway a good portion of the way I would think.

I agree with Spring Branch and Champions areas also. I also suggest Cypress Creek North for your specifics. Bear Creek South might work. The most choices will be in Cypress North or Cypress South as already mentioned. No clue on the drive however.

[fnh]

You must know that new + spacious + uniformly affluent school scores + cheap does not exist unless you want to move to a new MPC in the far 'burbs. Embrace the commute.

[hendersj31]

OP
For what its worth the Heights does not meet your criteria in any way other than commute. Although the Harvard elementary school is good (if you even find a place zoned to it) the zoned middle and high schools are not. You will not get a yard with a 425k max budget on a 2011 or newer build. That is assuming you are looking for a yard where your kids can play and not just some place to step out and have a smoke or put your barbecue grill.

You can find an older home or a remodel in the outskirts of the Heights such as Timbergrove or Brookesmith but the school situation doesn't get better.

[chris_ut]

Oak Forest if you up your budget to 700k.