Relocating to Houston from Ohio - Husband will work in The Woodlands. (Dallas: 2015, rent)

[mayangelstar]

Hi, everyone! This is my first time posting, though I've been lurking for a couple of weeks.

My husband will be looking at relocating our family to Houston from Central Ohio for work within the next year. His company's headquarters is located in The Woodlands off of Waterway Square Place.

We would like to live close to his work so he doesn't have more than a 20 minute commute.

We are a family of 6, with children ages 13, 10, 6 and 1.

We would be looking for a new church home, Christian with contemporary worship with emphasis on life groups with a good children's ministry.

Highly rated schools are a priority and family neighborhoods, where there are kids outside and actually playing!

We would be selling our current home and buying somewhere in Conroe/Spring. I found some houses in Tomball but it looks much further out? Our max budget would be $300K.

We would like a newer home, with at least 4 bedrooms but would prefer 5.

Our children would like a pool. Pros and cons? Husband and I both had one growing up but not sure we want the maintenance though it would be easier to just go swim in the back yard than pack everyone up!

I moved around a great deal growing up and lived in Dallas for a couple of years. My husband has only made one major move. This would be our first major move as a family.

My biggest stress is not knowing a feel of a community before moving there. I will likely only go once if not twice before moving down. Husband has been multiple times for work.

I guess I'm just looking for input, thoughts, recommendations.

I would like to make this as smooth a transition as possible. It would be easier if it was just the hubby and I but with 4 kids it makes it a little more difficult. I don't feel as though we have the option to just rent for awhile to get a feel of the place. It would be harder to move twice!

[Jack Lance]

A quick search on Har.com of the whole Houston area shows several homes with your criteria in the Spring area. Other than that , you are needing a lot of bedrooms and space for 300k...

[angiesu]

I grew up in The Woodlands, many places to live, good schools, neighborhood pools.....high taxes and may be hard to get the bedrooms you need. However if it was me I'd live out in Montgomery. Cheaper and not so congested. I live in Montgomery now and prefer it. Very close to The Woodlands. I don't want to maintain a pool so my husband and I looked in planned communities with pools. We are building down in Katy since my husbands job is pretty far from Montgomery. My kids attend MISD right now and I love the schools. I recommend contacting a realtor that can give you feed back on which areas that are in your pricepoint. I was just visiting a newer community that is still building. This one is zoned for Conroe. It was really pretty and had a nice pool. Jacobs Reserve. It's off 1488 pretty close to I45. Quick commute to The Woodlands, HEB is very close, and you are close to The Mall. They have some 5 bedroom Dr Horton base $279k. I was visiting because we are building a Perry home and Jacobs Reserve had our Perry model and I can't help myself but go look There is Woodforest which is GREAT but pretty pricey.

If you have any questions about certain areas feel free to PM me. I moved my whole life (Air Force brat), then married an Army officer. Moved every two years the last 14 years. My husband is retired now from the military so we are finally settling down. So moving is second nature to us. So is house hunting from a distance. I do recommend a visit. Nothing worse then settling in a community and just not feeling it. Especially with kids.

[Memorialite]

Spring Trails!

[DejaBlue]

Homes with a pool are VERY pricy now. You'll probably have to sacrifice a commute and a newer home for something older. Like 1980s if you look in Spring.

That's taking into account your budget, the size of house you want and a pool.

www.har.com

Search: single family home, section 15 which is The Woodlands that would give you the closest to a20-30 mins, search 300k max listing price, 4 bedrooms, 2012 year built and up, and a private pool = ZERO homes available.

It's just not done that close to his job, that big, a private pool, new AND under 400k...err 450k. Too many people moving to Houston coupled with too many greedy sellers and realtors equals stuff 100s of thousands more than it should be.

There is a cheap little box in Legends Run in Conroe but with that price it's gotta be on the downhill fast. But you want so much with a pretty big family for so little you might be interested.

[colcat]

Commute from Spring Trails would be much more than 20 minutes during rush hour. Traffic is horrible going down Rayford or Robinson Rd. OP, The Woodlands is a great place to live. You will have to sacrifice something for your budget, but it is possible to get a home with most of your wish list. You may get an older home, but your husband's commute will be awesome.

[KatieKennedy]

Check out The Woodlands United Methodist Church. The Loft there has great contemporary worship and the children's programs are excellent too. The Fellowship of the Woodlands is also very popular.

[mayangelstar]

Thank you for all the replies! I appreciate first hand knowledge.

Currently we live in a house that is 3400sq ft. and that is including the fully finished basement. With having a family of 4 we are used to having a lot of space to retreat when needed, but we are also used to cramming all of us in a small room and just feeling comfy and cozy so I know we could be fine in a house that was 2400sq ft.

We are definitely open to making concessions to get most of our needs. The one thing that I am focusing on is that my husband is not handy, so living in an older home that may need repairs sooner ($$$) rather than later scares me a bit. \

This past move we chose the big house over being closer to family, friends and church.. so we are used to driving 20+ minutes for those things. But that is with virtually no traffic and I hear that is just not the case in the Houston area.

The thought of having everything in close proximity was why living in The Woodlands stood out for us.

Hubby is fine with a commute but doesn't want it to be an hour!

[crono_clone]

The Grand Parkway is scheduled to be completed between Tomball and the Woodlands around late 2015 if no delays occur, so Tomball might not be such a bad idea if you're willing to wait. Traffic will be slow, mostly because there's just not that many good exits in and out of the Woodlands, but the commute shouldn't be comparable to driving to downtown Houston (which is what a lot of Woodlanders actually do).

[studiobtm]

There are many nice places in Spring you can buy into within your budget that are 20-30 minutes away, during rush hour, from The Woodlands. But these are houses built in the 1980's and you will have to budget for maintenance and probably some up front improvement like additional insulation.

Property taxes are very high here. Have you budgeted those into your mortgage payment?

I would recommend a pool as it makes the summers bearable. However, I spend $1,500 a year or more for pool repairs and maintenance. They do cost money. An alternative is to buy into a development that has a community pool. That costs money also though - my HOA fee is almost $1,000 a year.

It is far cheaper to buy a house with a pool than to put one in later.

As someone mentioned above - it might make more sense to live north of The Woodlands rather than look south (Spring).

We moved here 7 years ago and love it. Welcome :-)