Phoenix to Houston? (Sugar Land, Atascocita, Lake Jackson: home, neighborhood, subdivision)

[C24L]

Originally Posted by grmi66

Alright, some of the other cities on this forum have been very helpful, so hoping Houston can point us in the right direction as well.

My wife works for an organization that is in the middle of doing promotions and had interviewed for three other cities. At the last minute this week, the manager of the Houston office called out of the blue and asked her for an interview. Houston was not on our radar screen and neither one of us know anything about the city. But if offered the promotion we need to accept the promotion within a day or two and then report to her new office in 5 weeks. Houston was not a place we wanted to live, but this promotion would be too good to pass up financially and for career advancement.

Currently live in Phoenix, so understand all about big cities and sprawl along with traffic jams. Plus understand about long, never ending summers.

We live in one of Phoenix's historic neighborhoods that put us within a 15 minute commute away from our downtown work places. In addition we love to go trail running and hiking and Phoenix has places to do that within 20-30 minutes. Are there any neighborhoods in Houston we should consider on the off chance a promotion is offered? Her new office would be in downtown Houston and ideally would like to live in the same kind of older house in a historic funky neighborhood that is safe. What are the best neighborhoods within 10 miles of downtown Houston? All of our children are grown, so we don't care about the local schools.

What is your budget?Houston has absolutely terrible traffic and not much hiking.

[jerbear30]

I've spent some time in Phoenix and I live in Houston. I think the outdoor activities in Phoenix are far superior to those in Houston. Phoenix has nearby hikes like Superstition where you're just an hour or so away from some really beautiful, hike-able nature. That hasn't been my experience of Houston so bear that in mind.

If you are still interested in living here after factoring the lack of outdoor activities, I would suggest that yes, the heights would be the best neighborhood. Houston doesn't have zoning, and as a result even the "funky" neighborhoods are really a hodgepodge of the older, cute bungalow style houses, newer townhouse style homes, apartments and then just random buildings or shops. Also, the heights is very expensive. I'm guessing it will cost significantly more to buy a nice home there than where you live now. Another area to check out would be "Eado" or east of downtown. That's more "up and coming" than the heights, but it also has more of the "cool, funky" vibe.

[testmo]

Houston being a massive city and the way texas is built up between cities, no there are not tons of open rural nature within an easy drive from the city. But there are lots of beautiful large urban parks and a large waterway. Most people in the city do their walking in these parks or their neighborhoods.

The area still has accessible nature. Pretty good bird watching at state parks and there are several around the metro

Houston most definitely has lots of trees. Avoid newly built MPCs which sounds like your plan anyway if you like trees

[Svensk08]

Originally Posted by jerbear30

I've spent some time in Phoenix and I live in Houston. I think the outdoor activities in Phoenix are far superior to those in Houston. Phoenix has nearby hikes like Superstition where you're just an hour or so away from some really beautiful, hike-able nature. That hasn't been my experience of Houston so bear that in mind.

If you are still interested in living here after factoring the lack of outdoor activities, I would suggest that yes, the heights would be the best neighborhood. Houston doesn't have zoning, and as a result even the "funky" neighborhoods are really a hodgepodge of the older, cute bungalow style houses, newer townhouse style homes, apartments and then just random buildings or shops. Also, the heights is very expensive. I'm guessing it will cost significantly more to buy a nice home there than where you live now. Another area to check out would be "Eado" or east of downtown. That's more "up and coming" than the heights, but it also has more of the "cool, funky" vibe.

The newly-coined name of "Eado" actually applies to the area just east of Downtown that's rapidly filling up with multistory townhouses. The OP might want to look in Greater Eastwood (77023 zip), which begins a few blocks east of Eado and is still close to downtown. Neighborhoods include Eastwood, Broadmoor, Idylwood and others nearby. They were developed in the 1920's-30's and are being revitalized. Check HAR.com for photos.

[groovamos]

Originally Posted by War Beagle

large portions of it have little in the way of trees.

This is false. The whole metro is covered with trees, much of West Houston and the northern suburbs are carved out of forests. The city is very green and you can see this from the air coming in. There are more trees here than the other 3 of the top 4 metros in Texas combined. I lived In Austin twice so I'm not exxagerating.

Originally Posted by War Beagle

Most of the metro area is completely paved over with no attempt to make it attractive.

This is false. I have never seen a massive tree planting program anywhere I have lived, to compare to the one here. Not only the local governments, but the nonprofit Trees for Houston coordinate this. You can travel the 610 loop and see the extensive planting along the right-of-way, much of which is coming into maturity now. The same for all the other inner loop freeway right of way.

[Texyn]

Originally Posted by War Beagle

The Houston area is horrible for nature-based recreation like hiking. Don't let anyone try to bamboozle you otherwise. Houston is great for employment, dining, sports and entertainment, but it's flat and large portions of it have little in the way of trees. Most of the metro area is completely paved over with no attempt to make it attractive.

Ahuehuehuehuehue, keep em coming.

[War Beagle]

Originally Posted by groovamos

This is false. The whole metro is covered with trees, much of West Houston and the northern suburbs are carved out of forests. The city is very green and you can see this from the air coming in. There are more trees here than the other 3 of the top 4 metros in Texas combined. I lived In Austin twice so I'm not exxagerating.




This is false. I have never seen a massive tree planting program anywhere I have lived, to compare to the one here. Not only the local governments, but the nonprofit Trees for Houston coordinate this. You can travel the 610 loop and see the extensive planting along the right-of-way, much of which is coming into maturity now. The same for all the other inner loop freeway right of way.

Your mistake is you are comparing Houston to other TX cities. Yeah there's trees in Houston, they just took 20 years to grow in. I don't know why, but Texans hate trees more than any other place I have lived.

In other places, residential developments are designed to retain as many original trees as possible. In places like GA, TN or VA, you often can't even see the subdivision from the main road because they leave forested buffers so it gives the impression that you are driving through the country even when you're in a city. The Woodlands does this (Kingwood too) and I think that's one of the reasons it's so popular. Memorial and the other villages do this to some degree too.

But how are most neighborhoods in Houston and Texas built? They literally bulldoze all or almost all of the natural vegetation and then plant crappy little saplings. It's the dumbest thing I've ever seen as far as neighborhood design. In 20 years there will be lots of nice trees, but by that time it's a crapshoot as to whether the neighborhood has turned into a ghetto or not.

[Spade]

Originally Posted by War Beagle

Your mistake is you are comparing Houston to other TX cities. Yeah there's trees in Houston, they just took 20 years to grow in. I don't know why, but Texans hate trees more than any other place I have lived.

In other places, residential developments are designed to retain as many original trees as possible. In places like GA, TN or VA, you often can't even see the subdivision from the main road because they leave forested buffers so it gives the impression that you are driving through the country even when you're in a city. The Woodlands does this (Kingwood too) and I think that's one of the reasons it's so popular. Memorial and the other villages do this to some degree too.

But how are most neighborhoods in Houston and Texas built? They literally bulldoze all or almost all of the natural vegetation and then plant crappy little saplings. It's the dumbest thing I've ever seen as far as neighborhood design. In 20 years there will be lots of nice trees, but by that time it's a crapshoot as to whether the neighborhood has turned into a ghetto or not.

That's sad and unfortunate as I love trees. Texas growth could be look at enviable but not their style of growth.

[tstone]

Originally Posted by War Beagle

But how are most neighborhoods in Houston and Texas built? They literally bulldoze all or almost all of the natural vegetation and then plant crappy little saplings. It's the dumbest thing I've ever seen as far as neighborhood design. In 20 years there will be lots of nice trees, but by that time it's a crapshoot as to whether the neighborhood has turned into a ghetto or not.

Much of the natural vegetation here isn't something you'd want to preserve anyway. That goes for most of what is south of IAH. You have to get up to The Woodlands or Kingwood to have something you'd want to keep & carve out.

[Texyn]

Originally Posted by War Beagle

In other places, residential developments are designed to retain as many original trees as possible. In places like GA, TN or VA, you often can't even see the subdivision from the main road because they leave forested buffers so it gives the impression that you are driving through the country even when you're in a city. The Woodlands does this (Kingwood too) and I think that's one of the reasons it's so popular. Memorial and the other villages do this to some degree too.

But how are most neighborhoods in Houston and Texas built? They literally bulldoze all or almost all of the natural vegetation and then plant crappy little saplings. It's the dumbest thing I've ever seen as far as neighborhood design. In 20 years there will be lots of nice trees, but by that time it's a crapshoot as to whether the neighborhood has turned into a ghetto or not.

Actually, none of this is constant, neither in Texas, nor those other states. Many subdivisions in all these states can be good with preserving the natural vegetative cover, other subdivisions will completely flatten the area and replant with "crappy little saplings." This depends on various factors, including the scale of the subdivision being developed, the aesthetic people are looking for in their vegetative cover, and the specific developer in charge.

An example of the aesthetic reasoning: many people may aim for an "evergreen" look to their landscape, so if a forested area the development is planned in has deciduous trees, expect the entire area to be flattened, and replanted with evergreen saplings. This happens in many areas of the FL Panhandle, such as Tallahassee; that area has many deciduous trees in the natural forests, so the forest often gets cut down for a new subdivision, as people are looking for "palms and tropicals" when coming to Florida.

Originally Posted by tstone

Much of the natural vegetation here isn't something you'd want to preserve anyway. That goes for most of what is south of IAH. You have to get up to The Woodlands or Kingwood to have something you'd want to keep & carve out.

Places like Sugar Land, Sienna Plantation, Lake Jackson, Friendswood, etc show how off this statement is.