Commute to Downtown and IAH -- West Houston (The Woodlands, Spring: renting, how much)

[Jenrah]

There is a possibility that we may moving to Houston in 2009. I will be working dowtown and my husband with be working at the airport. We are considering West Memorial or possibly Katy. We have two children, one in elementary school and one in high school.

Two questions -- What kind of commute can we expect? Any suggestions on which neighborhoods to consider ($250,000 - $350,000 price range)?

Thanks!

[HTownNearNative]

A long one (45min-one hour at least), particularly for your husband since public transportation won't be an option.

Are The Woodlands and Kingwood (north Houston) not in consideration? It seems that both of these would be much better options for your family. Kingwood is closest to the airport, offers park and ride service (bus) to downtown, and has a good freeway (U.S. 59) that can get you to downtown in less than an hour provided there are no car wrecks or high traffic.

[westres1]

Spring,Woodlands, Kingwood with you having the worst commute.

[Jenrah]

Thanks for the suggestions. We're more familiar with the Memorial area since we have family off Dairy Ashford and Memorial. In the '90's, I lived on Rice Blvd. and worked on Kirby --- now that was a sweet commute!!

[mikehtown]

I live at the Beltway and I10 and routinely commute to downtown and also Greenspoint (BW8 & I45, pretty close to the airport). We chose the area because it is fairly central and has excellent schools. My schedule varies, but I haven't seen a huge difference in commute times. There is always congestion at I10 as you appraoch downtown and BW8 @ I45, but you'll see that regardless of where you are coming from.

Since I10 has been completed, the commute to downtown isn't too bad. It usually takes me about 25-35 minutes door to door. Greenspoint is actually almost exactly the same for me. Luckily, the traffic on BW8 goes counter to my commute- you see much more traffic coming the opposite way.

So the West Memorial area wouldn't be too bad. The further West you go towards Katy, both commutes will get worse. And I think the Katy to BW8 stretch of I10 is going to be the first area to get bad in 5-10 years as Katy continues to grow.

I would recommend driving it once or twice before buying anything though. I've made the mistake of buying that beatiful home way out in the burbs and then realizing how much it sucks to spend 2-3 hours a day commuting.

[karuna95]

Consider renting/leasing/buying a place downtown -- minimal commute for you, and your husband would be going against traffic both in the AMs and PMs.