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Thanks guys....this walk score site is pretty cool.
For the beach club area of Cinco Ranch I got a walk score of 51 which also isn't bad. my current neighborhood scores a 34.
I'm trying to understand some of the neighborhood naming in Houston. Regarding Memorial. Is West Memorial the area west of the beltway and Memorial the area east of the beltway? I remember my friends in Cinco were shopping in Memorial before the wife decided she wanted new construction which forced them out to Cinco. But I haven't actually explored the area.
East of Gessner is THE Memorial Villages. West of Gessner is really West Houston, but because it's along Memorial and shares the same Spring Branch ISD schools, it's been termed West Memorial by most Houstonians. But yes, new construction would be upwards of one million in both those places. The older homes are about 300k more in THE Villages vs. West Memorial. The more west you go, the more affordable. BUT, just a little west of Dairy Ashford you lose the Sprinch Branch Schools, and the houses drop even farther down in price
I have no idea what your price point is, so I don't even know if this is an area that would work for you. There are several neighborhoods. Frostwood, Fonn Villas,Memorial Pines,Gaywood, Memorial Glen, Memorial Rustling Pines, Wilchester, Yorkshire, Nottingham and Nottingham Forest.
Got to HAR.Com and put in Area 23. It covers both the Villages andd West Memorial. It's like a little tour in itself.
I just did the 'walk score' thing. My neighborhood in Cypress (Grant & Louetta) was rated a 52 out of 100. Houston (River Oaks, Montrose) was rated 51.
The Woodlands was a 37.
Realistically, you should think about what you WANT to walk/bike to. For example, it's great to be able to walk or bike to a park/pool, or to a coffee shop, or a cafe/restaurant for lunch. But most of us have cars in Houston, and don't really want or need to walk to a grocery store. Or to Target.
My nabe has a walkability factor of 40-something, and is car-dependent. Not great for restaurants, cafes, shops close by. But I can, and do, walk to the park or pool several days a week, and there's a bike path along the bayou a few blocks away for recreational use or commuting. I use the car for errands anyway.
Point is, think about what you want MOST to be close by, rather than trying to find a place that has everything.
Exactly right. Personally for me:
1. I want to have a large network of safe sidewalks and paths that I can walk/run and bike on. A frustration with my current neighborhood is that while my immediate neighborhood is nice and has sidewalks, to get out of the 3 block radius surrounding my house requires crossing major roads or highways without crosswalks or sidewalks. Difficult for me and I'm an experienced "combat" urban biker and runner having lived in Portland, Seattle, DC, and Chicago in my younger days. What I like about many of the large master planned communities is that I can find a wide variety of 5-10 mile running routes to explore without getting bored or getting into unsafe traffic or neighborhoods. I'd like to be able to go out biking with my kids without needing to load all the bikes into the car and drive someplace.
2. I want schools to be walkable if possible. Or at least close. One of my daughter's school is 5 blocks away but one must cross US-84 which a typical Texas freeway with access roads. The overpass from my neighborhood to the school has no sidewalks, crosswalks, or walk signals. Impossible for a kid to make it safely without getting run over by cars whipping on and off the access road ramps. I hate spending each morning and afternoon in a queue of SUVs. And my 3 daughters are currently in 3 different schools that are all equally inaccessible.
3. I want parks and pools to be walkable. I want to be able to send my kids to the park or pool without me having to pile them into the minivan. I spent my childhood in Oregon biking to the pool and park.
4. I want some sort of grocery at least nearby. I am currently 0.7 miles from a great HEB but I don't generally walk there because I usually have too much to carry to feed a family of 5 and the frozen foods will melt in the Texas heat. But it is nice to be able to walk over there on a Saturday or Sunday morning if I want a paper or to pick up something like pastries.
5. Be nice to have some sort of bakery/cafe/coffee shop close enough to walk to. Sort of place to go when you want out of the house for a cup of coffee...to hang out with a newspaper on a Saturday morning. I have a Shipley's and a Starbucks about 0.8 miles from my house. But the Starbucks is mostly drive-through and the Shipley's is overcrowded and doesn't have much seating. Neither really feel like comfortable places to spend time.
6. I'd like a variety of restaurants close but not necessarily walking distance as we really don't eat out that much. I don't want to have to drive 20-30 minutes just to find interesting dining options.
7. We never go to movies so I don't care about that. Costs too much to deal with sitters and that nonsense when we have a big-screen HDTV at home.
8. My wife is always running to Target/Kohls etc to shop for the kids. Doesn't need to be walking distance but I don't want a 25 minute traffic nightmare every time she wants to pick up some t-shirts or school supplies for the kids.
9. I do a lot of home improvement and landscaping so a Home Depot type store nearby would be nice. Not a place I would walk to. But I want to be able to run out and get something minor without a major expedition through traffic.
10. Sports facilities. The oldest daughter plays select soccer and the middle daughter is a competitive swimmer. The youngest is 3 so we don't know about her yet. I don't want to spend all my free time shuttling kids across town in traffic to get to their practices. That is the nightmare that my friends in Seattle face every afternoon.
11. Hospital/medical clinics. My wife is a physician and looking at job prospects at various clinics that tend to be located near or at hospitals. There are medical complexes in Katy, Sugar Land, and Woodlands so those are all viable. She doesn't need or want to walk to work but living very close to work would be a huge plus because she is often on-call during the weekends. If she is 5 minutes from the hospital she can spend weekends at home and go in when needed. If she is 30-40 minutes from the hospital with the potential for traffic jams then she pretty much has to spend the weekend there.
Ultimately we'll undoubtedly relocate to whichever community my wife eventually decides to work in. Since I teach HS science I can basically follow her anywhere in Texas and eventually find work close by. But it is nice to get a sense of which areas in Houston are going to have the greatest number of pieces for us to work with. Figuring out the ideal neighborhood is like playing 3-dimensional chess. And a lot of the things one wants are in conflict if not mutually exclusive. But it is fun.
East of Gessner is THE Memorial Villages. West of Gessner is really West Houston, but because it's along Memorial and shares the same Spring Branch ISD schools, it's been termed West Memorial by most Houstonians. But yes, new construction would be upwards of one million in both those places. The older homes are about 300k more in THE Villages vs. West Memorial. The more west you go, the more affordable. BUT, just a little west of Dairy Ashford you lose the Sprinch Branch Schools, and the houses drop even farther down in price
I have no idea what your price point is, so I don't even know if this is an area that would work for you. There are several neighborhoods. Frostwood, Fonn Villas,Memorial Pines,Gaywood, Memorial Glen, Memorial Rustling Pines, Wilchester, Yorkshire, Nottingham and Nottingham Forest.
Got to HAR.Com and put in Area 23. It covers both the Villages andd West Memorial. It's like a little tour in itself.
We would be shopping $300-500 grand depending on the circumstances. At the upper-end of that range, EVERYTHING had better be turn-key ready with no additional renovation/landscaping type expenses needed for a while. So a $350-400K house that might need some additional work at some point. Or $450-500K for new/nearly new construction with nothing else needed in terms of landscaping and finishing.
Of course we would be happy not to spend that much if we can get away with it. Since we have 3 kids and grandparents that frequently rotate in for extended stays we would pretty much be looking for a 5 br 3 ba or a 4 br with an additional space that could work as a guest bedroom when necessary.
You might find the 400k with a little work needed over in West Memorial, but nothing turnkey in the 500k range.Some around 350 that need a lot of cosmetic updating. The Terry Hershey Pathway system, miles and miles of bike and running paths along the bayou, has really been pushing the price. And now that you can take the pathway and pop up right next to the new CityCentre (Dining,shopping,movie, bakeries,wine loft, etc), everything is going up again. No to mention the schools have kept the prices going upward as well.
Last edited by EasilyAmused; 08-11-2009 at 03:40 PM..
OK shoot...What urban neighborhood in Houston is self-contained and meets all of these criteria?
I hear all about West U and Memorial but do they really have EVERYTHING within walking biking distance as well? Including top quality schools, aquatics, etc. Or are you still stuck in your car while paying 2X the cost for your housing?
I think West U would have a lot or all of the criteria, except price. So I would just go ahead and rule that one out. The scale house you describe would start in the $800's and could jump into the 7 digits.
Location: The land of sugar... previously Houston and Austin
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I'm telling you, you really need to take a look at these specific subdivisions in Sugar Land: Colony Meadows, Crescent Lakes, Lexington Meadows, Oaks of Alcorn, Meadow Lakes, The Lakes...
All of these things you want are literally right there in a mile or two radius. And sidewalks!
Additionally, it's just about 20 miles from downtown Houston. Compared to more like 30 miles for Cinco, and 30+ for the Woodlands.
Quote:
Originally Posted by texasdiver
Exactly right. Personally for me:
1. I want to have a large network of safe sidewalks and paths that I can walk/run and bike on. A frustration with my current neighborhood is that while my immediate neighborhood is nice and has sidewalks, to get out of the 3 block radius surrounding my house requires crossing major roads or highways without crosswalks or sidewalks. Difficult for me and I'm an experienced "combat" urban biker and runner having lived in Portland, Seattle, DC, and Chicago in my younger days. What I like about many of the large master planned communities is that I can find a wide variety of 5-10 mile running routes to explore without getting bored or getting into unsafe traffic or neighborhoods. I'd like to be able to go out biking with my kids without needing to load all the bikes into the car and drive someplace.
2. I want schools to be walkable if possible. Or at least close. One of my daughter's school is 5 blocks away but one must cross US-84 which a typical Texas freeway with access roads. The overpass from my neighborhood to the school has no sidewalks, crosswalks, or walk signals. Impossible for a kid to make it safely without getting run over by cars whipping on and off the access road ramps. I hate spending each morning and afternoon in a queue of SUVs. And my 3 daughters are currently in 3 different schools that are all equally inaccessible.
3. I want parks and pools to be walkable. I want to be able to send my kids to the park or pool without me having to pile them into the minivan. I spent my childhood in Oregon biking to the pool and park.
4. I want some sort of grocery at least nearby. I am currently 0.7 miles from a great HEB but I don't generally walk there because I usually have too much to carry to feed a family of 5 and the frozen foods will melt in the Texas heat. But it is nice to be able to walk over there on a Saturday or Sunday morning if I want a paper or to pick up something like pastries.
5. Be nice to have some sort of bakery/cafe/coffee shop close enough to walk to. Sort of place to go when you want out of the house for a cup of coffee...to hang out with a newspaper on a Saturday morning. I have a Shipley's and a Starbucks about 0.8 miles from my house. But the Starbucks is mostly drive-through and the Shipley's is overcrowded and doesn't have much seating. Neither really feel like comfortable places to spend time.
6. I'd like a variety of restaurants close but not necessarily walking distance as we really don't eat out that much. I don't want to have to drive 20-30 minutes just to find interesting dining options.
7. We never go to movies so I don't care about that. Costs too much to deal with sitters and that nonsense when we have a big-screen HDTV at home.
8. My wife is always running to Target/Kohls etc to shop for the kids. Doesn't need to be walking distance but I don't want a 25 minute traffic nightmare every time she wants to pick up some t-shirts or school supplies for the kids.
9. I do a lot of home improvement and landscaping so a Home Depot type store nearby would be nice. Not a place I would walk to. But I want to be able to run out and get something minor without a major expedition through traffic.
10. Sports facilities. The oldest daughter plays select soccer and the middle daughter is a competitive swimmer. The youngest is 3 so we don't know about her yet. I don't want to spend all my free time shuttling kids across town in traffic to get to their practices. That is the nightmare that my friends in Seattle face every afternoon.
11. Hospital/medical clinics. My wife is a physician and looking at job prospects at various clinics that tend to be located near or at hospitals. There are medical complexes in Katy, Sugar Land, and Woodlands so those are all viable. She doesn't need or want to walk to work but living very close to work would be a huge plus because she is often on-call during the weekends. If she is 5 minutes from the hospital she can spend weekends at home and go in when needed. If she is 30-40 minutes from the hospital with the potential for traffic jams then she pretty much has to spend the weekend there.
Ultimately we'll undoubtedly relocate to whichever community my wife eventually decides to work in. Since I teach HS science I can basically follow her anywhere in Texas and eventually find work close by. But it is nice to get a sense of which areas in Houston are going to have the greatest number of pieces for us to work with. Figuring out the ideal neighborhood is like playing 3-dimensional chess. And a lot of the things one wants are in conflict if not mutually exclusive. But it is fun.
I just tried out my neighborhood (score of 62) and it seems to calculate as the crow flies - so it assumes that I can fly across the Astrodome or swim across Brays Bayou
My wife and I live in Cinco west. We used to think nothing about driving quiet a ways to go do/get things. But since moving to Cinco about 15 months ago a lot of that has changed. We debated getting Chipotle for dinner on Sunday from Fry and I-10, but decided it was just "way too far".
In the spring we would often walk to La Centera on the weekends to hang out and eat lunch, and the Y isn't a bad bikeride for us. If 3-5 miles walking doesn't sound like too much for you, then I think Cinco would work for you.
I grew up in The Woodlands (south side of Grogan's Mill) and I can tell you that I rode my bike almost everywhere. Once you learn where all the trails go in The Woodlands it is very fast since many of them cut corners and take a much more direct route places than some of the roads do.
Check out homes in Kingwood near the intersection of Kingwood Dr. and West Lake Houston Parkway.
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