Houston Areas?

K

kmac30

500+ Posts
wife is from conroe and we've been talking about moving to the houston area for various reasons. i've been looking at houses in different areas, but it seems every house i find that i like gets shot down from my wife b/c of the schools.

my question to hornfans, what are the good districts in the houston area? woodlands, spring branch, and i think montgomery (but not sure on that one) are the only ones that have been approved so far. willis was shot down (found an awesome house there).

it's pretty overwhelming to just go searching online without knowing the areas.
 
Cypress Fairbanks is the school district that I attended. There are some nice areas and some not so nice areas. Granted that was about 20 years ago, I am sure things have changed.
 
Clear Lake area is very nice. Superior schools, low crime rates (at least they were low until Katrina trash arrived), stable and increasing house prices. Almost country living compared to rest of Houston.
 
are there problems in houston with the katrina crowd? i hate having to make decisions based on schools. we don't even have kids yet!! (starting in the next year, so i guess it's relevant).

i want to find somewhere with a slower pace, would love a decent lot size and not super far from downtown (45 min to 1 hr isn't a big deal to me.)

what's the difference between clear lake city and clear lake shores?
 
A lot of the Katrina refugees decided to stay in Houston--free rent, etc. However, when FEMA cut off the rent subsidies, some of them turned to crime. I probably overstated the case because my own house was broken into, but they were caught and prosecuted. Clear Lake City is a low-crime area, and there's not a used-car lot or taco hut on every street corner.

The schools are excellent and the resident population is probably 95% professional, owing largely to NASA and industry proximity.

"Clear Lake City" was basically carved out of the prairie when NASA arrived and is in Harris County. "Clear Lake Shores" is an older town adjacent to Kemah in Galveston County, and has different demographics. The two are about 5 miles or so apart.

Distance to downtown Houston is about 20 miles, 30-40 minutes depending on traffic. Distance to Galveston is about 30 miles, 40 or so minutes drive time.

I've lived in Clear Lake City for almost 40 years and love it here.
 
Katy. It's West.....Go West Young Man. And, it's closer to Austin, which we all know is important on a Saturday Morning!
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Spring Branch / Memorial area.

Not sure what your budget is, but there are a variety of neighborhoods that feed into Memorial High School.
 
My vote is The Woodlands. Great area with the mall and Market Street area. I currently live here and wouldn't live anywhere else in Houston, except maybe the River Oaks area just west of downtown. Love that area around memorial park. Schools in The Woodlands are great too. Kingwood is nice I hear as well.
 
I grew up in Houston, went to Kingwood. The key tis o get in a school district other than Houston ISD. Don't get me wrong there are probably some good schools within Houston ISD. But in general you want Clear Lake ISD, Katy ISD, Humble ISD (includes Kingwood), Woodlands, Bellaire, etc. Also, Cy-creek or Cy-fair I can never keep those straight.

Really it probably depends on what is most convenient for you to get to work.
 
Bellaire is HISD.

Lamar is another good high school in HISD. It is up to Bellaire's level now. There are tons of good elementary schools in HISD and pretty much all the suburbs have them as well.
 
clear lake is actually ccisd (clear creek independent school district).
schools are always ranked exemplary - or were. mostly the kids of nasa engineer's so that figures
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clear lake has the water for sailing, water skiing etc, plus great fresh seafood. it's also pretty much right in the middle of houston and galveston....
 
thanks for all the info. i guess the majority of our friends in houston live in the woodlands, so if we do make this move, that'll probably be the destination.

how many of you in houston make the drive to Austin fall weekends? is it rough? i figure it'd be fun. i get excited driving to dallas for tx/ou, and that drive sucks. granted, it's a different game.
 
Maybe it is just me, but The Woodlands ain't "Houston". Don't get me wrong, it is a great place to raise a family and all that.
 
My S-I-L was head of counseling for Clear Lake ISD until she retired a few years ago (moved there from Highland Park ISD). Clear Lake is an excellent district and there are some absolutely great homes in El Lago. The neighborhood my brother and sister-in-law live in is really neat. No two homes look alike -- it's not a cookie-cutter neighborhood. You'll have a Georgian next to a Tudor next to a mid-century next to a Spanish-style next to a Cape Cod next to a colonial ... it gives a beautiful palette to the eye. Older homes and real trees (at least the ones that are left from the 'canes).

BTW, S-I-L is now head of counseling for a private school, Emery/Weiner, in Houston. This school continues to amaze me. It's incredible!
 
ugh, had a large reply that ended in post error.

1. deep down, i don't think my wife likes living in Austin. in the last 3 yrs, all of her friends have moved out. we have 0 married friends here, only a few couples she teaches with that we hang out w/ here and there. they're all having babies and leaving school though.

2. we both have friends in the houston area, married and single. kids and no kids.

3. when we do have kids, i'd like to have one of our parents close. no way i'm moving closer to my family.

4. feel like i could get more for my money (size, age, efficiency)

5. every 2 or 3 years i get an itch to move. i don't know why.
 
Those are all valid reasons. Friends are really important. That said, you are smart to move to the Woodlands if that's where your friends are. If you are in Clear Lake or Katy and your friends are in the Woodlands, you won't see them. You might as well be in Austin. Also the Cynthia Woods pavilion gets good concerts. Before moving to the Woodlands, go there, stay with a friend, and make the drive to downtown and back.

You can definitely get more for your money in those places than in Central Austin. Tons more jobs, too.

The good news is, if you get the itch to move in another 2 or 3 years, or if you hate the Woodlands, your (future) kids will still be so young that uprooting them won't really be a problem.
 
We live inside the loop, and in the area of Lamar HS and the feeders to Lamar. I cannot imagine that school, an HISD school, suffers for anything. I would put its demographic up against any.

And then there is the 5 minutes to downtown, and all. Go ahead and live 20% of your life in a commute. Life is too short for me.

And, no, the trip to Austin and back for games is not "rough". Jeebus.
 
another inside the looper. West University Elementary is on par with just about any private school in the area. After that you might have to take the private route, or go to Lamar. the drive to Austin is not bad at all from this area.
 
thanks for all the great info from everyone. i think we might actually head to Houston next weekend and take a look around.

as for the "commute". i work from home, so no matter where we live, it's about 30 seconds. wife is a teacher, and depending on where we move, she may or may not be teaching for a while.
 
We are looking at Sienna Plantation down south off hiway 6 as all the schools are within the community and are well rated Fort Bend schools. The kids won't have to leave the neighborhood K through 12.
 
I am West U Elementary grad, so you can take that for what it's worth.
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I had a great childhood living in West U and have fond memories of the area and the Rice University area. I can say that i don't have much fondess for the suburbs of Houston, but that probably has a lot to do with where i grew up.

But you probably cant go wrong with the Woodlands if the suburbs are your cup of tea.
 
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