Somebody said Perry Homes were horrible...they are not. They are fine! It is a good point..I'd rather have my kids going to a museum instead of a mall....but lol...even kids who live by museums would probably go to the mall instead. You should come down to Sugar Land and take a look...it's quite nice. Faos...what Asian influence? WelFarm? Well yeah...24% of the city is Asian-American. Houses are relatively inexpensive and big...spread out and peaceful..everybody has their preferences. I wish there was a mass transit system though! Just for teens who can't drive yet..
See this is what I mean, First Colony MAll? I abhore mall culture. Why would I go to a Mall to shop for the flavor of the moment, when I can go check out a Picasso painting? Or Walk in the ParK? Malls just feed the idea that we must constantly consume to be normal. Huge Chain Multiplex theatres are the same, they flock people inlike cattle to see the lastest "must see" big budget no brainer. Try going to the River oaks 3 or the Angelica, they show Independent films worth watching and with a story, not just 2 hours of mind numbing special effects. If you like where you live that is great but the fact that you think the mall is "culture" is the very sad.
Yep, somehow I knew this thread would turn into another inner loop vs. suburbs thread. Personally, I prefer the inner loop. I live in The Heights and I love it. It's like living in a small town right in the middle of the 4th largest city in America. I grew up in the burbs (Lakewood Forest) and my folks still live there. The ironic thing is that when I go to visit them, there is more traffic there than there is here. Houston is getting to the point where there is more traffic in the 'burbs than there is inside the loop. I hate traffic more than I hate the jazz. I don't fault anyone who wants to live in the 'burbs, though. I'm single with no kids, so I like living where you're 10 minutes away from just about everything. If I were raising a family, I might want to move back to the burbs. You can get a bigger house for a smaller price, the schools are better, the neighborhoods are better etc. I'm buying my first house this summer and I don't think I'm going to be able to afford buying in The Heights unless I want a fixer upper. I don't. I'm looking in Oak Forest. That's almost inside the loop.
If you don't mind the suburbs then I recomend taking a look at Sugarland. I have a house in New Territory. I had one back in 98 then moved back to saudi. We sold the last house and have recently bought a new one on one of the lakes. New Territory On that webpage if you click on the link to find out more about New Territory on what it has for you and your family there are many links to a number of realtors.
Fantastic points. American culture is becoming more and more homogenized -- all neighborhoods look the same. Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Chilis and Target surrounded by overpriced, shoddily built cookie-cutter monster houses in former cow pastures on roads like Lazy Butterfly Lane. No life, whatsoever. This isn't America -- it's a CEO's wet dream. I understand the appeal of suburbia; I lived in Sugar Land and have family in every corner of the Houston suburbs. There's just no life there. What you'll find, however, are big box stores, lots of traffic, skyrocketing taxes, and decreasing home values as suburban sprawl passes you by for the next "new" community down the freeway.
I personally wouldn't be caught dead in the suburbs unless I were married with kids. In my opinion, Bellaire is the best place to live if you can afford it. Also, the midtown area has been exploding recently. I've got some friends in those new four story townhomes that are popping up everywhere, and it is really beginning to become the new "in" place to live. The heights are a good second place if Bellaire is too expensive, but with the new rail, my best bet for an investment would be over in the Meyerland area. (610 and Post Oak South.) A lot of nice homes, and it definitely appears to be rapidly rising in home values. I've got friends in West U., also. The problem there is that property taxes are insanely high. (BTW, Bellaire's taxes are less than Houston's.) Hope it helps. If you could, try and explain what you're looking for more specifically.
Yes I agree. I see Home Depots and Walmarts and Chilis everywhere I go....same stores everywhere! But please describe this LIFE that there is in the city...
why don't you go ahead a wait 100 years before you make a comment like that. you hate "suburbia." we get it.
Decreasing home values? Well....that is not what happened to us. We sold our house that we had and made about 47% on it. That is the value it had when we sold it was way higher than it was when we bought it.
Older neighborhood = roaches eeewwww! Back when I was a Landscape Architect we made design decisions based on evaluation matrices. You need to brainstorm all the things you think are factors in your location choice and rank them in importance, like: Schools ; tax rates, proximty to airports, downtown, the Toyota Center: are trees important to you, # of square feet you want, price per Sq. Ft. you can afford, reqiurement for restaurants, movies etc., appreciation and resale values, neighborhood stablity; proximety to family (close or too close?) I did this back in 1990 and ended up centered on Briar Forest at Beltway 8 and I would say the choice has been quite successfull. Really only the Houston/Harris tax rate has turned out negative and I guess I would have had to get out into a suburban county to get out from under it but convienence was my highest priority. As you can see from allan and others above you have to determine your own preferences before soliciting opinions. But I would certainly emphasize neighborhood stability. Interest rates will surley go up in the forseeable future, that should stifle the rabid resale market we see today. That could mean you will live in your next house longer than you might think or if you choose a marginal neighborhood you might actually see you home value decline. Good luck.
Houston is only like 5% Asian... "Schools ; tax rates, proximty to airports, downtown, the Toyota Center: are trees important to you, # of square feet you want, price per Sq. Ft. you can afford, reqiurement for restaurants, movies etc., appreciation and resale values, neighborhood stablity; proximety to family (close or too close?)" That is a good criteria list...
I don't go to the mall to see culture. I go to the mall to shop. By culture I meant the wide variety of people. Most huge multiplex theatres show a wide variety of movies, not just the "blockbusters". Just because it's being shown at the River Oaks doesn't make it a good movie. I do want a theatre with leg room, great sound and a nice screen. River Oaks has none of those, especially the two screens up top. I've been to the Angelika a number of times. In addition to the indy films you so love they also show some of the bigger releases. Here's the deal...we own a car. We can drive to any part of Houston or the country to experience what we want. To be honest we would have preferred something closer to town. I would love to live in a house in West U but unfortuneatly I didn't win the lottery last week. Until then I'll raise my family in a new home, albeit "cookie cutter", with a big yard and good school system. Best of all, my favorite golf courses are on this side of town. Oh, I can just imagine what you think of suburban golf courses.
The whole point of my post is I don't care about finding a house in the "cool place to be." The inner city housing of today is the ghetto of today. (makes about as much sense as your inane comment) I prefer my surroundings to be shiny and new. To each his own. But to criticize the suburbs for catering to the needs of people like me is simply close-minded.
I see the shapes, I remember from maps. I see the shoreline. I see the whitecaps. A baseball diamond, nice weather down there. I see the school and the houses where the kids are. Places to park by the fac'tries and buildings. Restaunts and bar for later in the evening. Then we come to the farmlands, and the undeveloped areas. And I have learned how these things work together. I see the parkway that passes through them all. And I have learned how to look at these things and I say, I wouldn't live there if you paid me. I couldn't live like that, no siree! I couldn't do the things the way those people do. I couldn't live there if you paid me to. I guess it's healthy, I guess the air is clean. I guess those people have fun with their neighbors and friends. Look at that kitchen and all of that food. Look at them eat it' guess it tastes real good. They grow it in the farmlands And they take it to the stores They put it in the car trunk And they bring it back home And I say ... I say, I wouldn't live there if you paid me. I couldn't live like that, no siree! I couldn't do the things the way those people do. I wouldn't live there if you paid me to. I'm tired of looking out the windows of the airplane I'm tired of travelling, I want to be somewhere. It's not even worth talking About those people down there.
