If you live in Houston and travel all of the time, you will want to live near IAH, which continental's hub. Woodlands and Kingwood would be my sugestions.
Yeah, I guess I just consider River Oaks a better location for what I'd like access to in Houston. I'd definitely choose West U. over both, though.
I like the Memorial area. I live right near it and we've got everything a person could want over here. If you want to be outside the city, The Woodlands is very nice.
I live in Twin Lakes. It's in the suburbs of Houston, but right in the middle of I-10 and 290. About 30ish minutes from the airport.
I have been living in the area of kirby and 59 for the past few years. Great location, lots of business, where compaq center is located. Unfortunately, the cops are trying to clean up the area and told me that I need to fold up my house and move from under the freeway. Oh well....I hear 610 and Westheimer is good also.
I'm just not a fan of coming off the 610 loop so they can gun me coming off the highway. If I am legitmately speeding, so be it, and give me the ticket. I got no problem with that. If they clock me from some side street as I exit the freeway, then I got a problem with that. On River Oaks, that neighborhood is old money. I don't think they take well to "new money." If you have the cash, go live in west Houston in Royal Oaks. It's been said in this forum before, but Pearland is turning into a "a new Sugar Land." There is a bunch of crap popping up everywhere.
btw, what do you guys think of the quality of life there? i have lived in Chicago, NY and Los Angeles. what's the social life like? any additional perks that you can think of? the real estate is much more reasonable in Houston vs LA. An avg 2 bedroom condo out here costs over $400k! pretty ridiculous
Memorial is the best. Piney Point / Hunter's Creek / Bunker Hill - it doesn't get much better. Then again, I have lived there almost all my life.
I wouldn't say night and day exactly. I think eventually Houston won't be too dissimilar to Chicago and maybe even Los Angeles. I think someone even wrote a post once detailing the similar developments of Houston and Chicago.
REally? Would love to see that. I think both Chicago and LA are way more densely populated and will be for awhile.
If you do not have kids-consider downtown. The Franklin lofts are awesome-you can get a unit built out to your needs. I live in a different building and am considering buying there. If you are downtown either ariport is not that far- traffic is usually running counter flow to where I'm going. From Downtown you can be many places in less than 15 min. There is a nice theater district, music in downtown-fun nightlife. I am 49 years old and my son and his friend like to visit. There is a lot my wife and I like to do downtown and mid town. A previous poster is right- the heat in Texas is a killer. I would move to Sedona Arizona or Cloudcroft New Mexico for the cool dry weather.
I'm not really an expert, but I think Chicago is set up very similarly to Houston. Larger and more densely populated center, but there's also a huge, huge Chicago metropolitan area. I think outsiders and tourists call it Chicagoland and it, like Houston, takes hours to drive across. Not as sure about LA, but I think it also is a huge metro area. More than anything, the people in Chicago remind me of Houston though. Much nicer general population than most cities that size.
hikanoo49, Roxfan73 and ima_drummer2k are just joking. Harwin, Longpoint, Wayside, South Main St., Telephone Rd, 3rd ward, and 5th ward are all scary, seedy areas. Also, Rule0001 is joking about River Oaks - it's the richest real estate in the Houston area. Houston is not nearly as cosmopolitan as LA, NY, or Chicago. We're a big city that still has a lot of small-town mentality. Examples: some businesses (like car dealerships) are not open both weekend days because of an old religious law we used to have called the "blue law". It's against the law to have street vendors here. You can't buy hard liquor at convenience stores. ... stuff like that. Houses are very cheap compared to any other major city in the US. There's a reason: our climate sucks really bad. Get a nice comfortable house with a big TV, 'cause you're gonna be spending a lot of time indoors. Suburbs that are nice: The Woodlands (North), Tomball (Northwest), Katy (West), Sugarland (Southwest), and Pearland (South). Good neighborhoods that are closer in to the city: Hunters Creek, Galleria area, Bellaire. Good neighborhoods inside loop 610: West University, Southside Place, The Heights, Timbergrove, Greenway plaza area, midtown. If you live inner loop, be prepared for lots of inner-city noise (sirens, stereos, helicopters, trains, etc.) Don't buy a house that backs up to a bayou. Don't buy a house that's under or near power lines. Don't buy a house next door to barking dogs. Check the flood plane of the home you buy (Houston floods a lot).
