Yeah, I've talked myself out of moving out to Magnolia, but man, is it quiet and peaceful with trees nearby (but not necessarily near your house). Of course, I was going to buy right where everything's getting torn up, expanded, and having traffic jams, but I figured it would be ok for a year or two, at least. lol. I think a lot of these subdivisions with trees will eventually have a lot of their trees removed. Maybe not all, but still, most developers aren't going to give up cramming more properties onto land in favor of a tree or two if they had their way.
My old house, 2715 Nottingham, has been totally McMansioned, you gave me the idea to look it up. My neighbors are still there though!
@The Drake loves inside the loop. I hear he NEVER leaves it and doesn't bother to visit us peasants outside the loop.
Fort Bend Clements was a good school 25 years ago and is still going to be a good school 25 years from now.
I'm a licensed realtor, and these are some questions I'd ask my clients given the information you provided. What is your timeline - do you have an ideal move-in day/month? Ideally, you have about 3 months to become familiar with the current market and options, but if you have less - that still shouldn't be a problem. New construction build-outs could be a bit trickier though because those can take anywhere between 3-6 months with delays being common for the mom-and-pop builders and inventory homes for new construction communities are a bit unpredictable in terms of availability. Is this a starter home? Or would you want to live here for 10-20 years? What's the time horizon - I know things always change, but this will give you a good idea of figuring out what amenities are must-haves and nice to have. Also if it's a short time horizon (2-4 years), factors such as how fast does the neighborhood sell/rents out will become important. Do you need a large backyard? Do you prefer having a large driveway with ample parking? At your given price point, anything within the Beltway 8 loop, you'll have to purchase older homes (1960s-1990s), and that might require renovations to match your family's (most importantly, your wife's) preferences of finishes. Renovations generally will have to be paid all up front and not be part of a mortgage, so there are some cash liquidity factors you'll have to consider. If you prefer to have a decent-sized backyard with new modern finishes, then the suburbs (Katy, Pearland, Sugar Land, etc) will be your answer. I'm not sure how realistic Rockets season tickets will be if you live out in the burbs unless you work downtown Houston! Many new developments in Houston and there are many great high schools further away from downtown than right around it. Congrats on your decision to move back to Houston! I split my time between Dallas and Houston, but enjoy the more laid-back culture in the H, and being close to family is always a nice bonus. If you have any questions, please feel free to DM me!
Alief? Define the boundaries for Alief. North -- Westpark Toll Road or go as far as Richmond Avenue? West -- Hwy 6 or include Mission Bend in Alief? South -- Bissonnet or Old Richmond Road or West Bellfort? East -- Sam Houston Toll Road or all the way to Gessner?
Houston suburbs? Ugh. I’d suggest a different city altogether. I grew up in Kingwood which is considered to be nice, but you couldn’t pay me to move back there.
Back in the mid to late1960's and into the 1970's Addicks was mostly pastures, with cows here and there. I used to make the long drive to Addicks with a friend when a party was coming up. We'd walk around for half an hour looking for mushrooms and not find anything. Then suddenly they would be everywhere, enough to come close to filling a kitchen garbage bag with mushrooms, if we needed that many. Good mushrooms that made very appreciated party favors. Those cows were useful. When I heard about all those homes around Addicks flooding, I was surprised that they had been built there. Crazy.
Question, is it a good time to buy or sell or should people wait until after July when the commission rates could drop?
This is my personal opinion, but I don't think commission rates will change much in Texas in the short run. I can see it impact expensive cities such as NYC, Seattle, and San Francisco quickly. Austin and Dallas will be the first to be impacted because their house prices have grown significantly. Houston's growth has been relatively quieter compared to those cities. Summer time historically has been a relatively busier season, so we always talk to our investor clients who are trying to sell their properties to try to have any renovations done by
Currently living in Cinco Ranch which I highly recommend for diversity, schools, and just a beautiful, safe area. Kids go to Seven Lakes JH and the HS is one of the top ranked in the state by any source you lookup like US News. Just my 2 cents I would stay away from Katy ISD north of I-10. You can lookup the test scores and rankings yourself. It’s an entirely different world. We are currently looking to move further east either Memorial or Rice Military area as the commute is a complete cluster ****ing nightmare when you work downtown. At least 1 hour and 15 to 1.5 hours and paying tolls on West Park the whole way or even longer going up to I-10. The issue is all of the homes being built along the new Texas Grand Heritage Parkway and flowing west towards Fulshear. The traffic is clogging up West Park Tollway and it’s nearly causing traffic coming home to backup all the way from the beltway to 59 leading to a 30 minute plus crawl that you’re paying a huge daily toll as well. It’s really mind blowing with so many people WFH post COVID at least a couple days a week, but it goes to show you the huge population increase in Ft Bend County.
Reminder...if you're considering League City, Dickinson, or further southward (any coastal county), extra insurance is required (usually windstorm).
One of my best friends in HS was a transfer from Hastings. We were hanging out at a pool with some of his friends one weekend, and I got some proper life advice: "I used to use the pullout method...now they call me 'Dad'"
Oh, that sucks. That's like transferring from Harvard to San Jac. Teenage pregnancy was pretty rampant I suppose but most girls were already on the pill in the advanced society of Alief.
