AggieTailG8r Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 So I will be moving downtown within the next 6 months and have done quite a bit of townhome shopping. I will be working downtown so the closer the better. I was curious as to you guys thoughts on the different neighborhoods inside the loop. I'm a mid 20's single professional so where should i live? Here are some thoughts I have....(I am looking to spend no more than $270,000). Need 3 Bedrooms as I will have 2 Roommates. If there is already a thread on this please direct me to it.East End- Probably the most home for the money. No bars/restaurants within walking distance. "Dirty". Close to basketball/baseball and work. Future?Midtown- Close to bars/restaurants. Might have to buy used for 270,000Montrose- "Nicest" area but will probably have to buy used for 270. Walk to restaurants/bars. Already developedUpper West End- Target shopping center on Taylor will house many restaurants (chili's,subway, FREEBIRDS!!!, panda bear, etc). Washington blvd. growing. Short drive to work. Buffalo Bayou Park area very nice.Rice Military- 5 miles from work (the farthest...how is traffic on washington?). Also might have to buy used for 270,000Museum/Rice- ?I am sort of leaning towards the Upper West End as I like the idea of having chain restaurants available downtown as well as a very nice Target. HHN, Intown, and Urban Living all have very nice new developments in the area in the general price range I am looking. Comments? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sowanome Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 So I will be moving downtown within the next 6 months and have done quite a bit of townhome shopping. I will be working downtown so the closer the better. I was curious as to you guys thoughts on the different neighborhoods inside the loop. I'm a mid 20's single professional so where should i live? Here are some thoughts I have....(I am looking to spend no more than $270,000). Need 3 Bedrooms as I will have 2 Roommates. If there is already a thread on this please direct me to it.East End- Probably the most home for the money. No bars/restaurants within walking distance. "Dirty". Close to basketball/baseball and work. Future?Midtown- Close to bars/restaurants. Might have to buy used for 270,000Montrose- "Nicest" area but will probably have to buy used for 270. Walk to restaurants/bars. Already developedUpper West End- Target shopping center on Taylor will house many restaurants (chili's,subway, FREEBIRDS!!!, panda bear, etc). Washington blvd. growing. Short drive to work. Buffalo Bayou Park area very nice.Rice Military- 5 miles from work (the farthest...how is traffic on washington?). Also might have to buy used for 270,000Museum/Rice- ?I am sort of leaning towards the Upper West End as I like the idea of having chain restaurants available downtown as well as a very nice Target. HHN, Intown, and Urban Living all have very nice new developments in the area in the general price range I am looking. Comments?My vote is for Rice Military or Upper West End which is interchangeable almost the same area. East End may also be ideal, but just remember that you will have roomates and that the entire Washington Avenue area or Montrose may be more suitable for that situation for the current time and immediate future....Do yourself a favor and check out the Washington Avenue forum in the Heights section! This will be a true eye opener as for what's in that area and what's coming to that area. Also, from Rice Military to downtown, most people drive down memorial (50 mph) with your first light showing up once you get into downtown....Usually takes less than 4 minutes.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
memebag Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 Wow. People really love Target. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 So I will be moving downtown within the next 6 months and have done quite a bit of townhome shopping. I will be working downtown so the closer the better. I was curious as to you guys thoughts on the different neighborhoods inside the loop. I'm a mid 20's single professional so where should i live? Here are some thoughts I have....(I am looking to spend no more than $270,000). Need 3 Bedrooms as I will have 2 Roommates. If there is already a thread on this please direct me to it.East End- Probably the most home for the money. No bars/restaurants within walking distance. "Dirty". Close to basketball/baseball and work. Future?Midtown- Close to bars/restaurants. Might have to buy used for 270,000Montrose- "Nicest" area but will probably have to buy used for 270. Walk to restaurants/bars. Already developedUpper West End- Target shopping center on Taylor will house many restaurants (chili's,subway, FREEBIRDS!!!, panda bear, etc). Washington blvd. growing. Short drive to work. Buffalo Bayou Park area very nice.Rice Military- 5 miles from work (the farthest...how is traffic on washington?). Also might have to buy used for 270,000Museum/Rice- ?I am sort of leaning towards the Upper West End as I like the idea of having chain restaurants available downtown as well as a very nice Target. HHN, Intown, and Urban Living all have very nice new developments in the area in the general price range I am looking. Comments?I try to explore the East Downtown Warehouse District about once every several months, and I've really got to say that activity out there has picked up since I last saw it. Plenty of demolition and construction activity, a new hike & bike trail, and now that it's starting to fill in, its beginning to look much cleaner from how I remember it. The six-block area at Dowling and Texas that has been set aside by the City for a new soccer stadium will further that clean-up process, at the same time drawing greater visibility to the area and getting the yuppies to cross the psychological barrier that US 59 used to represent.Although underserved by retail at present, I can assure you beyond a shadow of a doubt that that'll change quickly enough. The viability of that area for further residential construction is highly dependent upon progress downtown, and downtown really is booming right now...which is another plus because the biggest changes downtown are more closely aligned with this area than with Midtown. As the neighborhood (and other areas further east) fills in, neighborhood-oriented commercial development will certainly be forthcoming. And on account of that the streets don't get nearly the traffic volume as many streets through Midtown, the area is quieter and more pedestrian-friendly. It also generally has fewer vagrants and panhandlers than Midtown and parts of Montrose...at least so long as you stay away from the intersection of Chartres and Preston.I see this area as having the most upside potential of all of the neighborhoods you mentioned. The others are already perceived as safe bets, but the price reflects that. I'd suggest that you target your search between about McKinney and Texas, east of Dowling; this area seems to be the most rapidly transforming and is within about a quarter mile of Lucky's Pub, mentioned on another thread earlier tonight. Its about as far to Thelma's BBQ. A good combination, there. If these arrangements work for you and the roomies, I'd say to go here.To recap:*New Construction*Closest to Work*Best Appreciation Potentials*Minimal Bars/Restaurants But Within Walking Distance; More Forthcoming*Less CrimeEDIT: As a total disclaimer, I do own a property in nearby Eastwood, so I am definitely an East End promoter. I wouldn't have bought there if I weren't optimistic about the area in the first place, though; its not as though I'm so delusional as to think that my promoting it on an internet message board is going to result in a meaningful increase in my returns on the investment, after all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jscarbor Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 So I will be moving downtown within the next 6 months and have done quite a bit of townhome shopping. I will be working downtown so the closer the better. I was curious as to you guys thoughts on the different neighborhoods inside the loop. I'm a mid 20's single professional so where should i live? Here are some thoughts I have....(I am looking to spend no more than $270,000). Need 3 Bedrooms as I will have 2 Roommates. If there is already a thread on this please direct me to it.East End- Probably the most home for the money. No bars/restaurants within walking distance. "Dirty". Close to basketball/baseball and work. Future?Midtown- Close to bars/restaurants. Might have to buy used for 270,000Montrose- "Nicest" area but will probably have to buy used for 270. Walk to restaurants/bars. Already developedUpper West End- Target shopping center on Taylor will house many restaurants (chili's,subway, FREEBIRDS!!!, panda bear, etc). Washington blvd. growing. Short drive to work. Buffalo Bayou Park area very nice.Rice Military- 5 miles from work (the farthest...how is traffic on washington?). Also might have to buy used for 270,000Museum/Rice- ?I am sort of leaning towards the Upper West End as I like the idea of having chain restaurants available downtown as well as a very nice Target. HHN, Intown, and Urban Living all have very nice new developments in the area in the general price range I am looking. Comments?I build in the east side and am about to build in Rice Military area. If you were to compare the two straight up from a price standpoint here is what I can tell you. House in eastside about $240K-255K essentially same house in RM about $260-275K. Eastside has a lot of huge projects near it that are bettwer than just about any other area in houston like Discovery Green. It has the new Pavillions which will be a pretty cool place, I especially like the idea of the bowling alley that is going in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChandoJMC Posted March 19, 2008 Share Posted March 19, 2008 I may be a bit biased, but I just bought in the "upper west end" as you guys deemed it...Similar to your situation minus the roommates, I had been searching for about 6 months while living at my current apartment (Calais in midtown). At first, I was heavily biased towards the East End just due to the sheer bang for your buck factor and the fact that downtown views were pretty much always a factor in my price range ($240-280k). The issue with the East End is that, other than Lucky's Pub and a few establishments close to 59, there really isn't much activity in terms of gentrification other than the townhome boom. What it really boiled down to for me was that the property values on the East End aren't going to sustain value until the area has "transitioned", so you are essentially attempting to hedge the market. I think there are much better bets out there, but that is just my personal opinion.Rice Military and Cottege Grove really offer better alternatives in terms of neighborhood quality, however, $/sqft is significantly higher. The Shady Acres area was a little to far from town for my tastes, so I decided to take a look at the Sawyer Heights/Upper West End area. With its proximity to the massively transitioned Washington area and more commercial activity (yes, Target, Chili's, Panda Express, probably 3-4 Starbucks), I felt that the Upper West End area was the better move personally. I got my terrace, yard, and panoramic downtown views well within my price range, so I'm happy. ...I guess I'll just praise the 2nd Amendment until the area picks up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sowanome Posted March 19, 2008 Share Posted March 19, 2008 I got this front the washington avenue forum:(upper West End) It appears that Lovett Commerical has several projects in the works for the East side of Washington (i.e. by Corkscrew etc...). Here is their info... 1902 Washington Blvd - Mixed Use Development lovett_washington.jpg ( 422.03K ) Number of downloads: 73 1814 Washington Blvd - Resurrecting the Dittman Building into a possible restaurant. No renderings, but the link has some good photos inside and out of the building. At least they are trying to save this buidling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AggieTailG8r Posted March 19, 2008 Author Share Posted March 19, 2008 Starting to agree with Chando. The same townhome in Upper West End will cost around 20k more than east end but the proximity to all of the bars and restaurants are well worth it (especially spread out over 30 years Just curious Chando are you in the Seasons Brownstones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChandoJMC Posted March 19, 2008 Share Posted March 19, 2008 Starting to agree with Chando. The same townhome in Upper West End will cost around 20k more than east end but the proximity to all of the bars and restaurants are well worth it (especially spread out over 30 years Just curious Chando are you in the Seasons Brownstones? No, I couldn't deal with their maintenance fees, although the pool (well, kiddie pool) is pretty nice... I actually bought the last end unit in the new Tricon complex on Crockett & Houston. At first, I wasn't too fond of all of the hardiplank, but the finishes and the third-party inspection really sealed the deal for me. Well...the real deal-sealer was the panoramic downtown view from the 3rd story balcony/terrace. I actually got a really good deal plus they threw in SS fridge, W/D, and a $2k window covering allowance. I have read the thread about leaking roofs, but the inspector couldn't find any issues. A co-worker of mine bought a Tricon in Rice Military and has been nothing short of impressed. I went to your rival school by the way... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAK Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 I went to your rival school by the way...Wreck'em Tech and Sic'em Bears! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jc281 Posted April 2, 2008 Share Posted April 2, 2008 Wreck'em Tech and Sic'em Bears!ummm... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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