Moving back to Houston

[Movinghome]

Hello,

I am originally from Houston but I married a guy in the oil industry and sadly he drug me away from Houston about 5 years ago. :-) We are currently living in Europe but anticipate moving back to Houston in the next few months (yay!!). I have been scouring HAR and the internet in general to learn more about different areas of town etc. I ran across this site earlier today and I've spent hours reading and learning from you guys.

I thought I would post this message and give some specific information about us and ask for your recommendations for good areas/neighborhoods. I'm a little concerned that we might not be able to afford some of the areas I was initially attracted to so I'd like your opinions.

I am 32 and my husband is 37. We are child-free by choice and plan to stay that way. We have two dogs (one is a large German Shepherd) so we defintiely want a house with a decent sized yard (not the kind of "yard" I see listed with some of those new townhouses). I do NOT want a house more than about 2000 sq ft. Around 1500 would be ideal. We have around 100k to put down and would like to find something around 350k or less. We are both liberal minded people. I am a vegetarian and would like easy access to a high end grocery store or a famers market. Also easy access to a good gym and walking/jogging/biking areas would be great.

My husband is very handy around the house and buying something that needs a bit of work is appealing to us (however we don't want to totally rehab a house). Also I've seen houses adverstised with a blurb about the lot being great for rebuilding or expanding on. We do not want to be in area where everyone is building huge houses around us. I don't want to feel pressured to do the same thing. We intend to buy a house that we will be in long term.

Crime is a bit of a concern but not really the most important factor. My husband does travel occassionaly but I feel pretty safe with the German Shepherd around. However I don't want to worry excessively about breakins or worse.

As far as the commute - I won't have a job when we first move. I intend to find something once we are settled. I'm not sure exactly where my husband will be located as his company has several offices in the Houston area. We feel comfortable with the commute from inside the Loop. He will likely be going against the traffic and doesn't mind a bit of a drive. When he is in Houston for work he generally stays in the Galleria area and drives to the office, so he is familiar with what it is like.

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this and to offer your advice. I hope you are all recovering well from Ike.

[sowanome]

Welcome to the Forum!! Be prepared bc you're life will never be the same and addiction to HAIF will occur....

You should get many great suggestions and replies, but just to start based on your description:

-A great gym, walking/jogging trails, natural supermarket, $350k or less, and a non townhome yard (That's a tough combo, but here are my suggestions)

Try: Timbergrove (a few parks, lacks everything else, but really really nice n.hood), The Heights (a few small parks, lacks gyms, but there are nice size yards all over), Rice Military (3 parks and various gyms w/n walking dist., whole foods will be built within a mile by 2010,but the largest yard you'll be able to find on avg. is 25 X 25ft.)

Good Luck ....Gotta Run

[jscarbor]

Hello,

I am originally from Houston but I married a guy in the oil industry and sadly he drug me away from Houston about 5 years ago. :-) We are currently living in Europe but anticipate moving back to Houston in the next few months (yay!!). I have been scouring HAR and the internet in general to learn more about different areas of town etc. I ran across this site earlier today and I've spent hours reading and learning from you guys.

I thought I would post this message and give some specific information about us and ask for your recommendations for good areas/neighborhoods. I'm a little concerned that we might not be able to afford some of the areas I was initially attracted to so I'd like your opinions.

I am 32 and my husband is 37. We are child-free by choice and plan to stay that way. We have two dogs (one is a large German Shepherd) so we defintiely want a house with a decent sized yard (not the kind of "yard" I see listed with some of those new townhouses). I do NOT want a house more than about 2000 sq ft. Around 1500 would be ideal. We have around 100k to put down and would like to find something around 350k or less. We are both liberal minded people. I am a vegetarian and would like easy access to a high end grocery store or a famers market. Also easy access to a good gym and walking/jogging/biking areas would be great.

My husband is very handy around the house and buying something that needs a bit of work is appealing to us (however we don't want to totally rehab a house). Also I've seen houses adverstised with a blurb about the lot being great for rebuilding or expanding on. We do not want to be in area where everyone is building huge houses around us. I don't want to feel pressured to do the same thing. We intend to buy a house that we will be in long term.

Crime is a bit of a concern but not really the most important factor. My husband does travel occassionaly but I feel pretty safe with the German Shepherd around. However I don't want to worry excessively about breakins or worse.

As far as the commute - I won't have a job when we first move. I intend to find something once we are settled. I'm not sure exactly where my husband will be located as his company has several offices in the Houston area. We feel comfortable with the commute from inside the Loop. He will likely be going against the traffic and doesn't mind a bit of a drive. When he is in Houston for work he generally stays in the Galleria area and drives to the office, so he is familiar with what it is like.

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this and to offer your advice. I hope you are all recovering well from Ike.

Idylwood is one of my favorite neighborhoods, although it lacks some of what you are interested in like, a good organic market and a good gym. It has a little park in the neighborhood and then a bigger park not far from here. Memorial park and Herman Park are 10 minute drives. Nice Homes are priced in the $230K-$260K range. I used to live there and it is a liberal minded subdivision. I felt safe walking around but my one complaint would be that stray dogs were a concern.

Eastwood is near Idylwood and some stretches can be a little bit rougher but it’s a great place as well.

Some areas around the Washington corridor fit a lot of your criteria but they do have new homes being built around them but I don't think you should ever feel like you have to build something new. If you were to buy in an area that is or might be susceptible to "gentrification" then I would buy on a really good street. If houses on a street are nice then they will be harder for builders to buy the houses and tear down because the house will have "value" that a builder can not pay for.

Montrosish area would fit your criteria as well but a little pricier for nice homes.

Heights area offers a lot of amenities you are looking for also.

[KinkaidAlum]

Do you prefer an older home or something new? I tend to opt for older homes and these are the ones I would check out according to your want list.

1) 1807 Bissonnet

This is a fixer but doesn't appear too overwhelming. It's a 2 story brick home with a decent yard. It's located on a busier road but in a beautiful part of town; adjacent to Rice U and Montrose. You'll have plenty of places to walk the dog and you'll be close to the Whole Foods on Kirby as well as the Midtown Farmer's Market. The area is fairly liberal (you'll see more Obama signs in yards than McCain) and is a great location. Priced at $339,000 which leads me to believe with some TLC, there will be immediate upside here.

2) 801 Branard

This is right next to the Menil Collection. It's a little over your budget at $374,000 but worth a look. You'll be in the heart of the Montrose area but on the Museum District side. There are plenty of places to walk your dogs and the patio could easily make way for more yard. Whole Foods on Kirby is a 3 minute drive away and your even closer to Monica Pope's Midtown Farmer's Market.

3) 3916 Bute

This is a great looking house. Not sure about the yard but the lot is a decent size. You're in the U of St Thomas area here very close to the Spur off of 59. It's a bit more transitional here than the Branard location but the house is priced at $348,900 so it is definitely worth a look. You'll have easy access to downtown, midtown, museum district, montrose, etc... Both Bute and Branard are in the Montrose area so the reputation is as liberal as they come in the Houston area.

4) 2024 White Oak

This is over your budget at $375,000 but is a great looking house with a view of downtown. You'll be in the Heights area here which is a wonderful neighborhood but I'll let the Heights folks tell you more about it since I am not as familiar with it as I am Montrose/Southampton areas. This house looks like it's been redone (maybe by a flipper?) and I would check on flooding since it's near the bayous.

[sowanome]

Great call Kinkaid...I totally forgot about the St.Thomas area, bc it's a total sleeper and a ton of trees and small parks in that area esp near the Menil area.

[Movinghome]

Thank you all for your advice and recommendations. There are definitely some neighborhoods that I hadn't considered that were mentioned.

Kincaid all of those houses look pretty ideal to me! In fact a couple of them I had already shown my husband. The problem is that we don't have an exact move date yet, otherwise I would be jumping on seeing a couple of those foreclosures. My husband has a business trip scheduled to Houston in about two weeks. If moving plans have progressed at all perhaps I'll go with him and check out some of these areas.

I was reading more about the Heights in the Heights neighborhood forum and I now I understand that most people would really rather preserve the neighborhood instead of having those monstrosities built. That made me feel better, but I still wouldn't want to live next door one (as Im sure a lot of people wouldn't). :-)

I also liked Timbergrove for the lot sizes. There are also a couple of really nice looking houses in that neighborhood. It might be a bit further out than we wanted but again, there is a difference between looking at a map and driving through it. What looks a bit further on a map might not feel bad driving.

Thanks again for taking the time to give me information. I literally spent the majority of the day yesterday researching this website. Great information!

[insidehouston]

One thing I would start looking into is your credit score. I have a friend that moved here from Europe. Basically they were gone so long their credit score dropped due to lack of data. If you are planning on moving if might be a good idea to get a US credit card or something and start building credit. Their monthly payment was like 700 more a month that what it should have been. They eventually built up credit and refinanced but it might be a good idea to get started now on building up a recent US credit history.