wordgirl

Wow! I didn't expect to see any activity on this thread still. I posted last year when we were looking for a new house. We have since moved to Fall Creek (northeast of Houston near Beltway 8 and 59), mostly because we were priced out of most neighborhoods zoned to Memorial unless we wanted to go the fixer-upper route again. And paying $300,000 plus for a fixer-upper in Spring Valley was hard for us to stomach. The lack of affordable housing stock was also the main reason we moved from GO. I am sure we could have figured out HISD, but I'm not sure if we wanted to deal with all the hassle. They are building a new elementary school in our neighborhood and will also be building a new middle and high school to which we will be zoned. I have no idea whether the schools will be good or not, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it. I do know that my daughter will be going to school with kids in her neighborhood, and that was what we wanted for her. Thanks for all the information!

All I know is that when it is close to a hundred degrees outside, and you are bored out of your gourd at home watching your baby all day long--an airconditioned mall is a nice place to go. When we lived in Garden Oaks, we hung out at Memorial City Mall pretty often. Lots of moms from the Heights sought refuge there as well. We live in Fall Creek now, so it would be great if Greenspoint were renovated, because it is just down the road from us. But I probably wouldn't shop there too much until it got cooler. I much prefer the open-air "town-center" concept, but in August, the mall is the way to go! I wish Deerbrook would get a redo like Memorial City, but it is not too bad.

The deed is done. We are moving to Fall Creek by the end of the month. No worries here.

Thanks. Garden Oaks is great, but three bedroom houses in good shape and under 3K are getting hard to come by. Plus they are tearing down houses left and right. Looks like my daughter will have plenty of kids to play with up there!

Update: We finally got off the pot and sold our house in Garden Oaks. Looks like we are going to be neighbors Midtown Coog. We are moving to the Laurel Oaks section of Fall Creek. While we are sad to say goodbye to GO, I have to admit we are excited to be moving into a brand new house that doesn't require constant repair! And at least for the moment, the commute is about the same for my husband who works downtown! If it ever gets too bad, he has the option of the park and ride. Thanks for all your help and advice folks!

Thanks for the info. Sounds lilke Memorial has a lot to offer, but I'm not too keen on the snotty factor. Can't keep up with those Joneses. Guess it is too much to hope for a mostly middle class experience near the city. Seems like what you get is a mix of very rich and very poor. Oh, you did say south of I-10. Got my directions mixed up.

What villages are we talking about? Hilshire? That's too rich for my blood.

Huh...I didn't know they bussed to magnet schools. Something to consider.

Thanks for the suggestion. We are zoned to Garden Oaks elementary and Oak Forest in nearby. Choices nearby for middle and high schools get rough. We would have to be shuttling kids across town. Spring Valley is closer to here I work part time and downtown where my husband works, than the west side of Houston I think. I work at Gessner and Kempwood.

OK. Maybe it is a loaded question, but I welcome your feedback. My husband and I need more space for our growing family, but are still wrestling with the decision on whether to make the move out to the burbs. We are in HISD and can do the Vanguard/magnet thing, but kinda liked the idea of our kids growing up and going to school with the same bunch of kids. Spring Valley seemed like a good option because it is zoned to Valley Oaks, Spring Branch Middle and Memorial, and is still close in. We are not millionaires, and I want to raise a grounded kid. Are we out of our league here? Does anyone have experience with these schools? Of course, academically, Memorial is excellent. Valley Oaks is recognized and Spring Branch Middle got an acceptable score this year, although they have performed better in the past. Thanks!

Maybe Oak Forest or Garden Oaks? I think you can still get a decent house for $200K or thereabouts. If you get a house near 43rd, you can walk to the Kroger, Walgreens, libaries, banks and other stores. Although, I have to admit, not too many of the moms in my neighborhood (Garden Oaks), walk down there much. The sidewalk is not the best in some parts, and we are so used to driving everywhere.. I'm showing my suburban roots here...But there are TONS of kids in my neighborhood and in OF, and more people are moving here all the time. Oak Forest elementary is good. Black Middle school and Waltrip High School, not so much. But if you are coming from New York, navigating HISD's magnet program may be no sweat to you. Lots of artists, musicians, writers (like me) and other creative folks live in Oak Forest and Garden Oaks. Garden Oaks is becoming a little yuppified of late, and is more expensive than it used to be. But every now and then you find a deal. It just depends on how much work you want to put in a house. This one in GO is small, but cute and looks to be in pretty good shape: http://www.har.com/search/engine/indexdeta...=0&backButton=Y Search www.har.com and see what you can find for OF!

I'm sorry that downtown no longer has Kaveh Kanes, because also happy because it meant the opening of my favorite "third place" -- the Petrol Station in Garden Oaks. It is a Godsend for the neighborhood, and has become the hangout for everyone from hipster teens and yuppies, to stay-at-home moms, to the retiree crowd. Petrol Station serves great coffee, food and also beer and wine. The owner has young kids, so he put up toddler play equipment in the back. We love it, because we can walk to it, instead of driving. I thought it was weird that the Chron focused so much on the closing of his other place than the success of his new place.

Man! Was Inwood Forest once a nice area? What do you think made it go down? We live in Garden Oaks. Every once and awhile I get big house envy and look for bigger houses near by. Guess those bargains in Inwood Forest aren't such bargains after all. TAK..we will be motivated sellers when we put our GO home on the market in March, to move to once of the northeast suburbs (Summerwood or Fall Creek). Sorry, but it is only a 2bd/1 bath. But if you have the money and patience (which we don't), you can always add on and remodel. Plus we have a great constable program and a coffee shop within walking distance!

Hindsight is so 20/20. The prospect of our two giant oak trees smashing our 40s-era home In Garden Oaks with no interior room, caused us to flee to Austin. That and we had tickets to ACL Fest Not sure if we'll do it again next time though. 15 hours to Austin was pretty rough.

jgs1419, Know what you mean! We were just at the Children's Museum today. I agree it is a wonderful place when you run out of ideas. Better than the mall anyway. Our challenge is being patient in our small and falling apart house, until we can save up money to remodel or move to a bigger house. Every time the inlaws come, My mind starts dreaming of that big house in the burbs. Posts like yours help me keep my resolve. Do you have a website for your homebuilding business? Do any work in GO?

We wanted to move to the Heights six years ago, but even then it was getting too expensive, so we chose Garden Oaks to the north. The neighborhood is changing a lot too. Anyone want to look in their crystal ball and ponder on what the future holds for your neighbors to the north? We keep going back and forth on whether to move, now that we have an 18-month old daughter, and may have plans for more kids.

Ditto. Thanks for all the information everyone contributed. It will be great if the plans come to fruition.

Just curious if anyone had any updates about the Northwest Mall. I saw in the Chronicle today that developer Jenard Gross is going to tear down the MetroNexus building at 610 near 290, "to make way for as many as 300 new apartments, 140 single-family homes and 200 townhomes." The article continues... "Gross said the industrial area northwest of the Heights shows promise as a residential neighborhood because of planned improvements at nearby Northwest Mall and a new office building under construction for HISD in the area." Any specifics on the improvements? Would love to see something cool happening there.

Yeah, I would have liked to see more people talk about the benefits/detriments of living in Kingwood or Summerwood. Plus there's so much that will be built in that area in terms of commercial development. I keep waiting for someone to tell me that the Deerbrook Mall is going to be renovated. Now that would be something! That mall...not so good. At least compared to Memorial City, where we are used to going.

We're still in the process of fixing it up some to sell, so I don't have pics right now. We are thinking the $170,000 range. The neighborhood is really changing. There's a new house going up on the end of my street on 42nd, and new ones going up on Althea. Nice houses.

Thanks for all the info. Now we just to get our house on the market and hope to get enough for it to be able to move out there. Anyone looking for a 2 bedroom 1 bath "cute cottage" in Garden Oaks?

I think it is really hard to Houston to find somewhere nice that isn't close to somewhere that is kinda shady, maybe with the exception of Kingwood and the Woodlands. I hear police sirens all the time coming down Shepherd, but generally feel pretty safe because we are a tight-knit neighborhood. The parks sound pretty nice. What are the people like there in Fall Creek? Lots of families?

What and where is this Audubon neighborhood? I also read about it on the Kingwood.com message board. Is it any scarier than Independence Heights, North Shepherd and Acres Homes near where I live? I just try not to drive in those areas.

Thanks for the skinny of Fall Creek. Concerning the dump that HeightsGuy mentions...can you smell it from Fall Creek?

Yeah, I'm worried about that. But the thing Kingwood has is trees, and lots of them. Plus libraries, banks, grocery stores etc. The area around Fall Creek and Summerwood is still lacking many amenities. I know they will come. Who knows what it will look like though. The ugly sprawl on FM 1960 turned us off of Eagle Springs.