wordgirl

I like the Robindell idea, too - good housing stock and probably not too bad of a reverse commute.

Neat midcentury homes, too, and for cheap:

http://search.har.com/engine/6209-Grape-St-Houston-TX-77074_HAR43862330.htm

I used to live by Holly Hall/Reliant area and it wasn't my favorite - lots of traffic but I headed north instead of south. South Union might be a good option but if he drives around tell him not to take Holly Hall/Mainer St. as his first time entry street

Thanks! That one is pretty cute! The good thing about that neighborhood is that he wouldn't be too far to come visit us up in Humble, compared to being out in Richmond and Rosenberg. And being a single guy he can be close to all of the city action.

Do you think that neighborhood might be a good investment because of the midcentury homes? Looking at this board, that seems to be the hot thing right now.

Speaking of style - is that a concern of his?

Not really. I think just something that's not a total wreck and has at least two bedrooms will fit the bill for him.

Saw this listing on Craiglist for $103,616.  Looks like it could be in Covington Woods or maybe Town West. At least it looks like the style of homes from those neighborhoods.  Not a lot of detail but shows your price range could be possible.

3br - Beautiful, Well-Kept & Updated!! REF C404 (SUGAR LAND)

Looks nice! I'll have to send that along to him. That's pretty much what he is looking for.

You can definitely still find properties and homes inside the loop for well under $100k. There are large numbers of available homes in my neighborhood in the range of $30k. I would knock them down and start over, but I see plenty of people renovating.

As far as commute, I drive 17 miles every morning from 288/610 out to Beltway 8 and Westpark. It's normally 15 minutes, but can be 20 minutes if it's raining. Sugar Land is 25 miles from my house, so you might count on a 25-minute commute. Reverse commutes are nice.

Yeah, I forget how much a difference a reverse commute can make. Good point. What neighborhood or area are you in?

About the only thing in or around Sugar Land for that price is Covington Woods or Town West subdivisions. Both doable for a single guy.  He could also find something in Sharpstown area. (Does he speak spanish?)

Fringe, thanks for these suggestions in Sugarland. Do you have any idea whether they are safe neighborhoods or not? I know next to nothing about Sugarland.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. We have been looking at Har.com, but I always like to get the inside story on hoods as well from folks like you guys.

Is he going to finance this property? If it is going to be a primary residence, he should be able to only put down 3.5% with a FHA loan program.

He is going to finance. His parents are going to cosign because of his credit issues and 100K is their limit. Do you have to have good credit to qualify for an FHA loan? East End is appealing, but a longer commute than he had hoped for.

Wow - I would definitely stay as SW of downtown as possible unless he wants to live part time in his car. Maybe there are some older, more established areas in Richmond/Rosenberg in that price range...?

Yeah, I think he is going to explore those areas and see what he can get. Or I think he may need to consider townhomes instead with that price range. $200,000 would be more like it.

Hi all. My brother-in-law is looking to buy his first home. He works in Sugarland, and would like a fairly short commute. Since he is single, he was looking to buy a fixer-upper, or a small home in an area that might appreciate in the future..like we did back in the late 90s when we bought a teeny-tiny house for super cheap in Garden Oaks. We did well when we sold the house several years later. Are there any deals like this still in the Houston area? He only has about $100K to work with. I saw some cheaper houses on the southwest side in Robindell and Larkwood that would be a decent commute. He would also be open to places in Sugarland, Missouri City, etc, but doesn't know the good areas from bad. Any advice? Is it even possible to buy a home, not a townhome, in a not-so-scary neighborhood for this amount of money?

Thanks!

You might if you were facing a 45-mile commute each way with today's gas prices.

Yup. That's the place. Thanks Pineda for finding that link. I think the location actually would be pretty good for them, because it would be extremely close for my friend's work and her husband could jump on the Hardy en route to U of H. The big unknown for me and them is the schools. It is in Conroe ISD, but I have no idea about the quality of Oak Ridge High. It got mixed reviews from greatschools.net and its scores looked about average. I am curious about its reputation.

Thanks. They'll have to take another trip up that way. Do you know anything about Spring Trails?

Hi all. A friend of mine has taken a job in the Spring area (FM 1960 and Aldine Westfield). She plans to move her family from First Colony to somewhere closer to avoid what would be a monster commute. She would appreciate any inside information you guys might have on desirable neighborhoods in the area. Here is her wish list:

1. Good schools. She has a child in junior high and a child who will be attending kindergarten in two years.

2. A tolerable commute for both her and her husband. Her husband works at U of H, but in non-peak hours, so he can avoid most of the traffic. That said, he doesn't want to drive a super long distance to work if possible. They are ruling out the Woodlands for that reason. Also, she is concerned about the traffic heading west on roads like Cypresswood and 2920. Supposedly folks at her new work told her traffic was pretty bad.

3. Retail within walking distance. This could be a grocery store, Walgreens, Target, etc. Her mother lives with her and can't drive. She is having the hardest time finding neighborhoods that meet this criteria.

4. She can spend up to the mid $200s for a home.

She likes the area in the Klein school district, but is worried about the commute. She was also curious about the masterplanned community Spring Trails on Riley Fuzzel. Does anyone have any insight on this neighborhood and the schools? I have never heard anything about Oak Ridge high school, so I couldn't give her any info on that.

Thank you all you help!

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!

I don't know where your experience comes from, but every one of my friends and I brag about never leaving the loop. When I lived in The Woodlands, I routinely drove 2,000 miles per month. Now, in the Heights, I rarely put more than 500 miles per month on my car. I haven't been to a suburban mall since I moved into town 7 years ago, including Greenspoint.

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!

I am a graduate of Memorial High School and strongly believe that it is the best public education in the city, bar none. Lamar, Bellaire, and Stratford would be the only other schools in the actual city of Houston that I would consider as far as public schools go. However, Memorial can be rather snotty as many of the kids live in multi million dollar mansions and th ey all drive 40k and up foreign cars, but if a great education is what you're looking for then look no further. However, I will warn you that both Valley Oaks and Spring Branch have apartments and lower end housing zoned to them so I would be wary of those schools. Personally, I would move in the Villages south of I-10 to avoid those problems and get zoned to Memorial Middle School.

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.

I grew up in Bunker Hill Village.......

Oh, you did say south of I-10. Got my directions mixed up.

Better have deep pockets for the villages, atleast now.......my parents property value has skyrocketed since they first moved and built there in the 1970's :):)

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.

Where are you zoned?

Some of the zoned schools on HISD's west side are good too.

Type in your address at: http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/abcx_tool/search.asp

This should determine where you are zoned.

As for the Memorial area schools - They are in the Spring Branch ISD: http://www.springbranchisd.com/

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.

Our first house was in the Inwood Forest Village area. Would I go back? Not even to visit.

The first time someone broke into our house was in broad daylight. They scaled up the basketball goal in the driveway, kicked out one of the second story windows and went to town.

The second time I was at home watching a Sunday afternoon football game. They banged on the door and when I wouldn't answer, they jumped over the 6' tall fence in the backyard, and kicked the back door in. I had to grab my gun and point it at their faces before they backed off and left.

The third time I was walking my baby daughter in her stroller in front of our house in the afternoon. I was robbed at gunpoint in front of her.

I figured I had finally had enough when the cops on the ground and in the air (Fox) knew my name and I knew theirs. BTW, the cops told me that they hated to come out to that part of town because the criminals had much better weapons than they did.

I've driven by since then just to see the house and yard. But I wouldn't recommend it to any one.

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.