TammyB

Are my eyes deceiving me? Is that a Berryhill I see on the site plan? That has long been on my wishlist. Let the parties begin!

Weekley told me the same. That area just east is zoned for residential that is of equal or greater value than the current houses that are at the eastern border.

I'm not aware of any website. I haven't been able to find them with a search either.

I agree with you on that, but we haven't heard anything. There was no mention of it at the last homeowners' association meeting, which was about 2 months ago.

Hi, I live in the section of Southern Trails that you are considering -- we bought a Weekley home. We've been very happy with the neighborhood! I think that it's the best location in the community, because we're right by the amenity center, and most streets are cul-de-sac streets.

We've found that the families are mostly young families with young kids (like us). We also have a few retired couples. If you have young kids, they will go to the brand new Wilder Elementary. My son went to Mary Marek last year and moved over to Wilder this year. I don't know if it's a difference in teachers or administration, but we have been a lot happier with Wilder!

I don't know if you had the same experience we had, but we were so pleased to find Southern Trails. We looked in Shadow Creek Ranch, but couldn't find the warm-fuzzy there. When we finally made it over here, it felt more quaint and homey. It's a really beautiful neighborhood, and will be stunning as the trees grow in and the builders move out.

I don't really have any negatives. Well, maybe. It's a bummer that we have a much higher property tax than those in Silverlake and Silvercreek. I don't like being so far from good retail therapy, but that will be getting better soon! I'm a little worried about the traffic that the new mall will bring to our area, especially during the holidays. I wish they would have opened the pool earlier in the year, and closed it later, but I bet that will change next year. Building in our section has slowed down, and it seems like it will be a long time before they're done on our street. I think that's about it.

If you have any questions, please e-mail me. Good luck! I know how hard it is to make that decision!

I'm in the process of purchasing a home in Pearland now, and I can offer some insight, based on our property search. Note that we were looking for a house that has nice features like granite countertops, tile in all the wet areas, that was larger than 2600 square feet. We were very picky about features like this, so it made it hard to find something in our price range (less than $250,000). We also didn't want a tiny yard.

Silverlake -- The neighborhood seemed very nice... lots of kids, lots of trees. However, they are a little older, and most don't have some of the nicer features that we were looking for. In fact, the common thread of the Silverlake homes, for us, was that they kitchens needed to be updated.

Silvercreek -- I never looked inside these homes, but the pictures are very nice, and I LOVE the neighborhood. However, it was out of our price range.

Sienna Plantation -- LOVED some parts of this neighborhood, and the houses were very nice. The neighborhoods that we could afford weren't the ones that we really liked. I can see eventually moving to Sienna Plantation when we can afford to buy in those nicer areas. So beautiful.

SCR -- We looked at soooo many homes here. There were a lot that were ALMOST right, but none actually fit. Either the yard was tiny (I'm talking 10 feet back from the house) or the features weren't nice. If you like Shadow Creek Ranch, with your price range, I would check out Dakota Blue Homes. They were very nice and affordable.

Southern Trails -- This is where we're buying. As soon as I went into the neighborhood it felt right. We were able to find a David Weekley home that is almost 2900 square feet with everything we want, the yards are decent, and the section is right by the amenity center, with this great pool and park. Also, most of the houses are on cul-de-sac streets. The prices they have advertised on the net are way higher than what we got ours for. We got ours for about $25,000 less than what they had on the net -- it ended up being $235,000. I'm sure this goes for all the new home builders. Also, the builders that are in this neighborhood are the best (Trendmaker, David Weekley, Newmark, and Ashton Woods). I think this will drive our property value up in the long run. We're not there yet, but we will be soon! If you go to SCR today, be sure to check in Southern Trails, too.

Good luck and I hope this helps!